Daily Devotional
Word of the Day
It's About Doing
Pastor Scott
Friday, August 13, 2004
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"And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes."
(Luke 12:47)
"And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required" (Luke 12:47-48). We have been given a lot. As a people we have known the grace and mercy of God. We have been entrusted with His Holy Spirit and the power of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We have been instructed to honor God in our obedience, to feed ourselves the Word of God, and to be conformed to His image. Yet in this hour we can be seduced, vexed and put to sleep in the surfeiting and drunkenness that Luke 21 talks about.
But blessed is the man who the Lord finds watching when He returns (Luke 12:37). Are you as keenly watching today as you always have or have you been distracted? What are you doing to prepare yourself and to make yourself ready? Are you living off doctrine but not the practical application of it? You say, "Oh yeah, I believe in healing." When was the last time you were healed? You say, "I believe in the coming of the Lord." When was the last time you really looked for Him and made a decision against the temporal for the eternal? It is not about what you believe; it is about what you live. That is exactly the opposite of what the world system teaches.
Our relationship with the Lord is not about believing--it is about doing. You cannot believe something and not do it. That is the difference between the secular humanist and those of us who live in another realm of absolute truth and obedience. "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15). It is not enough to believe in the Second Coming of Jesus. Many people believe that Jesus is going to come, but they do not believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. Some do not believe in a rapture at all, believing that Jesus will come back just to assume the oversight the world they have won for the kingdom of God.
If you say you believe in the imminent return of the Lord--the rapture of the church--then what are you doing to live separate from the world? The blessed hope, the Scripture says, creates in us a personal holiness, a separatist approach to the secular worldly view. We, the true Christians, are anything but politically correct. If you're a friend of the world--political correctness--you are the enemy of God (James 4:4). What are you doing to prepare yourself for the ushering in of the eternal kingdom? The rapture is not about getting you out of the world. The rapture is getting you into the position of ushering the kingdom of God into a new heaven and a new earth.
Do you believe that? Why then would we live our lives in such a bizarre manner? If the most certain thing that any of us face is death, then why wouldn't we use all of our life preparing for it? Think about that for just a moment. The most certain thing in your life is that you are going to die. Isn't it great that God has given you a whole life to prepare for the most certain thing you will ever face? What are you doing with the time of preparation? Are you spending your whole life on the uncertain things that will pass away, burn, and have no meaning? "And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself...shall be beaten with many stripes..." Are you ready?