Year 6, Day 278: 1 Chronicles 4

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

This chapter brings us a series of normal names, with one gem amongst the rabble, as it were.  So many people get caught up in Jabez.  So many people look to Jabez and think that it is a wonderful story.  Here is a man who said, “God, focus upon me and place your blessing upon my shoulders and my land.”  God listened.  God gave him what his heart desired.  So many people want to be blessed by God, so they prayer this prayer believing that they, too, will be blessed as though this is some mantra that God cannot ignore.

However, this should really point us to the idea of character, to be honest.  What is my character?  Am I going to force God to focus upon me or am I going to force myself to focus upon God?  Do I want God to bless me, or do I want to see how it is that I can bless God?  This is what I mean when I say that this chapter is about character.

To further the point, let’s remember that the legalists of Jesus’ day – that is, the religious elite and the scribes – are known to hail from the town that Jabez settled in.  These legalists and religious elite were the antithesis of Christ.  They were the nemesis of Christ.  When our character is wrapped around ourselves and not around God, we create an environment where people focus on themselves instead of God.  Generation after generation goes by as the people of Jabez continue their desire to have God bless them.  Their character becomes more and more interested in themselves.  Soon their character is unable to even recognize the character of Christ whenever He should come on earth.

What I learn about this chapter is that it is often better to be one of the unremarkable people of character in this chapter than the self-focused Jabez and those who comes after him.  I want to be the kind of person who has room in his life to focus on God and be led by Him.

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