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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
April 29
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Today's Pathway:
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Paul has been teaching on the subject of what believers should be doing in light of the fact that the Lord's coming is near. So far he has told us to wake up and clean up. Now he gives instructions to grow up. First Paul instructs us to "put on" Jesus. The verb here is a command that is to take place at that moment. It is also something that the individual must do for himself. Jesus is not going to put Himself on us. We have to choose to do that. The expression "put on" means exactly what we would think that it does. We are to put on Christ just like we put on our clothes. . Adam Clarke writes that "putting on" a person is an expression
"signifying to assume the interests of another - to enter into his views, to imitate him, and be wholly on his side."
Warren Wiersbe applies it this way,
"To put on the Lord Jesus Christ means to become more like Him, to receive by faith all that He is for our daily living."
It means to grow up to be like Jesus. It is profitable to note that Paul refers to Jesus as "the Lord Jesus Christ". This speaks to the totality of Who He is. He is Lord, the One Who is over all things. He is Jesus, the God-man Who provides salvation for all who believe. He is the Christ, the anointed One, the Messiah.
As we are putting on the Lord, we need to be protecting ourselves from the flesh. Paul says that we are to "make no provision". Provisions are the things that we take with us in order to survive. Sailors had to make sure that they had plenty of provisions if they were going to make an ocean voyage. Paul says that we need to get rid of any provisions that would allow our flesh to survive. He wrote earlier that we were to "mortify the deeds of the body" (Romans 8:13). If we allow the flesh to survive we will never accomplish all that God has placed us here to do. We need to stay away from people and places that would tempt us to sin. We need to be careful about what we read, watch, and listen to. We need to get our minds under control so that we do not lust. The root of the Greek word translated "provision" has the basic idea of planning something out ahead of time. In other words, we must stop conniving plans by which we can sin and get away with it.
If we allow lusts to grow in our heart, we will eventually start to fulfill them. James 1:14-15 tells us,
"But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
No man ever commits a sin without first thinking about it and desiring to do it. People say cruel things because they have thought them. People steal money because they have lusted after it. I have often heard people give some form of the following excuse: "I don't know why I did that - it just happened." No, it didn't. Things happen because we have lusts, and suddenly when the opportunity to fulfill those lusts occurs, we do what we already desired to do in our hearts.
We need to start acting like Jesus would. We need to stop giving ourselves opportunities to sin. We need to grow up to be more like Christ. How are we doing?
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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