Songs 1:5, “I am dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
Matthew Henry’s commentary of 1706 reads, ““the fairest Christians are the most shamefaced with regard to themselves….Is it not because they are most accustomed to look within? …..He does not live the life of one who goes recklessly on; but he stops and considers his ways; …The genuine Christian, also, tries himself by a higher standard….Another reason why the fairest Christ are generally those that think themselves the blackest, is that they have more light…..the most watchful Christian is conscious of the danger of self-neglect….”
- The slack living Christians will compare themselves among themselves
- The sincere Christians will compare themselves to God’s standards
The ‘darkness’ that she sees in herself speaks of the anguish in the weakness of her flesh. Her faith speaks the loudest, filled with guilt and condemnation, shame in her weakness.
There are three stages in our victory in Christ
- Our sincere intention to obey God is where victory begins
- We have a partial breakthrough, but a continued struggle (Gal 5:6-17)
- We have a breakthrough with renewed fire and passion to continue (Rom 6:14-23) This is our goal for these 40 days, breath-through into a passion, returning to our first love.
Who are you comparing yourself to? Begin to confess what the Bible says about you. Then you will be changed from the inside out. If you try to change yourself and feel better about your self, then you are like the rest of the world — Self help.
2 Timothy 3:2 tells us what people will be like in these Last Days. “For people will be lovers of self [narcissistic, self-focused], lovers of money [impelled by greed], boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane,” (AMP) Generally when things are listed in the Bible, it is there in order of importance. This is the dominant sign of what people will be like in the last of the Last Days. We are living in a time when churches teach less of the Bible and more of self-help, feeling better about yourself.
The things of God work from the inside out. When you confess what God says about you you will experience the ‘life more abundantly’ that Jesus died to give you. (John 10:10). My husband and I went to the movie OVERCOMER. This little girl had no identity until she was born again and found out what from Ephesians 1-2 what God said she was.
Alex Kendrick shared on a CBN interview, “Our culture wants to say identity is what you feel, or what culture says about you, or some status, job status, financial status. And all those things can change. So, who are you when what you are known for is stripped away?”
My answer – I am a child of the Most High God and He loves me.
Mbostrom2's Blog 