“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17. That the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
The Holy Bible, containing both the Old and New Testaments, is a perennial best seller. It is probably the most bought and least read book in the world. I know that is pessimistic, but it is true. It is a treasure of God's wisdom, and of His activities in the world. People need to read the Bible and understand its message. It will ultimately tell them that God loves them and sent Jesus to save them from their sins. Now, I will be the first to admit that as I read the Bible, I sometimes scratch my head and ask: “What does God mean in this passage?” But then I remember that He is God and I am not. Whatever God does is ultimately for the benefit of His people, and for that matter, of the whole world. It’s not like I have not tried other ways. There was a time, when I was about twenty years old, that I dabbled with atheism, or agnosticism. What the Bible recorded and my reality did not seem to mesh. With the help of the Holy Spirit, I finally had to admit that the “meshing” was my problem and not the Bible’s or God’s. I did not come to love and appreciate the Bible, the word of God, by ignoring it. I have come to love and appreciate the Bible because, of all the books that I have read, it speaks to my heart and to my mind. I read it as the word of God. I find it amazing that a lot of people who do not believe the Bible believe that you have to be ignorant to believe the Book. Brilliant people, like, for example, C.S. Lewis have found their life's meaning and purpose in the pages of the Bible. That is because our text, printed above, is true. It is best to read the Bible and simply believe what it says. What I have ultimately concluded is that the Bible is not about the goodness of human beings, but the holiness and sovereignty of God. It always tells us about the “warts” and foibles of its characters. You can take Moses and David as good examples. The Bible is not about the wisdom and power of human beings. It is about the wisdom, power and sovereignty of God. The Bible does not look for our approval of its content. It wants us to know that God sent His Son to earth to die for our sins. That is the ultimate message of the Bible, and the Old and New Testaments testify to that. The Bible is not always easily understood. It is not always easy to interpret. Indeed, it is not always entertaining. The Bible does not intend to entertain us as much as it does to inform and change us. I enjoy reading the Bible for many different reasons, but always having to be entertained by it is not one of them. The more I delve into the depths of the Bible, the more I thank God that His word has taught me to swim and not wade. I can’t make you love the Bible, but I can urge you to read it and accept God at His word, and you will learn to love it.. Remember, it is the only source that we have of Jesus, who died on the cross to save us from sin. I challenge you to at least read the New Testament through, beginning now and bask in the love of Jesus. Do it. Bro. Joe
0 Comments
“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor (shouting) and evil speaking (slander or gossip), be put away from you with all malice. 32. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.”
These two verses pose a challenge for every Christian . The things that are mentioned that we need to put away from us seem to be natural human reactions in the frustrating world we live in today. But this does not make them right. Paul informs us in these verses about what it means to have a Christian attitude. It has always been important for Christians to be different, and if we put these things away we will, indeed, be different. Based on what is written here, do you have a Christian attitude? Verse 31a tells us what we need to “put away” from our lives if we are to have a Christian attitude. We are told to put away bitterness, wrath and anger. All of these work together, Bitterness is the result of holding in wrath (rage) and anger and not turning them over to the Lord. Some think that the way to put these away is to give vent to our anger and rage. The way that we would do this is shout at whoever we were angry with, but the next word on the list is “clamor.” When I read this earlier in my Bible reading life, I thought, at least I have never been guilty of clamor, but when I discovered that the word is also translated “shouting,” I had to admit to that too. Though we might succumb to wrath and anger occasionally, we need to be careful that they do not fester in our hearts and minds and become bitterness. Bitterness in no way represents a real Christian attitude. Bitterness leads to all sorts of unchristian actions and attitudes. Unfortunately we sometimes see it at work in churches, and that is truly unfortunate and a poor Christian witness. Verse 31b continues to tell us what to put away from our lives. “Evil speaking” is mentioned. This is not a reference to swearing, but it is a reference to slander and gossip. This can also result from bitterness in our minds and hearts, but it is expressed with an even worse attitude – “malice.” Malice is bitterness that has been held in until it means to do harm to people. Out of malice, some people have beaten up or murdered people, but it is more often expressed through slander and gossip. If malicious people can’t do physical harm to people, they will try to harm their reputations though gossip. It works too, and we have ample evidence of it in churches and in our society. We need to be careful to stay away from these things if we want to have a Christian attitude. Verse 32 gives us the nature of a Christian attitude. The first thing mentioned is “be ye kind.” It is obvious that bitter, malicious people are not by their nature kind, but Jesus expects His people to be kind to other people. This doesn’t mean that Christian people will never get angry, because there are things that should make us angry. What it means is that we will be angry about the right things, and we will never let our anger do harm to another person. We need to show kindness to all people, especially to those who serve us in some way - for example, waiters and waitresses. A Christian attitude is expressed by kindness and this kindness comes from being tenderhearted, which is the next thing mentioned. This word can also be translated as compassion. Like Jesus, we need to look with compassion on people. This is the exact opposite of malice. Then we are reminded to forgive one another, even as God had forgiven us. We do not deserve His forgiveness but He gives it to us anyway. Forgiveness will not arise out of a heart filled with malice, but it will arise out of a tender, compassionate heart. Needless to say, a Christian attitude arises from living a Christ like life. How are you doing with your attitude? Bro. Joe “To everything there is a season, and time to every purpose under the heavens…”
One has to be careful when he or she reads Ecclesiastes, because the content is different from any other book in the Bible. Every time I read Ecclesiastes, which is at least once a year, it makes me think and challenges my mind. There are also confusing passages in the book as well. Ecclesiastes actually has a very powerful message about the human situation. No truer words have been written than our text written above. This made me stop and think about things for which we should make time. It is always time to draw near to God. James gave us a good message on this in James 4:8a: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” This can also be interpreted, “Draw near to God, and you will find Him already close to you.” In other words, if we draw close to God we will find Him already near us. That is a wonderful biblical fact. We draw near to God in prayer. At this stage in my life, I have found bedtime to be a good time to talk to God. Of course, we can talk to Him all day every day, but there are certain times, different for all of us, that we can draw nearer to Him. It is such a satisfying feeling to bare my heart to Him as I retire for the night. Even Jesus felt the need to take special times to draw near to God. You need to find a time that is suitable for you to be in the frame of mind to bare your soul to God - and do it. It is at these times that I just talk honestly with Him about all of my doubts, all of my fears and all of my needs. It just feels so good to open up to Him, let it all hang out, and talk honestly with God. He already knows it all anyway, but we still need to speak it. I like the old hymn, “Just when I most, just when I need Him most, Jesus is near to comfort and cheer, just when I need Him most.” That is so wonderfully true. It is always time to be in good fellowship with other Christians. Jesus saved us individually, but He saved us to share our lives with each other. One of the reasons that Jesus created the church, that we would refer to as churches today since there are so many different churches in many different denominations. It is not far-fetched to say that the fact that Jesus called twelve disciples to work together with Him was a sign that He meant for us to be in fellowship with other Christians. There is no such things as “me and Jesus got our own thing going,” as one country song claimed years ago. Jesus struck the only deal that He is going to strike on the cross. There is no other way to be saved than to come to the crucified, risen, living Savior by faith. When we have come to Jesus to be saved, we need to be in fellowship with other Christians. There is joy and power in being together with people of like mind, people who love and worship Jesus. We can praise and worship Jesus in the privacy of our prayer closets, but we also need the sharing of that praise and worship that Christian fellowship affords us. Every Christian needs to belong to a church for shared praise, worship and service to Jesus, and for the purpose of accountability. One of the greatest tragedies of Christ’s church over the last two-thousand years, is the breakdown of real fellowship in so many churches of all denominations. It is time to be in good fellowship with each other. It is always time to tell other people about Jesus. The challenge that Jesus gave His disciples just before He ascended, was the challenge to be witnesses to the world. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations , baptizing then in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Jesus did not say that it would be a good idea to witness to the world, but that His followers are empowered by the Holy Spirit for the specific purpose of witnessing to the world. That has not changed in the last two-thousand years and we need to take it more seriously. Let’s just say that it is always time to take the call to be Christians seriously and live the faith to the max. Bro. Joe “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”
On two occasions, Jesus sent His disciples out to cast out demons, heal people, and witness about Him. The first group was comprised of the twelve, who, except for Judas, became apostles. The second group is referred to in Luke 10 as “the seventy.” Both groups succeeded in their mission. When the seventy returned, they marveled that the “spirits were subject unto them.” It was almost as if they were bragging. Jesus put this in proper perspective in Luke 10:20, printed above. Jesus told them that casting out spirits was not the main reason for rejoicing. We also need to remember these main reasons for rejoicing in our own Christian service. The first reason that Jesus gave for rejoicing was, “because your names are written in heaven.” No matter how significant our earthly ministry, the main reason for rejoicing is that, as born again believers, our “names are written in heaven.” Their names were not written in heaven because they cast out demons in the name of Jesus and healed people in His name, but because they had entrusted their lives to Him by faith. Evidently, all seventy of them were saved, because they were guaranteed a place in heaven. Whatever other destination that we want to arrive at, nothing is greater than having our final destination being heaven. All else pales compared to this promise. Their names, and our names are not written in heaven because of our great works, or because we deserve it, but because we have trusted Jesus as our Savior. This was made possible by His grace! “For by grace are you saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9. A second reason for rejoicing, that is not stated but understoood is that their sins had been forgiven. It is unconfessed and unforgiven sin that will keep people out of heaven. The Bible says that everyone “has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) We are forgiven by Jesus, and cleansed by His blood. When Jesus has forgiven us for our sins and saved us, He is still available to forgive us for our sins. As John wrote in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Even after we are saved, we stand in need of forgiveness, for none of us live perfect lives. If we do not seek His forgiveness, our relationship with Jesus will not be as close as it should be. Anyway, back to the point, the seventy’s names were/are written in heaven because they had been forgiven for their sins. We should rejoice that though we are unworthy, Jesus, in His marvelous grace, stands ready to forgive and save us and write our names in heaven. This is a reason for you to rejoice as well. If your name is not written in heaven, you should confess that you are a sinner and invite Jesus Christ into your life. If some besetting sin is harming your relationship with Jesus, you need to confess it, ask forgiveness for it and be cleansed. A third reason for rejoicing, again, that is not stated but understood, when we are forgiven and our names are written in heaven, we open ourselves to the blessings of God. The first blessing that we receive is the Holy Spirit, Who takes up residence in our lives. Second, when the Holy Spirit enters our lives, He blesses us with His gifts of service that we should use in our churches and communitity. Third, Jesus gives us His “peace that passes all understanding.” (Philippians 4:7) We have the peace of Jesus as a gift, we just need to claim it. Fourth, Jesus gives us His joy. In John 15:11 Jesus said, “My joy I give you that your joy might be full.” Fifth, we have been given Holy Spirit power to witness to others about our faith. Acts 1:8 states: But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. There are many reasons that we should rejoice that our names are written in heaven, but these blessings are uppermost in my mind at this time. If your name is written in heaven – REJOICE! Bro. Joe "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?”
The psalmist wanted to give back to God for all of the good things He had done for him. However, we know that it is really impossible to pay God back for all of His love, grace and mercy. I guess the main point is that God does not need anything from us. But another point is that we need to give back to Him. Our giving back is not for God but for us. This being established, what “shall (we) render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward (us)”? I want to begin with the least popular means that the Bible gives us of giving back to God. This has to do with our financial stewardship. In the Bible, the Lord makes it plain that the stewardship of our resources is important to God. This stewardship is important because, again, we need to give at least a tithe of our resources. Let me illustrate for you how this stewardship is for our benefit from Malachi 3:10: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house, and prove me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” This states a biblical principle that we can’t out give God. We do not give to get back from God, but when we give, we do get back from God. We can give back to God by taking God’s offer of salvation through Jesus Christ seriously. If you are reading this, you have probably already given your life to Jesus, but if you haven’t, if you want to give back to God for all His benefits to you, asking Jesus into your life is necessary before anything else will count. This is illustrated for us by the message given to the Laodicean church in Revelation 3:30: “Behold, I stand at the door an knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him and he with Me.” This message is to a church, but the wording in it is to individuals in that church. It is an invitation for the ages. We can give back to God by being led by the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. When we are saved, the Lord gives us His Holy Spirit to live within us. We need to be aware of His presence in our lives and follow His leadership daily. How will you know His leadership for you? I don’t really have an answer for you, but I know that in my life I know when He is speaking to my heart. I guess we can say that we will know because we will know. One means that you can use to determine His leadership is if something is not right and will lead you in the wrong direction, it is not of the Holy Spirit. If something that you feel led to do is right, will make you a better person, or will help build God’s kingdom, it is from Him. That is really not difficult to determine. You knew that this was coming because it had to. If we want to give back to God, we need to spend time in prayer and in the Bible. It is impossible to give back to God in any way if you ignore Him by ignoring prayer, and if you stay away from the Bible – period. You are not saved because you pray and read your Bible, but you pray and read your Bible because you are saved – period. Along with this you need to join in fellowship with other Christians in public prayer, praise and Bible study. In other words, you need to be in the fellowship of a church. This is not every way that we can give back to God, but each thing is very important. Bro. Joe “Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. 2. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. 2. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.”
David did not say “hear my prayer,” but he said “hear my cry.” This is a prayer, but it is also a plea. David prayed like we do sometimes. We know that God hears our prayers but we want to express the depth of our troubles. Of course David knew, as do we, that God knows everything that is going on in our lives, but we still make our plea to Him. David prayed for God to “attend unto my prayer.” Again, David knew that God would attend to His prayer, but he is wanting God to come to his aid and is simply crying, pleading from his heart. It was an important prayer, because it is in the word of God. David’s plea was based on the fact his heart was overwhelmed. Specifically, David prayed, “From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed.” We are not told why David’s heart was overwhelmed, but we don’t need to know why, because we know what it means to have an overwhelmed heart. We know what an overwhelmed heart is when a friend dies suddenly. Perhaps this friend had never been sick, but his or her heart just stopped. We are overwhelmed by the grief of unexpected death. We know what David means when we read about one of our warriors being killed in the Middle East, because we know that the chances are good that a young wife will be left with small children and will be left to grieve. I think that I have adequately illustrated that we know what it means to have an overwhelmed heart. Life just puzzles us sometimes and we do not understand why things happen as they do. David knew what he wanted to do about his “overwhelmed heart,” for he prayed, “When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” I remember that I heard about the “rock that is higher than I” the first time as a youngster in a gospel song by that same title. I didn’t understand it when I heard it, but I knew that it sounded good and sounded like something that I would like to do. David was referring to God as “the rock that is higher than I.” When I flee to the rock, I am fleeing to Jesus. An overwhelmed heart cannot be stilled by anyone, or anything, because for some things there is no earthly help. I know that when I had cancer, I was glad I had a good doctor, but I did not cry out to that doctor. I cried out to “the rock that is higher than I.” If you have ever faced anything like cancer, or any other dread disease, you know what I mean. There are things that only God can handle, and that is why we make our plea to Him. It is good to know that “the rock that is higher than I” loves us and is available to us. David knew from experience what it meant to make His plea, and to flee to the “rock that is higher than I.” Here is what he prayed: “For thou hast been a shelter for me, and strong tower from the enemy.” If there was anything that David knew about it was enemies. He spent years running for his life from King Saul. He was always surrounded by enemies. David knew personally that “God had been a shelter for (him).” He knew personally that God had been a “strong tower from the enemy.” There is nothing greater than making a plea to God with great assurance of what God can do. What seemed to start out as a prayer from the doubt of what God would do, in verses 2 and 3 we see that it was a prayer of great faith. Whatever your need today, you can cry out to God. He will hear you and lead you to “the rock that is higher than I,” and will be a shelter for you on the mountaintop or in the valley. Bro. Joe “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man (person) that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” We think a lot today about “self-image.” Evidently, they did in Paul’s day too, for he reminded the Roman Christians not to think of themselves more highly than they should. Does he mean that we should hate ourselves? No! Quoting from Leviticus, Jesus told us to “love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” This presupposes that we will love ourselves. This, however, does not mean to be “in love” with ourselves. In fact, Paul wrote that we should “think soberly” about ourselves. This means that we should look at ourselves honestly, and see the good and bad in us as we do in other people. I will be the first to admit that it is awfully difficult for us to look at ourselves objectively. We like to think that, though we know that we have faults, we don’t have any real bad ones. If we would think soberly about ourselves, we would think realistically about ourselves and make changes where they need to be made. I think that this is what Paul meant by, “according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” It takes faith to look at ourselves realistically and change accordingly. This is how we grow in the “grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” To grow is to change and, for the Christian, to change is to grow. Instead of justifying, and defending, our faults, we should try to do something about them. This would help us in our relationships with ourselves and with others. Let me share with you what led me to write about this subject. I saw a roadside sign at a church that had the following saying written on it: “Do not think less of yourself, think of yourself less.” I looked at Mary and said, “This will be a blog on CouchPotatoRedux.” We need to stop and think about how often we think about ourselves during the day. It would be a humbling experience, for we think of ourselves quite often. (You notice that I wrote “our” instead of “you.”) As usual, our example for this is Jesus. He seldom thought of Himself as He reached out to others. People crowded around Jesus, sick and needy, and He tirelessly helped them. He did take some time for Himself, and helped His disciples do the same, but ultimately He was not consumed with Himself. Another Biblical example is King Saul, the first king of Israel. He had been chosen as king of Israel because he stood out from the crowd. He did well, and then David came on the scene. David became a hero to the people of Israel. In fact, after victorious battles, women would meet the army and sing:”Saul has slain his thousands and David has slain his ten thousand.” This caused Saul to be jealous and he sought to kill David. Saul’s problem was that he was not thinking of the nation of which he was king. He was not thinking about how important an addition David was to his army. He was thinking only about himself. Since he was the king, Saul wanted to be the number one hero. This jealousy and hatred consumed Saul until the day he died. If we are not careful, we will waste our lives navel gazing and worrying about ourselves and our standing in the world, rather than on the good that we can do as humble servants of God. Learn to love the “David’s” out there and thank God for them instead of comparing yourself to them and hating them. You can be like Jesus or King Saul: You can think about yourself less or waste your life obsessing about yourself. This is good advice: “Don’t think less of yourself, think about yourself less.” Bro. Joe “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and Keep His commandments.” “Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 4. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart. 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him: and He shall bring it to pass.”
In the mid 1970’s, I heard a sermon on Psalm 37:1-8 by Dr. Julian Pipkin. Up to that point this psalm had escaped my attention, at least in my preaching program. I made my own sermon out of it, and it has been one of my favorite sermons over the years. The three verses that I have chosen out of this psalm for this article, give us some good counsel from King David. (At first, I entitled it “Good Advice,” but I decided that advice is cheap and counsel carries more weight.) Let’s read about it and take this good counsel from King David. In verse 3, David’s counsel was to “trust in the Lord and do good.” This is almost like the advice that Paul and James give to us about the effect of salvation on our lives pertaining to faith and works.. We are saved by trusting in Jesus Christ as our Savior. (Trust and faith have the same meaning.) When we trust in Jesus as our Savior, He will not only save us, but He will change our lives and enable us to do good. It stands to reason that when Jesus, who only did good, comes into our lives, He will lead us to do good. We have known people who were “bad characters,” but when they trusted in Jesus, they began to do good instead of bad. Often we witness to people because we know that they can do better if they will trust Jesus. This is also good counsel for us in our daily lives. If we will simply trust Jesus every day, we will be more prone to do good. In verse 4, David’s counsel was to “Delight thyself also in the Lord.” This is a message that needs to come across in all of our teaching and preaching. When the Bible tells us to fear the Lord, it does not mean that we should be afraid of Him, especially if we are trusting in Him. The same Bible that tells us to fear the Lord, also tells us that He loves us and that He means well for us. God is not against us; rather, He is for us. David knew God’s judgment, but he knew God’s favor as well. He certainly had God’s favor when he defeated Goliath when he was (probably) a teenager. With all of the good experiences that David had with God, he could counsel us to “delight in the Lord.” God loves it when we delight in Him, at the same time that we hold Him in great awe. The promise given here is that if we delight in the Lord, He will “give (us) the desires of (our) hearts.” If we delight in the Lord, we probably already have the “desires of our hearts.” Delight in the Lord brings its own rewards. Delighting in the Lord will cause us to spend more time in prayer. In verse 5, David’s counsel was to “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.” When we trust in the Lord, we commit ourselves to Him at the same time. We call it a “faith commitment.” Proverbs 3:5-7 illustrates this counsel: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not to thine own understanding. 6. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. 7. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord and depart from evil.” The promise is that if we will acknowledge Him (commit to Him) in all of our ways, He will direct our paths. When we commit ourselves to the Lord in a faith relationship, it means that He takes over our lives and that He comes first in the decisions that we make in life. Jesus’ disciples give us a good example of what it means to commit our ways to the Lord. Each of them gave up their livelihood, forsook everything and followed Him. Giving it all to Jesus is the epitome of commitment. We would do well to take David’s counsel and trust in the Lord, Delight in the Lord and Commit our way to the Lord. We can always do better in this regard. Bro. Joe “And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.”
Jesus is involved in every part of the Christian’s life. Without Him there would be no Christian life. Colossians 3:17 reveals the all-inclusiveness of Jesus in our lives. Whatever we do is to be done In the name of Jesus. Not in the name of our church, denomination or ourselves but in the name of Jesus. All of our work in the church and in all other facets of life should be “Jesus work.” “Whatever” means all. I want to share some observations on Colossians 3:17. Everything that we do should be worthy of the name of Jesus. Someone might say, “But I could never have fun.” Whoever says this has been terribly misinformed and has no idea what the life of a Christian is like. Jesus was present at festive occasions, which reveals that Jesus was not against “having fun.” Why do we equate fun with sin? The point of our lives is to bring glory to Jesus. In John 17:10, Jesus said: “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine, and glory has come to Me through them. If we do not serve in Jesus’ name, we will not bring glory to His name. I have discovered that there is a great deal of joy in that kind of service and, I might add, a lot of good, clean fun. There are some specific ways to do “all in the name of Jesus.” Let me give you some examples. First, we can accomplish this by what we say: “in word.” Words used to profane God’s holy name will not do it. Words used to belittle people will not do it. In Matthew 12:36, Jesus said: “But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment." Second, we accomplish this by what we do: “in deed.” We will also be held accountable for what we do. What we do reflects who and what we are and to whom we belong. We are God’s people – Christians. Our works should reflect what. Jesus said in Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven.” Third, we accomplish this by being thankful: “Giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. Nothing can enhance the name of Jesus like thankfulness. Look at what thankfulness can accomplish: (1) Thankfulness erases bitterness. (2) Thankfulness causes rejoicing. (3) Thankfulness results in kindness. (4) Thankfulness enhances compassion. (5) Thankfulness calls out the best in us. (6) Thankfulness reveals “Christ in us, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) Notice that we thank God by and through Jesus. It is Jesus, in whose name we do all things, which makes us thankful. If you will stop and think about all that Jesus has done for you, you will be thankful. If you can’t recall that He has done anything for you, you need a spiritual checkup. It is safe to assume that if we apply Colossians 3:17, we will live in the name of Jesus. We are going to live in the name of something, why not Jesus? That is definitely not too much to ask in the light of all that He has done for us. He died as a sacrifice for our sins. He arose from the grave, and promised to be with us throughout the ages. When we came to Jesus by faith, He saved us. Jesus gave us His Holy Spirit to indwell us and fill us. He has promised to come again to receive us unto Himself. Why shouldn’t we do all in the name of Jesus? Will we do this perfectly? Probably not, but it sure won’t hurt to give it a try. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|