For thought and meditation

[rl69]

You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am ….I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master… JOHN 13:13, 16
To have a master and teacher is not the same thing as being mastered and taught. Having a master and teacher means that there is someone who knows me better than I know myself, who is closer than a friend, and who understands the remotest depths of my heart and is able to satisfy them fully. It means having someone who has made me secure in the knowledge that he has met and solved all the doubts, uncertainties, and problems in my mind. To have a master and teacher is this and nothing less— “…for One is your Teacher, the Christ…” (Matthew 23:8).
Our Lord never takes measures to make me do what He wants. Sometimes I wish God would master and control me to make me do what He wants, but He will not. And at other times I wish He would leave me alone, and He does not.
“You call Me Teacher and Lord…”— but is He? Teacher, Master, and Lord have little place in our vocabulary. We prefer the words Savior, Sanctifier, and Healer. The only word that truly describes the experience of being mastered is love, and we know little about love as God reveals it in His Word. The way we use the word obey is proof of this. In the Bible, obedience is based on a relationship between equals; for example, that of a son with his father. Our Lord was not simply God’s servant— He was His Son. “…though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience…” (Hebrews 5:8). If we are consciously aware that we are being mastered, that idea itself is proof that we have no master. If that is our attitude toward Jesus, we are far away from having the relationship He wants with us. He wants us in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that we have no conscious awareness of it— a relationship where all we know is that we are His to obey

[Pine Baron]

Thanks for this profound message this morning. As usual, after deep introspection, I find myself coming up short. I've got work to do.

[GhostHawk]

I'd be very surprised Pine Baron if you fall far short of the mark.

It is a big change between " I won't be led, I don't want the still waters, or the green pastures, I prefer rushing waters and the rocky steeps." I did that for decades.

When he called me, walked me through cleansing my heart, I knew who was master, and I loved him. He knew me from inside out and back to front. He knew things about me that I had forgotten. And when we looked back over my past I could see where he had carried me through the hardest parts. How even though I refused to be led, he was always with me. And he understood why I wanted what I wanted. He made me that way. Why I do not know. But he knows more than I, he see's more, and truer. He is the master I serve with all my heart. Its not about pride, or having my own way. I can see that doing it HIS way, makes me a happier, kinder, more gentle, more loving man. That is why I serve, and serve gladly.

Pine Baron I suspect you will find something similar.

Not for my glory, or pride. But for his. Where there is that much love there is no debt. Only acceptance.

[Parson]

I see you read Oswald Chambers as well, probably the most loved devotional of all times apart from the Bible itself

[USMC87]

Amen, Lord and Master of my life!

[Markopolo]

i loved the devotional

[Blackwater]

Humility isn't something that comes naturally nor easily to us willful humans. But with constant and consistent self-correction, we CAN learn it. If you're like me, it's taken a while, but it was so very, very much worth it. And I really don't believe you can become truly humble without developing quite a lot of patience. So this lesson if kind'a a two-fer! Christ suffered the worst death to have ever been placed upon a single human body. Can we then justify not doing things because they're difficult? When my son was very young, I'd often tell him to do something that I knew wouldn't be easy for him. He'd usually look up at me and say, "But daddy, that's hard!" Then I'd just smile a wry grin, and say, "Awwww. And you can only do EASY things, right?" Now this never failed to elicit the desired response. And he always did the job to completion, and very well at that. Now, he does difficult things daily in his business, and counts it all for good. Learning humility is one of our most important lessons that Christ will, if we let him, try very hard to teach us. He tries hard to teach us because it's so crucial to fully understand and submit to His teachings and His will. And what would we be without those things?