Pre-Passover Meditation ~ ~ ~ The UN-distracted Mind of CHRIST

Photo by The ORDER of The GOOD SHEPHERD+
Crown of Thorns bush

The Invitatory

 CHRIST JESUS 

came into the world to save sinners,

Of whom I am chief. 

LORD, 

be merciful to me, a sinner.

O Come, Let us Adore HIM+ . 

Old Testament Lesson: Leviticus 26, 

selected verses ,
 courtesy of  www.Biblegateway.com

Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I AM THE LORD THY GOD.

Ye shall keep my sabbaths, 

and reverence my sanctuary: 

I AM THE LORD.

If ye walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them;
⁴ Then I will give you rain ...
⁵ And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage ... 
⁶ And I will give peace in the land ... .
⁷ And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
 ~ ~~ ~~ 
⁹ For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.

¹¹ And I set my tabernacle among you: and My soul shall not abhor you. 

¹² And I will walk among you, and will be your GOD, and ye shall be My people.

¹³ I AM THE LORD THY GOD, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.

¹⁴ But if ye will not hearken unto ME, and will not do all these commandments;

¹⁵ And if ye shall despise My statutes, or if your soul abhor My judgments, so that ye will not do all My commandments, but that ye break My Covenant:
~ ~ ~

¹⁹ And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:

²⁰ And your strength shall be spent in vain... 
~ ~ ~ 


³² And I will bring the land into desolation ...

~  ~  ~

³⁴ Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.

³⁵ As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.

Epistle Lesson: Colossians 1: 19-23

Courtesy of Biblegateway.com

For it pleased The FATHER that in HIM+ should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the Blood of His+ Cross, by HIM+ to reconcile all things unto HIMSELF+; by HIM+, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in Heaven.

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath HE+ reconciled in  the body of His+ Flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His+ sight:

if ...if ... if ...

ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under Heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

The Gospel Lesson: Luke 10: 38-42

Courtesy of Biblegateway.com, NKJV

Now it happened as they went that HE+ entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him+ into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His+  word. 

But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him+ and said, “LORD, do You+ not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? 

Therefore tell her to help me.”

And JESUS answered and said to her, “Martha! Martha! 

You are worried and troubled about many things. 

But ONE+ THING is needed, 

and Mary has chosen THAT GOOD PART+, 

which will not be taken away from her.”

Meditation ~ ~ ~

The Old Covenant was established to show Israel ... and thus, all mankind...  HOW TO PLEASE GOD. It was established to show us what things are acceptable to GOD and what things HE hates. ( HE still hates those things listed as "sin" in the Law, by the way.)

Breaking GOD'S laws under the Old Covenant brought certain, swift, and awful consequences. That was the way The LORD trained mankind to savor righteousness with HIM. 

When Our LORD JESUS walked the earth, HE+ did not "un-do" the laws, HE+ actually

extended them to encompass more.

Back then, adultery was punished by stoning to death the transgressors. Under the covenant of JESUS' BLOOD, adultery of the heart, done secretly was severely condemned. Our LORD JESUS HIMSELF said that if our EYE offended us... that is, made us to sin... to pluck it out.

HE+ was not joking. Under the New Covenant, once JESUS' BLOOD was shed to cover us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, the punishment for willfully-practiced sin IS... IS... IS... (!)  Eternal death.  

Unfortunately, sin occurs in the HEART of man. However, one is not able to pluck out one's heart.  

So, we flee unto JESUS our SAVIOR+ for cleansing and help against sin. 

One of the best strong-holds against sin is to focus on JESUS without distraction of thought, like Martha's sister Mary chose to do.   

Let Us Pray ~ ~ ~ 

Gracious Heavenly FATHER, I have forsaken following Thy Word meticulously. I have done whatsoever I have "thought" to be right... instead of following Thy Holy Words given and preserved for me at great price. 

Help me not to cast ANY of Thy words aside and establish my "interpretation" of what THOU dost require of me... instead of what is clearly written. 

O LORD our GOD, help me to stand firm against temporal values within me, values that focus on my own home, my own family, my own life constantly. 

Help me to strive for that undistracted mind, focused upon CHRIST, so that I may know what pleaseth THEE. Give me Singleness-of-Eye, that I become a GOD-pleaser and not a man-pleaser, that I learn to please THEE+, my LORD, and not myself. 

O, Help me to do this SO MUCH SO that even my undistracted focus upon THY HOLY SON+ JESUS becomes my only identity in this world... that I might choose the BETTER+ part, like Mary. 

So that, when I come face to face with our SAVIOR+,  I can honestly say, "I have loved THEE+ with my whole heart."

Grant these things, for Thy SON+'s sake, our only SAVIOR+ and MEDIATOR, the only name given under Heaven among men, whereby we must be saved... Our LORD JESUS CHRIST.  

Amen.

Making Yourself AVAILABLE to The LORD...

Making oneself

AVAILABLE

to The LORD is how
serious Christian disciples

seek to follow

The LORD JESUS CHRIST.

But without faith it is impossible to please HIM+: for he that cometh to GOD must believe that HE is, and that HE is a rewarder of them that diligently seek HIM+. Hebrews 11:6

In the daily walk there are certain things ... practices or disciplines, if you will... that will draw us closer to The LORD ... if we practice them diligently.

The Apostle calls this "sowing to the SPIRIT."

Similarly, there are certain daily activities or "focuses" of our energy and mind, that, if we pour ourselves into them, will draw us FARTHER AWAY from The LORD and HIS+ values.

The Apostle calls this "sowing to the flesh."

All serious-minded Christians know and do realize the truth that sowing to the flesh reaps corruption.  

The problem is, however, that usually the CORRUPTION doesn't OCCUR immediately and the CORROSION oftentimes is not obvious but unseen.  The corrosion remains hidden until a time of testing befalls a Christian, then the "steel girders" of one's faith are found to be piles of rust, giving way at the very moment when needed and blown as the chaff in the air. The Christian tumbles and the witness is destroyed.

Here is an easy rule to ascertain what "sowing to the flesh" entails: It is ALL those things that  DO NOT PROFIT US SPIRITUALLY !

For some , it may be chatting on the phone or emailing. For others, it may be TV or videos or reading a book, listening to music, doing projects around the house.... anything that takes our focus OFF of The LORD. 

For some, it may even entail involvment with church work and activities and hospitalities.

Most of us have innumerable duties and responsibilities through the day, in the public or at home. Some of us are so over-loaded that we are almost too exhausted to think.

The cure is to seek The LORD ... and then simplify where HE+ shows us to simplify.

 But, I will tell you this as a fact:

>  >  >  The LORD would rather have you quiet and with HIM+ than being full of activity... in or out of the church ... in or out of the home.

HE+ is not fooled. HE+ knows when our projects, activities, meetings, church doings and fellowships are being substituted for spending "down" time with HIM+.  If  HE+ is not directing us SPECIFICALLY to an activity, then we need to spend that time quietly, sowing to the SPIRIT.

> > > We will never live  making ourselves available to HIM+  if we do not sow to the SPIRIT, every day, in a disciplined way. 
 

Thus,  

what exactly entails

"sowing to the SPIRIT" ?

 

It is ALL those things that DRAW us closer to The LORD ... that make us recall His+ Sacrifice ... that make us recall our sins and repent ... that make us love HIM+ more ... so that we can embrace more of the Cross . All those things that make our MIND as well as our FLESH submit unto The SPIRIT entails "sowing to the SPIRIT."

 

Yes, all those  things which strengthen us SPIRITUALLY should become our daily sowing, our daily food, our daily discipline. 

 

Dear ones...
    You know what they are, for The LORD has shown you. HE+ will show you more, if you ask. Furthermore, HE+ will clear your schedule, if you wish to have more time to diligently seek HIM+... for HE+ is desirous for you to COME. HE+ would rather have a "Mary" than a "Martha..."   for Mary had chosen the better part.