"I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."
When God says that He is a "jealous God," He is not speaking from insecurity. He is speaking out of concern for people who ignore Him, or worship other "gods." In the USA we are not overrun with "graven images," but we have surely come up with some good substitutes. Today, we have secularism. The strategy of secularists is to take all spiritual, or religious, things out of our society and put our Christian witness into a church ghetto. Secularists are doing a good job of helping destroy our country and God is not pleased, because "He will not give His glory to another." Closely tied to secularism is atheism. It appears to me that the national religion is becoming atheism. They have succeeded in getting the Bible and prayer out of schools, and have succeeded in some quarters in getting condom distribution in schools. Say what you want, atheism is a religion today. Atheists have put their faith in the hope that there is no God. Then there is materialism. To a certain extent, we are all guilty of this. We are as guilty as the atheists and the secularists. We are enamored with "things" to the extent that we run up credit card debts that we cannot pay back. (By "we" on the credit card issue I don't mean Mary and me. She pays off the credit card every month.) Now I'm really going to meddle. "churchanity" is a "graven image." What is churchanity? Notice that this replaces Christianity. In churchanity we put buildings and programs ahead of Christ. Buildings and programs are important, but they are not to be our focus. We are to focus on Christ and put Him at the head of our churches. (Read Colossians 1:16-18) The final "graven image" is doctrinal compromise. There are churches and preachers that have done away with Biblical doctrine and have replaced it with secular doctrine. The guide for churches is the Bible, and if the Bible condemns something every time it is mentioned, then it does not belong in a Christian church. There are other "graven images" but these are on my mind at the present time. Isaiah 42:8 is still true: "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." He still means it. It is worth mentioning again that God is not insecure because of the things that we put into His place. God knows that we need Him and that no one can love us and give us security like He can. There is really nothing that can effectively take the place of God in our lives. We need the Lord above anything or anyone else in the world. Meditate on your life and where your loyalty lies, and if you have what could be called a graven image, discard it and concentrate on the Lord – Who alone can be your savior. Bro. Joe
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KJV: “Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he who hateth reproof is brutish.”
ESV: “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.” The title might have been a bit off-setting for you, but not nearly as off-setting as if I had asked “Are You Stupid?” The message here is really that it is wise to listen to negative things that others may have to say to help you. The message is also that it is unwise to fail to listen to those negative things. I’ve spent most of my life in the ministry. (fifty-three years) I have had to listen to a lot of criticisms, some of which were just to get at me, but a lot of which were meant to help me. I will say that as a seventy-four-year-old preacher, I am wiser about criticism than I was as a twenty-one-year-old preacher. It is true that wisdom comes with age. We need to listen to criticisms of ourselves and weigh whether or not they will help us if we heed them. What would cause us to be “brutish” about instruction? One thing that would cause this brutishness is what we call a “thin skin.” A “thin-skinned person” is one who is quick to take offense. With such people the merest hint of a criticism will rile and upset them. We should really learn the old maxim: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” I know that people can say some awfully hurtful things to us, but we need to be strong enough within ourselves that their hurtful words can’t penetrate our hearts. But before we reject some things altogether we had better weigh whether or not even a hurtful thing said to us could be of value to us. I know that this advice is difficult to take, but it has helped me improve myself over the years. Also, I have learned to let the obviously hurtful things bounce off. Another thing that would cause this brutishness is an inflated sense of self worth. This is what was wrong with the Pharisees. One reason they hated Jesus was that he saw through their self-righteousness and pricked a pin in their inflated egos. Jesus gave the parable of the Pharisee and the Publicanin Luke 18. In it the Pharisee revealed that he thought himself better than everyone else, especially the hated publican. The Pharisee was not the hero in that parable, but the hated publican was. Throughout the Gospels we see the brutishness of the Pharisees. We want to be careful not to act like them, because they did not impress Jesus at all. We can be brutish when we feel strongly about something that we have done and someone else is critical about it. I found this to be true of my preaching. When I prepared a sermon in my early years I was sure that it must be a masterpiece. That might be an overstatement, but I did feel strongly about it. I pastored Beulah Baptist Church three years before Mary and I were married. Of course I always wanted to know what she thought about each sermon. She told me one time that the problem was that I thought every sermon should be better than the last and that this was not possible. That was good advice from my young bride and it has helped me over the years to not be overly egotistical about my preaching. Make no mistake about it, I had rather hear good things, but negative things have been a big help too. You will find the same true of your life. Don’t let what you feel strongly about ruin your joy when you face criticism for it. I have not covered nearly what could be covered on this subject, but I think that you get the idea: Have a faith in Jesus that is strong enough, and a sense of self that is healthy enough to take what people say and weigh them. When It is not wise or well meant, let it bounce off and move on. When it is something that you need to hear, really listen to it and become a stronger and better person for it. Above all, do not be brutish. Bro. Joe "O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee. 21. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee."
David saw the possibility that he could do something that would bring him shame. To bring shame on ourselves we do not need to do something as blatant as David's adultery with Bathsheba. For example, we can bring shame on ourselves by what we say to people. I have seen Christians bring shame on themselves (ruin their witness) by saying ugly things to waiters and waitresses - and that on Sunday after church services. We need to watch what we say and do in private and in public. How can we do this? We can do this by putting our trust in the Lord. David depended on the Lord to help to keep him from being an embarrassment. There were two things that he saw that could "preserve" him - integrity and uprightness: Integrity is what we are when no one else is around. (This is probably not an "Amen" but an "Oh me.") We need to remember that God sees everything we do and hears everything we say; therefore, we need to watch our thoughts and intentions when we are alone. We need to be true to the better part of ourselves at all times, especially when we are alone and have no one else to answer to but to God and ourselves. I think that it is true that: “idleness is the devil’s workshop.” It is sometimes when we are alone that he really works on our minds. If we are not careful, he will have us thinking of things that would make us ashamed if anyone else knew that we were thinking them. It is interesting that Jesus was alone when the devil tempted Him in Matthew 4. It should also be noted that Jesus answered each temptation with scripture. This is a good example for us to follow. The devil thought he had Jesus where he wanted him, for He was alone and hungry. The devil knows our greatest weaknesses and he will not hesitate to take advantage of them, and this is particularly true when we are alone with our thoughts. We need to pray that we will always meet these temptations in prayer and in the power of God’s word. Uprightness is what we are in public, what people see us do and hear us say. If we want uprightness we need to have integrity. It will be easier not to bring shame on ourselves if we practice what we preach in private. Our public behavior will sometimes reveal our private sins, no matter how hard we try not to let them show. In other words, we need to keep our hearts right with God, ourselves, and others. We need to be aware of these two verses, because the public behavior of Christians is keeping people away from the kingdom. We don't mean to, but we bring shame on ourselves and on our faith. I am certainly not being self-righteous here, because I have to watch myself, and my witness, when I encounter some problem with people who work in public places. I am glad when I leave and did not say the things that I wanted to say. It is with great sorrow that I remember that waiters and waitresses say that the hardest people to wait on are people who come to eat after church on Sunday. I am not writing this to judge others, but to warn that the world is watching and what they see should be our uprightness. All of us need to be careful about our integrity and uprightness if we are to be witnesses to the world about Jesus Christ. Don't you agree? Bro. Joe “But our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatever He hath pleased.”
Another translation of Psalm 115:3 says: “Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases.” On the surface, this verse seems to make God cold, aloof and selfish. This is the view that a lot of people have of God: “He is in heaven, I am on earth, He can do whatever He wants to do, but it will have no effect on my life.” Man, is this a misinterpretation of this text. I sometimes think that we confuse Yahweh, our Lord and God with Allah, the cold and cruel god of Islam. Psalm 115:3 is actually good news and I want to explain why. First, it tells us that God is in heaven. It is good to know that there is a God overseeing all that goes on here on earth. Daniel was asked to interpret a dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and he answered the king in this way: “But there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets, makes known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days…” Daniel could interpret this dream because there was/is an all-knowing God in heaven who knows what is going on among His people. Isn’t it a great comfort to us as we face trying days that there is a God in heaven who is sovereign and knows what is going on now and what will happen in the future. Good gracious, I feel sorry for people who do not have this assurance. I pray that you have it. Second, it tells us that “He hath done whatever He hath pleased…” Now, this looks cold and calculating, but it is far from that, for the whole story of the whole Bible is about what it pleased God to do. Where do I start? There is so much about what God has been pleased to do, and has been recorded in scripture, that we can only scratch the surface of what it means. It pleased God to love us. The Bible is full of the love of God. The Bible tells us that “we love Him because He first loved us.” (I John 4:19) Furthermore, it tells us in 1 John 4:10: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” The very concept of love did not come from the heart of human beings, but from the heart of God. What has pleased Him is to love us. But you say, “What about His wrath.” That is real too, but wrath is not the essence of who and what God is. 1 John 4:10 told us that He “sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Propitiation simply means that God’s Son, Jesus, took the wrath of God that should have been ours upon Himself so that we could be delivered from His wrath. Those who trust Jesus as Savior need not fear the wrath of God, because it pleased Him for His Son to take it for us. It pleased God to bless us. The Bible is so full of this theme that I had to go to my concordance to find one verse that would fit it. As one good example, I found Psalm 29:11: “The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace…” One of my recurring themes in my teaching, preaching, and writing is that God wants to bless us, but we need to want His blessings, and then we need to take those blessings and share God’s blessings on us with other people. It pleased God to save us by faith. Ephesians 2:8 tells us: “For by grace through faith are you saved…” “Grace” and “faith” mean that salvation is a free gift, and as Ephesians 2:9 tells us that salvation is “not of works lest any man should boast.” Hebrews 11:6 tells us that we can only please God by faith. I think that is because He chose to save us by faith. I could go on and on sharing the riches that come to mind from Psalm 115:3, but I think that what I have written will give you some idea of what I mean. Rejoice that there is a God in heaven who loves you and wants to bless you. Don’t shun the blessings that can come to you when you give your heart to Jesus. It pleases Him to bless you. Bro. Joe “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”
Having just finished reading Ecclesiastes and having read the first four chapters of Song of Solomon,, I can say that there are things in the Bible that can be difficult to understand, especially for new Christians. For what it's worth, my advice to new Christians has been to read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and get Jesus down real good, then read Hebrews to get the New Testament perspective on the Old Testament. I think, for example, that Leviticus would be very difficult for a new Christian to understand without having the New Testament perspective. However, we need to remember that the Lord provided a good resource to help all Christians understand the Bible -namely, the Holy Spirit. I have read it through numerous times, at least once a year for the last thirty or so years, and without the Spirit's guidance the Bible would still be a mystery to me. I am one of those narrow-minded Christians who believes that a person who does not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, cannot fathom the great truths of the Bible. Why? They do not have the Holy Spirit to help them. Years ago, I read that one of Madelyn Murray Ohair's sons read the Bible through in one night and rejected it outright. In the first place, if he read it through in one night, he could not have understood it. In the second place, if he started reading the Bible from the perspective of an unbeliever, he had already rejected the Bible before he read one word of it. That's why there are so many misunderstandings among the unbelieving populace about us. They do not understand why we put so much emphasis on the Bible, and take its word over the almighty "popular opinions." If you didn't know Jesus, you would be puzzled too. As Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church: "The man (or woman) without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14, NIV) We should not read this in a spirit of self-righteousness. It should be humbling for us to realize that because of our belief in Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we can understand God’s word. That answers the question about why the Bible is difficult to understand for an unbeliever. A believer, even a new one, has the Holy Spirit to help him or her understand the Bible. No one will ever understand the entire Bible, but everyone who believes can understand what they need to understand under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Frankly, there are things in the Bible that I put question marks by, not because I doubt what is recorded, but because I just simply cannot understand that particular text. I remember that when I was a young preacher I would answer people’s questions about the Bible whether I knew what it meant or not. As I have matured in age, and in faith, I confess that there are some things in the Bible that I just do not understand. The good thing is that I do not have to understand a particular verse of scripture for it to be true. As the old hymn, “When the Morning Comes,” tells us: “We will understand it better by and by…” Meanwhile, just keep reading God’s word and rejoice in the truth that it reveals. Bro. Joe "Keep not thy silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. 2. For, lo,
thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head." If we are honest with ourselves we will admit that we are like the psalmist, because we sometimes wish that God would speak and end all doubt. The psalmist was concerned because the enemies of God were raising havoc, as they always do. I, too, wish sometimes that God would just shout for the entire world to hear. He didn't do it for the psalmist, and He will not do it for us. Why? God does not have to prove Himself, nor does He have to prove His existence. The Bible makes it plain that God has shouted in His own way. His creation speaks for Him. It just makes sense that where there is a design, there is a designer. All that we see in the universe could not have just happened. In Psalm 19:1-2, David said as much: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. 2. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge." The knowledge of the universe in David's day was not what it is today. Knowing what we know about the universe, we should see the hand of God at work even more than David did. God has given us proof of His existence, if we will just look, listen and learn. If one does not want to believe in God, he will not believe, even if God should shout from heaven. Just know this: God does not have to prove anything to us. One of the main claims of unbelievers is that God has not made Himself known. Robert Ingersoll a famous atheist in the early years of the twentieth century used to get up in front of a crowd and dare God to kill him. Of course God never did that. However, he did finally die as all people do – in God’s time not his own. There are other evidences of His existence, like the Bible, but what we have dealt with should suffice. God wants us to come to Him by faith. Hebrews 11:6: "But without faith it is impossible to please Him (God): for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." In John 20:29, Jesus said to Thomas: "...Thomas because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed." Thomas was absent when Jesus first appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, and when told that Jesus was alive, Thomas said that he would not believe unless he saw and touched Jesus' hands and feet. Like Thomas, we have to take God on His terms not ours. The terms of our acceptance with Him are faith. We must simply believe that "He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." In other words, we must believe that God exists and that He wants to be involved in our lives. God wants us to seek Him, and when we do seek Him, we will find that He has been seeking us. One of the main “proofs” for believers is their experience with God when they trust Jesus as their Savior. People’s changed lives could serve as proof of God’s existence if unbelievers would pay attention. When it was announced in 1966, I think it was, that “God is dead,” Billy Graham responded that He knew God was not dead, because he had talked to Him that morning. Incidentally, there were people who actually believed this. Just come to God by faith in Jesus, take Him at His word, and devote your life to Him. He will be real enough then so that He will not have to shout from heaven. You will have accepted Him on His terms, and that is what He expects of us. Bro. Joe “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”
There are people who feel that they do not have a sin problem, and will be hostile if we say that they do. On the other hand there are people who feel that their sins have been so bad that Jesus would never forgive them. The verses under consideration in this article take care of both of these opinions. We’ll take a look at the sin problem first. Verses 8 and 10 tell us that we do have a sin problem. Verse 8 tells us that if we think that we have no sin we are “deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” In other words, those who think that they never sin are living a lie. Verse 10 tells us that, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make (God) a liar, and (God’s) word is not in us. Those who say that they are perfect and never sin really overestimate their holiness and underestimate the power of the devil. They also have a shallow view of sin. We can commit sins by doing wrong, and we can commit sins by not doing what is right. A perfect person would always do what is right, and never do what is wrong. Those who say that they have no sin are deceiving themselves. I’m not calling you a “bad” person, but I am telling you that you have sinned and need to be forgiven. Since Romans 3:23 tells us that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," what can we do about it? . John tells us to confess our sins. You know what confession is: when you have done something wrong and you tell someone about it that is confession. Jesus knows that we have sinned, for He knows everything about us, but He wants us to confess our sins to Him. Sometimes we can pray, “Lord, forgive me for my sins,” which covers all of our sins. At other times we must ask Jesus to forgive us for some particular sin. Sometimes confession also includes seeking the forgiveness of people against whom we have sinned. But the most important forgiveness is that which comes from Jesus. John tells us that Jesus will be “faithful and just to forgive us our sins. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1st John 1:9). You might ask, “What in the world does that mean?” It means that when we come to Jesus in honest confession, He will always forgive us. We can depend on His forgiveness for our sins because He died on the cross to forgive us and exists at the right hand of the Father in order to forgive us. What does it mean that Jesus is “just to forgive our sins”? It simply means that Jesus can forgive our sins. No one else is qualified to forgive us, for no one else died on the cross for us, and no one else has God’s authority to forgive us for our sins. If you are dealing with a sin problem now that is interfering with your joy, Jesus can faithfully forgive you right now. There is no need for us to live in the guilt of sin, because we have recourse through Jesus. There is no need for a non-Christian to live on in sin, because Jesus will forgive and save them now. Hey, that’s not my opinion, it is in the Bible. John tells us that Jesus will “cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Sin makes us feel dirty. There are people, maybe someone reading this article, who feel dirty and guilty and think that there is no hope for them. There is always hope for you. If you are not a Christian, you can be now by asking Jesus to forgive you and enter into your life and change you. If you are a miserable Christian living in guilt, you can receive His forgiveness and cleansing right now. The Bible promises that if you will seek the forgiveness of Jesus, He will be “faithful and just to forgive (your) sins.” How do you know that this is true? Because the Bible says it is so. Claim His forgiveness now. Bro. Joe "Incline my heart to thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. 37. Turn away mine
eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken me in thy way. 38. Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.” These three verses captured my attention this morning in my Bible reading time. What they said to me was that the Psalmist deeply desired a life of substance. He did not want his life to be shallow and vain. First, he wanted his life to be built on the decrees, testimonies, or word of God. He did not want his life to be based on material gain, which comes from a covetous heart. Man, could we use this advice today. I know that this is nothing new, but people seem to think that if they could somehow get a lot of money their lives would be trouble-free. All we have to do is look at people who have a lot of money. If that is all they have, they are not as happy as we might think, and their lives are not as fulfilling as we might think. I’m certainly not against having money and things. I am just against making those the purpose for our lives. St. Francis of Assisi is a good example. He was from a wealthy family, but discovered that his happiness could not be tied to wealth. He gave up everything and lived a life of poverty. We would have never heard of St. Francis if he had not given up his wealth. He found happiness in Christ and in serving Him. Second, he did not want to go through life looking at vain things, things that have no eternal meaning. Most of the things that people really care about today do not amount to a hill of beans in comparison to eternity. The HCSB translates it this way: "Turn my eyes from looking at what is worthless; give me life in your ways.” Think of how many worthless things we look at today. We can't live lives of substance if we spend our time observing what is worthless. What we need is to live the way God wills for us to live. I really can’t think of a prized possession that I own today that I could not do without. If you will give some thought to it, you will see the same thing. I guess we all have some things that are more precious to us than others, but none are more precious than the “testimonies of God." I remember reading about a wealthy man in Texas who wanted to be buried in his Cadillac. They did as he requested and dug a great big grave and lowered him into his grave in his Cadillac. While he was being lowered, someone was heard to whisper, “Man, that’s living.” Really? I don’t know where the man is spending eternity, but wherever it is he has no use for his Cadillac (Do you remember the old song: "You can't go to heaven in a limousine, cause the Lord don't allow no gasoline?"). I know that not everything we own would be considered worthless, but nothing that we own is worth our souls. Third, he wanted what he concentrated on to lead him to a greater reverence for God. HCSB: "Confirm what you said to your servant, for it produces reverence for you." He wanted to really hear in his heart what God was saying to him so that he would have a greater reverence for God. We will reverence what we concentrate most on. We need to ask ourselves if what we focus on daily is leading us to a deeper reverence for God. When our total focus is on what we own instead of on the One who owns us, we do not reverence Him as we should. A famous saying of St. Augustine was: “Oh God, you have made us for yourself and we are restless until our souls find their rest in you.” If you know anything about St. Augustine’s early struggles, you know that he really knew what he was talking about. St. Augustine’s life was miserable until he knew Christ in a personal way. His reverence for God was so profound that his writings had an effect on people who were prominent in the Protestant Reformation, e.g., Martin Luther and John Calvin. Read these verses and get them down in your heart and mind. As Jesus said, “life is more than food and raiment,” and I might add, "than any thing else." Bro. Joe "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
One thing that we need to be in prayer is transparent, because God knows everything about us anyway. David was very transparent in this prayer. He admits here that he does not always understand why he does what he does, and that he needs God to help in his behavior. David knew that God already knew about his behavior, but he still shared it with God. This kind of honesty is what God wants from us in prayer. He asks God to know his heart. Of course, David never read Jeremiah, but he knew the meaning of Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" He knew that he needed God's help in dealing with his heart. If we are wise we will pray the same prayer. You have heard people say, “I don’t know my own heart.” But God always knows what is in our hearts. I guess in a way we mean that we want to know about our hearts what God knows about our hearts. This kind of prayer can help us to change what needs to be changed in our hearts. It is really great when we are going through hard times personally and God gives us insight into ourselves. It would be a good idea today for you to ask God to know your heart in order for you to know it as well. We can lie to ourselves, i.e., be dishonest with ourselves, but we can’t be dishonest with God. Open your heart to Him and let Him give you cleansing and clarification that you need. He asks God to "try (him) and know (his) thoughts." He wanted to be in control of his thoughts. If this psalm is after the Bathsheba affair, and I'm not sure about the date, he is probably remembering how his thoughts went wild that night and led him to do terrible things. It is true that "the thought is the father of the deed." Do we dare invite God into our thoughts? It is very difficult for us to control our thoughts. Satan is aware of the power of our thought processes in our behavior. He is always working on our minds to keep them on things that will not be good for us or for our relationship with God. That is why we need to turn our thought processes over to the Lord. The Lord knows every thought that we have, and He wants to be involved in the things that get into our minds. Maybe our thoughts lead us into spiritual trouble sometimes because we have not been honest with God about our thoughts. We might as well confess that we can’t control our thoughts by our own effort. David knew this, and He has written this inspired word to help us know it as well. He wanted God to uncover any wicked way in him and lead him "in the way everlasting." What he wanted was to live with eternity in mind each day. We really need to have the courage to pray this prayer. What David was asking of God was for Him to offer leadership for His life. We will follow some kind of leadership in our lives, as Christians we just need to make sure we are following God’s leadership. If we ask God to lead us “in the way everlasting,” we will live a life that is pleasing to Him. Be honest with God and yourself and seek His leadership for your life. We need to be honest with ourselves and, in turn, be honest with God and seek His guidance to help us live better lives. I don't know about you, but this prayer would be good for me. It is important that we open our hearts and minds to God and seek His leadership in “the way everlasting.” Don’t you think that your life would be better if you let God be an integral part of it? Bro. Joe “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."
The first three verses of Psalm 1 are about the godly person but I want to focus on verse 3. I want to concentrate on how we can have an abundant supply of God’s grace love and mercy to make us fruitful in our lives. The teaching here is clear: A tree that has an abundant supply of nourishment will be a fruitful tree. When this is applied to a godly person, it means that he or she has a constant supply of spiritual nourishment that makes his or her life fruitful. The lesson here is so simple that it seems almost unnecessary to write it, but obviously we need to be reminded of it. There is really nothing new here, but it often helps to be reminded of the obvious. First, a fruitful person will read and study the Bible daily. Bible reading is absolutely essential to a fruitful life. This being so, why don't we Christians spend more time in the Bible? This is so plain and simple that it hardly needs to be mentioned, but we need to be reminded anyway. We cannot have an abundant supply of God’s grace, love and mercy if we do not stay close to His word. I do not mean to be legalistic here, but when we neglect the Bible, we cease spiritual growth. I know this personally, that if I neglect the Bible I encounter more spiritual problems. That’s why I make an effort to read the Bible every day. There are not many things that I do seven days a week. For example I try to ride my stationary bike each morning, but I take one day off to break the monotony. But I do not take a day off from Bible reading, because it does not become monotonous, and because I know that I need it. I’m not bragging here. What I’m telling you is that I need an abundant supply of the word of God to help me to be fruitful in my service for God. Second, a fruitful person will, to quote Paul, "pray without ceasing." This does not mean that he or she will have to be on their knees all of the time, but they will stay in constant contact with Jesus. Every Christian needs a special time of prayer, but we need to remember that the ear of God is open to us all day every day. I make it a point to pray each morning, but that is by no means all of the praying that I do. Things come up all during the day every day that drive me to prayer. Watching world news is a good example of what drives me to prayer each day. Again, I’m not bragging, I’m just telling you that I need to stay in constant contact with God if I want to bear fruit for Him. It is important to stay in communication with God. He doesn’t need for us to pray, but we certainly need to pray and He loves to hear and answer our prayers. Third, a fruitful person will be involved in the fellowship of God's people called the church. Jesus shed His blood to create this fellowship of believers. We need the church because we need each other. Our problem is that we stress attending church more than we stress being church. The godly person is in good fellowship with fellow believers and is willing to learn from them. Fourth, the fruitful person will have to take all of the inspiration from the Bible, prayer and fellowship and go out and tell others about Jesus. We call it witnessing. All of this needs to be wrapped up in our love for God and for each other. I'm sure there is more that could be written about this verse, but these points should suffice. This seems almost too simple to be written, but the state of Christianity today seems to dictate that it is a lesson that we need to remember and to practice. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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