March 31
Anyone who has ever worked in a kitchen knows there can be a simple way or a complicated way to accomplish many culinary tasks. There are, in fact, programs on the Cooking Channel whose purpose is to assist their viewers in the goal of finding the easiest ways to obtain optimum flavor from foods prepared.
In this regard, the cooking show hosts are a bit like God. He, too, has made something easy that worldly religious systems have made complicated. The reality is, the most crucial decision any person can ever make in life, the only decision any person can make that impacts eternity, is a very simple one.
A person needn’t approach the Holy One by crawling over mountainous terrain with his forehead bowed to the ground as an eastern belief system requires. A person needn’t sacrifice all he owns to satisfy a demanding God. Nobody needs to strap on a bomb and blow himself up to please a holy god. Why would the Author of life require these acts of destruction?
So, if no great act of devotion or sacrifice is required, exactly what is? The Apostle Paul states it simply in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” The sacrifice for your salvation was accomplished at Calvary. You need only believe it.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Insured
March 30
We buy insurance for everything. There is car insurance, health insurance, life insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, and tornado insurance. There are insurance policies that can be obtained that will render financial assistance if one contracts a specific disease. There is general catastrophic insurance.
Governments stockpile arsenals of weapons as insurance against attack by an aggressor nation. At one time the thinking was that if enemies could mutually destroy each other, neither side would ‘push the button.’ With the acquisition of nuclear materials by rogue governments who see nuclear annihilation as a method of assisting God in bringing judgment to a fallen world, that is no longer a safe assumption.
But, in practice, whatever we can insure has a policy written as protection against that eventuality. What are we doing, however to insure our eternal destiny? What are we doing to ascertain our place in Heaven? Some people think their good works will afford them recognition in the eyes of God. They try to earn their reward by sacrificial giving or by doing altruistic works. While these are worthy endeavors, they are not acts that obtain salvation.
The one thing man can do to insure his place in heaven is to accept Jesus as his Savior and Lord. This is the one thing many people put off to a more convenient season. While they would never let their temporal insurance policies lapse, they have neglected obtaining their eternal insurance policy. But, God says,”…Now is the accepted time; today is the day of salvation” II Corinthians 6:2. Make no tarrying!
We buy insurance for everything. There is car insurance, health insurance, life insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, and tornado insurance. There are insurance policies that can be obtained that will render financial assistance if one contracts a specific disease. There is general catastrophic insurance.
Governments stockpile arsenals of weapons as insurance against attack by an aggressor nation. At one time the thinking was that if enemies could mutually destroy each other, neither side would ‘push the button.’ With the acquisition of nuclear materials by rogue governments who see nuclear annihilation as a method of assisting God in bringing judgment to a fallen world, that is no longer a safe assumption.
But, in practice, whatever we can insure has a policy written as protection against that eventuality. What are we doing, however to insure our eternal destiny? What are we doing to ascertain our place in Heaven? Some people think their good works will afford them recognition in the eyes of God. They try to earn their reward by sacrificial giving or by doing altruistic works. While these are worthy endeavors, they are not acts that obtain salvation.
The one thing man can do to insure his place in heaven is to accept Jesus as his Savior and Lord. This is the one thing many people put off to a more convenient season. While they would never let their temporal insurance policies lapse, they have neglected obtaining their eternal insurance policy. But, God says,”…Now is the accepted time; today is the day of salvation” II Corinthians 6:2. Make no tarrying!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Ones Own Decision
March 29
We look around us and we ‘assess’ people. We weigh the ‘pluses’ and the ‘minuses’ of their lives and we esteem them to be due our respect or disrespect, depending upon their achievements, their character, their ‘goodness’ in our eyes. God doesn’t. The Bible tells us that “He is no respecter of persons” Colossians 3:25.
That is not to say there is no weighing of a man before God. The God who is of “purer eyes than to behold evil…” Habakkuk 1:13 is so profoundly aware of evil and its consequences for mankind that Christ came to die in man’s behalf—and by taking man’s sentence of death upon His sinless person—to free man forever from sin’s penalty.
When Jesus came to be the Savior of the World, He did not ‘make a list and check it twice to see who was naughty or nice’; He did not agree to die for some but not for others. He, unlike us, does not assess any man’s worthiness to have a Savior. When He left the glory of Heaven, He came for all.
Jesus has paid the price for the redemption of everyone who has ever or will ever live, without regard to any man’s worth. I Timothy 2:3, 4 tells us, “God our Savior…wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of truth.” Whether a man comes to that knowledge or does not is entirely in his own hands, completely in his own will.
We look around us and we ‘assess’ people. We weigh the ‘pluses’ and the ‘minuses’ of their lives and we esteem them to be due our respect or disrespect, depending upon their achievements, their character, their ‘goodness’ in our eyes. God doesn’t. The Bible tells us that “He is no respecter of persons” Colossians 3:25.
That is not to say there is no weighing of a man before God. The God who is of “purer eyes than to behold evil…” Habakkuk 1:13 is so profoundly aware of evil and its consequences for mankind that Christ came to die in man’s behalf—and by taking man’s sentence of death upon His sinless person—to free man forever from sin’s penalty.
When Jesus came to be the Savior of the World, He did not ‘make a list and check it twice to see who was naughty or nice’; He did not agree to die for some but not for others. He, unlike us, does not assess any man’s worthiness to have a Savior. When He left the glory of Heaven, He came for all.
Jesus has paid the price for the redemption of everyone who has ever or will ever live, without regard to any man’s worth. I Timothy 2:3, 4 tells us, “God our Savior…wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of truth.” Whether a man comes to that knowledge or does not is entirely in his own hands, completely in his own will.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
A Reminder to Pray for Our Brothers in Bonds
As we read today of the great, unfathomable love that our God has for us, let us not neglect to pray fervently for those who suffer in bondage because of their faithfulness to proclaim that love to the lost and dying souls around them. When one member of the body suffers, the entire body suffers (I Corinthians 12:26) so let us be diligent in our prayers for the persecuted Church.
Love Revealed
March 28
God calls Himself our ‘Father.’ This is His way of conveying to man the intensity of His heart of love for us. We have no point of reference for the concept of an Almighty Entity who is from “everlasting to everlasting” Psalm 41:13. We cannot begin to fathom a Being who has no beginning and has no end (see Hebrews 7:1-3) so He expresses His heart to us in familiar terms, in terms we can understand.
Even those of us who may not have had loving earthly fathers know the inner longing that makes us yearn to know such a one. Through Christ’s manifestation of His love in the flesh, God has revealed to us that HE is the fulfillment of that longing. None of us need ever feel the lack of a father’s love, for our Heavenly Father has unveiled His heart through Jesus, and through Him, we see that we are precious to the Father.
We understand that It is love that conveyed Jesus to the cross and in our grasp of that reality, we know there is nothing He withholds from us, for He has given even His life that we might know Heaven’s Truth and Heaven’s Love and Heaven’s Salvation. In becoming alive to that realization, there is only one thing that our loving Savior requires of us---to share our great and glorious Hope with others. We are to share the good news of Christ’s love and salvation with everyone whose life touches ours.
Even when we haven’t the opportunity to convey His salvation package with words, we allow the “living epistle” II Corinthians 3:2 of our lives to be “read of all men.” We are to reflect the Father’s love to all—to the downcast, to the suffering, to the lost. As the half- brother of the Lord says in James 1:27, “Religion that our Father accepts…is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being negatively impacted by the world.”
God calls Himself our ‘Father.’ This is His way of conveying to man the intensity of His heart of love for us. We have no point of reference for the concept of an Almighty Entity who is from “everlasting to everlasting” Psalm 41:13. We cannot begin to fathom a Being who has no beginning and has no end (see Hebrews 7:1-3) so He expresses His heart to us in familiar terms, in terms we can understand.
Even those of us who may not have had loving earthly fathers know the inner longing that makes us yearn to know such a one. Through Christ’s manifestation of His love in the flesh, God has revealed to us that HE is the fulfillment of that longing. None of us need ever feel the lack of a father’s love, for our Heavenly Father has unveiled His heart through Jesus, and through Him, we see that we are precious to the Father.
We understand that It is love that conveyed Jesus to the cross and in our grasp of that reality, we know there is nothing He withholds from us, for He has given even His life that we might know Heaven’s Truth and Heaven’s Love and Heaven’s Salvation. In becoming alive to that realization, there is only one thing that our loving Savior requires of us---to share our great and glorious Hope with others. We are to share the good news of Christ’s love and salvation with everyone whose life touches ours.
Even when we haven’t the opportunity to convey His salvation package with words, we allow the “living epistle” II Corinthians 3:2 of our lives to be “read of all men.” We are to reflect the Father’s love to all—to the downcast, to the suffering, to the lost. As the half- brother of the Lord says in James 1:27, “Religion that our Father accepts…is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being negatively impacted by the world.”
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Return
March 27
All belief systems are not equal. Yes, I know it’s not politically correct to say that, but truth does not come down on the side of political correctness or expediency. Truth stands for itself in the power of its immutability. Truth is, in its essence, Christ who is, “…the Way, the Truth, and the Life…” (John 14:6) without Whom, no one will see the Father.
We delude ourselves and we delude those who are lost when we convolute God’s unchanging plan of salvation and insist that any sincere seeker will attain Heaven, or that there are many paths to Heaven. That lie, though it resonates comfortably in the mind of Western man who has fallen away from his once stalwart commitment to faith in Christ and his resolve to share His gospel, is part of today’s barrage of “doctrines of devils” (I Timothy 4:1).
We live in an age when truth has been turned on its head. As the scripture tells us, we, “…call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). We are among those who, “Professing themselves to be wise, have become fools” Romans 1:22. Our leaders, our parents—our pastors!—have lost their spiritual compass and we are adrift on a sea of empty promises and demonic deception. In having turned our back upon the TRUTH, we are swallowed into the abyss created by lies.
There is truth in the declaration of Job’s ‘comforters’ which says, “God does not take His eyes off the righteous; He enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever” Job 36:7. We find our economy, our government, our families, our world unraveling at breakneck speed as we pursue the wantonness that brought us to this abysmal turn of events. We shall continue our downward plunge until we accept the Lord’s advice, “…In returning (to Jesus)…shall you be saved…” Isaiah 30:15.
All belief systems are not equal. Yes, I know it’s not politically correct to say that, but truth does not come down on the side of political correctness or expediency. Truth stands for itself in the power of its immutability. Truth is, in its essence, Christ who is, “…the Way, the Truth, and the Life…” (John 14:6) without Whom, no one will see the Father.
We delude ourselves and we delude those who are lost when we convolute God’s unchanging plan of salvation and insist that any sincere seeker will attain Heaven, or that there are many paths to Heaven. That lie, though it resonates comfortably in the mind of Western man who has fallen away from his once stalwart commitment to faith in Christ and his resolve to share His gospel, is part of today’s barrage of “doctrines of devils” (I Timothy 4:1).
We live in an age when truth has been turned on its head. As the scripture tells us, we, “…call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). We are among those who, “Professing themselves to be wise, have become fools” Romans 1:22. Our leaders, our parents—our pastors!—have lost their spiritual compass and we are adrift on a sea of empty promises and demonic deception. In having turned our back upon the TRUTH, we are swallowed into the abyss created by lies.
There is truth in the declaration of Job’s ‘comforters’ which says, “God does not take His eyes off the righteous; He enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever” Job 36:7. We find our economy, our government, our families, our world unraveling at breakneck speed as we pursue the wantonness that brought us to this abysmal turn of events. We shall continue our downward plunge until we accept the Lord’s advice, “…In returning (to Jesus)…shall you be saved…” Isaiah 30:15.
Monday, March 26, 2012
To know Jesus is to steadfastly maintain faith in Him, even under duress. The coercion unless ones faith is recanted, the persecution, the threat of death--death itself!--cannot cause one who has known Jesus to leave His light and return to darkness.
Pray for the Persecuted Church, for the believers who suffer so much because they name the Name that is above all names (Ephesians 1:21). Pray for the Church--that we will truly be His Bride, "without spot or wrinkle" Ephesians 5:27.
Pray for the Persecuted Church, for the believers who suffer so much because they name the Name that is above all names (Ephesians 1:21). Pray for the Church--that we will truly be His Bride, "without spot or wrinkle" Ephesians 5:27.
To Know Him Is To Speak Of Him
March 26
God is able to hear any prayer—His eye is ever upon the godly and the ungodly, yet it is not His practice to grant the petitions of sinners (see John 9:31). This rationale was among those bantered about among the Pharisees when they were trying to come to grips with who Jesus is.
They could not deny that He performed miracles and their common sense told them that He must be of God, but some of them rejected that obvious conclusion and sought about to discredit Him. There are many people today who persist in that endeavor. Despite the testimony of eye-witnesses who faithfully recorded many of His mighty works, they maintain their unbelief.
In spite of the on-going faithfulness of the Lord to hear the prayers of His people as affirmed in I Peter 3:12 which says, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayers,” they persist in their unbelief. But those who have met Him, those who have given Him the opportunity to reveal Himself to them, will never, according to Psalm 112:6-7 “…be shaken...”
They shall indeed, “…be remembered forever…have no fear of bad news, for they will be steadfast in heart, trusting the Lord.” When people of faith fully trust the One who has promised, they shall not be silent! They shall, “…utter wisdom…speak of what is just. The law of God is within them and their feet do not slip” Psalm 37:30, 31 as they share Christ’s message of salvation with others.
God is able to hear any prayer—His eye is ever upon the godly and the ungodly, yet it is not His practice to grant the petitions of sinners (see John 9:31). This rationale was among those bantered about among the Pharisees when they were trying to come to grips with who Jesus is.
They could not deny that He performed miracles and their common sense told them that He must be of God, but some of them rejected that obvious conclusion and sought about to discredit Him. There are many people today who persist in that endeavor. Despite the testimony of eye-witnesses who faithfully recorded many of His mighty works, they maintain their unbelief.
In spite of the on-going faithfulness of the Lord to hear the prayers of His people as affirmed in I Peter 3:12 which says, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their prayers,” they persist in their unbelief. But those who have met Him, those who have given Him the opportunity to reveal Himself to them, will never, according to Psalm 112:6-7 “…be shaken...”
They shall indeed, “…be remembered forever…have no fear of bad news, for they will be steadfast in heart, trusting the Lord.” When people of faith fully trust the One who has promised, they shall not be silent! They shall, “…utter wisdom…speak of what is just. The law of God is within them and their feet do not slip” Psalm 37:30, 31 as they share Christ’s message of salvation with others.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Pursue Righteousness and Love
March 25
There is a sobering word in Proverbs 14:12 which we ignore at our eternal peril. It says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Myriad avenues may be touted as routes to Heaven, as ways to please the Almighty, but they result in death and loss, for there is but ONE WAY to see the face of God.
From the ‘holy warrior’ who thinks himself to be on God’s mission when he slays those who do not accede to an ungodly body of writ that demands the total submission of its adherents to the proponent of a rigid code of conduct who believes human ‘virtue’ is required to please Heaven—all ways apart from reliance upon Jesus as Savior—will end in the pit!
Man’s schemes to attain the favor of the Almighty are futile. They are merely the vain attempts of frail humanity to appease the wrath of a god he does not know. But when a man recognizes the plan of salvation formulated in the Throne Room of Heaven before time began (Revelation 13:8), he will not fall before the enemy’s deception in any of its forms! Man will receive the Savior whose blood is the cleanser that washes away all sin!
And in so doing, he shall discover as is promised in Proverbs 12:28, “In the way of righteousness there is life; along the path of righteousness is immortality.” When a man has placed his life at the feet of Jesus, “…though his sins be scarlet they shall be washed white as snow,” Isaiah 1:18. The promise of Proverbs 21:21, “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor,” shall be fulfilled in him.
There is a sobering word in Proverbs 14:12 which we ignore at our eternal peril. It says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Myriad avenues may be touted as routes to Heaven, as ways to please the Almighty, but they result in death and loss, for there is but ONE WAY to see the face of God.
From the ‘holy warrior’ who thinks himself to be on God’s mission when he slays those who do not accede to an ungodly body of writ that demands the total submission of its adherents to the proponent of a rigid code of conduct who believes human ‘virtue’ is required to please Heaven—all ways apart from reliance upon Jesus as Savior—will end in the pit!
Man’s schemes to attain the favor of the Almighty are futile. They are merely the vain attempts of frail humanity to appease the wrath of a god he does not know. But when a man recognizes the plan of salvation formulated in the Throne Room of Heaven before time began (Revelation 13:8), he will not fall before the enemy’s deception in any of its forms! Man will receive the Savior whose blood is the cleanser that washes away all sin!
And in so doing, he shall discover as is promised in Proverbs 12:28, “In the way of righteousness there is life; along the path of righteousness is immortality.” When a man has placed his life at the feet of Jesus, “…though his sins be scarlet they shall be washed white as snow,” Isaiah 1:18. The promise of Proverbs 21:21, “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor,” shall be fulfilled in him.
Pursue Righteousness and Love
March 25
There is a sobering word in Proverbs 14:12 which we ignore at our eternal peril. It says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Myriad avenues may be touted as routes to Heaven, as ways to please the Almighty, but they result in death and loss, for there is but ONE WAY to see the face of God.
From the ‘holy warrior’ who thinks himself to be on God’s mission when he slays those who do not accede to an ungodly body of writ that demands the total submission of its adherents to the proponent of a rigid code of conduct who believes human ‘virtue’ is required to please Heaven—all ways apart from reliance upon Jesus as Savior—will end in the pit!
Man’s schemes to attain the favor of the Almighty are futile. They are merely the vain attempts of frail humanity to appease the wrath of a god he does not know. But when a man recognizes the plan of salvation formulated in the Throne Room of Heaven before time began (Revelation 13:8), he will not fall before the enemy’s deception in any of its forms! Man will receive the Savior whose blood is the cleanser that washes away all sin!
And in so doing, he shall discover as is promised in Proverbs 12:28, “In the way of righteousness there is life; along the path of righteousness is immortality.” When a man has placed his life at the feet of Jesus, “…though his sins be scarlet they shall be washed white as snow,” Isaiah 1:18. The promise of Proverbs 21:21, “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor,” shall be fulfilled in him.
There is a sobering word in Proverbs 14:12 which we ignore at our eternal peril. It says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Myriad avenues may be touted as routes to Heaven, as ways to please the Almighty, but they result in death and loss, for there is but ONE WAY to see the face of God.
From the ‘holy warrior’ who thinks himself to be on God’s mission when he slays those who do not accede to an ungodly body of writ that demands the total submission of its adherents to the proponent of a rigid code of conduct who believes human ‘virtue’ is required to please Heaven—all ways apart from reliance upon Jesus as Savior—will end in the pit!
Man’s schemes to attain the favor of the Almighty are futile. They are merely the vain attempts of frail humanity to appease the wrath of a god he does not know. But when a man recognizes the plan of salvation formulated in the Throne Room of Heaven before time began (Revelation 13:8), he will not fall before the enemy’s deception in any of its forms! Man will receive the Savior whose blood is the cleanser that washes away all sin!
And in so doing, he shall discover as is promised in Proverbs 12:28, “In the way of righteousness there is life; along the path of righteousness is immortality.” When a man has placed his life at the feet of Jesus, “…though his sins be scarlet they shall be washed white as snow,” Isaiah 1:18. The promise of Proverbs 21:21, “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor,” shall be fulfilled in him.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Here and Now
March 24
God does not promise to satisfy our every whim. Although He makes great and significant promises to meet our needs “according to His riches in glory” (Philippians 4:19), He nowhere indicates that He is a genie in a bottle who will perform our commands when we summon Him.
But there is one area where an all-encompassing promise is given and that is in Matthew 5:6 where Jesus Himself assures, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” We look around us at the ungodliness in our world today and we cannot fathom that promise being kept.
But the word of God is unfailing. What Jesus has spoken, we may ‘take to the bank.’ Our investment of faith into His unfailing word shall not be disappointed. We know there is a day coming—and we see indications of its rapid approach all around us—when Jesus shall split the eastern sky and we who are looking for Him shall be caught up with Him (See II Thessalonians 1:7-12).
When we meet Him, our yearning for righteousness shall be abundantly met! He will not leave us languishing for a lack of virtue and goodness! In Heaven, the promise of Isaiah 32:17, “The fruit of righteousness will be peace, the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever,” shall be completely fulfilled. And to the degree that we maintain righteous living on earth, we shall reap its blessing here and now.
God does not promise to satisfy our every whim. Although He makes great and significant promises to meet our needs “according to His riches in glory” (Philippians 4:19), He nowhere indicates that He is a genie in a bottle who will perform our commands when we summon Him.
But there is one area where an all-encompassing promise is given and that is in Matthew 5:6 where Jesus Himself assures, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” We look around us at the ungodliness in our world today and we cannot fathom that promise being kept.
But the word of God is unfailing. What Jesus has spoken, we may ‘take to the bank.’ Our investment of faith into His unfailing word shall not be disappointed. We know there is a day coming—and we see indications of its rapid approach all around us—when Jesus shall split the eastern sky and we who are looking for Him shall be caught up with Him (See II Thessalonians 1:7-12).
When we meet Him, our yearning for righteousness shall be abundantly met! He will not leave us languishing for a lack of virtue and goodness! In Heaven, the promise of Isaiah 32:17, “The fruit of righteousness will be peace, the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever,” shall be completely fulfilled. And to the degree that we maintain righteous living on earth, we shall reap its blessing here and now.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Sowing and Reaping
March 23
We are told to ‘sow’ righteousness into our lives. Think about that a moment. It’s quite an amazing statement. When we sow a few tomato seeds, a significant number of tomato plants grow and a large harvest of fresh, ripe, juicy fruit graces our table. What, then was the prophet Hosea saying to us in the brief book he wrote?
His exact words are, “Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of unfailing love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes and rains down righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12). These are some impressive assertions that the prophet has made under the anointing of the Holy Spirit!
Analyzing them a bit, we can conclude a few things. First, we must take the initiative. God will not simply pour His righteousness over us and hope it sinks in. We are expected to recognize for ourselves that if we will plant the good things of God into our lives, we will reap an abundant crop of more good things. Before any crop can be planted, the soil must be prepared for the seed.
It must be broken up; it must be fertilized. So in our anticipation of reaping righteousness, we must recognize that our hearts must be prepared—humility, hunger for the Lord, abandoning our own will—these are things that enable the crop to flourish when the precious seed of Christ’s truth has been planted in our hearts. And in the sunshine of His power and the shower of His love they will come to fruition.
We are told to ‘sow’ righteousness into our lives. Think about that a moment. It’s quite an amazing statement. When we sow a few tomato seeds, a significant number of tomato plants grow and a large harvest of fresh, ripe, juicy fruit graces our table. What, then was the prophet Hosea saying to us in the brief book he wrote?
His exact words are, “Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of unfailing love; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord until He comes and rains down righteousness upon you” (Hosea 10:12). These are some impressive assertions that the prophet has made under the anointing of the Holy Spirit!
Analyzing them a bit, we can conclude a few things. First, we must take the initiative. God will not simply pour His righteousness over us and hope it sinks in. We are expected to recognize for ourselves that if we will plant the good things of God into our lives, we will reap an abundant crop of more good things. Before any crop can be planted, the soil must be prepared for the seed.
It must be broken up; it must be fertilized. So in our anticipation of reaping righteousness, we must recognize that our hearts must be prepared—humility, hunger for the Lord, abandoning our own will—these are things that enable the crop to flourish when the precious seed of Christ’s truth has been planted in our hearts. And in the sunshine of His power and the shower of His love they will come to fruition.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
We Are Most Like HIM When...
March 22
Once a man has received Jesus as Savior and Lord, he is expected to march to the beat of a different drummer. His values change. His desires change. His actions change. His words change. Because his heart changes. ‘Self’ is no longer on the seat of authority within him. Christ is.
The transition is remarkable and unfathomable to the unregenerate. That is why a thief can restore what he has stolen (see Luke 19:8). That is why a former Moslem terrorist can become a proponent of Israel and an eloquent spokesman for the Kingdom of Christ (read the biography of Walid Shobat).
When a man gives himself to the Prince of Peace, the war within himself stops raging. When he is at peace with himself and at peace with his Maker, he no longer harbors any animus toward his fellow man—no matter how his fellow man may have wronged him. Beyond letting go of personal hurts, the wronged one truly forgives. Corrie ten Boom tells the story of encountering a former Nazi guard from a prison camp where she and her sister had been mistreated severely. When he attended one of her speaking engagements and asked her to forgive him, she did so—with the Lord’s help (read her autobiography THE HIDING PLACE)
This is not something anyone can do in his own strength. It requires total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in order to forgive as He forgave those who crucified Him (see Luke 23:34). When we have done that, we will have complied with Jesus’ admonition in Luke 6:35, “Love your enemies. Do good to them who despitefully use you. Then will your reward be great in Heaven and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” We are never more like the Christ we profess to love and serve than when we forgive others as He forgives us.
Once a man has received Jesus as Savior and Lord, he is expected to march to the beat of a different drummer. His values change. His desires change. His actions change. His words change. Because his heart changes. ‘Self’ is no longer on the seat of authority within him. Christ is.
The transition is remarkable and unfathomable to the unregenerate. That is why a thief can restore what he has stolen (see Luke 19:8). That is why a former Moslem terrorist can become a proponent of Israel and an eloquent spokesman for the Kingdom of Christ (read the biography of Walid Shobat).
When a man gives himself to the Prince of Peace, the war within himself stops raging. When he is at peace with himself and at peace with his Maker, he no longer harbors any animus toward his fellow man—no matter how his fellow man may have wronged him. Beyond letting go of personal hurts, the wronged one truly forgives. Corrie ten Boom tells the story of encountering a former Nazi guard from a prison camp where she and her sister had been mistreated severely. When he attended one of her speaking engagements and asked her to forgive him, she did so—with the Lord’s help (read her autobiography THE HIDING PLACE)
This is not something anyone can do in his own strength. It requires total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in order to forgive as He forgave those who crucified Him (see Luke 23:34). When we have done that, we will have complied with Jesus’ admonition in Luke 6:35, “Love your enemies. Do good to them who despitefully use you. Then will your reward be great in Heaven and you will be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” We are never more like the Christ we profess to love and serve than when we forgive others as He forgives us.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Cramming for Exams
March 21
Cramming for exams is part and parcel of what students do. It isn’t that they wouldn’t prefer to have advance time to prepare for tests, it’s just that they are so swamped with books to read, reports to write and internet research to do that they haven’t time to spend on test preparation—until the last minute when they stay up all night to get ready!
We all tend to procrastinate, even if our schedules aren’t as tight as those of the average high school or university student. We put off things that lack our interest but require our attention. We put off unpleasant things that we’d rather not have to do. Finding time for those pleasurable pursuits that we enjoy is much less difficult.
But, ultimately, the test will come. It may not be one designed by a teacher that requires our perusal of a battery of material that he has required us to absorb; it may be the test that comes when our investments are calculated at retirement. The level of our involvement of ourselves in that endeavor will impact us for a lot longer than will those involving academics. But the ultimate test comes when the work we’ve done for the Lord is tried, when it is evaluated before His throne.
Yes, we know our salvation is dependent only upon the completed work of Jesus—but we are expected to labor in His vineyard when we have given our lives to Him. Ephesians 6:8 tells us, “You know the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does…” And I Corinthians 3:13, 14 says, “Fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.” There can be no laxity in our service to Christ. May we prepare well and pass the test.
Cramming for exams is part and parcel of what students do. It isn’t that they wouldn’t prefer to have advance time to prepare for tests, it’s just that they are so swamped with books to read, reports to write and internet research to do that they haven’t time to spend on test preparation—until the last minute when they stay up all night to get ready!
We all tend to procrastinate, even if our schedules aren’t as tight as those of the average high school or university student. We put off things that lack our interest but require our attention. We put off unpleasant things that we’d rather not have to do. Finding time for those pleasurable pursuits that we enjoy is much less difficult.
But, ultimately, the test will come. It may not be one designed by a teacher that requires our perusal of a battery of material that he has required us to absorb; it may be the test that comes when our investments are calculated at retirement. The level of our involvement of ourselves in that endeavor will impact us for a lot longer than will those involving academics. But the ultimate test comes when the work we’ve done for the Lord is tried, when it is evaluated before His throne.
Yes, we know our salvation is dependent only upon the completed work of Jesus—but we are expected to labor in His vineyard when we have given our lives to Him. Ephesians 6:8 tells us, “You know the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does…” And I Corinthians 3:13, 14 says, “Fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.” There can be no laxity in our service to Christ. May we prepare well and pass the test.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
In That Precious Place
March 20
Some ministers are great orators and their eloquence is never more lofty than when they lift great prayers to the Throne of God. Although we may be impressed with their powers as wordsmiths, the Lord Himself is not. It isn’t the majesty of our speech when we pray that moves the hand of God.
In fact, in Romans 8:26, Paul tells us that there will be times that we don’t know how to pray as we should, and at those times, the Holy Spirit will intercede for us and teach us to pray according to the Lord’s own heart. There is significant cause to believe, that the only prayers God can answer are those that are in accordance with His will.
No matter how compelling the formulation of our prayer, no matter how reasonable our prayer sounds in our own ears, no matter how altruistic it seems in our mind, God will not alter His perfect will in order to satisfy our quest for an answer unless the answer we seek will result in the accomplishment of His purposes. For that reason, Jesus said in Matthew 6:6, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father…
...He who sees in secret will reward you.” It is not great, swelling words that touch His heart, but prayers that are prayed when we are in touch with Him, in the secret place of His presence and His will, that bring results. Allow yourself the privilege, the joy of being found often in that precious place.
Some ministers are great orators and their eloquence is never more lofty than when they lift great prayers to the Throne of God. Although we may be impressed with their powers as wordsmiths, the Lord Himself is not. It isn’t the majesty of our speech when we pray that moves the hand of God.
In fact, in Romans 8:26, Paul tells us that there will be times that we don’t know how to pray as we should, and at those times, the Holy Spirit will intercede for us and teach us to pray according to the Lord’s own heart. There is significant cause to believe, that the only prayers God can answer are those that are in accordance with His will.
No matter how compelling the formulation of our prayer, no matter how reasonable our prayer sounds in our own ears, no matter how altruistic it seems in our mind, God will not alter His perfect will in order to satisfy our quest for an answer unless the answer we seek will result in the accomplishment of His purposes. For that reason, Jesus said in Matthew 6:6, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father…
...He who sees in secret will reward you.” It is not great, swelling words that touch His heart, but prayers that are prayed when we are in touch with Him, in the secret place of His presence and His will, that bring results. Allow yourself the privilege, the joy of being found often in that precious place.
Monday, March 19, 2012
An Easy Ride
March 19
American Christians have had an easy ride. It’s been smooth sailing for us for the two centuries of our nation’s existence. The country and its Constitution were established by Christian men who founded it upon the principles of the Bible and with the expectation that future generations would subscribe to the faith that they honored in their lives and in the government they formed.
In the year 2012, we see a ‘falling away’ from the truth that sets us free. We see men in power in America who do not subscribe to the inerrancy of the Constitution and who harbor little respect for the founding fathers who wrote it and birthed one of the world’s truly free nations into being.
We see a false representation of our nation’s history in our textbooks and a lack of integrity in teaching the truth among our educational hierarchy. Therefore, our children are untaught in the reality of the greatness of our land. Our founders knew that if we stopped valuing our freedom, we would lose it. They knew that if Christianity were abandoned as the religion of the land, we would no longer be free. We are precariously close to that point. When our freedom is gone, we will be like many Christians in the world who will suffer because of our faith in Christ.
Though we pray that day won’t come, we know we must stand strong in faith if it does come, remembering, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him” James 1:12. May HE help us to hold fast to Christ, as do so many who are persecuted for their faith—even if our political ride becomes a rough one!
American Christians have had an easy ride. It’s been smooth sailing for us for the two centuries of our nation’s existence. The country and its Constitution were established by Christian men who founded it upon the principles of the Bible and with the expectation that future generations would subscribe to the faith that they honored in their lives and in the government they formed.
In the year 2012, we see a ‘falling away’ from the truth that sets us free. We see men in power in America who do not subscribe to the inerrancy of the Constitution and who harbor little respect for the founding fathers who wrote it and birthed one of the world’s truly free nations into being.
We see a false representation of our nation’s history in our textbooks and a lack of integrity in teaching the truth among our educational hierarchy. Therefore, our children are untaught in the reality of the greatness of our land. Our founders knew that if we stopped valuing our freedom, we would lose it. They knew that if Christianity were abandoned as the religion of the land, we would no longer be free. We are precariously close to that point. When our freedom is gone, we will be like many Christians in the world who will suffer because of our faith in Christ.
Though we pray that day won’t come, we know we must stand strong in faith if it does come, remembering, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him” James 1:12. May HE help us to hold fast to Christ, as do so many who are persecuted for their faith—even if our political ride becomes a rough one!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
In The Beauty Of Holiness
March 18
There is no price we can pay, nothing we can do, to earn our salvation. Some religious doctrines erroneously convey the false hope or burdensome responsibility (depending on how you view it) to man that he is capable of attaining favor in the eyes of God by complying with a set of rules or executing prescribed deeds. This is absolutely not the truth.
The Word of God, the Bible, the only ‘holy book’ available to lost man affirms that Jesus Christ the Righteous lived the only life that ever satisfied God’s holy standard of righteousness—and because He loves us, He imparts His righteousness to us if we will but receive His free gift of salvation.
Once we have done that, the Holy One sees us as righteous because we are under the blood of Jesus. In Psalm 18:20 David says, “The Lord has dealt with me according to righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He has rewarded me.” There is a place for living holy lives once we are saved. Though our attempt at holiness cannot save us, it is expected of us when we have been made righteous through Christ.
This concept complies with what Paul wrote to believers in Colossae, “Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” When we have received Him, it is our desire and our privilege and our responsibility to serve Jesus in the beauty of holiness.
There is no price we can pay, nothing we can do, to earn our salvation. Some religious doctrines erroneously convey the false hope or burdensome responsibility (depending on how you view it) to man that he is capable of attaining favor in the eyes of God by complying with a set of rules or executing prescribed deeds. This is absolutely not the truth.
The Word of God, the Bible, the only ‘holy book’ available to lost man affirms that Jesus Christ the Righteous lived the only life that ever satisfied God’s holy standard of righteousness—and because He loves us, He imparts His righteousness to us if we will but receive His free gift of salvation.
Once we have done that, the Holy One sees us as righteous because we are under the blood of Jesus. In Psalm 18:20 David says, “The Lord has dealt with me according to righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He has rewarded me.” There is a place for living holy lives once we are saved. Though our attempt at holiness cannot save us, it is expected of us when we have been made righteous through Christ.
This concept complies with what Paul wrote to believers in Colossae, “Whatever you do, do it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” When we have received Him, it is our desire and our privilege and our responsibility to serve Jesus in the beauty of holiness.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
He Came To Restore
March 17
Man tends to negate the interest level of God in the affairs of men. Man often relegates God to a dusty corner of his existence and presumes that since he doesn’t think about God, God isn’t thinking about him. Some members of the human family negate the existence of God altogether. Man is in error in either case.
Deists are people who believe God created the universe and placed man upon the Earth and then simply adopted a ‘hands-off’ approach to man and his circumstances. They justify this rationale by saying that if God cared, if He really were a ‘hands-on’ God, He wouldn’t allow the sadness, the sorrow, the evil that exists on the planet.
Atheists justify their disbelief in the same way. People in both categories of unbelief have negated the events of the Garden of Eden. There, God walked with man, communed with man, interacted with man. It was man who terminated the intimacy of the relationship he and God enjoyed. If God seems detached from men, it is because men have persisted in the pattern established by the first humans. (See Genesis 1:26-Genesis 3:24). But Jesus came to restore intimate fellowship with God.
He bore our punishment so our sin would no longer separate us from the Father who desires a relationship with His children. But, whether or not we accept the sacrifice our Savior made in our behalf, our God is watching and evaluating our lives. As Jeremiah 17:10 makes clear, “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” God’s interest in us is evidenced by His salvation through Christ and by His constant watch over us.
Man tends to negate the interest level of God in the affairs of men. Man often relegates God to a dusty corner of his existence and presumes that since he doesn’t think about God, God isn’t thinking about him. Some members of the human family negate the existence of God altogether. Man is in error in either case.
Deists are people who believe God created the universe and placed man upon the Earth and then simply adopted a ‘hands-off’ approach to man and his circumstances. They justify this rationale by saying that if God cared, if He really were a ‘hands-on’ God, He wouldn’t allow the sadness, the sorrow, the evil that exists on the planet.
Atheists justify their disbelief in the same way. People in both categories of unbelief have negated the events of the Garden of Eden. There, God walked with man, communed with man, interacted with man. It was man who terminated the intimacy of the relationship he and God enjoyed. If God seems detached from men, it is because men have persisted in the pattern established by the first humans. (See Genesis 1:26-Genesis 3:24). But Jesus came to restore intimate fellowship with God.
He bore our punishment so our sin would no longer separate us from the Father who desires a relationship with His children. But, whether or not we accept the sacrifice our Savior made in our behalf, our God is watching and evaluating our lives. As Jeremiah 17:10 makes clear, “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” God’s interest in us is evidenced by His salvation through Christ and by His constant watch over us.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Turn To The Lord
March 16
The actions of men of faith have tremendous impact upon world events. This is nowhere more clearly stated in the Bible than in II Chronicles 7:14 where the Lord conveys this powerful message to His people: “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.”
What awesome power lies within the will of a believer! His decision to lay his life at the feet of the Lord impacts not only himself, but has the potential to effect radical changes within his nation! “If My people…turn from their wicked ways, I will…forgive their sin and heal their land.”
First, a believer must acknowledge his own failures before God. Simply belonging to the household of faith is not enough. A person who names the name that is above every name must come before Him for periodic cleansing (see John 13:6-10), for our walk through life leaves us soiled by our contact with the sin that so pervades our world. Whether we indulge it or simply allow ourselves to be corrupted by it, we are diminished in our ability to reach the lost when sin’s influence upon us hinders our prayers.
When we have allowed Jesus to cleanse us from the sins we have done in spite of the faith we profess, we may then ask Him to use us to reach men and nations for Himself. We may then stand on the promise in Isaiah 55:7 that says, “Let the wicked forsake his way…and turn to the Lord who will have mercy upon him…” When we have complied with that stipulation, He will use us to reach lost men and nations for Himself.
The actions of men of faith have tremendous impact upon world events. This is nowhere more clearly stated in the Bible than in II Chronicles 7:14 where the Lord conveys this powerful message to His people: “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.”
What awesome power lies within the will of a believer! His decision to lay his life at the feet of the Lord impacts not only himself, but has the potential to effect radical changes within his nation! “If My people…turn from their wicked ways, I will…forgive their sin and heal their land.”
First, a believer must acknowledge his own failures before God. Simply belonging to the household of faith is not enough. A person who names the name that is above every name must come before Him for periodic cleansing (see John 13:6-10), for our walk through life leaves us soiled by our contact with the sin that so pervades our world. Whether we indulge it or simply allow ourselves to be corrupted by it, we are diminished in our ability to reach the lost when sin’s influence upon us hinders our prayers.
When we have allowed Jesus to cleanse us from the sins we have done in spite of the faith we profess, we may then ask Him to use us to reach men and nations for Himself. We may then stand on the promise in Isaiah 55:7 that says, “Let the wicked forsake his way…and turn to the Lord who will have mercy upon him…” When we have complied with that stipulation, He will use us to reach lost men and nations for Himself.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
No Wiggle Room
March 15
Our God doesn’t give any ‘wiggle room’ to man’s sin. The just punishment for all departure from God’s holy ordinance is death. The man who is a mass murderer is guilty in God’s eyes of the infraction of all His law. The man who is a tax cheat is guilty in God’s eyes of the infraction of all His law.
That doesn’t sound ‘fair’ to our finite mind. We are accustomed to making accommodation for our proclivity to sin, for our shortcomings, our foibles. In fact, we hardly call our law-breaking what it is--‘sin.’ The word ‘sin’ itself is virtually obsolete in the modern vocabulary. It is an archaic relic of our distant past.
The notion of sin before a Holy God has been ‘white-washed’ in the doctrine of a very influential religion. One of its tenets is that because their god knows man's penchant for sin and because he understands his frame and because he is merciful, he will, ‘wink at sin.’ That is not to say there are not harsh penalties to be paid if one breaks his law, but he gives some lea-way. The idea is that he has made man as he is so he understands his helplessness when confronted with temptation.
Contrast that with the truth that is set forth in Ezekiel 12:21-24 which says, “If the wicked man forsakes his sin…he will surely live; he will not die…and if a good man turns away from goodness to commit abominations…his sin will condemn him to death.” God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but anyone, even someone who has once known the path of righteousness, will not be spared if he turns to evil.
Our God doesn’t give any ‘wiggle room’ to man’s sin. The just punishment for all departure from God’s holy ordinance is death. The man who is a mass murderer is guilty in God’s eyes of the infraction of all His law. The man who is a tax cheat is guilty in God’s eyes of the infraction of all His law.
That doesn’t sound ‘fair’ to our finite mind. We are accustomed to making accommodation for our proclivity to sin, for our shortcomings, our foibles. In fact, we hardly call our law-breaking what it is--‘sin.’ The word ‘sin’ itself is virtually obsolete in the modern vocabulary. It is an archaic relic of our distant past.
The notion of sin before a Holy God has been ‘white-washed’ in the doctrine of a very influential religion. One of its tenets is that because their god knows man's penchant for sin and because he understands his frame and because he is merciful, he will, ‘wink at sin.’ That is not to say there are not harsh penalties to be paid if one breaks his law, but he gives some lea-way. The idea is that he has made man as he is so he understands his helplessness when confronted with temptation.
Contrast that with the truth that is set forth in Ezekiel 12:21-24 which says, “If the wicked man forsakes his sin…he will surely live; he will not die…and if a good man turns away from goodness to commit abominations…his sin will condemn him to death.” God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but anyone, even someone who has once known the path of righteousness, will not be spared if he turns to evil.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
The Pivot Point
March 14
Our loving God takes no pleasure in the condemnation of the ungodly. He desires that all mankind come to salvation through Jesus Christ (II Peter 3:9). But man has a free will and the One who loves him enough to have died to pay the penalty for his sin will not require him to accept His payment of sin’s price. Any who so chooses, may bear his sin himself.
There is a stark contrast between the mindset of two men who were steeped in sin. Each was a condemned criminal—one an unrepentant thief and the other, a leader of an insurrection against the government. Both were condemned by the laws of the land to face the consequence of their crimes—execution.
These two condemned men hung on either side of Jesus when He was crucified for the sin of all mankind. One criminal railed against Him, challenging Him to save Himself and to save the thief, too—if He were indeed who He claimed to be. The penitent one, the insurrectionist acknowledged his own guilt and the just nature of his punishment—and asked Jesus to forgive him and receive him into His Kingdom. (See Luke 23:35-43.)
How is it that a man may live a life of lawlessness yet be given a promise of eternal salvation at the end of his corrupt journey through time? Jesus is the pivot point upon which any man’s eternal destiny turns. And when a lost one comes to Christ, “There will be more rejoicing in Heaven over a sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who are already in His Arc of Safety,” Luke 15:7.
Our loving God takes no pleasure in the condemnation of the ungodly. He desires that all mankind come to salvation through Jesus Christ (II Peter 3:9). But man has a free will and the One who loves him enough to have died to pay the penalty for his sin will not require him to accept His payment of sin’s price. Any who so chooses, may bear his sin himself.
There is a stark contrast between the mindset of two men who were steeped in sin. Each was a condemned criminal—one an unrepentant thief and the other, a leader of an insurrection against the government. Both were condemned by the laws of the land to face the consequence of their crimes—execution.
These two condemned men hung on either side of Jesus when He was crucified for the sin of all mankind. One criminal railed against Him, challenging Him to save Himself and to save the thief, too—if He were indeed who He claimed to be. The penitent one, the insurrectionist acknowledged his own guilt and the just nature of his punishment—and asked Jesus to forgive him and receive him into His Kingdom. (See Luke 23:35-43.)
How is it that a man may live a life of lawlessness yet be given a promise of eternal salvation at the end of his corrupt journey through time? Jesus is the pivot point upon which any man’s eternal destiny turns. And when a lost one comes to Christ, “There will be more rejoicing in Heaven over a sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who are already in His Arc of Safety,” Luke 15:7.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Tell Them
March 13
The Word of Truth within us emboldens us to speak fearlessly before the enemies of the Gospel. Certainly, through the generations since Christ and until this day, there are people who have been and are being tortured and slain for daring to proclaim these words that are set before you today.
The reality is that those steeped in the enemy’s deception are relatively complacent about other doctrines of devils; however, when confronted with TRUTH, when face-to-face with Christ who is TRUTH, they become incensed—or they become born again. The TRUTH has a powerful impact upon the hearer.
As Paul says in Hebrews 4:13, “The WORD of God is swift and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the very soul and marrow of a man’s spirit. It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of his heart.” The Living Word, Jesus, through His Holy Word, the Bible, brings everyone who hears to a point of decision—each of us will hear and be transformed to godliness or to hatred for God.
Why does Jesus then delay His return, when each man’s heart is an open book before Him? Peter, the impetuous one whose actions and words at times could have condemned him were not the Lord patient said, “Jesus is not slack concerning His promise to return; rather, He is waiting patiently, giving even the most hardened souls chance after chance to come to repentance” II Peter 3:9. Let us tell them!
The Word of Truth within us emboldens us to speak fearlessly before the enemies of the Gospel. Certainly, through the generations since Christ and until this day, there are people who have been and are being tortured and slain for daring to proclaim these words that are set before you today.
The reality is that those steeped in the enemy’s deception are relatively complacent about other doctrines of devils; however, when confronted with TRUTH, when face-to-face with Christ who is TRUTH, they become incensed—or they become born again. The TRUTH has a powerful impact upon the hearer.
As Paul says in Hebrews 4:13, “The WORD of God is swift and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the very soul and marrow of a man’s spirit. It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of his heart.” The Living Word, Jesus, through His Holy Word, the Bible, brings everyone who hears to a point of decision—each of us will hear and be transformed to godliness or to hatred for God.
Why does Jesus then delay His return, when each man’s heart is an open book before Him? Peter, the impetuous one whose actions and words at times could have condemned him were not the Lord patient said, “Jesus is not slack concerning His promise to return; rather, He is waiting patiently, giving even the most hardened souls chance after chance to come to repentance” II Peter 3:9. Let us tell them!
Monday, March 12, 2012
Times of Refreshing
March 12
The promise of God is sure. That He wants to save our souls from sin is clearly reiterated over and over again through both the Old and the New Testaments. His love for man has not diminished, so His plan of salvation has not altered through the centuries since its inception.
The words written by Luke in Acts 3:19 still hold out great and matchless hope to mankind who is lost in the quagmire of his sin, “Repent, then, and turn to God so your sins may be wiped out, so the times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Our God wants not only the eradication of our sin but the freedom its elimination gives to us.
As long as we are bound by sin, we cannot be refreshed by the freedom Jesus supplies to us. As long as we are held captive to the allurement of the things that hold us bound we cannot allow ourselves to be free of them. The Lord we serve wants us to have the key that unlocks our chains; He wants us to be eternally free.
In that freedom, we find the refreshment that comes when we are removed from the stifling dungeon of sin in which we’ve been held captive. In that freedom, we may breathe the air of salvation that fills our being with the power of the living Christ. That power enables us to go forth in victory in the power of salvation’s clean, pure air.
The promise of God is sure. That He wants to save our souls from sin is clearly reiterated over and over again through both the Old and the New Testaments. His love for man has not diminished, so His plan of salvation has not altered through the centuries since its inception.
The words written by Luke in Acts 3:19 still hold out great and matchless hope to mankind who is lost in the quagmire of his sin, “Repent, then, and turn to God so your sins may be wiped out, so the times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Our God wants not only the eradication of our sin but the freedom its elimination gives to us.
As long as we are bound by sin, we cannot be refreshed by the freedom Jesus supplies to us. As long as we are held captive to the allurement of the things that hold us bound we cannot allow ourselves to be free of them. The Lord we serve wants us to have the key that unlocks our chains; He wants us to be eternally free.
In that freedom, we find the refreshment that comes when we are removed from the stifling dungeon of sin in which we’ve been held captive. In that freedom, we may breathe the air of salvation that fills our being with the power of the living Christ. That power enables us to go forth in victory in the power of salvation’s clean, pure air.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Offenses Are Swept Away
March 11
Jesus is everything to us. He is all we need. In I Corinthians 1:30, the Apostle Paul says of Him, “…He has become for us wisdom from God—our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” That covers everything of significance that we lack within ourselves. The things we cannot be, because of our sin nature, Jesus has become for us.
Paul says to the believers in Colossae, “God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption through the forgiveness of our sins.” As the chorus we sing in church states so beautifully, “Amazing love, how can it be, that You my King would die for me?”
Jeremiah stated the hope for that matchless redemption in Lamentations 3:57-58 when he said, “You came near when I called You and You said, ‘Do not fear.’ O Lord, You took up my case; You redeemed my life.” What we can see plainly accomplished by Christ in the gospels, Jeremiah could only envision through faith—but his faith was established and the God whose words he faithfully penned brought His promise to pass.
In Isaiah 44:22, the promise is stated another way, but with the same powerful impact, with the same assurance of hope, “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud; your sins, like the morning mist. Return to Me for I have redeemed you, says the Lord.” Our God has woven the promise of His salvation throughout the scriptures. He doesn’t want us to miss it. He wants us to recognize our Savior and embrace Him.
Jesus is everything to us. He is all we need. In I Corinthians 1:30, the Apostle Paul says of Him, “…He has become for us wisdom from God—our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” That covers everything of significance that we lack within ourselves. The things we cannot be, because of our sin nature, Jesus has become for us.
Paul says to the believers in Colossae, “God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption through the forgiveness of our sins.” As the chorus we sing in church states so beautifully, “Amazing love, how can it be, that You my King would die for me?”
Jeremiah stated the hope for that matchless redemption in Lamentations 3:57-58 when he said, “You came near when I called You and You said, ‘Do not fear.’ O Lord, You took up my case; You redeemed my life.” What we can see plainly accomplished by Christ in the gospels, Jeremiah could only envision through faith—but his faith was established and the God whose words he faithfully penned brought His promise to pass.
In Isaiah 44:22, the promise is stated another way, but with the same powerful impact, with the same assurance of hope, “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud; your sins, like the morning mist. Return to Me for I have redeemed you, says the Lord.” Our God has woven the promise of His salvation throughout the scriptures. He doesn’t want us to miss it. He wants us to recognize our Savior and embrace Him.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Give It Up
March 10
God can do anything but wink at sin. In spite of His great love for mankind, He cannot simply treat our sin as though we have not committed it. Part of His immutable law is that all transgression must be punished. The Word, which cannot lie, says, “The wage of sin is death…” Romans 6:23.
Yet that verse goes on to say, “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.” Because our Holy God who cannot look upon sin (Habakkuk 1:13) loves us so much, He took the sin He cannot tolerate upon His own sinless person and bore it to the cross where He died to set us free from the punishment of death that sin requires!
Amazing love! What absolutely amazing love! This is no small thing that the Creator of the universe has done in our behalf! As the Apostle who tested the Lord’s patience so many times stated, “You know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you by your forefathers, but by the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb without spot or wrinkle,” I Peter 1:18,19.
Paul reiterates the same thought in Hebrews 9:12 where he says, “Christ did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.” And to the Colossians (1:13, 14) Paul said, “God has rescued us from the kingdom of sin and brought us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, through whom we have forgiveness from all our sin.” He hates sin enough to die for it. Do we hate it enough to give it up?
God can do anything but wink at sin. In spite of His great love for mankind, He cannot simply treat our sin as though we have not committed it. Part of His immutable law is that all transgression must be punished. The Word, which cannot lie, says, “The wage of sin is death…” Romans 6:23.
Yet that verse goes on to say, “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.” Because our Holy God who cannot look upon sin (Habakkuk 1:13) loves us so much, He took the sin He cannot tolerate upon His own sinless person and bore it to the cross where He died to set us free from the punishment of death that sin requires!
Amazing love! What absolutely amazing love! This is no small thing that the Creator of the universe has done in our behalf! As the Apostle who tested the Lord’s patience so many times stated, “You know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you by your forefathers, but by the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb without spot or wrinkle,” I Peter 1:18,19.
Paul reiterates the same thought in Hebrews 9:12 where he says, “Christ did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.” And to the Colossians (1:13, 14) Paul said, “God has rescued us from the kingdom of sin and brought us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, through whom we have forgiveness from all our sin.” He hates sin enough to die for it. Do we hate it enough to give it up?
Friday, March 9, 2012
Unmerited Joy
March 9
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that mankind has a sin problem. Of course, there are the obvious offenders—the Hitlers who orchestrate genocide, the terrorists who wantonly kill the innocent, the unscrupulous politicians who weigh future generations down with the burden of debt.
But what about the rest of us? What about the guy who manipulates the truth in order to attain a promotion that someone else deserves? What about the high school girl who lies about someone to keep her out of the ‘popular click’? Of course, by our yardstick of sin, the latter are virtually imperceptible compared to the former. But what’s God’s viewpoint?
The Word tells us that if anyone has broken the law to the least degree, he is guilty of the entirety of the law (James 2:10). By God’s holy standard of Himself, there is no one, not Gandhi, not Mother Theresa, not your dear, sweet grandmother, who is free of the burden of sin. That’s why Jesus came to be our Savior. He lived the perfect, sinless life we are incapable of living and He accounts His righteousness to me, to you.
As Paul states it in his letter to the Galatians, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’” In Ephesians 1:7 he states again, “In Jesus we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” Our redemption is unmerited; we can’t earn it—but—Oh, the precious joy of receiving it!
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that mankind has a sin problem. Of course, there are the obvious offenders—the Hitlers who orchestrate genocide, the terrorists who wantonly kill the innocent, the unscrupulous politicians who weigh future generations down with the burden of debt.
But what about the rest of us? What about the guy who manipulates the truth in order to attain a promotion that someone else deserves? What about the high school girl who lies about someone to keep her out of the ‘popular click’? Of course, by our yardstick of sin, the latter are virtually imperceptible compared to the former. But what’s God’s viewpoint?
The Word tells us that if anyone has broken the law to the least degree, he is guilty of the entirety of the law (James 2:10). By God’s holy standard of Himself, there is no one, not Gandhi, not Mother Theresa, not your dear, sweet grandmother, who is free of the burden of sin. That’s why Jesus came to be our Savior. He lived the perfect, sinless life we are incapable of living and He accounts His righteousness to me, to you.
As Paul states it in his letter to the Galatians, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’” In Ephesians 1:7 he states again, “In Jesus we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” Our redemption is unmerited; we can’t earn it—but—Oh, the precious joy of receiving it!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
He Alone
March 8
Job was a man who knew where he stood before God. Job knew that he had favor with God because he was a man who made the Almighty his priority. Job did not trust in his wealth or his political clout, although he was the wealthiest man of his day. No. He was a man who understood that the only place where trust could be confidently placed was in God.
When things began to go awry in his life and his ‘friends’ challenged his walk with God, he knew better than to give ear to their accusations. In fact, he invited them to “Teach me and I shall be quiet; show me where I have been wrong” Job 6:24. This was an ‘in-your-face’ challenge to his misguided accusers to find any area of his life where he had not fully honored the Holy One.
Not many of us have such an exemplary track record. Not many of us could face the kind of trial Job endured without wondering if somehow, some way, we had offended God and were reaping the just penalty of our transgression. Yes, we know Christ has paid the price; we know we are washed clean; yet we, in our humanity, sometimes attempt to reassume responsibility for the sins we know are covered by His shed blood.
We need to be more like Job who was unshaken in his confidence that he stood righteous before our Holy God. When we stand in the security of what Jesus has done for us, we may say as did Job and David who looked forward to Christ’s finished work, “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my Rock and my Salvation, my fortress. I will never be shaken” Psalm 62:1, 2.
Job was a man who knew where he stood before God. Job knew that he had favor with God because he was a man who made the Almighty his priority. Job did not trust in his wealth or his political clout, although he was the wealthiest man of his day. No. He was a man who understood that the only place where trust could be confidently placed was in God.
When things began to go awry in his life and his ‘friends’ challenged his walk with God, he knew better than to give ear to their accusations. In fact, he invited them to “Teach me and I shall be quiet; show me where I have been wrong” Job 6:24. This was an ‘in-your-face’ challenge to his misguided accusers to find any area of his life where he had not fully honored the Holy One.
Not many of us have such an exemplary track record. Not many of us could face the kind of trial Job endured without wondering if somehow, some way, we had offended God and were reaping the just penalty of our transgression. Yes, we know Christ has paid the price; we know we are washed clean; yet we, in our humanity, sometimes attempt to reassume responsibility for the sins we know are covered by His shed blood.
We need to be more like Job who was unshaken in his confidence that he stood righteous before our Holy God. When we stand in the security of what Jesus has done for us, we may say as did Job and David who looked forward to Christ’s finished work, “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. He alone is my Rock and my Salvation, my fortress. I will never be shaken” Psalm 62:1, 2.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
God's Agenda
March 7
God has His own agenda, His own schedule, His own time table. You can’t hurry Him and you can’t slow Him down. Oh, sometimes He waits patiently for His children to come along side and work with Him, but for the most part, He has a plan that has been in place from eons past. Our part, essentially, is to ‘get with the program.’
In Psalm 37:7, David iterates the lesson of waiting before the Lord; he says, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” David learned the lesson of waiting well. He knew better than to rush headlong into plans he had concocted apart from the direction of the Lord. He understood the value of waiting for Him.
In Psalm 4:8, David says, “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Israel’s mighty warrior king understood that the true source of security for a man or for a nation was not in strength of arm or military might but in the total peace and safety that accompany being in the hand of God. He knew the Word was true; it had been performed before—when God told the Israelites, “The Lord will fight for you…” Exodus 14:14.
When a believer will indeed, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding…” (Proverbs 3:3), he will surely, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in earth” Psalm 46:10. Though the enemies of God rage against men of faith and the purposes of Christ, ultimately, they will be among those whose knee will bow before Him (see Philippians 2:10, 11).
God has His own agenda, His own schedule, His own time table. You can’t hurry Him and you can’t slow Him down. Oh, sometimes He waits patiently for His children to come along side and work with Him, but for the most part, He has a plan that has been in place from eons past. Our part, essentially, is to ‘get with the program.’
In Psalm 37:7, David iterates the lesson of waiting before the Lord; he says, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” David learned the lesson of waiting well. He knew better than to rush headlong into plans he had concocted apart from the direction of the Lord. He understood the value of waiting for Him.
In Psalm 4:8, David says, “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Israel’s mighty warrior king understood that the true source of security for a man or for a nation was not in strength of arm or military might but in the total peace and safety that accompany being in the hand of God. He knew the Word was true; it had been performed before—when God told the Israelites, “The Lord will fight for you…” Exodus 14:14.
When a believer will indeed, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding…” (Proverbs 3:3), he will surely, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in earth” Psalm 46:10. Though the enemies of God rage against men of faith and the purposes of Christ, ultimately, they will be among those whose knee will bow before Him (see Philippians 2:10, 11).
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Trust Jesus--He's The Solution To Every Problem
He gives us rest for our souls when our personal lives are devastated by ‘swirling, cyclonic turmoil’ as well as through world-wide unrest. Whether the problems we face are of the scope and magnitude of those confronting world in these last days or are of the sort that shatter our inner peace while leaving the rest of the world unshaken, He is still “…able to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think, according to His power at work within us.” Ephesians 3:20.
My Soul Is At Peace
March 6
An armed, nuclear Iran is a threat to the entire world. Violence on the streets of Cairo, Egypt or Damascus, Syria, as well as the unwashed minions of discord who ‘occupy Wall Street’ and disrupt stability worldwide are causing uneasiness around the hearths of peace-loving people everywhere; in fact, they’ve put the world at the brink of a cataclysm into which civilization threatens to tumble!
People look into the eyes of their little ones and they see innocence that may be corrupted far too soon by this unleashing of vitriolic, bellicose unrest. And nobody is stepping forward to halt the encroachment of these waves of hatred and destruction and upheaval upon the innocent who watch helplessly as the tsunami speeds toward them.
Yet there is One who offers us peace in the midst of the swirling, cyclonic turmoil; there is One whose presence in the face of world-wide devastation offers hope that transcends the forces of evil and doom. That One is Jesus. He tells us in Matthew 11:28-30 that in Him, “…you will find rest for your souls…” His words echo the promise found in Proverbs 19:23, “The reverent awe of the Lord leads to life where one rests content, untouched by trouble.”
When we have put our trust in the Lord, the rise and fall of corrupt men in power cannot distress us. Our security does not lie in the hands of foolish politicians’ tyrannical grasp. No! We may say as did David in Psalm 131:2, “I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a child with its mother, my soul is at peace within me.” When we have anchored our hope to Christ, we are able to stand unshaken by the threats of the godless, for we know their hour is brief—but Jesus reigns forever!
An armed, nuclear Iran is a threat to the entire world. Violence on the streets of Cairo, Egypt or Damascus, Syria, as well as the unwashed minions of discord who ‘occupy Wall Street’ and disrupt stability worldwide are causing uneasiness around the hearths of peace-loving people everywhere; in fact, they’ve put the world at the brink of a cataclysm into which civilization threatens to tumble!
People look into the eyes of their little ones and they see innocence that may be corrupted far too soon by this unleashing of vitriolic, bellicose unrest. And nobody is stepping forward to halt the encroachment of these waves of hatred and destruction and upheaval upon the innocent who watch helplessly as the tsunami speeds toward them.
Yet there is One who offers us peace in the midst of the swirling, cyclonic turmoil; there is One whose presence in the face of world-wide devastation offers hope that transcends the forces of evil and doom. That One is Jesus. He tells us in Matthew 11:28-30 that in Him, “…you will find rest for your souls…” His words echo the promise found in Proverbs 19:23, “The reverent awe of the Lord leads to life where one rests content, untouched by trouble.”
When we have put our trust in the Lord, the rise and fall of corrupt men in power cannot distress us. Our security does not lie in the hands of foolish politicians’ tyrannical grasp. No! We may say as did David in Psalm 131:2, “I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a child with its mother, my soul is at peace within me.” When we have anchored our hope to Christ, we are able to stand unshaken by the threats of the godless, for we know their hour is brief—but Jesus reigns forever!
Monday, March 5, 2012
Though Tides of Time Ebb and Flow, Jesus Is Unchanging
March 5
Life is full of change. Some change is good. Some is not. Some change is routine. Some is extraordinary. In spite of the old saying, ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same,’ most of us have to acknowledge that when some changes occur in our lives, they are transformative.
Birth is one of those wonderful events that bring joy to the family of the new child that has come—but it is a change that alters the parents’ lives forever. Job promotions are eagerly anticipated changes that invariably bring on increased responsibility—and its incumbent reduced discretionary time. We’ve all known the sting of death, the loss of someone near and dear to us, and we understand the void that is left and the ache that it brings.
When disappointment and loss occur, we are required to die self in a way that none of us want to do. But in the spiritual realm, there is a stability, a changelessness that we can use as our retreat from the wrenching experiences of life that can drag us down. Paul says in Hebrews 6:17, 18, “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of His promise; He confirmed it with an oath…so we may be greatly encouraged.”
Our great God and King wants us to be aware that though there are ups and downs in life, though there will be changes that require us to adjust in ways we may not always desire, HE is forever unchanging! (See Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8) The tides of time ebb and flow; they increase with the winds of adversity, but the promise that has been given to us through faith in Jesus Christ is unchanging. We may say with Paul in Romans 4:21, “I am fully persuaded that what He has promised, He is able to perform.”
Life is full of change. Some change is good. Some is not. Some change is routine. Some is extraordinary. In spite of the old saying, ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same,’ most of us have to acknowledge that when some changes occur in our lives, they are transformative.
Birth is one of those wonderful events that bring joy to the family of the new child that has come—but it is a change that alters the parents’ lives forever. Job promotions are eagerly anticipated changes that invariably bring on increased responsibility—and its incumbent reduced discretionary time. We’ve all known the sting of death, the loss of someone near and dear to us, and we understand the void that is left and the ache that it brings.
When disappointment and loss occur, we are required to die self in a way that none of us want to do. But in the spiritual realm, there is a stability, a changelessness that we can use as our retreat from the wrenching experiences of life that can drag us down. Paul says in Hebrews 6:17, 18, “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of His promise; He confirmed it with an oath…so we may be greatly encouraged.”
Our great God and King wants us to be aware that though there are ups and downs in life, though there will be changes that require us to adjust in ways we may not always desire, HE is forever unchanging! (See Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 13:8) The tides of time ebb and flow; they increase with the winds of adversity, but the promise that has been given to us through faith in Jesus Christ is unchanging. We may say with Paul in Romans 4:21, “I am fully persuaded that what He has promised, He is able to perform.”
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Created to Work
March 4
God tells us in the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible that He is a worker. Genesis 1:26 states very clearly that God took counsel with Himself and created man. This book also states that He made everything that exists. It goes on to say that on the seventh day He rested, thereby establishing the pattern for our own labor. We, too, require a day of rest.
The Sabbath, or seventh day, was the day on which the Jews rested. It remained for Christians to change the day of rest to Sunday, to commemorate forever the day on which Jesus arose from the dead. Whether we lay aside life’s burdens on the first or on the seventh day of the week, the pattern remains—six days of work are to be followed by a day of rest.
God Himself continues to work, thereby validating throughout the days and seasons and years and generations of time the concept of working to achieve worthwhile goals. The work of the Holy One has transitioned from fashioning the heavens and the earth and all life upon the earth to labor of a spiritual nature. That labor occurs within each individual who lays his life at the feet of Jesus.
In Ephesians 2:10, Paul tells us, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” It is the intent of the One who inhabits eternity to become fully alive in man! When He has been given the opportunity to dwell in a man’s heart, our Lord and Savior will work within him to accomplish through him the work of the Kingdom.
God tells us in the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible that He is a worker. Genesis 1:26 states very clearly that God took counsel with Himself and created man. This book also states that He made everything that exists. It goes on to say that on the seventh day He rested, thereby establishing the pattern for our own labor. We, too, require a day of rest.
The Sabbath, or seventh day, was the day on which the Jews rested. It remained for Christians to change the day of rest to Sunday, to commemorate forever the day on which Jesus arose from the dead. Whether we lay aside life’s burdens on the first or on the seventh day of the week, the pattern remains—six days of work are to be followed by a day of rest.
God Himself continues to work, thereby validating throughout the days and seasons and years and generations of time the concept of working to achieve worthwhile goals. The work of the Holy One has transitioned from fashioning the heavens and the earth and all life upon the earth to labor of a spiritual nature. That labor occurs within each individual who lays his life at the feet of Jesus.
In Ephesians 2:10, Paul tells us, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” It is the intent of the One who inhabits eternity to become fully alive in man! When He has been given the opportunity to dwell in a man’s heart, our Lord and Savior will work within him to accomplish through him the work of the Kingdom.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
A note to our new member...
May the living Christ use you to effect His purposes as you labor in the vineyard to which He's called you. May He give you great insight into His heart, great determination to accomplish His purposes and great power in your prayers--that strongholds may be pulled down and His name lifted up in you and through you.
The Gospel Does A Thorough Work
March 3
God fully expects the people who name the name of His Christ to comport themselves in a way that evidences the mind and heart of heaven. There is to be no compromise in the walk of faith with those who walk the by-ways of the world. Believers in the Lord Jesus are to manifest His heart to everyone—whether friend or foe.
How can this be accomplished? It goes against the grain of all that’s intrinsic to our humanity. Ah-ha! That’s precisely the point! When we are Christ’s, we are no longer to be representative of man’s fallen nature; we are to be representative of the nature of heaven. How can we best allow the light of His glory to penetrate the world’s darkness?
In I Peter 2:15, the impetuous apostle says, “It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.” There will always be those who do not understand the transformation receiving Jesus as Savior makes upon the life of a man, but as a man persists in evidencing heaven’s values and heaven’s truth in a fallen and corrupt world, he will ultimately convince the foolish men around him of the veracity of what he believes, for actions speak far louder than words.
In his second letter to his young protégé, Paul says it this way, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness…if a man is cleansed from wickedness, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, holy and useful to the Master and prepared for good work,” II Timothy 2:19, 21. The transformation in a man of faith—without compromise—is the undeniable evidence before the doubting, scoffing world that indeed, the Gospel does a thorough work.
God fully expects the people who name the name of His Christ to comport themselves in a way that evidences the mind and heart of heaven. There is to be no compromise in the walk of faith with those who walk the by-ways of the world. Believers in the Lord Jesus are to manifest His heart to everyone—whether friend or foe.
How can this be accomplished? It goes against the grain of all that’s intrinsic to our humanity. Ah-ha! That’s precisely the point! When we are Christ’s, we are no longer to be representative of man’s fallen nature; we are to be representative of the nature of heaven. How can we best allow the light of His glory to penetrate the world’s darkness?
In I Peter 2:15, the impetuous apostle says, “It is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.” There will always be those who do not understand the transformation receiving Jesus as Savior makes upon the life of a man, but as a man persists in evidencing heaven’s values and heaven’s truth in a fallen and corrupt world, he will ultimately convince the foolish men around him of the veracity of what he believes, for actions speak far louder than words.
In his second letter to his young protégé, Paul says it this way, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness…if a man is cleansed from wickedness, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, holy and useful to the Master and prepared for good work,” II Timothy 2:19, 21. The transformation in a man of faith—without compromise—is the undeniable evidence before the doubting, scoffing world that indeed, the Gospel does a thorough work.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Linsey-Woolsey Faith
March 2
In the days before there were so many synthetic fabrics, materials made from plastic and who-knows-what-else, there was a cloth noted for its durability as well as for its comfort. It was a composition of a linen warp and a woolen weft, two natural fibers, one made from a plant and one from an animal source.
It was called linsey-woolsey and was the miracle fabric of its day. Things from durable military uniforms to quilts were fashioned using this cloth that afforded warmth and comfort to the user. Sometimes the combination of two quite different entities can produce something that is an improvement over nature, but often, that is not the case.
Often the hybrid product is inferior and sometimes it produces side effects that are highly undesirable. That is why such materials are fully tested in laboratories before being presented to the public. Nobody wants to discover unpleasant surprises in the items upon which he has expended significant amounts of money. Nobody wants to content himself with materials which prove with use to be entirely undesirable.
We are admonished in the spiritual realm to be cautious of attempting to blend the things of the world with the things of faith. Paul says in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind …to God’s perfect will.” We should not content ourselves with a ‘linsey-woolsey faith’ of time blended with eternity. We want our faith to be made of the fabric of heaven’s truth.
In the days before there were so many synthetic fabrics, materials made from plastic and who-knows-what-else, there was a cloth noted for its durability as well as for its comfort. It was a composition of a linen warp and a woolen weft, two natural fibers, one made from a plant and one from an animal source.
It was called linsey-woolsey and was the miracle fabric of its day. Things from durable military uniforms to quilts were fashioned using this cloth that afforded warmth and comfort to the user. Sometimes the combination of two quite different entities can produce something that is an improvement over nature, but often, that is not the case.
Often the hybrid product is inferior and sometimes it produces side effects that are highly undesirable. That is why such materials are fully tested in laboratories before being presented to the public. Nobody wants to discover unpleasant surprises in the items upon which he has expended significant amounts of money. Nobody wants to content himself with materials which prove with use to be entirely undesirable.
We are admonished in the spiritual realm to be cautious of attempting to blend the things of the world with the things of faith. Paul says in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind …to God’s perfect will.” We should not content ourselves with a ‘linsey-woolsey faith’ of time blended with eternity. We want our faith to be made of the fabric of heaven’s truth.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Advance Every Good Purpose
March 1
Lifting our brothers and sisters in the faith in prayer is a privilege and a responsibility. Certainly the precedent for doing so is well established in the scriptures. In his letter to the Hebrews (Chapter six, verses 17, 18) Paul says, “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of His promise, He confirmed it with an oath so…
…We who have taken hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.” Our encouragement comes most fully when we are in prayer before Him, when we are lifting His holy name in praise, for “He inhabits…” our praise (Psalm 22:3).
The closer we keep ourselves to the Source of our help, the more completely His help can be manifested in our circumstances and in the circumstances of those for whom we pray. In II Thessalonians 1:11, Paul affirms, “We constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling and that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.”
This brief verse acknowledges the propensity of believers to slip away from the fervency of our initial commitment and our need for His help to maintain it. His intention for people of faith is also addressed here—that every good purpose our hearts strive to faithfully fulfill may be advanced by His power at work within us. May our prayers toward His end be ever lifted to His throne.
Lifting our brothers and sisters in the faith in prayer is a privilege and a responsibility. Certainly the precedent for doing so is well established in the scriptures. In his letter to the Hebrews (Chapter six, verses 17, 18) Paul says, “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of His promise, He confirmed it with an oath so…
…We who have taken hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.” Our encouragement comes most fully when we are in prayer before Him, when we are lifting His holy name in praise, for “He inhabits…” our praise (Psalm 22:3).
The closer we keep ourselves to the Source of our help, the more completely His help can be manifested in our circumstances and in the circumstances of those for whom we pray. In II Thessalonians 1:11, Paul affirms, “We constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling and that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.”
This brief verse acknowledges the propensity of believers to slip away from the fervency of our initial commitment and our need for His help to maintain it. His intention for people of faith is also addressed here—that every good purpose our hearts strive to faithfully fulfill may be advanced by His power at work within us. May our prayers toward His end be ever lifted to His throne.
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