Verse of the Day: The Lord lives! Blessed by my Rock! Let God be exalted, the Rock of my salvation!—2 Samuel 22:47
Memory of the month: Isaiah 41:13 For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”
Today's reading: EXODUS 4-6 MATTHEW 14:22-36
Legacy
Many a starry-eyed ambitious person has uttered these words, "I want to leave a legacy".
Everyone is the star of their own movie. We all take care of number one.
Jesus said, "He must become greater; I must become less."John 3:30
The natural man, the person of this world who does not know Jesus...
"The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit." 1 Corinthians 2:14
The people of the world serve one master as we read from Paul in Ephesians, chapter 2:
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
The 'kingdom of the air' is all that it will ever be-air. Yes, it is comprised of cities and 'infrastructures' and governments and economies, but this kingdom is of air. Think about all the new technology. Where does it exist? The cloud? Electrical impulses? World-wide web and grids?
The billionaires of the world have a lot of power. But what do they really control? They are all but one government action or stock market crash away from destruction, really, so what do they control?
No one person can really control anything but their own thinking. And if they are not of the kingdom of God, they are of the kingdom of air.
We have seen many legacies brought down. Don't believe me? How many statues of heroes have been destroyed just this past few years? Our history is being rewritten by the kingdom of the air because that is where the history of the world is stored-in the air.
Jesus said, "He must become greater; I must become less."John 3:30
Ephesians 2: 19Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,
This world is not our home, but, our work in the Kingdom of God is done as we operate in the kingdom of the air as aliens in this world. Our job is not to work to leave a legacy or a 'name to be remembered' but to leave people who have come in contact with the love of God and, by the grace of God, have come to a saving knowledge of Him in Christ Jesus.
We walk this earth for the glory and good pleasure of God-never our own. We must pray to be in the place where Jesus was when He said, "He must become greater..."
Philippians 2:13 ►
"...for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."
But Jesus wants us to know that it is also for this:
"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." John 15:11
None of God's work is for personal gain or recognition or for us to leave a legacy. It is for God's Kingdom which exists outside of all this air-this empty, hot air.
All we believers need is the breath of God-not the air of this world. We must understand that the riches of this world, gold, is what we will walk on in heaven but it will be completely pure and divine but still paving material. We have to grasp that the greatest acclaim for us will be, "Well done, my good and faithful servant".(Matthew 25:21)
If God leads you into a place where you are recognized for your work on earth, praise Him-give Him the glory. But work for Him-not for personal glory.
I shudder to think about those who have lost their lives because of their faith. Those whose names will never be known by the vast hoards of people. Those who died in some unmarked place even in the last twenty-four hours. I shudder for the way of their deaths but glory in the fact that they were immediately seeing our Lord in all His glory and hearing Him say, "Well done".
There are those who will die without Him today. We have much work to do. He must become more and more...
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
Forgive me my self-absorbed ways. Lead me in Your way everlasting-root out my impurities.
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