Your marriage is shaped by your commitment to say no. Your parenting is shaped by your willingness to say no. Your friendships are shaped by how often you say no. Your friendships and fellowship in the body of Christ are determined by your discipline in saying no. I am not talking about saying no to your spouse, your kids, or your friends, but rather about how spiritually important it is to say no to yourself. It is important to understand that no one is in greater danger of you than you are, because of the sin that still resides inside of you. That sin makes you susceptible to the myriad temptations that greet you every day. When faced with all of temptation’s deception, seduction, and allure, it is important that you say no to the sinful desires that draw you in and make you want to say yes.

You need to understand two things when you are facing temptation. First, in that moment no one can say no for you. Only by God’s empowering grace can you turn from temptation’s allure and run in the other direction, and no one else can do that for you. Second, you will say no only when you see sin as deeply evil and destructive. //

The imagery of lopping off your hand, amputating your foot, and gouging out your eye is here because your Savior understands your struggle with sin and temptation. Your commitment to seek the empowering grace you need in order to say yes to God and no to sin is more valuable than your hand, foot, or eye. Of course, God isn’t telling you to mutilate your body as a defense against sin, because that wouldn’t work. Sin is a battle of the heart and is won or lost there. Jesus’s use of hyperbole reminds us that no part of our body is more valuable than resisting sin and temptation.

Remember, however, that you never fight this battle of resistance alone or in your own power. By grace, the one who defeated Satan is always with you and always fights for you.

The Bricklayer: Trying To Do The Job Alone

Dear Sir:

I am writing in response to your request for additional information for my insurance claim. In block number three of the accident claim form I wrote, “trying to do the job alone” as the cause of my accident. You said in your letter that I should explain that statement more fully. I trust the following details will be sufficient.

I am a bricklayer by trade. On the date of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work I discovered that I had about 500 pounds of brick left over. Rather than carrying the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which was attached to the side of the building at the sixth-floor level.

Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out, and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went back to the ground and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 500 pounds of bricks. You will note in block number 22 of the claim form that my weight is 150 pounds.

Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded up the side of the building at a very rapid rate of speed.

In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming down. This explains my fractured skull and collarbone. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley.

By this time, I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope in spite of my pain. At approximately the same time however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel then weighed approximately 50 pounds.

I refer you again to the information in block number 11 regarding my weight. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles and the lacerations of my legs and lower body.

This second encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell onto the pile of bricks, and fortunately, only three vertebrae were cracked.

I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the bricks in pain, unable to stand, and watching the empty barrel six stories above me, I again lost my presence of mind, and let go of the rope. The empty barrel weighed more than the rope so it came down upon me and broke both of my legs.

I hope I have furnished information sufficient to explain why “trying to do the job alone” was the stated cause of the accident.

Sincerely,

A Bricklayer

(Author Unknown)

August 30

Jesus Christ says, in effect, Don’t rejoice in successful service, but rejoice because you are rightly related to Me. The snare in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service, to rejoice in the fact that God has used you. You never can measure what God will do through you if you are rightly related to Jesus Christ. //

The tendency to-day is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make usefulness their ground of appeal. If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure that ever lived. The lodestar of the saint is God Himself, not estimated usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him.

October 17

Prayer does not fit us for the greater works; prayer is the greater work. We think of prayer as a commonsense exercise of our higher powers in order to prepare us for God’s work. In the teaching of Jesus Christ prayer is the working of the miracle of Redemption in me which produces the miracle of Redemption in others by the power of God.

October 19

The great enemy to the Lord Jesus Christ in the present day is the conception of practical work that has not come from the New Testament, but from the Systems of the world in which endless energy and activities are insisted upon, but no private life with God. The emphasis is put on the wrong thing. //

The central thing about the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship to Himself, not public usefulness to men.