LIVE UP TO YOUR NAME

“Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure -- not to put it too severely -- to all of you.”  (2 Corinthians 2:5 ESV)

When I was a child, my parents gave the same speech on the first day of every school year. It began with the standard lines: Be good, work hard, mind your teachers, and pay attention. It concluded with a gentle reminder: “Remember, you’re a Wilson. Live up to your name!”

I was less than enthusiastic about that speech as a child, but I found myself giving it to my own kids as I packed them off to school each fall. Being part of a family, or any community, means that your actions have the power to bless or harm many others. It’s not all about you.

This is Paul’s word to the Corinthian church. The behavior of one affects all. We are not lone rangers, responsible only to God. We are a community of believers, responsible also to one another. When one of us upholds the name of Christ, it brings honor to Him and advances the gospel. However, when one of us fails to live in a manner worthy of our calling, it is an affront not only to Christ, but also to the members of His body.

So be good, work hard, pay attention, and remember you are a Christian. Everything you do reflects on our family’s reputation. Live up to your name! 

-- Lawrence W. Wilson in “Light from the Word: Summer 2016”

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OUR MOST EFFECTIVE PRAYERS

Jesus said, “From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who He is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do.”  (John 14:13-14 MSG)

Healthy relationships are nourished by good communication, and good communication requires listening as well as talking. Relating to God is the same way -- it involves talking to Him in prayer, but it also requires listening to Him.

Our most effective prayers are those that we pray after having first listened to God. Our prayers are powerful when they are rooted in a knowledge of God’s person and based on His principles. Prayers that stake claim on God’s promises are full of promise, but prayers based on presumption profit nothing. Prayers that stipulate “Thy will be done” rise to heaven. Prayers that ask only “my will be done” fall flat. Prayers that embrace the diving purpose draw the petitioner into communion with God. Prayers that entertain only selfish interests draw little response from God…

Godly men and women guard their behavior and pray in keeping with what God has said. They can then claim God’s promises, pray with confidence, and anticipate the answers with uplifted hearts. 

-- Adapted from Stuart Briscoe in “Daily Study Bible for Men”

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IN CHRIST’S NAME

“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”  (John 14:13-14 NKJV)

To pray in Christ’s Name means something more than adding “for Christ’s sake” to our petitions. Prayer in Christ’s Name is prayer according to the quality of His Person, according to the character of His mind and according to the purpose of His will. To pray in the Name of Christ is to pray as one who is at one with Christ, whose mind is the mind of Christ, whose desires are the desires of Christ, and whose purpose is one with that of Christ. 

-- Samuel Chadwick

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