Scripture

“Oh my father, bless me, too!”

~Genesis 27:38

Quote

The one aim of the call of God is His satisfaction or pleasure.

~Oswald Chambers

A part of the fall is the curse of sin and death but along with that is our vanity. We humans are vain. We are self-centered to the core. When we are looking through the family album, we look for ourselves first and foremost: it is a curse. We can deny it or even lie about it but neither will help: we are cursed. I do not like seeing myself in Esau. He is not one of my heroes but in my devotions and prayers, he came to mind. Esau wanted to be blessed. He literally begs his father to bless him. He even pleads with tears but Esau was vain from the bottom of his foot to the crown of his head–he was obsessed with Esau. His passion for life was to pursue what he wanted–sports, women, fighting, eating, drinking, etc. He never gave the first thought to what his father wanted or needed. He never gave a thought to what God wanted. Esau is your typical Baptist, they come to church to be blessed but with no thought of being a blessing. They come to get something {a feel good experience} but they have no intention of giving something.

My vanity comes out not only in my attempt to worship but also in my prayers. I have to discipline myself, and I use the Psalms and other scriptures as a guide, to begin my prayers with praise and adoration. For some strange reason, everything else is easier than pure praise. I am very thankful and I am quick to confess my sins but it amazes me how quickly the attention goes from the FATHER to Jack. My prayers are like Esau’s, “Bless me Father.” David began a lot of his prayers by blessing God. So our vanity makes it hard for us to pray, to worship and to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. I read Isaiah 58 a few days ago where God says to Judah: “You act religious but you disregard my laws. You ask me to take action on your behalf, pretending that you want to be near Me. ‘We have fasted,’ you say, so why aren’t You impressed? I will tell you why I am not impressed, you are fasting to please yourselves. You humble yourselves and bow like reeds in the wind. You dress in burlap and go through all the motions but it is really about you instead of Me.” {JEV} Do you think it is possible for humans to make worship about themselves instead of God? Do you think that is it possible for us to become more focused on our needs than we are His pleasure? If He is not pleased with our worship; have we worshipped in the true sense?

I think it is a true story but I can’t remember the details. A student of the violin was doing a concert with a couple of hundred people in the audience. When he finished, he got a standing ovation from all except one: there was one man who did not clap and did not stand. The student left the stage dejected and ashamed. Someone came up to him and rebuked him, “Man, you need to go back out and bow; they just gave you a standing ovation.” He said, “Not everyone stood. The man sitting on the front row who didn’t stand or applaud; that is my teacher. If he wasn’t pleased, I cannot be pleased.” With that, the young man left the concert hall. We play to an audience of ONE. If we don’t please HIM we have failed to worship.

Extra

Wow, what a beautiful day yesterday. Thank YOU Jesus! I mentioned in my Wednesday night message that animals have a soul but no spirit. I made the statement: that is why dogs don’t attend worship. Might have known: as soon as I finished a group in the back said, “Come here.” A dog has been attending our worship: it is Dewayne and Carols Poodle named Winston. He has two sons named Sammy and David {JK}. Winston has a 200 word vocabulary and he watches through the kitchen window for Dewayne to come home from work. Carol is sitting in the next room and as soon as Winston sees Dewayne, he turns to signal Carol that DADDY IS HOME. Here is the evidence…

For some reason this computer will not post the second picture….sorry about that…

 

Is that hilarious or what?

I visited with Lara yesterday and she is better PTL. The covid has messed up my visitation plans; maybe it will be better soon.