Spirit of Your Father
Spirit of Your Father. Matthew 10 continues with a very sober warning: "But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake."
16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
18 And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
19 But
when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak:
for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
20 For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
Matthew 10:16-20, KJV
Spirit of Your Father
Jesus precludes this section with the words, "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." In other words, we are called to understand the true heart of man; in dealing with the people of this world we must not be naive! That is not to say that we are to have any sense of superiority, pride, or arrogance, thinking that we are better than the people of this world. Why? Our pride is in Christ, and not in ourselves!
The only thing that makes us different than the people of this world is that, in the words of Christ, the Spirit of your Father
is in you! We see and understand everything in this life from a
different perspective because the Holy Spirit lives within our hearts.
Understanding the difference, we should not expect the people of this
world to understand the things of God. No wonder they reject the Bible,
and even the very words of Christ, assuming Him to be but a man.
How, then, should we approach the people of this world? We must
understand that the difference is the grace of God. We should pray for
our unsaved friends, relatives, and neighbors--pray that God would open
their eyes to see the truths of His Word and to see their need of the
Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. We should pray that God would
graciously move in their hearts and lives so that they would humbly bow
the knee before Him, and receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
Knowing that not everyone comes to Christ, we must not be naive in our
dealings with the people of this world. Not everyone who claims to be a
Christian is one! The very ones who turned against Christ happened to be
the religious leaders of the Jewish people. Often, the greatest
antagonists to true believers are those who are very religious, but have
never truly turned their heart to the Lord.
Then, too, there are those who openly reject Christ. Often these are the
very ones who are leaders of cities, countries, and nations. Should we
fear their reprisals against us, especially if we live in nations where
Christians are openly persecuted? Christ encourages us to put all of our
confidence and trust in Him, not worrying about what we would say if we
are brought before the ungodly. For, in our hour of greatest need, He
will surround us with grace and strength, and give us the very words we
should speak.
This world is antagonistic to God, so we should not be surprised when it is antagonistic to His children.
Go this day, in the strength and power of God, and faithfully serve Him,
remembering that a crown of glory awaits us when we enter the gates of
heaven, and the first face we see will be that of our dear Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ!
Devotional Reflections from the Bible
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