“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22. Abstain from all appearance of evil.”
The Bible is full of information on how to live wisely. One that comes immediately to mind is the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. “The Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5-7 also comes to mind. That sermon of Jesus is loaded with things that we need to do if we are to live wisely. These are two examples that you remember well. I found another example today that had somehow escaped me. It comes at the end of Paul's letter to the church in Thessalonica amid the closing advice that he was giving them in the epistle. There are three listed in these two verses that will enable us to live wisely – if we will heed them. First, Paul advised them, and us, to “prove all things.” Another translation of this “test all things.” “Prove” is the translation of a Greek word which means to put things to a test in order to see if you can approve them. In other words, we are not to believe something just because it comes from what we might consider a reliable source. Like all of the churches that Paul wrote, the Thessalonians lived in a pagan society with its many temptations. Also, there were false teachers trying to change the gospel to fit some human philosophy and change who and what Jesus was. This is good advice for us, for we live in a similar society today. Before we believe something, it is a good idea to weigh it up against what the Bible teaches. We are to test it to know whether or not the Bible approves it. There are plenty things for us to test, what with all of the false doctrine that is being taught through television preachers and through social media. Before you get taken in, pray over the issue and test it with scripture. Second, Paul advised them to “hold fast to that which is good.” We would probably say “cling fast to that which is good.” For example, we know that it is good not to gossip, so we need to “cling fast” to the thought that we will not do it, as tempting as it is sometimes. We know that it is good for us to love people, no matter what kind of personality they have. Before we dislike someone, we need to test it, as suggested above, and cling fast to the idea that Jesus teaches us to love people regardless of their personalities. There are some people who are easy to love and some who make it difficult to love them. We meet them at work, at school, at the mall and even at church. Jesus did not tell us to love only those with pleasing personalities but to love all people. We need to “hold fast” to loving people in Jesus’ name. We need to “hold fast” to doing God’s will for our lives. If we follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives we will not get off on wrong paths. I know that in my own life I have not fared well if I did not follow the Spirit’s leading. You probably have your own list of ways that you can “hold fast to that which is good.” Make it a practice in your life to believe that which is good, and do that which is good. That would be living wisely. Third, Paul advised them to “abstain from all appearance of evil.” There are things that do not seem evil to us. The epicurean philosophy is that “if it feels good do it.” I think that this is an American philosophy as well. There are a lot of things that feel good that are not right. We can probably all remember times in our lives when we went with feelings and lived to regret it. This is why it is important to “prove all things and hold fast to that which is good.” If we do those two things, we will be more careful to “abstain from all appearance of evil.” One of the most tempting things that we have to consider in this regard is what television programs to watch. The Thessalonians obviously did not have this problem, but we do. The same can be said about the internet. If we want to live wisely, there are a lot of things that we need to beware of that might get us off on the wrong path. We do not need to forget that Satan makes evil appear to be good. It is a trick as old as the Garden of Eden. I think that you will agree that these three admonitions can help us to live wisely. Bro. Joe
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“And there came there certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. 20. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. 21. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch.”
What does a football team do after they lose a game? Do they get together in the locker room afterward and declare to never play football again? No! They pick up and go again. They go out the next week and practice even harder. This is sort of like what Paul did after he had been stoned (Had rocks thrown at him in order to kill him. just saying) and left for dead. One would think that Paul would have surmised that this “Christian thing” was just too dangerous. That’s not what he did. He got up and kept going. In fact, they went back to the cities they had preached in and even went to Lystra, where Paul had been stoned. There is a good lesson for us here. We need to learn to “get up and keep going.” When we are going through periods when it seems that nothing will ever go right again, we need to take that as a challenge and go forward instead of quitting. I know that life can hand us some hard blows, but even the hardest of blows cannot keep us down if in our hearts and minds we do not intend to stay down. When I was seventeen-years-old, I quit high school, at the end of the tenth grade, and went into the Navy. Needless to say, I did not feel like a great winner, but something was awakened in me, which eventually proved to be the Lord, and I stopped being a “high school dropout” in my own mind, and started to go forward. It certainly was not “ever onward” from then on, but I recovered from it. Without Jesus it would never have happened, and I would probably be dead now, having drowned in self-pity. The Lord gave me a good swift kick where I needed it, and awakened me to a better life. If we want to get up and go again, we have to believe that the Lord has a purpose for our lives. If I hadn’t discovered that truth in my life, I would have quit. The Lord got hold of me, and in spite of my innate sorriness, led me on. None of us are here by accident, for God has a purpose for everyone. Including you! Bro. Joe “But exhort (encourage) one another daily, while it is called Today: lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. 15. While it is said, Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation.”
We need to note that today is all that we have. We have all of our yesterdays, but we can’t do anything about them. We can think of all of the mistakes that we made, and all of the sins that we committed yesterday, but all of these are “water under the bridge.” If we have learned from these mistakes and sins, we can use today to rededicate our lives to do better. We also plan for the future, but we can’t live in days that have not yet come. (duh) We can’t let the wrongs of the past and the fears about the future rob us of the possibilities of today. Hebrews 3:13a tells us to “exhort (encourage) one another daily, while it is called today.” One thing that you can do today is to find someone who needs encouraging and go encourage them. You might ask, but what can I do to encourage someone? Well, you can pay them a visit and tell them that you were thinking about them. There is no telling how many people are out there who really need to know that someone is thinking about them. You could take them a book that has meant a lot to you, or you could bake a cake, or pick one up at the grocery store, and take it to them as a token of love. I don’t know about you, but I need encouragement from people, and I think that if you are honest, you will confess the same. That’s why we should think of encouraging others – today! Hebrews 3:13b tells us to watch out for sin in our lives today lest we be hardened. Perhaps you have a pet sin that you just can’t seem to get rid of. You might have a grudge against someone that you can’t get over. You might have a habit that is bad for you, but you are so hardened to it, you can’t seem to give it up. Hey, God has given you today. The cereal commercial reminded us: “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.” You can’t unravel the problems of yesterday, but God has given you today, so take advantage of it. Another scripture comes to mind when I think of today: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV) Wow, that passage is loaded. As we face today, we do not face it alone, for through the Holy Spirit, God is blessing us and renewing us day by day. Claim His blessings and His renewal today. God wants you to make today a special day, so that all of your tomorrows will be lived by faith in Him. Remember that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Do not let whatever you have to grapple with today rob you of the joy that only faith in the Living Christ can bring. Remember that “we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Hear the voice of Jesus in your life today. Dedicate today to Him. As you live today, remember that He is calling us to a place where it will always be “today.” Bro. Joe 3. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. 4. In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust, I will not fear what flesh (people) can do to me.
Notice that the psalmist wrote: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee…” This was an admission by David that he would be afraid, and that when fear came upon him, he would not be ruled by it but would trust God. If you remember, David had a lot to be afraid of. King Saul chased him all over “kingdom come” trying to capture and kill him. Saul was very serious in his pursuit. David would have been more than a human being if he could face a daily death sentence with no fear at all. Then there was the problem with his son Absalom. When David was older, his son Absalom took over the kingdom. He did not ultimately succeed, but in the process David was again under a death sentence. It is no wonder that he said, “When I am afraid I will trust in thee.” Get this down good: fear is not a sin. Some great general, whose name I can’t remember said that “courage is fear that has said its prayers.” Another great general, whose name I also can’t recall, said while waiting to go into battle: “Afraid? Me Afraid? If you could see my knees shaking right now, you would know that I am afraid.” When does fear become a sin? It becomes a sin when it takes over our lives. There are people who are literally afraid of life. They can’t enjoy life because they are afraid of what life might bring. Life can bring all sorts of things, but we need not fear them. In our text, David gave the key to facing life without being ruled by fear. First, he wrote that when he was afraid, he would trust God. I am glad that I believe in a God who loves me, has my best interests at heart and will lead me through anything that I might face. If you don’t believe in the God who you can trust, I would not join you in your misery. If I thought that the only tools that I had to face life with were the tools at my command in this world, I would be very afraid. When you are afraid, you can trust God. He will lead you through, over, or around whatever life brings. I have certainly had dreadful moments in my life, and at times I was afraid that they might defeat me. But God has delivered me through them all. (Notice that I wrote “through them all,” not “around them all.”) The same can be true for you. Trust God! Second, David wrote: “In God I will praise His word.” When we are afraid, we can turn to the Bible for comfort. I have favorite scriptures that I turn to when all else seems to fail. In fact, the text used in this blog is one of my favorite texts to turn to in times of fear. Another is Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I can turn this text into, “I can go through all things that life brings through Christ who strengthens me.” Jesus told Paul: “When you are weak then I am strong.” (Not a direct quote) Jesus invites us to lean on His strength as we face the difficult times of life. His grace is always sufficient for us. What are you afraid of today? Reread the text at the top of the page and rejoice. Bro. Joe “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that
trusteth in Him.It would be impossible to enumerate the reasons that we know God is good. The main reason that we know this is that He sent Jesus to be our Savior. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, God revealed His word to the writers of the Bible. He has given us the privilege of prayer. These three facts should suffice to convince even the hardest of hearts to see God’s goodness. Psalm 34:8 shows us how to personally experience God’s goodness. The psalmist writes: “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” The first thing that we might ask is what does “taste” mean in this context? One example is that we do not know the taste of food until we try it for ourselves. We cannot experience the goodness of the Lord if we do not give Him a chance to show His goodness to us personally. The first step is to receive the gift of His Son into our hearts and lives. We cannot know what it is like to be a child of God until we become one. That’s why it is difficult to explain what it means to be a Christian to a person who has hardened his or her heart against Christ. I have actually dared people who have this hardness against Christ to ask Him into their hearts and lives. Not many have taken that dare. Furthermore, a person cannot appreciate the Bible until he or she comes to personally know the author. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:2-3: “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby, if so be that ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” Have you tasted the goodness of the Lord through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? You will not taste His goodness until you do know Him through a faith relationship with Jesus Christ. You will taste that goodness when, by God’s grace, you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and come to know Him personally. The psalmist wrote: “Blessed is the man (person) that trusteth in Him.” Trust, or faith, is the key that opens the door to tasting that the Lord is good. In Ephesians 2:8, Paul wrote: “For by grace through faith are you saved…” It is trust in Jesus that opens the door into His kingdom. “Blessed” is another word for “happy” in the Bible. The person who trusts in Jesus is happy. This does not mean that every circumstance of the Christian’s life is happy. Christians have unhappy moments just like everyone else. In John 15:11 Jesus said: “My joy I give you that your joy may be full.” The blessedness that we have in Jesus is not the temporary happiness that the things of the world bring, but it is a gift of joy from the Savior Himself. It is joy borne of relationship with Jesus and prayer. Psalm 37:5: “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.” We will never realize the great things that can come to pass in the Lord until we trust in Him. “O taste and see that the Lord is good…” That is good advice. Have you taken that advice?“Blessed is the (person) that trusteth in Him.” Have you experienced that joy and happiness that only Jesus can give? If you have, are you sharing it with other people who have not tasted that He is good? Bro. Joe “And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
If one is to be transformed, it will have to be by the renewing of his or her mind. Everything that we do begins in our minds. When Jesus was confronted about not washing his hands before He ate, He responded by telling His detractors that we are not condemned by what we put into ourselves but by what comes out of ourselves. This, obviously, is about being careful what we think because what we think will become our actions. If we think evil thoughts, the result will be evil actions. This is not to say that every thought becomes an action, but it is to say that whatever action we take comes from our minds. What is a renewed mind? A renewed mind is a mind that seeks that which is good. This means that we will need to be careful about what we watch and read. Paul wrote about this in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if there by any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” You will have to admit that if we put our minds on Paul’s list of things in this verse, we must have a renewed mind. But this mind does not come from “turning over a new leaf.” All that you get when you turn over a leaf is the other side of the leaf, which is remarkably like the side that was flipped. One can change his or her mind and start thinking good things, but the transformation that is mentioned in our text will not take place by merely deciding to live a better life. A renewed mind is a mind that seeks to discover the will of God. The bottom line is that a Christian should be aware of the decisions that he or she makes. “What does God want me to do” is the mantra of the renewed mind. It is not always easy to know what God’s will is. For example, we can think that because something really works to our advantage, it must be the will of God. Well, a person with a renewed will read the Bible and he or she will know that God’s will did not always work to the advantage of His people. For example, if the Jews had been able to vote on the direction of their trek from Egypt to Canaan, they would probably have tried to avoid the Red Sea. A renewed mind will accept that one of the purposes of God’s will in our lives is to grow our faith. Our faith does not grow when everything always goes good for us. Follow God’s will whether what He wants will be for your worldly advantage or advancement. I sincerely hope that I have made plain to you what a renewed mind is, and that I did not muddy the waters for you. Put your faith and trust in Jesus, and allow Him to give you a renewed mind. Bro. Joe “But as touching brotherly love you need not that I write unto you: for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another. 10. And indeed you do it toward all the brothers which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you brothers that you increase more and more. 11. And that you study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you. 12. That you may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that you have lack of nothing.”
Our text reminds us that our lives are witnesses for Christ. I know that we need a verbal witness, but if our lives do not measure up our verbal witness will be muted. Paul was encouraging the Thessalonians to live up to their faith, and to be good witnesses. The things that Paul dealt with in this passage can help us live witnessing lives. In verse 9, Paul encouraged the Thessalonians, and us, to remember that they/we are to love each other, and to love all people. It is interesting that he used the Greek for brotherly love at the first of the verse, but the last word for love is agape (ahgahpay) – God’s kind of love. We are to love as brothers and sisters, but we are also to love as God loves. It is certain that we will not love perfectly as God does, but we are to love people at both levels – brotherly love and God’s kind of love. If we don’t love people we cannot possibly live a witnessing life. Jesus told us that people would know that we are His disciples by the love that we have for each other. (John 13:35). Paul wrote to them that they already loved people, but that they needed to “increase more and more.” We can never love too much. In verse 11, Paul wrote that they should live a “quiet life and mind their own business.” This might seem to work against becoming involved in people’s lives and witnessing to them. He did not mean that they were to become loners, and stay away from people. He was reminding them of the kind of lives they should live if they were going to witness to the world. One problem in most churches is people that we call “busybodies.” These people are not quiet and they certainly do not mind their own business. If we want to live a witnessing life, we need to be careful what we say (“study to be quiet”), and about what we say about people (“mind your own business”). It is one thing to become involved in people’s lives and ministering to them in the name of Jesus, it is quite another thing for us to be nosy and gossip about other people. Evidently, there was a problem with this in Thessalonica, and it must have been hurting the church’s witness. In verses 11b and 12, Paul reminded them that they needed to be industrious in their living (“work with your own hands”). There was a problem in Thessalonica with people who had quit working because they were looking for Jesus to return at any time. Paul reminded them in both letters to Thessalonica that this is not the right way to do it. We are to live productive lives until Jesus comes again. This is part of our witness. Here is how it is translated in the NIV: “…work with your own hands, just as we told you, 12. So that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” The pertinent words for them were: “so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders.” I think that if we want to be good witnesses to the world, we need to be good human beings. Good human beings look out for themselves and for their own families. We should not hesitate to help others, but we should not depend on others to give us the support that we can provide for ourselves. There are exceptions for such things as ill health, but for the most part we need to live good, productive lives in order for us to “win the respect of outsiders.” I think that you will agree that Paul has given good advice about living a witnessing life. Bro. Joe “Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy (love) and judgment (justice) and wait on thy God continually.”
When I read this verse, I saw a message that should apply to God’s people of all ages. It is originally written by the prophet Hosea to the Northern kingdom of Israel, which had turned away from God and was under God’s judgment. The principle given here has not changed. We still need to heed this message. What is the message? Hosea wrote that they should turn to God. It occurred to me when I read this that Hosea was not calling upon them to turn to religion, but to God. Religious practice was not a problem for Israel. They had plenty of religion, for they worshipped Baal, and all of the other gods of Canaan. They had been warned over and over again about turning to the worship of the Canaanite gods. Their Baal worship included prostitutes. I don’t think that I have to give you details on what this meant. It is the same today. There are many religions that people can turn to, but religion is not the issue. Hosea told them to turn to God, the God who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, saw them through forty years in the desert, enabled them to take the “Promised land,” and called them His people. Hosea wrote that when they turned to God, they should “keep mercy.” This meant that they should practice mercy towards other people. Modern translations of this word for mercy is love. Mercy and love are one and the same. It is for sure that if we do not love people, we will not act mercifully toward them. The big issue of mercy in the Old Testament was the treatment of widows and orphans. Widows and orphans did not have the social safety nets that they do today. They were at the mercy of the people, and if the people did not love them and treat them mercifully, they would suffer. Israel was not acting mercifully toward widows and orphans or anyone else. There is a sense in our own society that we have become more callous towards people. We do have social safety nets, but individually we are sometimes not very merciful toward each other. We should be loving and merciful in the church at all costs. When we are not, we become stumbling blocks to people who do not know Jesus. Indeed, we should heed Hosea’s message and take it as our own. Hosea wrote that when they turned to God, they should “(keep) judgment.” This meant that they should practice justice. Indications were that the courts in Israel had become corrupt and that it was not unusual for wealthy people to be able to pay their way out of legal entanglements and poor people had to take whatever the court wanted to hand out. But we can’t really do a whole lot about what the courts do. The message for us here is that we should practice justice in our own lives. We should act justly toward other people in our dealings with them. If people can’t trust followers of Jesus Christ, who can they trust? One of the greatest compliments that I can give a person is that I would buy a used car from them. This means that I know that if there is something wrong with that car they will tell me. We should be as good as our word, and if we turn to Jesus and practice mercy and love toward others, we will be as good as our word. Bro. Joe “And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying The Will of the Lord be done.”
Paul had ended his third missionary journey and was planning to go to Jerusalem, then from Jerusalem to Rome. But along the way people were telling him that he would be in trouble in Jerusalem, because they heard that he had given up the Jewish way of life, and was teaching other Jews the same. A Judean prophet named Agabus came to him at Phillip’s home in Caesarea and warned him that the Holy Spirit said he would be delivered unto the Gentiles. They begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem and Paul answered them: “What do you mean to weep and to break my heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” That is when they gave up and said, “The will of the Lord be done.” When they heard at first from Agabus that the Holy Spirit gave the warning about going to Jerusalem, they evidently assumed that the Holy Spirit was telling him not to go. Paul interpreted it as the Holy Spirit warning him about what would happen when he went to Jerusalem, not to get him not to go, but to know what he had in store. Ensuing events proved Paul to be correct about this. When they heard Paul’s heartfelt reply, and realized that he was going to Jerusalem regardless, they turned it over to the Lord. They came to the point that they were ready to let the Lord handle it, because they knew they were putting Paul in good hands. At some point in our lives, we will have to just surrender everything into God’s hands, and let Him handle it. I think that one example of this is when David decided to fight Goliath. The Bible tells us that David was insulted that this heathen could challenge the army of the Lord. He was ready to take Goliath on because nobody else would. At some point David had to make up his mind that this was what he was going to do. The whole idea behind his decision was that God would handle it. In 1Samuel 17, Saul questioned whether David should do this. David gave his answer in verses 34-37: “But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35. I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from his mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he defied the armies of the living God. 37. The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine.’” (NIV) That looks to me like David let the Lord handle it. Surrender your decisions to the will of the Lord – let the Lord handle them. Let’s go back and see what took place when Paul’s fellow Christians quit arguing with him and put him in God’s hands. It would seem that if the Holy Spirit was telling Paul that bad things would happen in Jerusalem that he should not go. This would seem to be the conventional wisdom, but as we saw above, warning of danger did not mean that Paul was forbidden to go to Jerusalem. Bad things did happen to Paul, but God used that means to get him from Jerusalem to Rome. Paul had planned to go to Rome, but he had no idea that this is how God would do it. Suppose Paul had agreed with his friends and had not gone to Jerusalem at this time? We will never know, but God’s will proved to be the best way to get the Gospel message to Rome that God wanted him to deliver. In Acts 23:11, in the middle of the troubles Paul encountered in getting to Rome, the Lord said to him: “Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.” Keep in mind in your own life, that when it is difficult to determine which way to go, surrender to God’s will and let Him handle it for you, for He always will. Bro. Joe Wherewithal (how) shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed therein according to your word. 10. With my whole heart have I sought you: O let me not wander from your commandments. 11. Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Living a clean life does not seem to be the goal of many people today, but it is certainly still possible to live that kind of life. Living a clean life makes sense spiritually, of course, but it also makes sense physically. Many ailments today stem from people living unwholesome lives. These three verses from Psalm 119 tell us how we can live a clean life. First, we can heed the word of God. To the psalmist the word of God was the Ten Commandments and other laws that were given to Moses on Mt. Sinai and written down for the enlightenment of the people of God. To us the word of God is both the Old and New Testaments, and also Jesus, who fulfilled the Old and New Testaments and made possible the New Testament. John refers to Jesus as "the word,” and Hebrews 1:1-2 declares Jesus to be the ultimate word of God. In order for us to live clean lives, we need to heed what is in the Bible, for there in is a moral law, and we need to heed our relationship with Jesus, for therein is our moral compass. Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us in the study of the Bible and in the way we live our lives. We cannot ignore the word of God and expect to live a clean life. There are many frustrated church members out there who think that they can live a clean, Christian life and ignore the Bible, and not nurture their relationship with Jesus Christ. Second, we can obey the word of God. The psalmist declared that he sought the Lord with his whole heart. I think that a lot of our spiritual problems arise because of a half-hearted seeking of God in daily life. How do we seek God? One of the main ways we seek Him is by the reading and studying of God's word. It is impossible to stay close to God and ignore His word. Furthermore, the psalmist pleaded: "O let me not wander from your commandments.” We are not saved by keeping the commandments, but we are saved in order to be able to keep the commandments. We can’t take straying from the word of God lightly. This is what happens too many times in the lives of people who are struggling to live a clean life. David always serves as an example in this matter. David did not write this psalm, but he wrote many, if not most of them. We see what happened in David’s life when he wandered from God’s commandments. One night, while he was at “loose ends,” not out with his army, David saw the beautiful Bathsheba and just had to have her. In that weak moment, he strayed from God’s commandments, and his life was never the same afterward. We have to watch those weak moments, for we all have them in one way or another. It is at these times that Satan enters the picture and makes sin look so pleasant to us. This is why we need to wholeheartedly seek every day of our lives and be careful that we do not “wander from (God’s) commandments." Third, we can internalize the word of God. The bottom line was that the psalmist did not just read and study God’s word; he digested it and made it an integral part of his life. This means that we need to read and study the word of God until it becomes part of us. We can memorize scripture, but I prefer to read it until it is stuck in my mind and heart. I do not call this memorizing; I call it internalizing. He hid God’s word in his heart so that he “might not sin against God.” In the scene of Jesus’ temptation in Matthew 4, Jesus defeated Satan by quoting scripture to him. Jesus wasn’t just quoting words that he had memorized, but words that were ingrained in His heart and mind.. Read these three verses again and ask God to help you to use them to live a clean life. Bro. Joe |
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