Welcome to Day 5 of The Challenge! Our verse to memorize today is II Timothy 2:5:
~
"And if a man also strive for masteries,
yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully."
~
I have a friend who is into speed-skating. Recently we got to talking about the whole Olympic process. One of the things that an Olympic contestant has to know about is all of the regulations. For instance, using a decongestant before a race can disqualify a skater. Some may get upset when they learn about the regulations while others simply respond with, "Oh, okay, just so I know." Either way, there is no problem. The problem comes when a skater participates in a race and then gets disqualified for breaking a rule that they didn’t know existed. If they had known, they could have avoided taking the medicine, or chosen not to participate in the race. Otherwise there is a lot of wasted energy and effort. You have to play by the rules in order to be recognized as a champion, and you have to know the rules in order to play by them.
How does this relate to the Christian life? God has promised in His Word that we will receive His rewards if we know and keep His commandments. Joshua 1:8 says, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Christ has given us His commands, and they are commands, not suggestions. They are the rules by which we are to live our lives, to run our race. It is only by following Christ’s commands that we can be rewarded according to them, and we can only follow them if we know what they are.
~ Tony Oliverio
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January 5th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Amen!
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)
January 5th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Amen! Those are excellent thoughts on that verse! Praise the Lord for analogies that help understand His commands!
January 5th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Thanks Tony, for the reminder. Obeying the commands requires a surrender of our will to do the will of the Father.
January 5th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Well said, Tony! If we’re going to strive for the mark of the High Calling, we’d better get serious and invest some “elbow grease” into studying God’s Word, find out what His commandments are, and keep them in front of us so we won’t forget.
January 5th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Thank you, Tony, for this excellent exposition.
This principle was one of the keys for me on the Journey experience – understanding and accepting the fact that God has RULES, not just “suggestions”, and that we are told to obey them – not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it is HOW we love God.
Thank you again for the powerful reminder! I needed that today.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
As I am reading todays devotion and comments, I am reminded of when the Lord says…
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?” ~ Luke 6:46
May we continue to strive toward this goal… to love God and keep His commmandments!
January 5th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
A major example of this in our day is the controversy that surrounds Barry Bonds. Considered one of the greatest baseball players of all-time, he holds the all-time Major League Baseball home run record at 762 and the single-season Major League record for home runs with 73. However, he was recently indicted by a federal grand jury and now faces trial on March 2 of this year over alleged perjury regarding use of anabolic steroids.
January 5th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Thank you for the reminder that Christ’s commands are commands, not suggestions! It is so easy to forget that important fact and not take His commands seriously.
I was helping houseclean for an elderly couple this morning and was memorizing and meditating upon this verse, especially the last part – “except he strive lawfully”. I was asking the Lord what He wanted to teach me from this verse. He brought to mind the fact that if I was doing my work for the praise of man and not as unto Him, I am not striving lawfully, because He commands, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men.” (Col. 3:23) And disobeying will disqualify me from being rewarded (crowned)! Works without genuine love will profit me nothing, as I Corinthians 13 says.
Thank you for the reminder that we should not only know that Christ has given us commands, but we must also know what they are! It has been wonderful to be encouraged and exhorted by fellow brothers and sisters in Christ!