Here is just one of the problems of having many wives, Amnon
falls in love with his half-sister Tamar.
Because they have different mothers it is possible that they could marry
one another but Amnon wants no part of waiting, he is impulsive so he and his
cousin come up with a way for him to rape Tamar. After he has done this thing he hates her, a
relatively common psychological reaction to having done something horrible to
another. Tamar is willing to marry Amnon
but he now wants no part of her. David hears
of the situation but takes no immediate action and lets the problem
fester. Absalom, the brother of Tamar,
hates Amnon for what he has done but lies low for the time being. It is clear that he is simply biding his
time.
John gives testimony to Jesus as well as any man who ever
lived. He knew who Jesus was, where He
came from, that His testimony was true, and that life was in Him, eternal
life. John wasn't jealous that Jesus'
ministry was growing and that some of his own disciples were going after Jesus,
that is exactly what his own ministry was designed to do, point to the one
coming. Now, the one of whom he had been
prophesying had come so why would he be jealous that people believed his word
enough to take it seriously? John knew
that until his word was fulfilled in the coming of the One promised he would
increase but once that one had come he would decrease. Our attitude as leaders and evangelists is to
proclaim Jesus and once our word is received and believed it is our job to
decrease in the life of the new believer over time so that Jesus can
increase. We aren't to attach people to
ourselves but to Him and maturity is when they no longer learn everything from
us but have a relationship with Him such that we can learn from one another as
brothers. Our unity comes from the
oneness of the Godhead, we don't have many mothers and fathers, we are one
family in Him.
In Jesus we are all gathered into one family, Jews and
Gentiles alike. When He came and died
and rose again there was no need for anything other than faith in Him. He has made us one and we are to take on a
life not unlike the life of the Trinity, characterized by mutual love and
affections, loving one another as ourselves, just as we recently saw in the
relationship between David and Jonathan.
Our relationships with one another are to be like that, covenant relationships
where we look out for the good of one another just as though we were looking
after our own good. The Trinity is a
mutual admiration society where none seeks ultimate glory and there is
difference within unity, all seeking to glorify one another. The church is intended to share in that
relationship through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray this day that God's plan would be
realized in us.
No comments:
Post a Comment