In Your Image

Leviticus 8
Acts 12

Food for Life:

Leviticus 8
'So Aaron and his sons did everything the Lord commanded through Moses." During the ordination ceremony of Aaron and his sons (he and his descendants chosen by God to be the priests, and Aaron the high priest (who is now Jesus - Hebrews 7:26-28)), did EVERYTHING just as the Lord commanded. They were obedient to the tee...which as we see in reading Leviticus, was no small task!

Would it be today, that empowered by the Holy Spirit, we would be obedient to the tee. Not as a way of earning God's love, or position or favor with God, not to be self-satisfied or pleased with ourselves, not to lord it over others....but because God is worthy, and to honor the Lord because of who He is and what He has done for us...because of the lavish Love God has and does pour out over us - because He first loved us, we want to show our love for Him.

"Lord, we can't be obedient unless You move in and through us, empowering us to do so. Lord, we thank You for Your grace that covers us, even as a bird is covered with feathers, does Your Presence and Love cover us. Fill us with the desire to say 'yes Lord to Your will and to Your way.' "...everything that does not come from faith is sin" (Romans 14:23). Lord, You guide us through Your Word, and You speak through our conscious' - so that our conscious is clear and not filled with guilt, as we act upon the measure of faith in Jesus that You give us - for Your Glory, our good, and the good of others, that whoever will, will come. Thank You Lord."

Acts 12
Reading this chapter, I am in awe! In awe of the Lord! God sent His angel to release Peter from prison...as God's people prayed God's prayers on behalf of Peter, "So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him" (12:5). I am also in awe that as Herod came to speak, the people "shouted, 'This is the voice of a god, not of a man. Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died" (12:22,23).

Wow - because when Herod was given glory, actually he was hailed as BEING god...the voice of god..."he did not give praise to God" he was killed. He was not killed because the people (ignorantly, with pride, filled with the devil...we are not given the reason why the people glorified Herod as god) credited him as the voice of god...he was killed because when the people did this, Herod did not give glory to God - Herod allowed them to hail him as god...

That is jarring, isn't it (to put it mildly)? I'm thinking about how easy it is as people, for us to credit to other people or ourselves, with whatever good comes from us. We are given the example of Herod (granted he was actually beheading Christians...no good in that...!) to make it clear that giving Glory to anyone but God, is a death report.

There are many reasons for this. The foremost is because God is the Only One worthy of Glory.
Another reason is because as people, it is so easy for us to be prideful and end up worshiping ourselves, the created, instead of the Creator (see Romans 1...and look around us and...within ourselves...).
Think about it - can you remember a time when the Lord did something through you or when you accomplished something great, wonderful, good, or awesome? Or when someone you know did? How easy is it to start feeling puffed up, or maybe even jealous of the other person and his/her accomplishment? If we stay with those thoughts, and if we were to follow them to their conclusion...well, ruin is sure to come. That is because we are limited and finite and at some point, in and of ourselves, we fail or fall. Proverbs says, "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" (16:18).

This is reality, and the Lord reveals this to us for His Glory and for our good and for the good of others. This is how we are formed. We didn't form ourselves, we didn't give ourselves the gifts, abilities, and talents we possess (and each one of us DOES have at least one gifting, ability, and talent(!)) and we aren't responsible for the origination of 'good works' or their results. If we were, eventually, we would fail....

BUT GOD - God is the One who formed us (Psalm 139), God is the One who has deposited gifts, abilities, talents within us (Ephesians 2:10a) and God is the One who prepared the good works for us to walk in (Ephesians 10:b).
So, give God the Glory for who you are (wonderful and good :)), for the gifts, abilities, and talents you possess, and for the good works, the fruit that comes from you as you are connected to the Vine (John 15)!!!
Let's not be like Herod, who was silent in the face of others' enamoration (new word :)...enamoredness - of him...and he was struck down.

"Lord thank You that You have created us in Your Image; thank You that You have filled us with Your Spirit, thank You that You have deposited gifts, talents, abilities within us to be used for Your Glory, our good, and the good of others. Thank You Lord that 'every good and perfect gift comes down from You, the Father of lights in whom there is no variation or shifting shadow (James 1:17). Thank You that we can say 'thank you and praise God' whenever we are commended/complimented by others and when we are tempted to 'compliment' ourselves."
Bless You Lord! Thank You!