Monday, December 31, 2018

Ready for the Reckoning

by Dr. Paul Chappell

And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.

Luke 19:15-17

One of the final parables Jesus taught before His crucifixion was the story of a nobleman who trusted his servants with money before taking a long journey. The primary purpose of this parable was to address God's plan for the future—that Jesus had come as a Saviour rather than to set up an earthly kingdom. But, one of the main applications of the parable is that each of us has been trusted with gifts and abilities and resources by God. One day we will stand before Him to give an account of how we have used our gifts.

When the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, 2018 will close forever. There will never be an opportunity to go back and recapture time wasted, money poorly spent, opportunities to witness lost, unkind words spoken in anger or deeds we regret doing or not doing. But, that realization should not fill us with despair, but hope. When the sun comes up, a new year will start. Each of those days can be used to good purpose.

The certainty of the time when we must give account to God for our service should encourage and motivate us to stop worrying about other people and instead focus on how we can best serve Him each day. Paul reminds us, “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (Romans 14:10).

Today’s Growth Principle: 

Use each day to the fullest and you will not face God with regrets.

CURRENT RADIO SERIES A Life of Purpose   CURRENT TV SERIES Generosity

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” --James 4:7 There is a famous painting I’ve seen, done by an artist named Moritz Retzsch, of a chess match between the devil and a young man. In the painting of the chess game, the devil appears to have the young man in a checkmate. So, the young man is sweating profusely and trying to figure out if he can move. Years ago, a master in the game of chess was invited to look at the picture and see if there was any possible move that the young man could make to get out of checkmate with the devil. So that master chessman stared and searched the board for a possible way out for three hours. After three hours, he finally saw one move the man could make… one way out from defeat. When he saw it, they said he shouted out loud to the painting, “Young man, make that move! Make that move!” The truth is that victory over the devil really does take just one move: trusting in Christ. You can sit for hours and try to figure it out, but only one move will do. Yes, you can beat him, but you have to make the move to Jesus first! I urge you to do this before 2019 begins!   SO OFTEN IT CAN SEEM LIKE THE DEVIL HAS YOU CORNERED. BUT IF YOU WANT TO HAVE VICTORY OVER HIM, TRUSTING IN CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY! HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! =)