Please God First

I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Saturday morning, the 16th of September, 2023, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Romans 8:1: 

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,…" 

Then we go to the Book of Ecclesiastes 7, and a part of verse 21:

" Also do not take to heart everything people say,.." 

Do not always be so concerned about pleasing everybody. I know I tend to do that and get into trouble. You will never be able to please everyone. Rather start by pleasing God first of all, and then all these other things will come into line.

C.H Spurgeon, the great preacher, the Baptists call him the prince of preachers, was walking down the road one day and some man walked up to him and said, "You know, you are the chief of all humbugs." Now, a humbug is an old-fashioned word for an idiot. His reply was, "Well, at least I am the chief of something!"

Oswald Chambers, who wrote probably the greatest devotional of all, "My Utmost for His Highest", would never read any articles referring to him, no criticism, no flattery; he would never, ever read it. If you do that kind of thing, your life will become like a yoyo. One minute you will be up in the sky and the next you will be down in the dumps. Rather listen only to the words of Jesus and then build yourself up in the inner man. For example, Philippians 4:13:

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  

And you can! Keep away also from "yes" men, you know, the guys who get around you because they want something from you, maybe they want to find favour from you and they will agree with whatever you say. That's a dangerous group of men or women to be around. Constructive criticism is very helpful, it helps you grow. I remember many years ago as a young man, a theologian, a well-educated man, had quite a number of degrees in preaching. He said, "I am going to sit in the back of your meetings and I will do a crit. I will tell you how good you are." I had never even had the privilege of having been to a Bible College. At the end of the message, he came to me and said, "Can I tell you how I have assessed you?" And I said, "Ja, okay." He said, "Well for introduction, you got 2/10." He said, "Your three point sermon, I gave you 4/10, your conclusion was about 3/10." And I was feeling a bit down-hearted to say the least, "But", he said, "The presence of the Holy Spirit in your message was 12/10."

Folks, lets just listen to the Holy Spirit and He will guide you in everything you have to do today. 

Have a wonderful day, 
God bless you and goodbye.