What is God's will for my life? How many times do we wrestle with that question? And yet, how much more difficult do we make the answer than it is supposed to be? In a challenging tone, the LORD spoke to Aaron throuhg Moses these words:
Leviticus 10:3
By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.
God is to be glorified, honored, revered and of first importance to the believer. But oh how self so quickly wiggles its way to the top of all things! Without effort, self will assume for itself priority and preemmience. There is to be a daily battle against sin and the flesh. We must literally labor and angonize to see self crucified, to see sin put down and to see Christ exalted in our lives.
You say, "Oh the effort that requires! The time it will take!" Yes, it will will take effort and time, but the short term pains are more than worth the long term gains. By these labors we bring glory to God and it is the glory of God that is to be of first importance in our lives. Consider this words by Charles Spurgeon:
Leviticus 10:3
By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.
God is to be glorified, honored, revered and of first importance to the believer. But oh how self so quickly wiggles its way to the top of all things! Without effort, self will assume for itself priority and preemmience. There is to be a daily battle against sin and the flesh. We must literally labor and angonize to see self crucified, to see sin put down and to see Christ exalted in our lives.
You say, "Oh the effort that requires! The time it will take!" Yes, it will will take effort and time, but the short term pains are more than worth the long term gains. By these labors we bring glory to God and it is the glory of God that is to be of first importance in our lives. Consider this words by Charles Spurgeon:
God's great design in all His works is the manifestation of His own glory. Any aim less than this were unworthy of Himself. But how shall the glory of God be manifested to such fallen creatures as we are?Man's eye is not single, he has ever a side glance towards his own honour, has too high an estimate of his own powers, and so is not qualified to behold the glory of the Lord. It is clear, then, that self must stand out of the way, that there may be room for God to be exalted; and this is the reason why He bringeth His people ofttimes into straits and difficulties, that, being made conscious of their own folly and weakness, they may be fitted to behold the majesty of God when He comes forth to work their deliverance.He whose life is one even and smooth path, will see but little of the glory of the Lord, for he has few occasions of self-emptying, and hence, but little fitness for being filled with the revelation of God. They who navigate little streams and shallow creeks, know but little of the God of tempests; but they who "do business in great waters," these see His "wonders in the deep." Among the huge Atlantic-waves of bereavement, poverty, temptation, and reproach, we learn the power of Jehovah, because we feel the littleness of man.Thank God, then, if you have been led by a rough road: it is this which has given you your experience of God's greatness and lovingkindness. Your troubles have enriched you with a wealth of knowledge to be gained by no other means: your trials have been the cleft of the rock in which Jehovah has set you, as He did His servant Moses, that you might behold His glory as it passed by. Praise God that you have not been left to the darkness and ignorance which continued prosperity might have involved, but that in the great fight of affliction, you have been capacitated for the outshinings of His glory in His wonderful dealings with you.
O Lord, bring to pass those things in my life by which I might better glorify You and by which I may come to love You more.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Ed
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