Love, forgiveness, self-sacrifice
Babble On
(#051 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
www.sufferwell.org
Rise, rise, to the loftiest heights,
Find Me your own way?
Anger, resentment, pride and strife,
Building towers made of clay.
Pride, the mortar it takes to cure,
To your own destruction it sets.
Your path to heaven, seventy-angels obscure,
Your ascension their mission besets.
How can a unified structure start,
When not one man prefers the other?
Build towers in your hardened heart?
Instead, first love your brother!
Rise, rise, to the loftiest heights,
To find Me this is the way.
Love, forgiveness, self-sacrifice,
No greater-love than one’s life to lay.
You never know when the soil of your heart (the ability to cultivate Yahweh’s thoughts) will be hardened permanently from a famine of hearing His words (Amos 8:11). The mandate to, “seek Yahweh while He may be found;” and to “call on Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6) had better be taken seriously, as this could be your last day.
Listen loved one, the cry of the Father’s heart is for unity. He sacrificed His own Son in order that His people would be of one mind, one speech, and one body (Ephesians 4:1-6). Nevertheless, there are many members in this one body and all the “body parts” do not have the same function. (Romans 12:4) With this in mind, should one man (the modern-day pastor) reign supreme over all the functions of the body? Sadly, the “church” has supported such practices and men of position have enjoyed the grandeur. Woe to you shepherds who aim to please the masses in order to preserve your position (Matthew 18:12-14).
But, new things are coming and the “old guard” will be removed with a new breed of shepherds to take their place (Jeremiah 23:1-4). They will execute judgment and righteousness in the earth (v. 5). These new shepherds will have no need to chastise or manipulate the congregation into submission. They will not be insecure about their own limitations, but rather embrace personal challenges as supernaturally inserted thorns of humility, perfectly placed by the Father (2 Corinthians 12:7). In this new paradigm, the talents of the congregation will inspire mutual submission.
It is time to rise up as the body, together as one, and listen for the Master’s voice. Woe to you shepherds who refuse to obey all that’s commanded of you, to you who fail to heed Yahweh’s whisper while it can still be heard.