What Will You Allow

What will you go through for the sake of the Lord and His kingdom?

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Acts 16:3 – Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.

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What would you do to save your child?  Your spouse?  I imagine you, like me, would do anything you had to do to save one of them.  Regardless of what it cost you, even to your very life, most parents I know would lay it all down for their child.  And the same can be said to spouses who are truly committed to one another, especially in Christian covenant.

Consider what Jesus allowed.  All that happened to Him was not without His acceptance.  First, He accepted the plan of the redemption which He devised with Father and Holy Ghost before the foundation of the world.  Secondly, He accepted Hi place in that plan, making Himself subject to that plan.  That is why He could say, “No man takes My life from Me.  I lay it down.  I will take it up again.”  Third, as a part of that plan, He accepted the suffering of the cross, and all the related torment, pain, and agony.  Fourth, and I know that many will disagree here, but He accepted for the time necessary to pay the full price of redemption, the torments of hell.  Fifth, He accepted resurrection, enthronement, and the position of Lordship so you and I could live a life of redemption.

Now note that much of what Jesus accepted was painful beyond description.  Another way of saying He accepted it is to say He allowed it.  He could have called for angels to deliver Him, but He did not.  He did not open His mouth to stop all the torment that was being poured upon Him, but He did not.  He could have stopped it all, but He did not.  Instead, He allowed it in His life, being our substitute, so we don’t have to allow it in our lives as His joint-heirs.

But my question today was, “What will you allow?”  In order to be able to walk in the fullness of what God has called you to be and do, what will you allow?  My question does not arise from the teachings of Paul, or any other of the apostles.  My question arises from the yielded action of Timothy.  HE WAS CIRCUM-CISED!  Timothy was a grown man, and allowed himself to be circumcised.  This was not a time of modern medicine, sedatives, anesthesia, lidocaine, and sterile surgical rooms.  Yet he allowed himself to be circumcised so his ministry would not be made ineffective before the Jews.  Do you see it?  I’m not writing about attacks of the enemy, but a man yielded to do what he must to preach the Gospel.  What will you allow?  Just a thought.

Manna for Today – Acts 16:1-5; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; 1 Corinthians 9:22; 1 Peter 2:13; 1 Peter 3:17