Weekly Devotional 8-27-18 Two Peoples Called as Priests; Part 5
In closing out our consideration of Two Peoples Called as Priests we will consider why God called Israel as His priest to humanity, and for a time their replacement: the church. As we delve into this please consider this short devotional by A.W. Tozer. “Let a flood or a fire hit a populous countryside and no able-bodied citizen feels that he has any right to rest till he has done all he can to save as many as he can. While death stalks farmhouse and village no one dares relax; this is the accepted code by which we live. The critical emergency for some becomes an emergency for all, from the highest government official to the local Boy Scout troop. As long as the flood rages or the fire roars on, no one talks of ‘normal times.’ No times are normal while helpless people cower in the path of destruction.
In times of extraordinary crisis ordinary measures will not suffice. The world lives in such a time of crisis. Christians alone are in a position to rescue the perishing. We dare not settle down to try to live as if things were ‘normal.’ Nothing is normal while sin and lust and death roam the world, pouncing upon one and another till the whole population has been destroyed.”
Because the world is in peril we must prepare ourselves so that we might be faithful priests. God has given us His written word, the Bible, and His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, to indwell us. It is He who leads us into truth and equips us so that we might be effectual. However, we have a part in this. We cannot sit idly by and expect that men will be rescued. First, we must involve God in all that we do. Our battle is not against “flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness and spiritual hosts of wickedness” (Ephesians 6:12); Spirit beings that are far stronger than us and if we come against them in the power of our flesh, we will not be successful against them in our own battles or the battle that is going on in the life of those to whom we have been sent.
Second, we must be clean vessels. We must not have unconfessed sin in our lives. We must deal with it. Entertaining sin blocks the flow of God’s grace in and through our lives (See 1st John 1:5-10). And, undealt with sin grieves the Holy Spirit (See Ephesians 4:17-32). We are to be imitators of God, walking in love and in resistance to the lust of our old nature (Ephesians 5:1-17). Paul wrote that “The Lord knows those who are his,” and to “let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2nd Timothy 2:19b).
Third, we must be attached to Jesus Christ. He is our spiritual life source (John 15:1-8).
Fourth, as Paul instructed Timothy, we are to be diligent to “present ourselves approved of God, as a worker who does not to be ashamed, rightly understanding the word of truth” (See 2nd Timothy 2:15).
The priesthood is not a simple life.
Lord help us in our call.
stevelampman@comcast.net stevelampman.com
Transforming Power; The Work of God on Behalf of Man
All Scripture usage is from the NKJB