WINNING WISDOM DEVOTIONAL - TUESDAY 25TH JUNE, 2013 - THE POWER OF A PERSONAL EXAMPLE – PART TWENTY-FOUR - MEEKNESS “Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (The Message Bible MSG) In the late 1800’s, a large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody’s Bible conferences in Massachusetts. As was their custom, the European guests put their shoes outside the dorm rooms at night to be cleaned by the hall servants. Of course, this was America. No hall servants, no clean shoes. Determined not to embarrass his brothers, Moody, the most influential evangelist of his generation first tried to enlist help from some ministerial students, but he was met with silence or pious excuses. Eventually, Moody gathered the shoes and cleaned and polished them in his room by himself. Moody was a man with a servant’s heart. Serving one another best characterizes the essence of Christian culture. This ‘culture of service’ is almost obliterated in our self-centered, self-loving, self-focused ‘me, I and myself’ world. This message is often obscured by the warning to look out for “number one.” But the Bible says we have been set free so that we can serve and love others. If we are not careful, we may sit happily and smugly in our born-again condition and never grasp our Lord’s intention that we have been set free so that can serve one another in love. For many of us, our spiritual lives become stagnant because we have not shared the abundance of what we have received generously from our Lord. Instead we hoard what we have received from God. It is the Lord’s intent that we be channels of His goodness. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34) I love the King James Version rendering of verse two of 2 Timothy, chapter three – ‘For men shall be lovers of their own selves…’ This unholy vice is at the root of almost all the maladies that afflict our world today. Selfishness is the breeding pond of social vices. It is the prison house that holds in chains man’s loftiest potentials. Until the hold of ‘self’ is broken, sin, wickedness and evil are not far behind. Serving one another therefore is the cure and the antidote to the virus called selfishness. Every time we reach out of ourselves and reach out to others, we are breaking the hold of ‘sin of self.’ I dare you to serve others today no matter in what capacity and at what level. NB: A. If you like your friends and family to receive and be blessed by this devotional, please forward their email addresses to me. B. If you have a prayer request and will want me to pray with/for you, please email/text/ call me. Thanks. C. We are trusting God to have this devotional printed and circulated widely. If you would like to assist with finances, please contact us. Thanks Dr. Segun Oshinaga has had a rich and varied experience and career in business, ministry and government. He is the Ceo of Productivity Plus, a training programme for executives in industry and also host of Productivity Plus TV Broadcast, a personal development, life enhancement programme. He also runs Leadership Plus and Winning Wisdom Network. To invite him for training of your workforce or sponsorship on radio and TV stations, call +2348030773584, +2348189074232, +2348122827890 or email - droshinaga@gmail
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 06:03:39 +0000
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