Truth for Life - October 6, 2016
October 6
Christ's Surprising Choice
He had married a Cushite woman. - Numbers 12:1
Moses made a strange choice, but not as surprising as the choice of Him who is a prophet like Moses but greater than him - even our Lord Jesus! It is the wonder of angels that the love of Jesus should be set upon poor, lost, guilty men. Each believer must, when filled with a sense of Jesus' love, also be overwhelmed with astonishment that such love should be lavished on an object so utterly unworthy of it. Knowing as we do our secret guiltiness, unfaithfulness, and halfheartedness, we are dissolved in grateful admiration for the matchless freeness and sovereignty of grace.
Jesus must have found the cause of His love in His own heart; He could not have found it in us, for it is not there. Even since our conversion we have been poor, though grace has made us rich. Holy Rutherford said of himself what we must each subscribe to: "His relation to me is that I am sick, and He is the Physician of whom I stand in need. Sadly how often I play fast and loose with Christ! He binds, I loose; He builds, I tear down; I quarrel with Christ, and He agrees with me twenty times a day!"
Most tender and faithful Husband of our souls, pursue Your gracious work of conforming us to Your image, until You will present even us in our poverty to Yourself without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Moses met with opposition because of his marriage, and both himself and his spouse were the subjects of disapproval. Can we be surprised if this empty world opposes Jesus and His church, and particularly when notorious sinners are converted? For this is always the basis of the Pharisee's objection: "This man receives sinners."1 Of course He does; after all, He did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.
1) Luke 15:2
Family Bible reading plan
verse 1 Ezekiel 39
verse 2 Psalms 90
Zeal Without Burnout: Seven Keys to a Lifelong Ministry of Sustainable Sacrifice by Christopher Ash
Thousands of people leave Christian ministry every month. They have not lost their love for Christ, or their desire to serve him. But for one reason or another, they are exhausted and simply cannot carry on. Christopher Ash knows this experience all too well. As a pastor of a growing church, and then in his role of training people for ministry, he has found himself on the edge of burnout a number of times and has pastored many young ministers who have reached the end of their tether.
His wisdom has been distilled into this short, accessible book, in which he reveals a neglected biblical truth and seven keys that flow from it. Understood properly, and built into our lives as Christians who are zealous to serve the Lord, they will serve to protect us from burnout, and keep us working for God's kingdom and glory.
Click here to learn more about Truth For Life
From Morning & Evening revised and edited by Alistair Begg copyright © 2003. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.
