Family of God: Re: [FamilyofGod] Reactions of a Godly Man

Amen! Thank you micheal.

On Tue Dec 28th, 2010 6:20 AM CST Michael J. Knight wrote:

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>Reactions of a Godly Man
>
>In Genesis 13:7 we read that there was strife between Abraham's servants
>and Lot's servants. Abraham and Lot obtained vast wealth through their
>trip to Egypt and now that wealth causes problems. Wealth always causes
>problems. Lot and his wife were affected by what they saw in Egypt. They
>wanted to make more money. But Abraham was a man who would not fight
>with anybody. But his servants fought.
>
>"There was strife between the herdsmen of Abraham's livestock and the
>herdsmen of Lot's livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were
>dwelling there." Why is that last sentence included there? Because those
>heathen people were watching this fight. This is very relevant to the
>situation in today's Christendom too. The heathen are dwelling in the
>land and what do they see? Christian groups fighting with each other.
>And in the midst of all this can we find a godly man like Abraham today
>who will call Lot (the worldly person who loves money) and say to him,
>"Let there be no strife between you and me, we are brothers" (Gen 13:8).
>They were not brothers. Abraham was the uncle, Lot was his nephew. See
>the graciousness of this 75 year old man to his 35 year old nephew. "We
>are brothers!" A godly man is a humble man. He was 75 years old, but he
>could look at his young nephew and say, "We are brothers. You are equal
>to me. I will give you first preference. Choose what you want."
>Jerusalem is built by such men. Christendom needs such leaders - and
>they are not easily found.
>
>Today, we have many leaders who assert their authority, who would have
>said, "I am 75 years old, I am your uncle. I am the one whom God called,
>not you. You just came along with me." But Abraham did not speak like
>that to Lot. He said to Lot, "If you go to the right, I'll go to the
>left. And if you go to the left, I'll go to the right. You take what you
>want first." And Lot, greedy man that he was, with the spirit of
>Babylon, grabbed first. He looked at the lovely fields of Sodom, saw the
>opportunity to make money there, and the rich people who lived there,
>and said, "I'll move there and serve God there as well."
>
>Many Christians and Christian leaders like to move to wealthy countries.
>But invariably, they lose out spiritually.
>
>When Abraham was taking this decision, the Lord had come down (as in
>Babel), to see what he and Lot were doing. And the Lord saw the godly
>way in which Abraham conducted himself. Immediately after Lot had left
>him, the Lord said something very important to Abraham (Gen 13:14). God
>separated him first from his father (by death), and then He separated
>Abraham from yet another relative (who would have been a hindrance to
>him through his covetousness). The Lord said, "Now you are alone and now
>I can get you to go where I want you to go and to be what I want you to
>be. I saw exactly what happened." Do you know that God watches every
>transaction that takes place between people? He watches our attitudes.
>Have you given up your right to something because you are a Christian?
>God says to you, "I have taken note of that."
>
>Then God said to Abraham, "Just stand here and look north, south, east,
>west. All the land that you can see will one day belong to your
>children. I promise that. It will not belong to the descendants of Lot.
>God said that to Abraham 4000 years ago. Look at that land today 4000
>years later and ask yourself who is living there. The descendants of
>Abraham, not the descendants of Lot. God keeps His word. Thousands of
>years may go by, but if God has said to Abraham, "I will give this land
>to your descendants forever," (Gen 13:15), then it will be exactly like
>that.
>
>Then we see in Chapter 14 how Lot got into trouble. You always get into
>trouble when you go outside the will of God. He was captured by his
>enemies. Abraham could have said, "Serves him right. The fellow grabbed
>something from me." But Abraham didn't react like that. There you see
>another time that Abraham was tested: What would Abraham's attitude be
>when he hears that this man who cheated him has got into trouble? When
>somebody who has cheated you gets into trouble himself, then you will
>discover very quickly whether you are a man of God – or not.
>Abraham's reaction was, "Let me go and help Lot. It's true that Lot
>cheated me. But what did he cheat me of? Some garbage of earthly wealth.
>That's nothing. I've got heavenly riches. I feel sorry for Lot because
>he went after earthly things, and now he has got into trouble. Let me go
>and help him." And Abraham went and delivered Lot himself. That's the
>attitude of a godly man. Only such people can build Jerusalem.
>
>Remember
>Only one life, will soon be past,
>Only what is done, for Christ will last.
>
>The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
>communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. (2 Corinthians
>13:14)
>
>Love & Prayers,
>
>Michael J. Knight.
>
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/A-C-T-S/
><http://groups.yahoo.com/group/A-C-T-S/>
>
>What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.
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