Lessons On Living

[nChrist]

Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:11 1 Kings 5:6

Teamwork

1 Kings 5:6

"Now therefore, command that they [the servants of Hiram] cut down cedars for me from Lebanon; and my servants will be with your servants, and I will pay you wages for your servants according to whatever you say. For you know there is none among us who has skill to cut timber like the Sidonians."

Teamwork

Don Bennett, a Seattle businessman, decided he wanted to climb Washington’s Mount Rainier. It’s a stiff climb to the peak of the 14,410-foot summit, but so many individuals have succeeded that it no longer merits much attention. But for Bennett, the climb was a remarkable achievement. He made the climb on one leg and two crutches. Asked to share the most important lesson he learned, Bennett gave credit to the team of individuals who helped him attain his dream. He observed, "You can’t do it alone."

Solomon realized this same truth. When he became king, he inherited from his father not only the kingdom but also the task of building a temple worthy of the God of the universe. Such an awesome responsibility would have been overwhelming, but Solomon knew it could be done if he called on others to help. Accordingly, he contacted a friend of his father, King Hiram of Tyre, and requested his most skilled lumbermen. The king graciously agreed. And thanks to the benefit of teamwork, they built one of the most beautiful temples ever.

Christians are notorious for not working together as a team. Some try to worship God on their own. The writer of Hebrews had to admonish such people about "forsaking the assembling of ourselves together" (10:25). Others can be difficult to get along with (1 Cor. 1:11). But whatever we accomplish alone is not nearly what we could have accomplished with others.

Are you willing to be a team player? Can your pastor count on you to pitch in with others in your church when there is a job to be done? More will get done if we do it together. Learn from the wisdom of Solomon. Be a part of something greater than yourself. Be a part of a team.

The best work is teamwork.

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[nChrist]

Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: John 15:26 John 14:16 John 14:26 John 16:7 1 Kings 6:12-13

The Comforter

1 Kings 6:12–13

"Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My word with you, which I spoke to your father David. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel."

The Comforter

In 1858 Scottish missionary John G. Paton and his wife sailed for the New Hebrides. Three months after arriving on the island of Tanna, his wife died in childbirth. One week later his infant son also died. Paton was plunged into sorrow. Surrounded by savage people, he wrote, "Let those who have ever passed through any similar darkness as of midnight feel for me. As for all others, it would be more than vain to try to paint my sorrows. But for Jesus, and [His] fellowship—I [would] have gone mad and died."

God knew that Israel would need this kind of comfort too. After the reign of Solomon, the nation would divide between north and south. Over the next several hundred years various armies would occupy the land and bring havoc upon the people. God’s solution? He promised, "I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel" (1 Kings 6:13). God’s presence, as represented by His temple, would be their ultimate comfort.

Believers today don’t have a temple made of wood and stone; they have something even better. They have the presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. Jesus promised, "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper" (John 14:16). When we received Christ as our Savior, our bodies became the home of the One who is called Comforter (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:7, KJV).

If you lack this kind of comfort and courage, first make sure that you have received Jesus Christ as your Savior. If you are saved, then see if there is any sin hindering the Holy Spirit’s work in you. In the midst of difficulties and disasters, He is there to encourage you to go on despite your circumstances.

He who dwells in us also goes with us.

_________________________

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Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: 1 Kings 8:5 Hebrews 12:2 Matthew 27:46

No Sacrifice Too Great

1 Kings 8:5

Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude.

No Sacrifice Too Great

Japanese folklore tells of a rice farmer whose land overlooked the village where his friends lived. While working in his rice paddies one day, he felt a quake and saw the distant ocean swiftly withdraw from the shoreline. He knew there would soon be a devastating tidal wave. In the valley below, he saw his neighbors working fields that soon would be flooded. They would have to run to his hilltop or die. His rice barns were dry as tinder. To get the people quickly to higher ground, the farmer set fire to his barns and then rang the fire gong. His neighbors saw the smoke and rushed up the hill to help him. When they looked back from their place of safety, they saw the tidal wave wash over the fields they had just left. Instantly they understood. The farmer had made a great sacrifice that they might be saved.

Solomon and the people of Israel were equally generous in their sacrifices. They were so enthused about the new temple and the blessings that God was giving them that no sacrifice was withheld. They brought so many sheep and oxen for offerings that they couldn’t be counted. They loved God so much that no sacrifice was too great.

Jesus felt the same way about you and me. Being crucified was a terrible way to die; to be separated from His Father was even worse (Matt. 27:46). Yet He loved us so much that no sacrifice was too great. The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus endured the cross for "the joy that was set before Him" (12:2). Our salvation made it all worthwhile.

Knowing how Jesus Christ feels about you, how does that make you feel about Him? Since no sacrifice was too great for Him to make for you, what should your response be? Is there any sacrifice too great to make for Him? Jesus gave His all. What do you have that you need to give to Him today?

Jesus’ all demands our all.

_________________________

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Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: Ephesians 5:18 Luke 11:13 1 Kings 8:10-11

Be Filled

1 Kings 8:10–11

And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

Be Filled

There are many occasions in life where it’s essential that some things be absolutely full. If you’re headed out for a long trip, for example, the gas tank needs to be filled. A half of a tank just won’t do. Or when the doctor writes a prescription for antibiotics for you, he always tells you to take all the pills, even after you feel better. Take the full dose; a partial dose won’t insure that you’ll get better.

When Solomon and the people of Israel dedicated the temple, it was important for God to make His presence known in complete fullness. It was God’s way of putting His stamp of approval both on Solomon and on the structure he built for the Lord’s glory. An anemic demonstration of God’s presence would not be sufficient. So God chose to fill the temple with the cloud of His glory until the priests had to halt temporarily the offering of sacrifices. His presence was so overwhelming that those who served Him had to vacate the premises.

A Christian needs to experience this same filling as well. The Lord’s glory (or character) needs to so fill our lives that we overflow with God’s goodness, purity and all the other traits that make up who He is. That’s why the apostle Paul wrote, "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18). Not just once, as when the temple was dedicated, but continually be filled. And not just a little bit, but be filled all the way, right to the brim, until the Spirit of God spills out from you.

Ask God to fill you with His glory through the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). Don’t be satisfied with a nominal, lukewarm Christianity. Pray that God’s character will so fill you that it will flow out to everyone around you.

He who is full of God can never be full of himself.

_________________________

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Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: 1 Kings 6:2 1 Kings 8:27

How Big is God?

1 Kings 8:27

"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!"

How Big Is God?

Years ago when the city fathers of New York contemplated the future growth of their city, they plotted the streets and numbered them from the center outward. At the time, New York consisted of only six or seven streets. In their planning maps, they projected how large they thought the city might grow. Reaching beyond their wildest imagination, they drew streets on the map all the way out to a 19th street. They called it "Boundary Street" because they were sure that was as large as New York City would become. But history proved them to be shortsighted. At last count, the metropolis had reached beyond 284th Street.

Solomon labored under no such delusions when it came to God. He had built the largest man-made structure in Israel. (Interior dimensions of the temple were at least 90 feet long, 30 feet wide and 45 feet high, according to 1 Kings 6:2.) Yet this builder-king knew that even the heaven of heavens was unable to contain God, not to mention a building. God was far larger than anything Solomon could build.

In our desire to be intimate with God, we often try to shrink Him down to a size we’re comfortable with. If God were too big, so our thinking goes, His awesomeness would threaten to overwhelm us. Therefore, we are prone to think of God in the small, cuddly size—someone little enough to fit in our back pocket. Yet in doing so, we miss the comfort of knowing a God who is greater than any challenge life may set before us, a God so majestic and exalted that everything else shrivels up into nothingness in comparison.

Instead of downsizing God, let your imagination go and contemplate His true size. Imagine His filling the whole universe. Picture His reaching out to the farthest stars and even then spilling over into the outermost limits of space. Then kneel before Him and confess that, even so, your vision is still too small.

The universe is big; God is bigger.

_________________________

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Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: 1 John 1:9 1 Kings 8:33-34

No Other Way

1 Kings 8:33–34

"When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and when they turn back to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication to You in this temple, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers."

No Other Way

In The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, by Bill Watterson, the cartoon character Calvin says to his tiger friend, Hobbes, "I feel bad that I called Susie names and hurt her feelings. I’m sorry I did it." "Maybe you should apologize to her," Hobbes suggests. Calvin ponders this for a moment and replies, "I keep hoping there’s a less-obvious solution."

We’re all like Calvin, aren’t we? But sometimes there are no other solutions. The consequences of sin are serious. Wise King Solomon pointed out what Israel eventually would experience as a disobedient nation: defeat and enslavement to her enemies. The Northern Kingdom was taken into captivity in 722 B.C. The Southern Kingdom lasted a little longer, but sin brought about its defeat in 586 B.C. Yet when Israel sincerely confessed her sins before God, as Solomon promised, He restored the people to their land and to Himself.

Sin in a Christian’s life also brings defeat. Satan needs only a small foothold in a believer’s life, and he will use this advantage to hinder spiritual growth in every possible way. Continued, unconfessed sin ultimately will result in bondage. The only way out is the obvious solution. The apostle John says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

If you are experiencing spiritual defeat in your life, if you are in bondage to sin, you know what you must do. The solution is obvious. Repent of your sin, confess it to God, agree with Him that in thought, word or deed you have transgressed against Him, and receive His forgiveness. Let the blood of Christ cleanse and restore you.

Don’t wait for other solutions; confession of sin is the only way.

_________________________

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Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: 1 Kings 9:4-5

A Solid Foundation

1 Kings 9:4–5

"Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’"

A Solid Foundation

A very short man wanted to drive a nail in his wall to hang a picture. He stood on a chair, but it wasn’t high enough. His wife placed a box on the chair, but he was still too short. Finally she placed a stool on top of the box. Balancing himself precariously, the do-it-yourself picture hanger began to tap timidly with his hammer. "Why don’t you hit it hard?" his wife asked. "You’ll never drive the nail that way!" Our hero looked down from his perch and replied, "How can a man hit anything hard on a shaky foundation like this?"

Great deeds take solid foundations. God reminded Solomon that if he wanted to establish a great kingdom that would live on through his descendants, he would have to build it on the solid foundation of integrity. Only as Solomon sought to live according to God’s commandments and statues would he be assured that future generations of his family would occupy the throne.

Any substitute for integrity is a shaky foundation. We can’t build a solid Christian life just on emotional experiences; we have to obey God’s Word. We can’t raise up a Christian ministry that will endure for decades unless it’s done in uprightness of heart. Only integrity is able to provide a solid foundation that God will honor through the ages.

What are you attempting to build today? Is it a family? A ministry? A marriage? A life? Check out your integrity level. Make sure that everything you do is consistent with God’s Word. This will not only provide a firm foundation for yourself but will be a blessing to your children as well.

Integrity for the foundation means blessing for the future.

_________________________

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[nChrist]

Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: 1 Kings 9:6-7

A Symbol of Disaster

1 Kings 9:6–7

"But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples."

A Symbol of Disaster

In his book Present Day Parables, J. Wilbur Chapman, a late 19th-century evangelist, tells of a town where the name of Christ was never mentioned except in profanity. The citizens hung Christ in effigy in the streets. Then the town was destroyed by fire. They tried to rebuild, but an Indian massacre occured. They tried to build again, and it was partially destroyed by fire. At last, after much bloodshed and multiple disasters, the citizens sent to the American Home Missionary Society and asked, "Can you send us a minister of Jesus Christ?" Only after Christ came to that town did the people have peace and a degree of prosperity.

God warned Solomon the same would happen to his kingdom if he or his descendants should ever turn from following Him. Not only would He remove Israel from the land, but the consequences would be so dramatic that all the nations around her also would be amazed at what happened. The people would become a symbol of disaster to warn others who might be so foolish.

Israel should be a reminder to every Christian of the dire consequences of leaving God out of our lives. As the descendants of Solomon suffered in the ways God warned them, so believers can experience much pain and loss when they live in disregard to His will and His ways.

Don’t forget God. Remember to include Him in the daily routine of your life. Don’t just take Him with you to church; take Him to the mall, to the classroom, to the health club. Ask for His guidance in every decision you make, big and little, and look for His hand in every turn of life. When He fills your life, it is full indeed.

We let God down when we leave Him out.

_________________________

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[nChrist]

Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:9 1 Kings 10:6-7

A Great Day Coming

1 Kings 10:6–7

Then she said to the king: "It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard."

Great Day Coming

Since my early school days I had read about the Grand Canyon. I knew that it ranges from 4 to 18 miles in width and more than a mile deep in places. Perhaps the most impressive part is a 56-mile-long stretch within the Grand Canyon National Park. I had even see photos showing the beautiful colors that stripe the canyon walls. Yet nothing that I read or saw in a book prepared me for the awesome experience of standing on the canyon’s edge and seeing for myself the majestic beauty of this natural wonder.

The Bible says the queen of Sheba had the same response when she met Solomon. Sheba was a land hundreds of miles away in an area now called Yemen, but this queen had heard stories about Israel’s king. The tales told her were sufficiently intriguing to propel her to make the difficult journey to see Solomon for herself. Yet when she actually stood in the presence of Israel’s king, she confessed, "The half was not told me."

The same is true for Christians. God’s Word speaks of the glorious future that awaits us, yet it also indicates that the half is still to be told. Paul says, "But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him’" (1 Cor. 2:9).

Perhaps you’re going through a time of loss and grief right now. Maybe you’re feeling lonely and unhappy. Let me encourage you to lift up your head, turn your thoughts away from your present grief and gaze at what God has in store for you. When you stand face-to-face with Jesus, your current distresses will fade away instantly. It will be worth it all when you see Christ.

True reality is not found in today’s sorrows but in tomorrow’s joys.

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[nChrist]

Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: 2 Peter 1:21 1 Kings 10:23-24

Seeking God's Wisdom

1 Kings 10:23–24

So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

Seeking God’s Wisdom

An American arriving in England for postgraduate study went to visit Nobel Prize-winning poet T. S. Eliot. As the student was leaving, Eliot remarked, "Forty years ago I went from Harvard to Oxford. Now, what advice can I give you?" There was a prolonged pause as the younger man waited breathlessly for the great poet’s words of wisdom. Finally Eliot said, "Have you any long underwear?" Good advice for someone going to a cold, damp climate, but hardly the life-shaping wisdom the student hoped for from someone of Eliot’s stature.

The poet’s visitor may have gone away disappointed, but no one who comes to God for life-changing wisdom ever will go away disillusioned. Solomon, the embodiment of God’s wisdom, quickly became a magnet for people all over the known world who were seeking to find meaning in their lives. In a day when travel was both a hardship and extremely dangerous, people nevertheless flocked to hear Solomon speak the wisdom of God.

You can still benefit from Solomon’s wisdom. It exists today in such books as Proverbs and Song of Solomon. But Christians have access to much more than the wisdom of the wisest king who ever lived. We have 66 books of wisdom in the Bible, revealed to us through more than 40 Spirit-inspired writers (2 Pet. 1:21). What people in Solomon’s day had to travel hundreds of miles to receive, you and I can have simply by opening our Bibles.

Don’t neglect the wisdom God has made available to you in Scripture. Find a time every day to read a portion of God’s Word. Let the Holy Spirit impart to you practical applications of God’s Word to your life. You don’t need to cross oceans or climb mountains; just open God’s Book.

Wisdom is as near as an open Bible, as distant as a closed one.

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[nChrist]

Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: Genesis 2:18 1 Corinthians 9:25 1 Kings 11:1-2

Moderation

1 Kings 11:1–2

But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites—from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. For surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love.

Moderation

Good things can become a detriment. In Japan, many golfers carry "hole-in-one" insurance because it is traditional in that culture to share one’s good fortune by sending gifts to all your friends when you get an ace. The price for this "albatross," as the Japanese call it, often can reach $10,000. As a result, the good fortune that most golfers would consider a blessing becomes a disaster.

In many ways, marriage is like golf. (Now, stay with me on this!) Marriage is meant by God to be a blessing. God created Eve to be a companion and a helper to Adam (Gen. 2:18). Yet Solomon, by his excesses, turned God’s good gift into a disaster. God’s ideal has always been one man for one woman, for a lifetime. But that ideal was abused when Solomon gave himself to 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). Furthermore, his disobedience to God’s command not to marry foreign wives resulted in what God wanted to protect him from—turning his heart toward others gods (v. 4). Intemperance and disobedience became stumbling blocks for this otherwise very wise king.

Christians can fall into the same trap. God has given us many good things: marital intimacy, food, pleasure, sleep. But practiced to extremes, such good gifts can become the sins of lust, gluttony, licentiousness and sloth. Satan loves to take what is wholesome and blessed from God and make it a snare to the unwary. That is why Paul says, "Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things" (1 Cor. 9:25).

Take care that you keep all things in balance. Even though it may be a good gift from God, it can cause you to stumble if practiced without moderation. Enjoy God’s gifts, but practice temperance in everything you enjoy.

If practiced in excess, even good things can become bad.

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[nChrist]

Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: 1 Kings 11:11-12

Judgement with Mercy

1 Kings 11:11–12

Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, "Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; but I will tear it out of the hand of your son."

Judgment With Mercy

A young employee misappropriated several hundred dollars. When his theft was discovered he was told to report to the office of the firm’s senior partner. The young man knew he would lose his job and possibly face legal action. When he was questioned he admitted his guilt. Then, surprisingly, he was asked, "If I keep you in your present job, can I trust you in the future?" The young worker brightened, "Yes, sir, you surely can." The executive responded, "I’m not going to press charges, and you can continue in your present responsibility." He concluded, "I think you ought to know, however, that you are the second man in this firm who succumbed to temptation and was shown leniency. I was the first. The mercy you are receiving, I received. It is only the grace of God that can keep us both."

Solomon was like that employee. He also was guilty of sin. His foreign wives turned his heart toward other gods. Yet as God confronted this once-faithful king, He showed mercy. He delayed the removal of the kingdom from Solomon until the days of his son Rehoboam, and even then God promised to leave one tribe, Judah, for Solomon’s son to rule.

People will commit sins against us—sometimes grievous sins. Occasionally, those sins require consequences. Yet as we carry out judgment, let’s not forget to be merciful. After all, God didn’t forget mercy when He was dealing with us.

When the need arises, pray that God will not only give you wisdom in meting out to others the consequences of their sin but also give you the grace to show mercy. When judgment becomes necessary, mercy becomes momentous.

If godly justice didn’t involve gracious mercy, we all would be doomed.

_________________________

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[nChrist]

Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: 1 Kings 11:23 Hebrews 12:11 1 Kings 11:14

Blessed Adversary

1 Kings 11:14, 23

Now the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was a descendant of the king in Edom.And God raised up another adversary against him, Rezon the son of Eliadah, who had fled from his lord, Hadadezer king of Zobah.

Blessed Adversary

In his book Pain: The Tool of the Wounded Surgeon, Philip Yancey reminds us that pain can serve a definite purpose in our lives. He cites Dr. Paul Brand, one of the world’s foremost experts on leprosy, who worked on the mission field with lepers for years. Dr. Brand observed that "leprosy patients lose their fingers and toes, not because the disease causes decay, but precisely because they lack pain sensations. Nothing warns them when water is too hot or a hammer handle is splintered. Accidental self-abuse destroys their bodies." They need pain to alert them to danger.

God uses distressing situations much the same way. Solomon needed to be alerted to his headlong rush into sin, so God used pain. To inflict that pain, God raised up adversaries who would harass and torment this sin-numbed king until he would turn and repent. God did not plague Solomon in order to punish him but to keep him from the destruction of sin.

The Lord uses this same approach with us today. When one of His children becomes desensitized to sin, God allows painful circumstances to intervene sometimes by way of an adversary. The writer of Hebrews says, "Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it" (12:11). Adversaries can be the hand of God’s blessing in disguise.

If you have an adversary, treat him or her as a God-given gift. Ask the Lord to reveal to you what issues He would have you be aware of through the chastising ministry of this individual. Take heed to your adversary, and let God protect you from self-destruction. See your adversary as God’s means of sensitizing you to danger and defeat.

A good adversary is as valuable as a good friend.

_________________________

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Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:3 1 Thessalonians 5:13 1 Kings 11:31-32

The Tragedy of Division

1 Kings 11:31–32

And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel).’"

The Tragedy of Division

The pastor of a small church was on his way home when he met an acquaintance from town. After chatting a while the man asked how many members he had. The pastor responded, "Fifty active members." The friend said, "My, that certainly speaks well for you." The preacher responded, "Well, I wouldn’t say that. All fifty are active—but twenty-five are actively working for me and the other twenty-five are actively working against me!"

Solomon’s son Rehoboam had even worse odds. Of the 12 tribes that originally made up the nation of Israel, only 2, Judah and Benjamin, would remain loyal to the house of David. The other 10 would desert him in favor of a leader more to their liking. As history proved, however, this was a mistake. By turning against the lineage of David, God’s chosen one, Israel became ensnared in idolatry and was eventually destroyed in 722 B.C. by the Assyrians.

Division within the Body of Christ is never a good thing. Seldom does it lead to anything beneficial for those involved. People are always hurt and the testimony of the church is tarnished. The apostle Paul said, "For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?" (1 Cor. 3:3). Instead, he advised, "Be at peace among yourselves" (1 Thess. 5:13).

If you are part of a divided church, what might you do to bring about healing and unity? Whom should you go to? Whom should you talk to? What can God and you do together? Ask Him to give you the wisdom to be a peacemaker. Don’t be a part of the problem; be a part of the solution.

Dividing a church is like killing half your body; it always destroys the other half too.

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[nChrist]

Author: Woodrow Kroll
Source: Lessons on Living from Solomon
Scripture: Ezekiel 11:19-20 2 Samuel 5:1-10 1 Corinthians 3:16 1 Kings 11:36

A Special Place

1 Kings 11:36

"And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there."

A Special Place

My responsibilities in ministry require that I travel a lot, so I have been to many beautiful and exotic places. But there’s one place that’s extra special. No matter where I go, this place is not far from my heart or mind—it’s called home. No other place can match it. Where else can I enjoy my family, visit with my friends and just put my feet up and relax? That’s what makes it so special.

God also has a special place—it’s called Jerusalem. David conquered this city, originally occupied by the Jebusites, soon after he was anointed king over all of Israel (2 Sam. 5:1–10). Here, David built his palace and governed the nation. And here, Solomon built God’s house. The Ark of the Covenant (the symbol of God’s presence) was placed in the Holy of Holies, and thousands flocked to worship God in His holy temple. And through all the centuries since, Jerusalem has remained a special city to Jews, Christians, Muslims and, most of all, to God, who chose to put His name there.

When Christ died on the cross, however, God established another special place—not of stone and mortar, but the heart of anyone who believes in Him. What was promised in the Old Testament (Ezek. 11:19-20) was fulfilled through Christ (1 Cor. 3:16). God has literally placed His name upon us, and we are called "Christians."

Have you made your heart a special place to God? You can, by inviting Jesus Christ to be your Savior. Sincerely surrender your life to Him, accept His forgiveness for your sins, and let Him put His name upon you. The Lord has set aside a special people, and you can be one of them.

God has a special place in the heart of His special people.

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