Luke 12:23 – “Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.”  NKJV

I fully realize that I have lifted a sentence from a passage and if not careful will violate the context of the text and of that I would never want to be guilty.  Jesus is talking about worry and being overly concerned about the natural provision required to sustain life as we know it.  He reminds those in His audience of the value God places on man and the detail with which God cares for His creation.  In verse 31 He gives the incredibly important directive, “BUT, seek the kingdom of God and all (first per Matthew) and all that which is needed will be added…”  He reminds us of the care the Father has for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field.  He reminds us that we can’t enhance our physical appearance by fretting over it.  We may cause it to deteriorate but not enhance.  (My thoughts). 

Jesus always focused on Life and without fail brought His listeners face to face with the reality that it was not solely comprised of activities of the flesh.  In verse 15 of this chapter He reminds us that one’s life is not what you have materially.  In John 10 He reminds us of the objective of the enemy of our souls and the purpose and desire of God for us.  He said, “I am come that they may have life, and that they may have it (LIFE) more abundantly.”

Therefore, if Life is not possessions, what we eat, drink or wear, where we live or what we drive some are without a definition of life.  Life is more than breathing and having brain activity that would qualify by the medical definition.  If we were simply inhabitants of these physical bodies with no eternal soul or spirit that can communicate with God life would be all those things.  But we are LIVING SOULS housed in tabernacles of clay therefore LIFE is spiritual and other worldly.

The Holy Spirit called the Comforter has been dispatched by the LORD to teach us the truths of Christ.  In John 6 Jesus taught those listening that LIFE comes by the Spirit not the flesh and that His words were spirit and life.  It is by believing Him, repenting of our rebellion and sin that the Holy Spirit is able to infuse the Life of God into our eternal souls and transform us on the inside in our spirit man giving us LIFE through the new birth.  Our bodies continue to decay and die but our spirits have begun an eternal immortal journey that, if we are saved, will find us spending eternity in the presence of God Almighty.

LIFE, real life as contrasted to physically being alive by all earthly definitions is eternal.  God so values life that He has made provision for us to have it eternally and in the here and hereafter abundant.  If you view life as possessions, food, clothing, housing, transportation, status or anything of the carnal world you are talking about existence not life.   Life is relationship with God.  Life is freedom from sin.  Life is communion with the Father.  Life is living presently in His Kingdom though our spirits.  The Bible says in 1 John 4 that “As He (Jesus) is so are we in this present world.”  HOW IS HE?

The answer to that question will cause faith to soar in your heart and give you a holy boldness you never knew.  I urge you to examine and answer that question.  As you do I know your life will become more demonstrably abundant!

            God bless you as you go through this day!

With regard to rejection I have learned that one of the greatest problems is making it personal and sometimes it is.  There are times when rejection is not you but your beliefs and because the rejecter cannot separate the two they reject you along with your beliefs.  That happened to our LORD and He forewarned that it would happen to us as well.

We’ve all heard about and maybe heard the words, “It’s not you it’s me…” as the edict of rejection is issued.  There is probably an element of truth in that but I would venture that most of the time it is both or neither.  Ideological beliefs and values held by each of us makes associations and relationships with some difficult if not impossible.  The Bible plainly declares that “two cannot walk together unless they are in agreement.”  Some have taken that to mean TOTAL AGREEMENT on EVERYTHING and I do not see that in the passage.  We may find it possible to build an alliance on particular issues based on agreement but on many other issues we are not in agreement.  If our disagreement rises to the level of embittered animosity they a relationship, partnership or association would be impossible or destructive.

In our world of social media I find, that almost daily, I am either approached by someone wanting to be my friend or being rejected by someone who no longer wants to be a friend.  I have learned, in life, and applied that to the world of social media that the reaching out or rejection is usually not personal but ideological.  Although I have argued that you cannot separate what you believe from who you are a person who does not know you cannot reject your person but must reject your beliefs or words.  If I took every rejection personally I would be a basket-case and probably plunge into deep depression.  We have a world today that is so performance oriented and acceptance driven that rejection shatters their psyche and alterations in belief and public declarations ensue.

I have watched politicians when accused of something immediately apologize when an apology was not appropriate but the desire to be viewed as likable, agreeable, and to appease the accusers drives them to take that path.  Most of the time they are then viewed as weak, lacking personal conviction and courage to stand for their beliefs and the attacks become more intensified until the candidate is so marginalized they are ineffective.  I have seen the same thing in preachers who so water down their message, violate their core convictions and compromise the message they are about as useful to the kingdom as screen doors in submarines.  They give the appearance of usefulness but have no practical value.  I know that is harsh but I believe it to be reality.

Among the reasons that rejection hurts is that we genuinely care about people and their opinions.  However another reason is we are ‘insecure’ in who we are and because we are insecure rejection is devastating.  Some derive their significance and sense of value and worth from acceptance and rejection dismantles their incredibly fragile psyche.  Feelings of insecurity can come from many roots including lack of preparation or talent.  If we are convinced we are unable or unprepared we lack confidence and that lack of confidence translates to insecurity and then when our thoughts, words or deeds are rejected we translate that to our inadequacy and personalize the rejection.  We are shattered and for some recovery becomes virtually impossible.

Let me give you a few passages that I believe can diminish the sting of rejection and empower you to achieve the goals and dreams of your heart.

Philippians 4:11-13 – “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  

Notice Paul addresses need, learning and contentment and THEN as a result of his life experiences and spiritual development he declares, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  Rejection, pain, suffering, plenty, applause, accolades all come into my view of life and whether I am accepted or rejected I stand having LEARNED and know that IN CHRIST I CAN.

The in Philippians 4:19 he addresses the church being there for him and tells them that he is going to pray for them and out of his confidence in God, learned through his life experiences, he is going to pray for them and declares that, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

You may be rejected by man but you have not been rejected by God.  Because of your acceptance in Him the rejection is more frequently than not your beliefs not YOU this is being rejected.  You are secure in Him and therefore IN HIM you live and move and have your being.  When rejection comes to I suggest you simply look to Him the author and finisher of your faith, bless those rejecting and rejoice that the seed has been sown and now another will water and ultimately God will give the increase.

I am dead in Christ and in that condition rejection has no power over me.   God bless you as you go through this day!

Colossians 2:20-23 – “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations —  21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using — according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”  NKJV

Through the years I have heard Christians express their utter shock that someone professing to be a Christian would do certain things.  I heard a story of a man in a church who was dying.  He had received Jesus only a short time before his untimely sickness and as several of the church members gathered to his bedside to pray he asked one of the ladies of the church to light a cigarette for him.  She gasped and angrily said to him, “You are going to hell if you do that.”  The pastor was there and he reached down took the cigarette lit it and placed it in the lips of the dying man.  Some in the church wanted him run out of town for committing such a horrendous sin.  He explained, “This man was dying.  He had accepted Christ a few weeks earlier and while he (the pastor) did not smoke he felt that it was demonstrating more of the heart of Christ to honor the man’s request than place him in greater trauma by refusing and heaping guilt on him that had not come as conviction from the Holy Spirit but from man.”  He went to the above passage and then turned to Mark 7 and began to read what Jesus said.

Our Lord spoke to the Pharisees and Scribes before Him the words of Isaiah the prophet and called the hypocrites.  Honoring with the lips but failing to have what comes from the lips find lodging in the heart was not pleasing to God.  He addressed the tradition of men and compared it to washing eating and drinking utensils on the outside.  Jesus then addressed that it is not what goes in the mouth of man that defiles but what comes out of the heart.  The dying man had come to a loving knowledge of Christ and although he was placing something that could be harmful to his physical body out of his heart proceeded genuine love for God.  Some in the congregation were expressing judgment based on their personal preference and interpretation of Scripture.  The danger is that in judging by our standards we miss God’s standards and rather than manifesting the heart of Christ we can manifest the heart of a Pharisee.

Out of the heart comes evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride and foolishness.  Out of the thoughts which plant seeds in the heart and ultimately become words and possibly deeds is where the real problem lies not what one takes into the body by the mouth.  He attempted to address the problem of becoming so rigid in our ‘touch not, taste not, handle not’ that we lose our tender heartedness and fail to manifest the genuine love of Christ.

Hear me!  I am not endorsing taking things into the body that are harmful but I am saying that the greater issue is our hearts.  If we are IN CHRIST why are we bound by the traditions of men?  I never want to become a Pharisee and have a holiness that is only outward.  I want any holiness I have to be from within and when it is from within it will ultimately become manifest in the flesh as well as the spirit.  I am confident that God is perfectly capable of bringing conviction to any heart.  He directs me to teach His word and present His truth and in so doing the Holy Spirit speaks to hearts but ultimately it is God that brings conviction and if someone has a habit I do not condone it does not mean they are not a follower of Christ.  NO, it means we are not at the same place in our walk and level of understanding.  In fact, I’ve had the Lord bring conviction to my heart that I could not do some things and then told me that whether others did or did not was none of my business.  He had a reason and has not always informed me as to why.  My response is that if the Holy Spirit says NO it is NO for me.  If He says YES it is YES for me.  Some things are just for me not to be imposed on everyone else.

Why I would NEVER?  No you wouldn’t but that does not mean God has directed everyone else the same.  Some that look down their noses on people who have a habit they consider vile are guilty of seriously overeating.  Both are usually expressions of a lack of discipline.  So before you condemn everyone not following your pathway to holiness remember that the splinter in their eye may be minor compared to the log in your own.  I have been there!

God bless you as you go through your day!

Ephesians 4:29-5:2 – “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. 

5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”  NKJV

So much of our modern world including those in the church have developed a victim mentality.  That phenomenon has been to the detriment of both society and the church and is foreign to Christ and Christianity.  You may have been victimized but you should never be a victim.

When I come to the text for this devotional I reflect back on what Paul has been talking about, the New Birth.  He has been talking about leaving the old world, old way and the old man behind.  Everything that belongs to sin and the race of Adam has been taken out of the way.  Something happened and we have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness (this world) into the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.  We have a New Self, are a New Man or a New Creation.  We have been ‘re-birthed’.  Therefore, it is imperative that we learn to live out our New Life in Christ.  We need to BECOME the people the Bible says we really are!

This point in our lives (New Birth) is a time of crisis.  Most acknowledge that but tragically too many of those who profess Christ continue to emphasize and focus on that crisis the remainder of their days on earth.  We sing about the crisis and go to church to hear about and discuss the crisis.  In so doing, I believe, we have missed an important truth in the Gospel.

The New Testament is not about the crisis it is about being taken out of the crisis and the process of becoming who God says we are.  Now that we are saved and have passed from death to life we need to BECOME.  We are no longer who or what we were for we are New Creations in and through Jesus.  Now is the time to begin the process of allowing that Newness to invade every dimension of our lives.  We have been re-birthed and now it is time to become!

In all honesty, many that I talk to about Christ and Salvation seem to have everything in reverse.  I’ve had countless people say, “Let me shape up and then…”  They seem to feel that if they somehow turn over a new leaf, change, try harder THEN they can be accepted.  Got receives us and once He has received us we are accepted.  In that state of acceptance God says, “Now let’s change you!  Let’s help you BECOME…“

THE CHANGE SEEN IN OUR TEXT:

He says there are some areas in our lives that must change:  Bitterness, malice, evil speaking, anger and anger we are to PUT AWAY.  Then he tells us we are to BE… Kind to one another, tenderhearted and forgiving.  We are IN CHRIST, pardoned and have been given righteousness so now it is time to start working and walking that out in our lives.  It is not someday in heaven we are going to BE it is NOW.

We were in and of the world which is a part of THE LIE that goes back to the Garden.  Man believed that he would be as God and independent of God.  NOW, we have been delivered from that realm and we must learn TRUTH and through that truth a new LIFESTYLE that is completely opposite of what we knew.  Simply we have to RELEARN LIFE.  No wonder Jesus said that we must become as little children.  We are Brand New and as a child must learn to LIVE!  Being a Christian is not adding Sunday to your schedule it is relearning how to live 24/7/365.  We are being delivered from the Bentness, Distortion and Wrong Thinking and must have our minds renewed so we can become who we are.  Victors not Victims!

            God bless you as you go through this day!

Isaiah 61:7 – “Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, And instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion. Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land, Everlasting joy will be theirs.”  NASU

Let’s get to the getting to it, Okay?

Deuteronomy 21:17 – – The Right of the Firstborn – DOUBLE INHERITANCE.

Why?  It is not favoritism but in order to insure that the firstborn would have extra means and ability to care for special family needs that might arise.  In this we find the Law of the Kinsman Redeemer and this was often the firstborn.  Hebrews 12:23 identifies us as the Church of the Firstborn.

This son was given DOUBLE because he was DOUBLY RESPONSIBLE for the needs of the family.  He was to use his DOUBLE PORTION compassionately for the good of the family and all the family members.  You must keep that in mind.  So the DOUBLE PORTION carried with it a DOUBLE RESPONSIBILITY.  It was the ministry of headship.

Do you know one of the hardest tests to pass in life?  Prosperity and Abundance!  Why would that be true for so many?  Because in great prosperity there is tremendous temptation to become ‘self-reliant’ and think we are ‘self-sufficient’ needing no  one and nothing but ourselves.  I have found that God will trust you with anything as long as you can trust Him with everything!  Paul advises in 1 Corinthians that we should always remember that we have nothing that we did not receive.  It all has its roots in God!

I’ve heard people pray, “Lord bless me double and I will bless others.”  Really?  What are you doing now with what you have?  That’s right, in your present status!  “Oh, but I owe this and that.  I have this and that obligation, etc.”  WHY?   If I want the DOUBLE BLESSING I need to develop the attitude and heart that is conducive for having it.  I believe if we get our hearts right God will do His part.  Remember Luke 6:38 where the Bible declares that if we give IT (whatever we give) will be given to us.   Most miss the IT in that passage. 

I must issue a warning of a ‘danger’ or ‘pitfall’ in this DOUBLE PORTION inheritance of the firstborn.  This is illustrated in the Prodigal Son’s story in the attitude of the elder brother.  You remember the story.

The elder brother was heir and received a double portion or two-thirds of his father’s estate. The prodigal did not get another inheritance when he came back.  He had squandered his and now he is at the mercy of the elder brother to exercise his DOUBLE PORTION responsibility. The elder brother failed in his attitude and had no compassion!  I do not disagree that the prodigal was wrong, wrong, wrong but he came back repentant.

What is our attitude toward those who fail?  Those who created their mess made their bed and are now finding they must lie in it.  Those who wasted their inheritance and opportunities?  REMEMBER, if you have a DOUBLE PORTION as a firstborn your responsibility is to use it to minister to those who have lost theirs and sometime by their own doing.  That is what Jesus does with us!  He is never selfish or judgmental but extends compassion and seeks our restoration.

I am convinced that if more caught the true spirit and reason for the DOUBLE PORTION more would be enjoying DOUBLE today.  The time to develop a spirit of generosity and giving is when you have $5 not waiting until you have $50,000.

Let’s pause here and pick up next time on the Double Manna and see where God takes us.  May the Lord be with you as you go through your day and rain blessings upon you bountifully!