In my teens when I accepted
Jesus and in my mind I feel like a lifelong Christian. However, I fall short
and I’m humbled when I stand alongside of Simeon and Anna who spent a lifetime
waiting, watching and serving in the temple. Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at
the temple on the eighth day when it was time to circumcise him. Along with
Simeon, “There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the
tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years
after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was
eighty–four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and
praying” (Luke 2:36-37 NIV).
2 comments:
Gail;
-----I certainly don’t want to be a party-pooper, but I think a relevant warning will benefit those who heed it. “29 The glory of young men is their strength, but the beauty of old men is their gray hair.” (Prov 20:29) According to that, just growing old is beneficial. But understanding any one thing the Bible says relies upon understanding the rest of what it says. That’s why we have to grow into knowing the Word of God humbly. “Humbly” is a key concept. More commonly folks grow into knowing their denomination’s spin on the Bible, or that of some smooth talker like Rich Warren, Ellen G. White, or Joseph Smith. Others grow into knowing what mom and dad said about the Bible, or the neighbors, or the local church they attend. All we need to do is visit a few churches to discover how differently the Bible can be understood when subjected to group think.
-----But it is not group think, or the neighbors, or mom and dad, or even Dr. David Jeremiah (be sure to properly accent “Dr.”) whom the Lord needs constructing our understanding of the Word. I am convinced everyone we meet and every experience we have takes a part in shaping our understanding of His Word. But that part should not be active and we be passive. We can not be shaped by our surroundings. Our surroundings must be used like tools by the better sense His Word has instructed into our relationships with Him. By our good reasoning upon His Word brought to the information and influences of others the Holy Spirit gives us an active roll in producing the beauty of our own gray hair, if we accept that with humility instead of pride.
-----What’s at risk? I know a preacher now retired in the beauty of his gray hair. In his Revelation class he kept the lid screwed tightly on any eschatological talk by often saying, “The purpose of Revelation is to show we win.” How cute! And it is. And Revelation does have some of that purpose. But when putting forth the purpose of something expressly, like he was doing, it is important to express that purpose as closely to what that something itself stated its purpose to be. In this case, Revelation three times states its purpose, as if to keep a lid screwed down tightly upon any misunderstanding. “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must soon take place.” How could the experience of gray hair miss the very first verse? John’s entire vision from the fourth chapter on was shown precisely for the purpose the angel stated before it began, “I will show you what must take place after this.” (4:1) Again, at the end of Revelation, “And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” (22:6) But the lifelong service of this saint failed to develop his understanding of Revelation beyond verse one.
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Steve Corey has left a new comment on your post "Lifetime of Serving":
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-----Another beautifully gray haired saint stated in his Sunday school class a couple weeks ago, “Don’t be fooled by what you hear, the nation of Israel we now see has nothing to do with the ancient Israel of the Bible. They are two different things. That country over there has nothing to do with anything.” And this is a very studious man. He’s been that way all his life. And Israel today has nothing to do with God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be a great nation forever? It has nothing to do with numerous prophecies like, “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back because I have compassion on them, and they shall be as though I had not rejected them; for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them?” (Zech 10:6)
-----Certainly Christ is the foundation and we all build upon it with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw. Surely the fire will test the work we have done. And thankfully we will ourselves be saved as through that testing fire. But we are yet false. The righteousness we are is not ours. So, in building who we are and what we believe on that foundation of Christ, we must keep continual awareness of the fact that we ourselves are false; it is God who is true. Bias is bigly consuming. It bites off, eats up, and turns to poop pieces of truth before we even realize it has come around.
-----Zephaniah 2:3 reads, ”Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his commands; seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the wrath of the LORD.” Perhaps? PERHAPS!?! What ever happened to the surety of it? Oh yes. That’s right, “Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility goes before honor.” (Prov 18:12) Simeon and Anna were not honored with meeting the infant Savior just because they served in the Temple all their lives no more than the aforementioned saints are understanding and knowledgeable for having served lifelong in the church. Long life just makes gray. Humility is the conditioner which gives gray its beauty. Humility is simply acquiescence to the truth. Simeon and Anna saw because they served lifelong truly by lifelong serving humbly.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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