“Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it.”
When I read the scriptures I often come across verses that are so compelling that they have to be written about or preached. Psalm 34:14 was one of those verses that caught my attention and begged to be written about. My next question was: “What will be the title of the article?” I read the verse again and the title became clear: “Some Very Good Advice.” As we look at this verse together, I think you will agree. First, the verse advises us to “depart from evil.” The Bible is filled with illustrations of the wisdom of this advice. We can go back to the very first of the Bible, where Adam was told that he could eat from all of the fruit in the garden but one, and that was “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Then Adam told Eve about the restriction, but they both ate the forbidden fruit. I mean all they had to do was not to eat the forbidden fruit, but they did it anyway. Look at the results. When the Jews left Egypt, they were given strict orders in the first commandment not to worship any god but Jehovah God. Over and over again in their history we read of how they broke this commandment. All they had to do was to “depart from evil” and they would have fared much better. We can go outside of the Bible and look at our own lives. We intrinsically know that it is better not to do evil, but sometimes we just forget that and do what is evil. We say things like, “I couldn’t help myself.” That’s not a very good excuse when we have to pay the penalty for doing evil. Let’s take this advice to heart, and when the devil wants us to do things that we should not do or say things that we should not say, let’s just tell him to flee. I think Jesus gave us the best example of how to “depart from evil.” When He was tempted, Jesus quoted scripture to the devil. (You can read about it in Matthew 4.) Second, the verse advises us to“do good.” This is simple advice isn’t it? It is simple, but we do not always heed it. “Doing good” can mean a lot of things in our lives, but I want to take one aspect of it and show the wisdom of it. Christians should seek to do good for people every day. There are people all around us who need something good for them. There are people all around us who need for someone to say something good to them. We could, and should, be the people who answer that need. Think of what a difference it would make in the world if every Christian made a commitment to do a good thing for at least one person every day. I don’t think that the churches could hold the people who would come to the faith because of it. It hasn’t happened because it hasn’t been tried. Another aspect of “doing good”is to do the right thing instead of the wrong thing. I know that our minds complicate the matter, but it is really very simple. The opportunity to do good is open to us as a choice every day. It would be good if we would take the advice of the Bible and “do good.” Third, the verse advises us to “seek peace and pursue it.” Notice the advice is not to just seek peace, but to pursue it as well. We need to seek and pursue inner peace, and we can do that by taking the advice to “depart from evil, and do good.” We need to seek peace with other people and really pursue it. This means that if we seek peace with a person and he or she does not respond positively, we pursue and keep on seeking peace with that person until we have it. Think about what would happen if every Christian in every church sought and pursued peace with fellow Christians. I know that this is not likely, but it would cause instant revival all around the world. You can be the person to get it started if you will seek peace and pursue it with people in your life. Let’s pray that we can take this advice and see what a difference it will make in our lives, in our churches and in our world. Bro. Joe
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“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36. As it is written, for your sake we are killed all the daylong; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37. Nay, in all things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”
Christian friend, when you feel like a loser go to Romans 8:35-37 and read it very carefully, for it will tell you that because of Christ you will never be a loser. This does not mean that you will never lose; it does mean that you will never have to stay defeated. The old saying “you win a few and lose a few” is true of life, but in Christ we always win. We are more than conquerors. What exactly have we conquered? We have conquered Satan. I know, at this point you are thinking, “but he keeps coming back for more.” It is true that he does come back for more. Do you think that Satan left Jesus completely alone after Jesus defeated him on the mount of temptation? Of course not, for Hebrews 4:15 tells us that "He was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin.” In Romans 7 Paul deals with his own shortcomings in his daily battle with sin. He goes so far as to write: “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that I do not; but what I hate that I do.” (Romans 7:15) What I am trying to show you is that even in the life of the great apostle Paul, Satan came back for more. What was Paul’s remedy? He wrote in Romans 7:24-25: “wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” It was only through Jesus that Paul could overcome Satan in his daily battle with sin. The same is true of us, but the fact remains that “we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” From what I have just written, we can also claim that we have conquered “self.” Dwight L. Moody wrote that of all the battles that he fought, the hardest was “the fight with Moody.” Those are not his exact words, but you get the idea. You are not the only person who has to battle with yourself every day. It is very difficult for us to admit that we can be defeated. There is something about our nature that we want to defend ourselves even when we know that we are wrong. We are pretty good at justifying ourselves if we are determined to do something that is wrong. What looks bad when other people do it, doesn’t seem quite as bad when we do it. Come on, “fess up,” you know that I’m right. It is only as we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, who reminds us that Jesus loves us and will be disappointed if we do thus and so, that we finally see that just because we want to do something so badly that we would justify ourselves, we had best not do it. We need to remind ourselves that we are not in this battle alone. That is why we need each other in Christian fellowship. We have conquered the world. In this case, “world” means the world system that is under the power of Satan. This does not mean that the world loses every time, but it does mean that we are not subdued by the world. We need to remember what John wrote in 1 John 2:15-17: “Love not the world, neither things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof; but he that does the will of God abides forever.” If you are in Christ, you are a conqueror. You might not feel like a conqueror, but because of Jesus you are. Claim it. Bro. Joe “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers.”
How would you like to prosper physically in accord with your spiritual prosperity? We pay close attention to our physical health, but do we spend a lot of time checking out our spiritual health? It is important for Christians to keep check on their spiritual health. How can we do this? We can measure our spiritual health based on our closeness to the Lord. How much time do we spend in prayer and Bible study? How are we doing in our relationships with Christian friends? How about our guilt levels? Are you having a problem with guilt because you know that your spiritual life is in the pits? There are some disciplines that you can practice that will help you to improve your spiritual health. The first of these has already been mentioned – prayer and Bible study. You cannot be close to the Lord if you are not spending time in prayer. Our relationship with Jesus is built on communication, and prayer is our source of communication with Him. In prayer, we talk to Him and then we meditate and listen to what He wants of us. I am not writing about prayers where we only ask God for what we want. I’m writing about prayers that include confession, repentance, intercession (praying for others), and petition (making requests). We need to read our Bibles prayerfully, carefully and systematically. Along with prayer and Bible study, in order to have good spiritual health we need to praise and worship the Lord. I do not mean just praising and worshiping Him in church. I mean that we should have a lifestyle of praise and worship of Him. If you will think about it, you can find lots of reasons to praise Him every day. Learn to consciously look for those times. You will find that the Lord is in the process of blessing you all of the time, even on bad days, if you will just pay attention. When you praise the Lord you are worshiping Him as well. The psalmist had the right idea: “In God we boast all day long, and praise thy name forever.” You need times set aside for praise and worship both privately and publicly, but you can find plenty to praise and worship Him for in everyday life. If you really want to enjoy and profit from prayer, Bible study and praise and worship, learn to really love the Lord. I can’t really tell you how to do this, except to tell you to surrender your heart to Him. The Bible tells us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5 CSB) This love for God should reverberate to loving people as well. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, He said this: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Matthew 22:37-39) We are to love God and people – all people. Certainly, if we read the Bible, pray, praise and worship God and love Him, we will also love people. 1 John 4:20 tells us: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” Perhaps there are other things that I could relate to you that would help you achieve spiritual health, but those listed above should suffice. Give some thought to your spiritual health. It is just as important as your physical health. Bro. Joe Due to circumstances, I will put a new post on Saturday evening, which will be for Saturday, Sunday and part of Monday. "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 make him ashamed. I don't know if this was before or after Bathsheba, but it is something for us to consider. 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? By putting our trust in the Lord. David depended on the Lord to help to keep him from being an embarrassment. He mentioned two necessary qualities that could keep him from shame – integrity and uprightness. Integrity is what we are when no one else is around. 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. This is where Jesus had His big disagreement with the Pharisees. Most of their religion was comprised of religious practices that made them look good. In Matthew 23:4-5 Jesus said of the Pharisees: “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5. But all their works, they do for to be seen of men; they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments.” Of all the people that Jesus encountered He was hardest on the Pharisees because they had no integrity. In public they were the epitome of righteous people. Out of sight of people they were selfish and mean-spirited. If we are not careful that could be us. We need to pray that we will not attempt to live the Christian life to be “seen of men,” but that we will be true to our convictions in public and private. 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 temper, when I encounter some problem with people who work in public places. I am glad when I leave and did not say the ugly things that I was tempted to say. We need to all be careful about our integrity and uprightness if we are to be witnesses to the world about Jesus Christ. A clear witness for Jesus is one of the most important aspects of our Christian experience. I think that Paul had this in mind when He wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:25-27: “And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. 26. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beats the air. 27. But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” That about covers it doesn’t it? 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 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? First, 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." David did not know all that "the heavens" represent that we know. 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 atheists 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. He did finally die as all people do – in God’s time not their own. There are other evidences of His existence, like the Bible, but what we have dealt with should suffice. Second, 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. 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 "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."
The period of Judges is not a high point in Old Testament history. For example, it closes with these words: “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” My feelings about the behavior of the Israelites in Judges were expressed in a note at the top of the page that contained this verse: “What a sorry mess.” Here were the “people of God,” who promised to follow the Mosaic Law, living like they wanted to. But this way of life did not stop with Judges. Read on: The sad thing is that Judges reminds me of our own day. It seems that people today are intent on doing “that which is right in their own eyes.” People can do and say all sorts of immoral things and say, “What I do or say is my own business and nobody else’s.” To an extent, this is true. We have what is called "freedom of speech" in this great country of ours, and people can say about what they want to say on any given subject. It is true if all that counts is human opinion, but it leaves God and His word out of the equation. We forget that we will give account to God for all that we say and do. “It’s my own business” will not stand up in God’s court. Understand that I am not being judgmental here. I know that God is not entirely happy with everything that I say and do, nor is He satisfied with all that you say and do, but He accepts our confessions and forgives us. There are many people who do not know that they will have to give an account to God, for they just go on “doing their own thing.” This attitude filters over into the church too. We can’t live like we want to and do the Lord’s work at the same time. I remind myself of this often, especially in my thought life, since thoughts give life to deeds. We need to watch what we say and do because doing just what we want to do and saying just what we want to say is not always the wisest route to take. The Bible is filled with information about watching what we say and do. One of the main themes of my preaching, teaching and writing is that God loves us. The Bible teaches this, especially in the New Testament. We know what John 3:16 says about it: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son..." We must be careful not to presume on God's love. If you have ever been a parent, and I imagine that most of your reading this are parents, you know that you love your children, but you, hopefully, have never given them permission to do whatever they want to do or say whatever they want to say. God is the God of grace, which means that He loves us and will save us anyway, but He does not want us to presume on His grace. Paul dealt with this in Galatians 5:13: "For brethren, you have been called unto liberty: only use not liberty as an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:12: "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." It is not a compliment to a society to say that "every man did that which was right in his own eyes." It wasn't a compliment to the Israelites in Judges, and it is not a compliment for us either. Bro. Joe “And he (the godly man) shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in his season: his leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does will prosper.”
The first three verses of Psalm 1 are about the godly person. The teaching in Psalm 1:3 is clear: A tree that has a constant 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. What can we do to be "like a tree planted by the rivers of water"? We can 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? It is one thing to own a Bible, it is another to actually read it. I know that parts of the Bible are difficult to read, and some of it is not exciting to modern tastes, but the Bible is not meant to entertain us, but to teach us, to warn us, to remind us of God’s presence, etc. I have favorite parts of the Bible. I enjoy reading the historical parts more than prophetic parts. I prefer the four Gospels to Leviticus, but I read Leviticus, and learn from it every time I read through the Bible. I once talked to a lady who told me that she just could not get out of Psalms in her Bible reading. I reminded her that she was missing a large part of what the Holy Spirit has revealed for us. I should also have reminded her that if she didn’t get out Psalms, she would never get to Jesus in the Gospels. We can "pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:16) This does not mean that we will have to be on our knees all of the time, but that we 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. Prayer does not have to be formal and stilted. What we are doing when we pray is having fellowship with God – drawing closer to Him. If a person can think, he or she can pray, for God knows our every thought as well as our every word. If you are having a difficult time praying, why don’t you remember that God wants you to pray and will welcome prayer fellowship with you? The Bible reminds us over and over again to pray. We need to pray. It is important that we pray if we plan to grow in our relationship with Christ. I was told about a certain church member that I should not call on him to pray for he never prayed publically. My question was: “Does he pray privately.” I would prefer that he be willing to pray publically, but if that cannot be, I would certainly like to know, for his sake,that he prays privately. We can be involved in the fellowship of God's people called the church. Jesus shed His blood to create this fellowship of believers. In his final meeting with the leaders from the Ephesian church, Paul said: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He has purchased with His own blood.” If Christ was willing to die to establish His church, why wouldn’t we want to be involved in it. 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. In order to be fruitful, we can 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 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 seems to dictate that it is a lesson that we need to remember and practice. Bro. Joe KJV: "He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction."
NIV: "He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin." Have you ever asked yourself, "When am I going to learn to keep my mouth shut?" I have said this a few ( O.K. maybe many) times in my life. I've even said rash things from the pulpit and had to apologize to the congregation. I've heard preachers say, "I will never apologize for anything I say from the pulpit." If you speak rashly and do not have Biblical truth behind you, you would do good to apologize. The thing about words is that once they are spoken they cannot be crammed back into our mouths. Glib sarcasm in very much in vogue today. We need to remember, however, that when we say sarcastic and hurtful things, we are being poor witnesses for Jesus. We are also being poor examples for our fellow Christians. Sarcastic language can become contagious and can set off a good old-fashioned church fuss. I'm going to admit that I make myself heard when I am in a group of people. One thing that I always take into account, however, is that I need to be careful what I say, because what I say will probably be quoted. I want to be sure that if I am quoted, it will make a positive input in someone's life. If we want to be considered wise, we would do well to hold our words in until what we say can make a positive difference. Proverbs 17:28 puts it in perspective for us: "Even a fool when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding." I've always noticed in deacon meetings and meetings of pastors that the quy who does not talk often and only speaks when he really has something to say is listened to more carefully than others who talk a lot. We really need to watch what we say to people. This is especially true when we are feeling "out of sorts." I know that I have to remind myself at these times that I will leave a witness one way or the other by what I say. I try to remember when I want to give someone a "piece of my mind" that I do not have any to give away. We would all do well to remember this. We need to remember that words can really hurt people. The last thing that a Christian should want to do is needlessly hurt a person. In fact, Paul advised that when we speak to people that we "speak the truth in love." (Ephesians 4:15) This is especially true if we have to speak negatively to someone. I will close with this little word of wisdom: "It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt." Just Saying! Bro. Joe (Definition of soverignty: "A sovereign is one who is supreme ruler. Soverignty means the acceptance of that rule." The Bible teaches the sovereignty of God.)
"And they shall recompense their lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: "and ye shall know that I am the Lord God." KJV "You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord." NIV This verse is part of Ezekiel's warning to Judah about their impending doom. They were supposed to be God's people, but they were not acting like it.Judah had given herself over to idolatry and to all of the sins that this worship entailed. They had forgotten that they were to serve "the Lord God," or as the NIV translates it, "the Sovereign Lord." Ezekiel warned that Judah would be brought to judgment by the Babylonians because they had forgotten that God was the Sovereign Lord. After all of their years of existence as "God's people," Judah had forgotten that you do not toy with the Sovereign Lord. God had sent prophets to warn them from the time of Samuel. They could not say that they had not been warned. Now, in Ezekiel's time, judgment was about to fall. The Lord inspired Ezekiel to write that when judgment fell, then they would know that He is the Lord- the Sovereign Lord. What a pity that it took that to wake God's people up and remind them of His sovereignty. That brings me to the title of this article: "When will You Accept God's Sovereignty?" This text is not ancient history. The same principle applies today. The Lord still wants us to know that He is the Lord and that we are to take Him and His way seriously. We cannot escape God's sovereignty. That is a good thing!! I am glad to know to that someone is in charge of this vast universe. But the question still remains: When will you accept his sovereignty? I will tell you when you will accept His sovereignty. You will accept it when you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, receive the Holy Spirit and begin to take His word, the Bible, seriously. God sent His Son into the world to save us from sin and to save us from the consequences of sin. Jesus came as our deliverer and until we know Him in an intimate and personal way, we will not be delivered from sin or from its consequences. I know what some people think about a claim like this. They will think that I am "looking down my nose" at them. That is not true. As the song says, "I'm just an old sinner saved by grace." But that doesn't mean that I don't owe it to you to tell you about Jesus. It also gives me the responsibility to tell you that there are consequences for ignoring God's sovereignty and refusing to believe in His Son As the hammer fell on Judah, it is going to fall on the world - then everyone will know that God is "the Sovereign Lord." Why wait until then to know it when you can know it right now - today? If you haven't trusted Jesus as your Savior do it now. If you have, pray that those who do not know Him will come to know Him today. Bro. Joe “He that diligently seeks good procures favor: but he that seeks mischief, it shall come to him.” KJV
“He who seeks good finds goodwill, but evil comes to him who searches for it.” NIV Sometimes I “go fishing” in the scriptures to find an idea for CouchPotatoRedux. I am committed to writing six blogs a week, and, of course, the Bible is the best place to seek ideas. I feel that the Lord guides me in finding just the right idea for the right day. In one of my “fishing expeditions” I came across the text printed above and it begged to be written about. It is telling us that if we seek the good and the right, we will find them and that if we seek mischief, or evil, we will find that too. I am asking you, as well as myself, “What Are You Seeking?” If you are seeking to do good, you are seeking the will of God for your life. It is for sure that if we are seeking to do God’s will for us that we will do good. Now, I know that no one perfectly follows the will of God, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t seek to do it. If we are going to do good in this life, we must find out what it is that God wants us to do and do it. Sometimes it seems that God’s will leads us into trouble. I think that Paul would say that this is certainly true. Paul did God’s will and he found a lot of opposition, but he kept on doing it. A lot of good came to Paul when He found God’s will and did it. He lived a victorious Christian life, wrote about one-third of the New Testament, founded several churches and, though he had hardships, he had the reward of knowing that God was pleased with his life. At the end of his life, Paul wrote: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8) Seek God’s will for your life. If you want to seek the good in your life you need to love people and seek to do good to and for them. Jesus threw out a challenge to His disciples in Matthew 5:16 to do just this: “Let your light so shine before (people) that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” How can we let our lights shine? We do it by how we treat people and whether or not we seek to do good to them or to bring harm to them. In Matthew 5:44, Jesus expanded on this idea: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.”Are you seeking to do good to and for others, even those with whom you disagree, or even those who hate you? If you want to seek to do good, follow the example of Jesus. I know that we are not saved by following Jesus’example, but by faith in Him, but if we want to live lives that honor Christ, we will follow His example. Jesus did good for all who came across His path. He did good for the rich man Zacchaeus, and He did good for the poor woman who merely touched the hem of his garment and was healed. In John 4 Jesus witnessed to the woman at the well, even though her life was in shambles because of wrecked marriages and an illicit relationship with another man. Read the Gospels and you will see that Jesus always went about doing good for all who came across His path. If we follow the example of Jesus, we will not fail to love people and do good to them, even though they might not “be like us.” The promise of the text is that if we seek to do good, good will come back to us, and if we seek to do evil that will come back to us as well. Those who live genuine Christian lives, seek to do good – period. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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