The Devotional - A Look at the Book #900

by Jesse Abel

Thoughts from Papa “J”

 

Many of us like to “pay back” when a wrong is caused by someone. God identifies all aggressive action as evil. How then can you pay back? Do you have a tool or weapon stronger than “evil”? The answer is; to both questions, “you cannot pay back, nor do you have a stronger weapon” so wait! Wait for the LORD and He will save (deliver) you. Proverbs 20:22

 

Good Morning

 

2 Corinthians 10:7-11 – In the early days of prison ministry we were meeting with several churches for a weekend of evangelism with a ministry that is still active today even though many of those original leaders are retired now. That weekend there were hundreds of volunteers from all across the U.S. and it was one of the first times that I was exposed to the various beliefs within the universal church. Well to make a longer story short which is often hard for me to do, we’ll move to the next paragraph.

 

On this particular Saturday we all ate lunch in the prison cafeteria, we were sitting eating our desert when two women volunteers came to our table and very quickly anointed our foreheads with oil. My response was that I stood up and wiped off the oil with my napkin and said, “what in the world are you doing, anyway?’ They said that they were being obedient to the gospel of Mark 6:13 and the Great Commission section in Mark 16.

 

Later when our afternoon ministry was complete, I was reading those events in Mark and even a passage in the epistle of James and determined that the two ladies were out of line with anointing people with oil and went searching for them. One of my companions was with me and he always seemed to know when he needed to step in and give me a word of wisdom.

 

“Jesse, why are you searching out these two”? “Well, I want to set them straight, I don’t like the fact that they put oil on my head, I didn’t need it and I am not sick with sin!” “Jesse, you’re not going to change their mind, they are not going to apologize and by the time you figure that out you will be in the flesh”! “Hmmn, I Thought, he is right again” so I said, what can be done about people who are ignorant? “Maybe” he said; “they are not ignorant, maybe you are? Why not first find out if they are believers? This too, is an impossible task since there is no outward appearance that defines salvation that one might look at.

 

Here in our text this morning I see a parallel to that experience in the prison years ago. While the thought of placing oil on someone’s head was foreign to me, it was very normal to those who practiced such a thing. So I let it go and chalked it up to experience. Our outward appearance and actions do not make us believers in Jesus.

 

Personal faith dictates that we belong to Christ and this same faith is working in those who we meet daily; yet they may have a doctrinal belief that differs from what we consider normal, in fact; differences are the norm, it is the gospel that does not change Romans 1:16-17.

 

The apostle Paul has not changed the subject of his exhortation he is still referencing spiritual warfare. Anytime we challenge the authority of one’s relationship to God we are walking on thin ice. I know as you do that this sort of activity within the church is not healthy. Communication and edification is not for the destruction of the fellowship, but for the building up of “one another” in the Righteousness of Jesus Christ our LORD.

 

So in verbal and written communication regarding the Living Word of God you will find people who have variation in doctrinal authority, sometimes these efforts seem terrifying to us. If we are less than careful, our communication about such matters can be destructive, even contemptible. Yes, we must protect and contend (Jude 1:3-4) for our personal faith, our family’s faith and the faith of our church family; the limits of which will be the topic of another day.