Taking Aim
Dear Pastor, Preacher, or Bible Teacher –
Happy Day-After-Pentecost! I pray that today and all this week you can walk in the power and the strength of the Holy Spirit. We need it more today than ever.
Today, just a short thought from Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5:9:
Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent,
to be well pleasing to Him.
You’ve heard it before – “when you read a ‘therefore,’ find out what it is there for.” Before verse 9, Paul drew attention to eternity; being absent from our body and being present with the Lord. In light of that, we have an aim – and that aim is to be well pleasing to Him. Since what we do right now has eternal consequences, our goal must persistently be to please God.
This is our aim, whether present or absent. We can’t do anything right now about pleasing God when after this life we are absent from these bodies and present with the Lord. That day has not yet come. Yet we can do something about pleasing Jesus right now – when we are absent from His immediate presence and present in these bodies.
As far as we know, there are some opportunities for pleasing God that we will only have while we are present in these bodies. When we get to heaven, there will be no more need for faith, no more need for endurance through trials, no more need for courage and boldness in telling others about Jesus. Now, while we are present in these bodies, is our only opportunity in all eternity to please God in these areas.
So, take aim – make it your bold goal to be well pleasing to Jesus. The people liked your sermon – but was it well pleasing to Him? Your social media post got a lot of likes – but was it well pleasing to Him? Those movers and shakers in your church are pleased, but is it well pleasing to Him?
Take aim, dear servant of God! Remember what Alexander Maclaren said: “You report to headquarters. Never mind what anybody else thinks of you. Your business is to please Christ, and the less you trouble yourselves about pleasing men the more you will succeed in doing it.”
Blessings to You in Jesus’ Name – David Guzik
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The Power of God’s Word
Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it…. Then Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king. (2 Kings 22:8, 10)
2 Kings 22 starts the story of Josiah, one of better kings of Judah. In his time there was a wonderful repentance and revival in Jerusalem and all of Judah. These verses show us that it started when they found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.
It’s sad to think that they ever lost God’s word – that it has to be found. According to Deuteronomy 31:24-27, there was to be a copy of this Book of the Law beside the ark of the covenant, beginning in the days of Moses. The word of God was with Israel, but it was greatly neglected in those days.
It was so neglected that 2 Kings 22:8 has to tell us, he read it: It seems remarkable that this was even worthy of mention – that the high priest found the word of God and a scribe read it. That was news worth writing about!
Better yet, Shaphan read it before the king. We see that the word of God spread. It had been forgotten and regarded as nothing more than an old, dusty book. Now it was found, read, and spread. We should expect some measure of spiritual revival and renewal to follow.
Through the history of God’s people, whenever the word of God is recovered and spread, spiritual revival follows. It can begin as simply as it did in the days of Josiah, with one man finding and reading and believing and spreading the Book.
Another example of this in history is seen in the story of Peter Waldo and his followers, sometimes known as Waldenses. Waldo was a rich merchant living in the 12th century who gave up his business to radically follow Jesus. He hired two priests to translate the New Testament into the common language and using this, he began to teach others. He taught in the streets or wherever he could find someone to listen.
Many common people came to hear him and started to radically follow Jesus Christ. He taught them the text of the New Testament in the common language and was rebuked by church officials for doing so. He ignored the rebuke and continued to teach, eventually sending his followers out two by two into villages and marketplaces, to teach and explain the scriptures.
The scriptures were memorized by the Waldenses, and it was not unusual for their ministers to memorize the entire New Testament and large sections of the Old Testament. The word of God – when found, read, believed, and spread – has this kind of transforming power. Read it and believe it today!
Click here for David’s commentary on 2 Kings 22
Eine überraschende Buße
Was aber mehr von Manasse zu sagen ist, und alles, was er getan hat, und seine Sünde, die er tat, ist das nicht aufgezeichnet im Buch der Chronik der Könige von Juda? Und Manasse legte sich zu seinen Vätern und wurde begraben im Garten seines Hauses, im Garten Ussas. Und sein Sohn Amon wurde König […]
Un arrepentimiento sorprendente
Los demás hechos de Manasés, y todo lo que hizo, y el pecado que cometió, ¿no está todo escrito en el libro de las crónicas de los reyes de Judá? Y durmió Manasés con sus padres, y fue sepultado en el huerto de su casa, en el huerto de Uza, y reinó en su lugar Amón su hijo. (2 Reyes 21:17-18)
Claramente, Manasés fue uno de los peores gobernantes sobre el reino de Judá. Los versículos que leemos aquí mencionan todo lo que hizo, y el pecado que cometió. Estos grandes pecados fueron el terrible legado de Manasés, quien era el hijo de uno de los mejores reyes de Judá (Ezequías).
Sin embargo, hay una pista interesante acerca del resto de la historia de Manasés en las palabras, ¿no está todo escrito en el libro de las crónicas de los reyes de Judá? 2 Crónicas 33: 11-19 describe un arrepentimiento extraordinario por parte de este rey pecador.
Como Manasés y el pueblo de Judá no escuchaban las advertencias de Dios, el Señor permitió que los babilonios ataran al rey y lo llevaran cautivo a Babilonia. Ahí es donde la historia toma un giro inesperado.
En Babilonia, luego que fue puesto en angustias, oró a Jehová su Dios, humillado grandemente en la presencia del Dios de sus padres (2 Crónicas 33:12) y Dios respondió a su oración y lo devolvió al trono. De una manera que nunca había conocido, Manasés llegó a conocer al Señor.
Manasés luego demostró que su arrepentimiento era genuino al quitar los ídolos y los dioses extranjeros de Jerusalén, y mandó a Judá que sirviesen a Jehová Dios de Israel (2 Crónicas 33:16).
Este es un maravilloso ejemplo del principio: Instruye al niño en su camino, y aun cuando fuere viejo no se apartará de él. (Proverbios 22: 6). Manasés fue criado por un padre piadoso, pero vivió desafiando la fe de su padre por la mayor parte de su vida. Sin embargo, al final de sus días, se arrepintió y sirvió a Dios. De esta manera, podemos decir que era muy cierto que durmió Manasés con sus padres.
Sin embargo, su arrepentimiento fue demasiado tarde para cambiar la nación. Parece que la gente se endureció en sus formas, y en su conjunto no siguieron el ejemplo de arrepentimiento de Manasés. En lo que respecta al efecto sobre la gente, el malvado Manasés tuvo más impacto que su arrepentimiento en la vejez.
Peor aún, el arrepentimiento de Manasés pasó demasiado tarde para cambiar el destino del reino. Años después, cuando Jerusalén finalmente cayó ante los babilonios, 2 Reyes 24:34 culpa a Manasés y sus pecados.
Es maravilloso cuando la gente se mueve al arrepentimiento tarde en la vida. Sin embargo, cuanto más tiempo vivamos en desobediencia, más probabilidades tendremos de enfrentar consecuencias por el pecado. Es otra razón para arrepentirse mejor pronto que tarde.
