God Wrote on My Wall

[S] Daniel 5:3 --
3 Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them

[O] This story reminds me of Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10 -- who were consumed by fire when they offered strange incense in their firepans which God had not commanded because here Belshazzar used the utensils set aside to be used in God's holy temple to have his own enjoyment totally disrespecting God.  And He wasn't too happy about that and let him know by sending an email scribed on the wall.

[A] The key point here is when the my pride elevates myself above God, anything I do will be out of dishonor and that's the part God will dishonor Himself.  I need to take every act seriously when I am before God -- which by the way, is at all times.

[P] Dear Father, I praise You for being the God of holiness who require nothing but holiness in Your presence and my praise goes to You abundantly because even though I am far from fulfilling Your requirement to approach You, You accept me as I am because of Your Son's sacrifice in place of me.  Now, as long as I keep that in mine and align myself to such a humble attitude before You, I will be enjoying the presence of Your amazing grace and love.  In gratitude I pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.

Boldness and Bold Brothers (BBB)

[S] Galatians 2:14 --
14  But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?

[O] Paul refers to Cephas (Peter) and Barnabas along with others who veered away from the truth and spoke to them directly to point out and correct their hypocrisy.  First of all, Paul's boldness and zeal to stand up for truth really shakes me even harder than last night's 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan.  What drove him to be such a committed servant of God?  What makes me such a coward compare to Paul's boldness?  Secondly, even though it might've been difficult to initially accept it, I feel Cephas was a blessed man to have a co-worker like Paul who can point out areas to correct for God's glory. I have not experienced a time when I enjoyed being corrected by others but if they come with genuine care and heart for bringing out the truth, then I would also be a blessed person to have friends and co-workers like Paul around me.

[A] Be discerning and humble whenever I receive "corrections" or even "complaints" from other co-laborers in Christ because if Peter and Barnabas went off the tangent, I am 100X more likely to do that and I would need someone to point that out to me.

[P] Dear Father, I want to wear the boldness of Paul in my walk with You.  I desire to be next to Your godly people who is not afraid to set me straight when I do venture off the main truth. May You be glorified in all aspects of my life and I realize that can only be done through my humbleness.  Thank You for a great lesson (again).  In Jesus' name.  Amen.