Quote from Forum Archives on March 8, 2002, 2:53 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Dear friends,

I don't know about you, but this is the kind of message I have to
remind myself about, over and over. Are you anything at all like
me? I believe in the ways of God, and I try to follow them,
too. I even do so in good faith. Somewhere along the way, the
struggles of raising a family, looking for work, praying and
encouraging for others, and a whole lot of other things battle
with one another for attention and priority. Some of the things,
maybe even many of the things, are good things, but my difficulty
in managing them well sometimes leaves me tired and even
frustrated. Can anyone identify with that?

Well, this is a great message for such common events. It helps
to put perspective on things, and is useful for renewing,
reminding, and for some of us, maybe even teaching us for the
first time.

Do you know what "santification" means? Well, it means to be
made pure, but what that really means is to be "set apart" for
God's purpose. When we allow what we do to be completely set
apart and devoted to God, it has a way of changing things.

The Thessalonians passage and the Matthew passage fit together
like a carefully crafted glove, once the terms are understood.
For what's most important in this life is that we devote
ourselves completely to God first. Once we give God everything,
we begin to realize how God wants us to relate to one another.
Then the pieces of life's puzzle start to fit together - one at a
time, one day at a time. We are continually purified as we
continue to set each moment of our day aside for whatever purpose
God intends. Whether at work, in the car, with a friend, or at
home, we can apply these overall principles, and God can use them
in our lives, to His Honor, Praise, and Glory.

Your Brother in Christ,
Brian

N E I L A N D E R S O N D A I L Y D E V O T I O N A L
from Freedom in Christ Ministries

March 8

CONFORMING TO THE IMAGE OF GOD

For this is the will of God, your sanctification (1 Thessalonians
4:3).

In a personal sense, God's will for our lives is that we conform
to the image of God, something the apostle Paul makes clear in 1
Thessalonians 4:3: "For this is the will of God, your
sanctification." In his letter to Roman Christians, Paul writes,
"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to
the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29) and adds in 1 Timothy 1:5,
"The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good
conscience and a sincere faith." Divine guidance will never come
to those whose primary goal is not first and foremost conforming
to the image of God.

There is no instruction in the Bible concerning career choice,
where we live, or who we should marry. There is, however, an
abundance of instruction on how we're to relate to our employer
and behave on the job we already have (Colossians 3:22-25). And
there is much about how to relate with one another (Colossians
3:10-14) and live with our families (Colossians 3:18-21).

The Bible overwhelmingly instructs that to do God's will means
living in harmony with God and man: "'You shall love the LORD
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with
all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. And
a second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'
On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets"
(Matthew 22:37-40).

The whole purpose of the Bible is to teach us how to have a
relationship with God and live in harmony with one another. We
do this by assuming our responsibilities for today and trusting
God for tomorrow.

I'm not sure the Lord cares primarily whether you are a
carpenter, teacher or doctor. But He does care what kind of
carpenter, teacher or doctor you are. Determine to be the person
He has called you to be. No one can prevent you from being God's
person except you.

Lord, I want to be Your person today, to live in harmony with You
and with those around me.

-----------
This daily devotional is published and distributed by
Crosswalk.com. It is written by Neil Anderson at
< www.ficm.org >.

Additional devotionals are available from Crosswalk.com:
< devotionals.crosswalk.com >.
-----------
To read the Current Feature Story from ReligionToday,
go to religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentFeatureStory/

For today's complete News Summary from ReligionToday,
go to religiontoday.crosswalk.com/CurrentNewsSummary/

-----------
For Copyright Terms go to www.crosswalk.com/info/copyright

____________________SUBSCRIPTION INFO_______________________

.* To subscribe, send an email to:
< SUBSCRIBE-neilanderson@lists.crosswalk.com > or go to
< www.crosswalk.com/lists > for a complete list of
our newsletters.
* Copyright 2001 Crosswalk.com, Inc. and its Content
Providers. All rights reserved.

____________________________________________________________

=====
--
Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Try FREE Yahoo! Mail - the world's greatest free email!
mail.yahoo.com/