Daily Reading: Matthew 8
Jesus healed so many people and so few of them are heard from again. They do not become the great missionaries of their day. Jesus called his disciples from normal every day jobs. Average Joe’s doing average jobs. He did not call Peter from a life of sin into a ministry so that he could give his testimony to thousands upon thousands. He called him from being average to being excellent. Paul was not a vile sinner…he was a pious thinker. God did not lead him from filth to purity…he led him from a perception of purity to the real thing. Paul became a minister of the gospel by accepting truth and doing it. His testimony was not rags to riches it was from religion to relationship and so it is today. I am called of God to live a life that is beyond the mediocre and to pursue a lifestyle that accentuates the Holy Spirit within me. To free that power of God that longs to prove itself by doing those things I know to do and obeying that voice that calls me to live, move and breath the things of God.
Who am I right now and how can I be better at the things God has placed in my hands to do? What do I have to offer that I’ve been too lazy to give? How can I be an excellent wife? What will make me an excellent mother? How can I do excellent service for my church, my friends, and those who are lost?
Matthew 8:4 “And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.”
The leper wasn’t given a commission to tell the world of the healing power of Jesus…he was told to do what the Scriptures instructed and follow the ordinances of the priests. Do what you already know to do and no more. Your testimony is nothing if you do not obey…your offering is your testimony…give it and keep your mouth shut. How simple.
How often I long to give my testimony. I sit in choir or in the pew and think…Oh…I wish I could tell them what happened to me. But maybe I haven’t given my testimony as instructed in the Bible. No…I do not have an offering to bring to a priest but is there some new testament offering I could give in thanks and praise to God for what He has done? What is the equivalent for today?