Sep 9 | Do your GIVING while you are LIVING, then you'll know where it is going! | 5MDevotionals | 5 Minute Devotionals | Manna-to-live-by | 5 Minute Devotionals | originally written by William MacDonald | Adapted & Developed for YouTube by John Benjamin
November 15
“…But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind.” (Phil 3:13b)
Ordinarily when we read these words, we tend to think that Paul was speaking about his past sins. He knew that these sins had been forgiven, that God had put them behind His back, and that He would never remember them again. So Paul was determined to forget them too and to “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
I still think that is a valid application of the verse. But Paul is not thinking about his sins in this passage. Rather he is thinking about the things in which he might have boasted—his lineage, his former religion, his zeal and his legal righteousness. Now these things meant nothing to him. He was determined to forget them.
I am reminded of John Sung, the devoted Chinese evangelist, who had come to the United States for training. Now he was on his way back to China. Leslie Lyall writes that “one day, as the vessel neared the end of its voyage, John Sung went down to his cabin, took out of his trunk his diplomas, his medals, and his fraternity keys and threw them all overboard except his doctor’s diploma, which he retained to satisfy his father. This was later framed and hung in his old home. The Rev. W. B. Cole saw it there about 1938. Dr. Sung noticed Mr. Cole looking at it one day and said, ‘Things like that are useless. They mean nothing to me.’”
‘“There must be great renunciations if there are to be great Christian careers!’ Dr. Denney’s words might have been written with Dr. Sung in mind. It is probably the chief secret of John Sung’s career that there came a day when he made just such a renunciation of all that this world holds dear.”
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
Save in the Cross of Christ my God;
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
Man’s honors are transient, empty things. They are cherished for a moment, then gather dust for decades. The Cross is all our glory. We make it our ambition to be well-pleasing to Him who died for us and rose again.
All that matters is to hear His “Well done!” and to be approved unto God.
We are willing to renounce everything else to win that prize.
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* Today’s Manna, originally written by William Mac-Donald
* Adapted and developed as 5MDevotionals, Manna-to-live-by, One-day-at-a-time,
for YouTube, by John Benjamin
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* "Truth to live by one day at a time”, "366 Bible Devotional" was originally written by William MacDonald and published in the USA by J.B. Nicholson, Jr., Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. Published in India by Moriah Ministries, Post Box No. 2540, East Park Road, Chennai 600030, India (moriahministries@gmail.com)
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