Meditation for the week of December 30, 2007
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
The Lord wants us to put Him first. We often say that our purpose for being put on this earth is to glorify or to bring honor to God. We do that when He becomes first in our trust, in our decisions, in our love, and in our obedience.
The “firsts” of the Bible are instructive. We are to put God first–that is how to be blessed. The first day of the week is the day when the Lord was raised from the dead and the day when most Christians worship the resurrected Lord. The Lord’s first coming provided the world a Savior. There are last which shall be first in the Bible since the way God does things is often different than the way man does things.
But there are some “seconds” in the Bible that are also instructive. We need a second birth (John 3:3) in order to avoid the second death (Revelation 20:14) and to be prepared for the Lord’s second coming. John 1, verses 12 through 13, explain what is meant by that second birth, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” We are born again or born from above or given new life when we trust in the authority, reputation, and the character of the Lord. That is what a person’s “name” represents. When we believe that the Lord has the right and the ability to save us, when we believe that His reputation proves that He is the Son of God, when we believe that because of His character He does not and cannot lie to us when He says that He died to save us, then we are born the second time; and we begin a new journey with the Living Savior.
We are putting one year behind us and we are about to celebrate the first day of another new year. As we begin this new year, it would be a good time to ask ourselves if we are really born the second time by faith in the Lord so that we can avoid the second death. The second death will be a place of eternal conscious punishment in a lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This lake will contain the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars. These are people that persisted in their sin rather than having their sins forgiven (Revelation 21:8) so that God could make them His Saints or His Holy Ones. Those who go to this place will not be keeping good company.
If we are born the second time, are we living a self-serving life, or are we putting the Lord first? In some parts of this world, there are people who are paying dearly for having and reading the Bible and for worshiping the One true God in the way that He has asked us to worship Him. In the United States many of us have become so complacent that we couldn’t find our Bibles to read them if we tried. Yet we say that we are Christians. As the first day of another year approaches, this would be a good time to reassess our relationship with the Lord. This would be a good time to find a Bible and to start reading it to find out just what does please the Lord. This would be a good time to make sure that we are putting the Lord first so that He can prove to us that He will take care of us and meet our practical needs.
Bruce Collins