Dregs or Precious Remnant: Part Four
A remnant might feel a bit weak when we are faced with the task of reaching a lost world of almost 7 billion. Similarly, Gideon might have felt pretty strained facing his enemies with only 300 soldiers instead of the thousands he began with!
But God values the remnant in a completely different way than we do!
You see, value is not given to a diamond for its cut, its clarity, or its shine although those things are necessary to make it a diamond and are defining characteristics. Before any of those factors are considered, however, its value stems from its rarity.
We, as saints of God, are rare and precious gems!
YES, we ARE out of the ordinary!
YES, we DO stand out in a crowd!
Just as a diamond ring stands out to a jewel expert, amidst a case of phonies, you just have to have an eye for value!
Our world says our values are senseless, ignorant, old-fashioned. It tells our men that faithfulness equals fear and being beaten down by their wives. It tells our ladies that holiness equals being frumpy, unattractive, and archaic.
In a former career, there was a television outside my office in the main lobby. The owner of the facility kept the station on Country Music. Sometimes, when I had a few extra moments, I would watch the women on the screen, feeling “I can’t compete.”
They had beautiful eyes enhanced by mascara and eyeliner, beautiful figures which were hardly covered, and, sadly, I realized that such appearance has become the expectation today. At the same token, worldly women and men often mock our godly men who prefer to be virtuous and faithful to their beliefs and families. Men who wait for marriage are sometimes derided even worse than women who do, being accused of being unmanly.
But 1 Chronicles 16:29 says, “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”
You’ve heard the saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Here’s the kicker for all you single folks out there: A godly person will find beauty in holiness!!!
It’s about where you place the value!
As a praise singer, I can easily admit that I’m not the best singer in the world. In fact, I’m not even the best singer in our church! Hearing that country music, I heard a beautiful voice one day. Her range, pitch, and control were phenomenal…but she was singing about being “all tanked up.”
What sounds nice to the human ear is empty in God’s, for there is no beauty in ungodliness. He would rather hear the honest, godly praises of a tone-deaf saint than the most phenomenal vocal talent in the world, singing words of emptiness and folly.
Many in our world are talented, but they are yet empty. One of the foremost directors in suspense thriller, Alfred Hitchcock, was acclaimed for his creativity. However, despite all the accolades of man, his accomplishments were empty in the spirit world. And as his biography quotes, he died “an unfulfilled man.”
And yet, we have those in the church today, seeking to turn away from such great truth and to forsake the old paths, simply to become one of the many instead of one of the few, the proud, the remnant.
Be assured that if you’re living right, you will be one of the few! As scripture warns, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26).
Instead, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake” (Matthew 5:11). That’s when you know you’re making a difference!
It must be His way above all…even if it makes you the only prophet in the city under siege!
Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…” And then, of course, He will re-equip you and send you back out into your field of harvest! Hang in there!
