February 2022

A Negative Example

February 28, 2022 • 1 Corinthians 10:11

Now all these things happened to them for examples. They are written as an admonition to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come. — 1 Corinthians 10:11 Samson's life was a great tragedy, but we learn much from a life such as his that had great potential, but went awry. In a certain way, he was a picture of Christ—a very, very imperfect picture. Christ also had His birth announced by angels. He also was consecrated unto God. He also had a great calling. His calling was also to deliver the people of God, not from the tyranny of the Philistines, but from the tyranny of all evil. Yet Christ never violated His vows. He never compromised His consecration. He lived a spotless sinless life all of His days. Then one day in the temple of the devil—upon a Cross with outstretched arms—Christ, the greater one than Samson, pressed upon the columns that upheld the very kingdom of evil, and with a mighty push, they went down. Christ did what He came to do. He destroyed the works of Satan. Question to ponder: Is there more you can do to live up to your Christ-given potential?

Boasting in God's Presence?

February 27, 2022 • Ephesians 2:9

… not of works, so that no one should boast. — Ephesians 2:9 Many people mistakenly think they can work their way to heaven by being good. Centuries ago, a simple farmer from England indirectly laid this myth to rest. He was an old and very godly plowman and was acquainted with a young English curate who had recently started a ministry in England. Though the plowman had no education, he had been educated by the Spirit of God and the Word of God. One day, in one of their many conversations, while they were talking about the greatest hindrance to spiritual attainment and growth, the curate said that he believed the greatest hindrance to spiritual attainment was the unwillingness to surrender one's sinful self. Sounds reasonable, but the plowman said, "No, I think not. I think the greatest hindrance to the advancement in the spiritual faith is the unwillingness to surrender one's righteous self." It is a long way from, "I am proud to stand before God and tell how I have lived my life for the betterment of mankind," to "God have mercy upon me, a sinner." Question to ponder: Have you surrendered all your self-righteousness to the Lord?

What Do We Add to Our Salvation?

February 26, 2022 • Romans 3:24

… being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. — Romans 3:24 Today there are so many people who do not even begin to understand the rudiments of Christianity and who suppose that salvation is something they earn by their own good works. They are utterly far afield. They do not know that salvation is an unearned gift—unmerited, undeserved, and unworked for. It is a gift given purely by the grace and goodness of God. I have asked many people, "What do you think we contribute to our own salvation?" Do you know? If you don't know, you should. Do we contribute some good works? We have none to offer for every one of our works is stained by sin. Do we contribute some faith that we work up ourselves? We have none. What do we contribute? Only one thing. Our contribution to our salvation is just one thing. We contribute the sins that Jesus took upon Himself and for which He died. Question to ponder: Although Jesus paid it all, there is still one thing we can yet do—thank Him continuously. What is your response to such a great salvation?

The High Cost of Unbelief

February 25, 2022 • James 1:15

Then, when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin; and when sin is finished, it brings forth death. — James 1:15 Did you ever think about the high cost of unbelief in our society? Just think about what sin has done to our young people today. Drugs, alcohol, and hard rock music—with its prevalent themes of sex, suicide, drugs, and devil worship—are all having a catastrophic affect upon the thinking, morals, and behavior of young people today. Our schools, with their secular, humanistic bent toward removing references to God and absolute morals from curriculum, contribute mightily to the powerful influences that send young people on the road to the "far country." My friends, weigh the difference that faith makes. I hope that when you consider the cost of secularism and humanism and unbelief, you will say, "Enough. We have had enough of this. This is an alien, godless view and we want no more of it foisted on our children. We don't want them or us to have to pay the consequences now and in the years to come." If we think it is bad now, what will happen when the millions of young people who are indoctrinated with these views in our schools reach maturity and get to the graduate school of unbelief? Question to ponder: Has unbelief ever cost you something precious in your life?

Your Sins Will Find You Out

February 24, 2022 • Joshua 7:25

Then Joshua said, "Why have you brought trouble on us? The LORD will trouble you today." — Joshua 7:25 The Bible reminds us: Be sure your sins will find you out. Yet how often we seem quite sure that they won't. I am sure Achan must have felt that in the midst of three million people God would never notice what he was doing. Yet, God ordered that the tribes be brought one by one, and it fell on Judah, and then the lot fell upon his great grandfather and then his grandfather and finally upon him. And so, as described in Joshua 7, Achan not only brought defeat upon the army of God, but he brought death upon himself. He, and his wife, and his children, and his cattle were all brought into the valley of Achor (the valley of sorrow and trouble), and there they were stoned until they were all dead. Then their corpses were burnt with fire and covered over with stones. Therefore, as this account shows us, our sins always affect others and bring trouble upon people beyond ourselves. Question to ponder: Is there any sin in your life that only you and God know about? What do you plan to do about it?

The Cultural Mandate

February 23, 2022 • Genesis 1:28

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves on the earth." — Genesis 1:28 God has given us the Cultural Mandate. "This is my Father's world…I rest me in the thought," says a familiar hymn. Yet, I am afraid that we have abandoned this world to the unbelievers, to the ungodly, to the Christ-haters. And when we see how unbelief has affected every phase of this life, we see that they have taken the world and made it into something ghastly, Some people think that God is Lord only over our spiritual lives—but He is Lord of all. We as His people should spread His grace, His gifts, and His influence into every area of life as best as we can. We need to fulfill the Cultural Mandate to subdue the earth and have dominion over it. We need to see Christians going into every sphere of life to have an influence upon this world for Christ, to bring His teachings and principles to bear in every phase of life. We should live so that our culture might have the face of Jesus Christ indelibly imprinted upon it. That is what needs to be done. That is our task. Question to ponder: What can you do to expand Christ's influence?

The Faith of Washington

February 22, 2022 • Ephesians 5:1

Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children — Ephesians 5:1 It has been said that we live in a time when there is a dearth of real heroes. A recent survey showed that the heroes for American youth included many sleazy celebrities. Surely, there is a need for some godly heroes in our day, and I think that George Washington fills the bill in a remarkable way. He led our troops to victory in the Revolutionary War; he superintended the writing of the Constitution; he was unanimously elected first President of the United States. But what made him so great? It was his Christian character. George Washington said to the Delaware Indian chiefs, "You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ." In 1783 Washington sent out a letter to the governors of the states saying that we can never hope to be a happy nation unless we imitate Jesus Christ: "I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection … that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation." Question to ponder: How would we be a happier nation if we were to imitate Jesus, the "Divine Author of our blessed Religion"?

All Truth is God's Truth

February 21, 2022 • Job 38:4

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? — Job 38:4 A well-known Florida state legislator once introduced a bill stating that creation should be taught in our public schools as one of the possible theories concerning the origin of man along with evolution. I was very interested in the outcries that appeared in the letters to the editor sections after that happened. One writer fulminated, "Why don't we just teach fairy tales, if we are going to teach creation?" Indeed, are they not just the same? Does not every rational person know that the Bible and the Genesis account are just fairy tales? Aren't irrational and uneducated people the only ones who could possibly believe such obscurantist explanations? I am absolutely confident that were I to have the privilege of confronting any of these people with the request to name a number of the scientific evidences that are set forth by creationists and then to state why they disbelieve them, that none of them would be able to name even one. My friends, this is total obscurantism. "I have made up my mind … don’t confuse me with the facts … I am in the dark and I want to stay there." The Bible says that men love darkness rather than the light because their deeds are evil. They hate the light and will not come to it, lest their deeds should be exposed (John 3:19-20). As Christians, we need never fear the truth, and any honest scientific truth that is discovered is God's truth. Question to ponder: What does it matter that God is the Creator of all things seen and unseen?

The Sin Supposedly No One Commits

February 20, 2022 • Luke 12:15

Then He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." — Luke 12:15 What is covetousness? It is the inordinate desire for the things of the world. The Bible tells us that we must, indeed, try to provide the things needed by our family. In fact, the Scripture says that if any man does not provide for his own household, he is worse than an infidel and has denied the faith. The Scripture also tells us to go to the ant that gathers in the summer to provide for the winter. But covetousness goes beyond providing for the needs of our family. It is the attitude of being provident run amuck, gone loose. It is seeking to gather more unto oneself. Covetousness has been called the sin that no one commits. One confessor declared that in fifty years of hearing the confessions of people, no one had ever confessed to committing this sin. A minister declared that in decades of leading prayer meetings where many sins were confessed, this sin was never heard on anyone's lips. The lust for more and more is ever present, and we must constantly guard against it. When you find yourself lusting after things that God has not given you, confess it as a sin, and at the same time, bring your earnest needs and supplications before Him. Question to ponder: How can you guard your heart today against covetousness?

On Things Above

February 19, 2022 • Philippians 4:19

But my God shall supply your every need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:19 What does it mean to be content? According to Webster's it means: "Having the desires limited to that which one has; not disquieted or disturbed by desire, even though not every wish is gratified." There are two words that come from the same root; they are spelled exactly the same way. However, they mean altogether different things, and they are pronounced differently merely because of the accent. Content is exactly the same word as content. The only difference is in the accent. I think there is a story there. You see, being contented means to have the desires limited to that which one has—limited to that which is contained rather than always desiring those things that are not in the container, those things that you don't have. Unfortunately, most of us lean toward the latter. We would all like to live contented lives. How do we do that? By fixing our hearts on things above. Is Christ our delight, our joy, our satisfaction, our contentment, and our rest? Rest and contentment are only found in Christ Jesus, because He knows our needs and He has promised to give us all that we need (Philippians 4:19). Question to ponder: Today, how can you set your heart on things above?

The God of All Comfort

February 18, 2022 • Isaiah 40:1

Comfort, O comfort My people, says your God. — Isaiah 40:1 The great preacher Dr. R. W. Dale said, "People need consolation. They really need it and not merely long for it." Another gentleman, Bill Elliot, says, "Christianity is a religion of comfort. Our God is not only 'the God of all grace,' He is also 'the God of all comfort.'" From the cradle, where a crying baby is picked up by loving arms, to the deathbed, where a cool hand is stroking a wrinkled cheek, comfort is crucial. Life is never easy and we all need comfort from each other. But we also need comfort from God. He is the one who saves our tears in His bottle and ultimately will wipe away every tear from our eyes. He knows how we are made, and He remembers that we are dust. We have a loving and kind God whose eyes are always on His own. When people tell us, "Everything will be OK," those are nice words. But when God says, "Weep no more," it is because He has made all things new. When Jesus saw the people, he had compassion on them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34). He sacrificed Himself so that all could be well with our souls. What a difference it makes in our lives to receive God’s comfort. Question to ponder: To whom can you show compassion and comfort today?

I'm Not Complaining

February 17, 2022 • Numbers 11:1

Now when the people complained openly before the LORD, the LORD heard, and His anger burned. — Numbers 11:1 We have a whole marketing industry that is based on discontent. From class warfare to envy and petty jealousy, the goal is to make people unhappy with what they have. It is so easy for us to complain, because there is always a "snake in paradise." As long as we live in this world, there will be trouble and imperfections, from bugs that ruin your picnic to life-threatening disease. God hates the discontented spirit, the murmurers. The Old Testament describes all the marvelous things God did for the Israelites when they came out of Egypt on their way to the Holy Land. But soon we read, "They murmured against Moses." They murmured. They were always murmuring. God was sorely displeased with them and He sent fiery serpents upon them because they were rebelling against His providence. This is a picture of what discontentment is. Now this does not mean that we may not strive to improve our circumstances, but we are to recognize the providence of God and His promise to provide for all of our needs out of His riches in glory. We are to be content in all our circumstances and in whatever state we are in. Paul said, "I know both how to face humble circumstances and how to have abundance. Everywhere and in all things I have learned the secret, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need" (Philippians 4:12). Question to ponder: How can gratitude and trust overcome our natural tendency to complain?

Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

February 16, 2022 • Matthew 6:11

Give us this day our daily bread. — Matthew 6:11 It is often easy to make our prayers just one "Gimme, Gimme" after another. Give me good health. Give me a new car. Give me a new house. Give me a new spouse. Give me more money. Some people spend much of their time simply making demands of God, as if He were their personal genie. It is not wrong to ask God for what we need. The prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread," encourages us to bring our supplications to Him. But there should be a balance in our prayers. Praise, thanksgiving, adoration, and gratitude will help put our needs into perspective. Pray with confidence to our Father who has promised to provide everything we need. At the same time, remember who He is, and remember the needs of other people as well. In Nehemiah, he commands the Jews, "Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet drink, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared" (8:10). Question to ponder: How can we seek God's face rather than His hand?

Change Me, Lord

February 15, 2022 • Romans 12:18

If it is possible, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. — Romans 12:18 We see many conflicts taking place in marriages today. Some households are like mini-battlefields. It takes two to tangle, as well as to tango though, so we can forget about blaming our spouse. That never does anything but change things for the worse. I think of the innocent young thing who came into the pastor's office. She was weeping and telling of how miserable and horrible and mean her husband was. Then she said, wiping a tear from her eye, "And he wasn't that way when I married him." The pastor said, "Oh, then you changed him for the worse." Do you know what unhappy couples try to do? They want to change their spouse, so they spend their whole lives alternating between various methods of doing so. They try yelling, and it doesn't work, so then they try silence, and that doesn't work. So, then they try pouting, and that doesn't work. Then they try threats, and that doesn't work. So they conclude therefore, "It's impossible. Nothing works." But God wants us to forgive and to patiently learn love. He wants us to work through these conflicts. Marriage was His idea, and it is ultimately a picture of the relationship between Christ and His bride, the Church. Question to ponder: If you are having problems getting along with someone (perhaps even your spouse), what can you do to make things better?

The Superiority of Love

February 14, 2022 • 1 Corinthians 13:8

Love never fails. — 1 Corinthians 13:8 It is hard to believe, but arranged marriages, for example, those in India, have often fared much better than marriages in the West based on romantic notions of love. What these people have learned—that we often have forgotten or have been deceived about—is that love is not some exotic bird that comes flapping down with its wings and sets our hearts aflutter and then disappears just as mysteriously. But love, as 1 Corinthians 13 tells us, is a way of treating other people. There is not an emotion in that whole chapter—but there is instruction about how to deal with people. "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way" (13:4-5 ESV). Those who truly love have learned that when people treat other people the right way, that feeling we call "love" will develop. We may have that feeling in great abundance before we are married. However, if we treat our spouse in some contrary manner, we will find, before long, that the mysterious bird has flapped his wings and flown away. Then we say, "Alas, what can we do? There is naught left but the divorce court, because, you see, I don't love him anymore," or "I don't love her anymore. It's not there any longer. It is gone. It's dead." That is all "a bunch of baloney." We have been fed a lie, and we have believed it. We have based our whole society on the romanticist concept of love and in so doing we have rejected the biblical teaching about the subject. Question to ponder: What can you do to strengthen the commitment you have toward your spouse?