Good morning everyone! I hope you have an Awesome day with Jesus!
Judges chapter 13.
I find it interesting that the wife of Manoah, who was chosen by God to have the child who would deliver them from the Philistines, never had her name given. She is always referred to as “the woman.” Our significance is not based upon our name. Look at Mary when she was chosen by God to have Jesus, the deliverer. In Luke 1:27-28 someone cried out to Jesus and said blessed is the woman who bore you and nursed you. Mary's name was being exalted but Jesus replied, blessed rather are those who hear God's word and obey it.
Our value is not based upon our name but upon the name of the Lord.
Our value and worth and significance is not based upon how many people know our name. Because of God's love for us we have already value worth and significance no matter what. What I hope is that people end up knowing God's name because of God using my life as a testimony for him. I hope is that when I'm around people they come to know God's name more, and less of my name. Often times we want people to recognize us and see our personal value and worth and speak highly of us. Such attitude will quickly lose focus of who and what is really important… God and his son Jesus and the salvation of souls!
In fact, read 1st Corinthians 1:26-31. It says that God uses the lowly unknown of this world to promote Himself so that no one can boast of anybody's own greatness or of the greatness of others. When God uses the lowly, then people end up boasting about God's greatness. So let us stop trying to get our name out, but put more attention on getting out the name of our Lord. And let us quit trying to find Value and significance in this world. Instead let us live with great confidence and with boldness because of the value and significance we have through Christ!!
I think Pastor Blair made a good point as usual. We read in Proverbs 22:1 that a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold. While we don’t want to do something that would bring dishonor or disgrace to our name, to our reputation or to our testimony, we have the name of Jesus to lift up as the name above all names. Jesus is the most important of all! Like John the Baptist said in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
I was reminded of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16. The one man had riches for a limited time while he was on earth while Lazarus was suffering as a beggar, but it came to an end and we don’t even ever learn the name of the rich man.
As we start to read about the strongest human who ever lived, we will also see that he had weaknesses and made some poor decisions along the way. Like the rest of us, he desperately needed God to help him.
I would like to share 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
The ApologetiX song for today is Working For the Weakened, a parody of Working For the Weekend.
https://youtu.be/oWsPAevvIKo