March 10, 2022In his devotional on Tuesday, George Worthy wrote the following: “In 2nd Samuel chapter 9, we read the story of King David and Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of the first king of Israel, King Saul. After Jonathan’s death, David went forth to show kindness to Saul’s house. Mephibosheth had become lame at the young age of five — he had lived his entire life as a cripple. When David calls him forth, Mephibosheth replies “What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?” His identity was completely based on his disability when in fact, he was the grandson of a king! He had forgotten his royal lineage and was wallowing in self-pity. Yet David looked beyond his disability and recognizing who he was, offered him a place at the King’s table.
How much time do we spend wallowing in our own self-pity, groaning about things with which we struggle daily…so much so that it becomes who we are! The enemy would love nothing more than to keep us focused on our disabilities so that we are distracted from the calling of God on our lives. He wants us to have a “victim mentality”. But let’s not lose focus of the reality of who we are. In Yeshua (Jesus), we are a chosen generation, part of a royal priesthood, and the King has offered us a place at His table! We are heirs of His great throne!!”
In our Bible study this week on Zoom, we looked at what the late Robert Munn wrote in his Bible course on Acts: “It is interesting to note that the three remarkable conversions recorded in the Acts concern people from three different ethnic groups, the descendants of the three sons of Noah, from whom came all the human races (Genesis 9:1, 18; 10:1-5). The eunuch of chapter 8 was a Hamite, Saul in chapter 9 was a Shemite and Cornelius in chapter 10 is a descendant of Japheth. The Gospel is universal and answers the universal need of humanity. ‘ALL have sinned …’ (Romans 3:23), but ‘Christ died for ALL’ (Romans 5:8).” Brother Munn adds: “Saul’s conversion is probably the most notable event that took place in the history of the Christian Church. It is recorded three times in the Acts in chapters 9:1-22, 22:4-11, and 26:9-18. Paul not only became the Church’s great evangelist-missionary, but also its greatest theologian.”
Scripture for the weekend: “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.” 1 John 5:4 (NASB)
Thought for the weekend: “Conversion is the standing miracle of the church.” – C. H. Spurgeon