Does Jesus bring you comfort, peace, encouragement, refreshment, council, and instruction? Does the all pervasive message of His love bring a calming influence to your life? Does the benefit of the presence of the Holy Spirit bless you? Do you enjoy the sweet companionship of God that He--the Holy Spirit--brings? Are you joyous in the plethora of kindness, benevolence, compassion, and affection that a relationship with God in Christ brings? Are you blessed when you consider His heart of compassion and loving kindness directed at you specifically?
Why all the questions? These are the very blessings we are to count as we consider the unimaginable love of God towards us. His tender mercies should overwhelm us when we consider all of the rewards that are on the periphery of our relationship with Jesus Christ. By the way, the words in the questions above come from a Bible dictionary. They are the meanings of these scriptural words: consolation (question 1), comfort (question 2), fellowship (questions 3-4), bowels (I know, not a pretty word in English {question 5}), and mercies (question 6).
These blessings come with a commitment and a command attached together as one! They are to drive us towards loving and humble service to our brothers and sisters in Christ and to humble service before the Almighty who has bestowed such love on us. They are to make us to strive to live and love as Jesus did. We should be awestruck as we consider the overwhelming incarnation of God With Us!
So where did these words I defined in the first paragraph come from? They are questions the Holy Ghost asked through the pen of Paul. They precede one of the most humbling and inspiring passages in all of scripture! They precede verses which command us to be loving, forgiving, and compassionate towards each other as we see that same thing in our Blessed Savior. Here they are in Philippians 2.
"If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phillipians 2:1-11
Has He blessed you? Then serve your brothers sisters and the Lord with humility and unconditional love! Take the necessary time to memorize and meditate on these words! You will be blessed!
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Humility, and not having always to be "in the loop", quietness and gentleness and being content with what you have.
ReplyDeleteNot seeking to be popular, but to count yourself as nothing. To empty yourself completely, these are the things that we should strive for and these are the things that please our God.
God Bless,
Gerie