“In the beginning God….”
From the very first words in the Bible God is an undeniable fact. The Bible doesn’t try to explain God to us, nor does it leave any room for doubt – there is a God and He is our creator. How should we relate to this all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, all-seeing God? Surely, He is too far above us for us to relate to Him. Well, the Bible goes on to tell us that He wants to relate to us and He wants us to relate to Him. Jesus is His ultimate message to us that He wants a relationship with us. I think that the Bible gives us some specific ways that we can relate to God as we know Him in Jesus. Matthew 22:37-38: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38. This is the first and great commandment.” This is Jesus’ answer to the lawyer who wanted to know what the greatest commandment was. Jesus said that we are to love God with our total being. According to 1 John 4:9: “We love (God) because He first loved us.” Our love for God is borne of our knowledge that He loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to save us. We need to constantly ask ourselves whether or not we really love God. Do we really love and appreciate Him, or do we just say that we love Him because we know that we are supposed to? Take this test: Do you love Him more than your most treasured possession? What would you be willing to sacrifice because of your love for God? In the book of Acts, many of those early Christians sold all that they had in order for the gospel to go forth and for the people of God to have sustenance. To do this, they really had to love God. Read Matthew 22:37-38 again and ask yourself if this is how you love God. Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”We can look at this in two ways: (1) We can be afraid of Him because of His immense power. (2) We can hold Him in deep reverence and awe for the great God that He is and for all that He has done for us. Both of these are applicable, but neither of them stands alone. It is not enough to just be scared of God. Those who ignore Him and shun His great love for them should be afraid, but we who believe in Him through Jesus should hold Him in such reverence and awe that we would not disobey Him or demean Him in any way. We know that even when He disciplines us, He does it because He loves us. Paul gave the reason for moral laxity in His day, and it applies to our day as well in Romans 3:18: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Don’t be one of them! Psalm 100:2a: “Serve the Lord with gladness…” How do we show our love and reverential awe for God? We do it by serving Him. Serving God can mean any number of things, in fact there is no end to all that it can mean. It can mean we have to leave everything behind and go somewhere else in the world, or it can mean to simply do acts of kindness in the name of Jesus to people who need that kindness. Serving the Lord is not complicated. We do not have to have special training to do it. We can just do what we think that Jesus would do as we go through life. There are areas of service that need special training, but that should not keep us from serving God daily. Every Christian is a servant of God; therefore, you are a servant of God. Seek ways to serve Him in your daily life and through your church. You will find ample ways to do that. Of course, there are other elements that we could discuss about how we are to relate to God, such as worship, but these three things: love, fear and service, are things that the Bible clearly tells us are of utmost importance in our lives. Therefore make up your mind and heart that you will love, fear and serve the Lord. Bro. Joe
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“For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot stumbles they magnify themselves against me.”
“Yea, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” We do not normally think of David as having relationship problems, but some of his psalms prove otherwise. The two selections from Psalms gives us two examples of relationship problems. In these two examples David was beset by people who wanted to humble, or shame, him and by a friend who betrayed him in some way. Just read on in the psalms and you will find many passages similar to these. David knew what we should know, i.e., one of our biggest problems in this world is with people. Think about it, how many of your heartbreaking, or heartrending moments have been because of what other people said about you or did to you? If this has never happened to you consider yourself fortunate. (We might also consider the times that we mistreated someone else. Just Saying!) Jesus spent a lot of time trying to help us love and relate to people, because He knew that they would not always be easy to love and would not always be our friends. Paul wrote about relationships with other people, because he knew that they would be the cause of a lot of our problems. This is why it is so important to practice loving people on a daily basis. If we are to ever "love the unlovable" we will have to be filled with God's Spirit of love and really apply it. I'm afraid that in our churches we too often fail the "other people" test. The New Testament tells us only to love them. Let’s take David’s example from Psalm 41:9. There was someone he had trusted who betrayed him in some way. I don’t think that there is anything more disappointing than to be betrayed by someone with whom we have been close. Proverbs 17:17a says that “A friend loveth at all times…” This means that a true friend will not betray that friendship. We can’t do anything about others who are not true friends, but we can be careful ourselves to always be true friends and “love at all times.” What should we do in adverse circumstances like these? First, I would think that the first thing we should do is to pray for the person. Ask God to help your friend, and ask Him to help you continue to love your errant brother or sister. When I have prayed for people with whom I have had personal problems, I have found that I can’t dislike them. God knows what the situation is and He will answer our prayers. The second thing that we should do is to fight against the temptation for pay the person back. The Bible always tells us that vengeance belongs to God. It is difficult for us to not want to avenge ourselves when we feel that we have been offended in some way. But if we will look at Jesus, and how He reacted to such situations, we will see that we cannot really avenge ourselves. All that happens is that the strife continues on and on. Romans 12:17 tells us: “Recompense to no man evil for evil.” Evil can never stamp out evil; therefore, we do not return the evil done to us. The third thing that we should do is to seek to reconcile with the person. I know that this is difficult, and it should not be done until we have prayed about the situation and have forgiven the person in our hearts. We want reconciliation to be sincere. In order for this to be the reality, we will have to forgive. You might be thinking: “Bro. Joe, you have lost your mind. I want to insist that they apologize." That would be good, but I don’t remember that anyone who crucified Jesus apologized to Him before He forgave them. If the other person will not reconcile with us, we should simply wish them well and move on with our lives. Life is too short to hold grudges against people. We will always have to deal with people in one way or the other. Let’s just make sure that we deal with them in a Christlike manner. . Bro. Joe "Knock and it shall be opened unto you.”
The text above is a promise that Jesus gave about prayer. If we will persist in prayer , the Lord will open up to us. I had a thought this morning that the word “open” is an important word in the Christian faith. The Lord wants to open up things for us and He wants us to open up to Him and to His word. It is about the latter that I want to write today. As the Lord opens up to us, we need to be open to what He wants in our lives. Following are my thoughts on this subject: We need to open our hearts to the Lord and to His word. Jesus speaks to our hearts through the Holy Spirit. This is one of the reasons that I am writing on this subject today, because the thought about being open caught my imagination and I knew that I had to write about it. I’m as sure about that as I am about anything in my life. There is a hymn that says: “Speak to my heart, O speak to my heart, Speak to my heart Lord Jesus…” We need to open our hearts to what the Lord wants of us. Open up your heart today, for the Lord wants to speak to your heart. We need to open our ears to hear what people are saying to us. Jesus saved us to be His ambassadors on this earth, and that includes hearing what people say to us. Some of our greatest opportunities to minister to people come from what they say to us. We need to make our ears sensitive to cries for help. Unfortunately, there have been times when I have walked away from a conversation, and realized that my ears had not been open to an opportunity for ministry. We need to open our eyes to see the needs of people around us. Of course, we need to keep our eyes open to opportunities to tell others about Jesus. I believe that the Lord prepares people’s hearts for us to talk to them about the Savior, and we need to be aware of the opportunity. Here is Jesus' advice to His disciples: “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35b) Jesus gave this command after His encounter with the sinful woman at the well of Siloam. Perhaps, Jesus was pointing to that encounter as an example for His disciples. Our own fields are “white already to harvest.” The county in which I live is 80% unreached for Christ. And this is in the middle of the so-called “Bible Belt.” We need to open our eyes to the opportunities all around us for witness and ministry. We need to open our lips and speak a word for the Lord whenever we have an opportunity. In David’s prayer of repentance in Psalm 51:15, he saw the need for opening his lips: “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show thy praise.” We need to be careful when we talk, that what we say is “showing forth God’s praise.” We need to talk to people about the Lord, and we also need to be careful what we say when we talk to people under any circumstances. We need to pray daily that God will open our lips that we may “share gladly His warm news everywhere….” We need to open our hands in order to serve the Lord. We need to open our hands to give to the work of the Lord through our churches. We need to open our hands to serve other people who need a helping hand of some sort from us. Jesus set the example for His disciples in John 13 when He washed His disciple’s feet. There are many other areas of our lives that we need to open up the Lord, but opening up to these that I have shared should keep us busy “opening up” for a while. Open up your life to the Lord and to the people around you. Bro. Joe “And it came to pass that, while they communed together, and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them.”
If you are at all acquainted with the New Testament, you probably guessed from the title what this article is about. After His resurrection, Jesus encountered two of His followers on the road to Emmaus, and they communed, or walked and talked with Him. They were not aware who Jesus was until they had eaten a meal with Him. Then we are told that their eyes were opened and they knew who He was. (You can read the whole story in Luke 24:13-35) Their walk with Jesus can tell us what it means to “take a walk with Jesus.” When we take a walk with Jesus, we have a new level of biblical knowledge. While they were on the road, Jesus explained the Old Testament scriptures concerning Himself. Verse 27: "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.” If we want to understand the Bible, and understand the ministry of Jesus, we need to spend time with Him in His word. He promised that the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth, but that guidance will not take place if we are not in close fellowship with Jesus. Jesus wants us to know His word, and He wants to teach it to us through the Spirit. We cannot separate our fellowship with Jesus, from reading, studying and digesting His word. When we take a walk with Jesus, we have a new level of spiritual fervor. We learn this from what the men said after Jesus expounded the scriptures concerning Himself to them and after they recognized Him: “And they said to one another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures.” I have often wished as I read this that I could have had Bible study with Jesus while He was still on earth. Imagine the thrill in the hearts of these men when they realized that God Incarnate Himself had explained His mission from His scriptures. If we do not spend time in fellowship with Jesus in prayer and Bible study, we will not know the meaning of having “our hearts burn within us.” Too many people are spiritually dead because they spend more time reading things other than the Bible. They wonder why they don’t have spiritual victory. It is because they have not taken a walk with Jesus – so to speak. I can think back on periods in my ministry sojourn over the last sixty years, and remember that I was not spiritually “burning” because I was neglecting walking with Jesus through prayer and His word. There, you have my confession, now make yours and draw closer to Him. When we take a walk with Jesus, we have an obligation to tell others what we have experienced. In fact, people will know that you have walked with Jesus, and will want to know about it because it will make a difference in your life. Verses 33-35 tell us: “And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, 34. Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon. 35. And they told what things were done in the way, and how He was known of them in breaking of bread.” They were quick to tell about their walk with Jesus. When we walk with Jesus, there will always be a compulsion to tell others about Him. When you read this, consider your own walk with Jesus and walk with Him. It will change and enrich your life! Bro. Joe “In the beginning God....."
From the very first words in the Bible God is an undeniable fact. The Bible doesn’t try to explain God to us, but it tells us that there is a God and He is our creator. How should we relate to this all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, all-seeing God? Surely, He is too far above us for us to relate to Him. Well, the Bible goes on to tell us that He wants to relate to us and us to Him. I think that the Bible gives us some specific ways that we can relate to God as we know Him in Jesus. Matthew 22:37-38: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38. This is the first and great commandment.” This is Jesus’ answer to the lawyer who wanted to know what the greatest commandment was. Jesus said that we are to love God with our total being. According to 1 John 4:9: “We love (God) because He first loved us.” Our love for God is borne of our knowledge that He loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to save us. We need to constantly ask ourselves whether or not we really love God. Do we really love and appreciate Him, or do we just say that we love Him because that just seems the proper thing to do? What would you be willing to sacrifice because of your love for God? Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” We can look at this in two ways: (1) We can be afraid of Him because of His immense power. (2) We can hold Him in deep reverence and awe for the great God that He is and for all that He has done for us. Both of these are applicable, but neither of them stands alone. It is not enough to just be scared of God. We who believe in Him through Jesus should hold Him in such reverence and awe that we would not disobey Him or demean Him. We know that even when He disciplines us He does it because He loves us. Paul gave the reason for moral laxity in His day, and it applies to our day as well in Romans 3:18: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Don’t be one of them! Psalm 100:2a: “Serve the Lord with gladness…” How do we show our love and reverential awe for God? We do it by serving Him. Serving God can mean any number of things, in fact there is no end to all that it can mean. It can mean we have to leave everything behind and go somewhere else in the world, or it can mean to simply do acts of kindness in the name of Jesus to people who need that kindness. Serving the Lord is not complicated. We do not have to have special training to do it. One thing is to just do what we know Jesus would do. There are areas of service that need special training, but that should not keep us from serving God daily. Every Christian is a servant of God; therefore, you are a servant of God. Seek ways to serve the Lord in our daily life and through your church. You can find ample ways to serve Him. . Of course, there are other elements that we could discuss about how we are to relate to God, but these three things, love, fear and service, are things that the Bible clearly tells us are of utmost importance in our lives. Therefore make up your mind and heart that you will love, fear and serve the Lord. Bro. Joe “Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
You probably already know what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus took Peter, James and John to Mount Tabor, which is the traditional site for Jesus’ transfiguration. Jesus was transfigured before these three apostles, which means that they caught a glimpse of His heavenly light, and appearing with Jesus were Moses and Elijah. Wow! Can you imagine seeing Jesus and two of the greatest Old Testament prophets at one time? Like Peter we would have been in awe too, and we might have wanted to say something profound and meaningful. However what he said came out as rather inane and insipid. Jesus just ignored it for the inane expression that it was. It reminds me of a story I heard one time about an airplane that was about to crash. Someone said, “Quick somebody do something religious.” A Baptist preacher was on board and he took up an offering. That collection probably did as much good as what Peter said. Peter was in awe and building tabernacles was about the most religious thing that he could think of. Peter needed to learn, and did in time, that following Jesus is not about religion or being religious. What is it about? Following Jesus is about a personal relationship with Him. Certain people make fun of us when we say that Jesus is our personal Savior, but that is what being a Christian is about. Jesus has promised to be with us when we are worshiping Him. Jesus is not like an idol that we gather together to worship. He is our Savior who comes to the place of worship with us. The “woman at the well,” in John 4, mentioned that the Samaritans worshiped God there where they were standing, and that the Jews said that the place of worship was in Jerusalem. Jesus said that the Jews were right, but that the hour was coming when “true worshipers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” The woman wanted to argue about religion, Jesus wanted to discuss relationship with the seeking Father. Following Jesus is not about religious observance as much as it is about fellowship with fellow Christians. Of course, there are observances that are important. The writer of Hebrews reminded us not to “forsake the assembling of ourselves together.” But why did he write this? He explained why: “But exhorting (encouraging) one another....” We meet together with each other under the power of the Spirit of Christ and we encourage each other in Christian worship and service. Our observances are constant reminders of our need for Jesus and our need for fellowship with each other. When we attend worship services together, we are not “doing something religious;” rather, we are ministering to each other so that we can be encouraged to witness in the name of Jesus to the world around us. Following Jesus is not about doing religious things that make us feel like we are serving God; rather, it is about actually serving Him on a daily basis wherever we are. Jesus has empowered us by the Holy Spirit to serve Him and that is what we are to do. I think sometimes that instead of serving Jesus, we try to build “tabernacles” to Him, and think that this is what satisfies Him. What satisfies Jesus is saving us, empowering us to serve Him, enabling us to spend eternity with Him. Jesus doesn’t want our “tabernacles.” He wants us. Bro. Joe “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."
My mind is never far from Psalm 23. It has meant so much to me as I have gone through all of the tough spots in my life. I have a whole series of studies/sermons based on this powerful psalm. As I read this first verse of Psalm 23, it spoke to me of our relationship with God. I see it as a word portrait drawn by David. Psalm 23:1 shows us some great things about our relationship with the Lord. It shows us the preeminence of the Lord in our relationship with Him. It says “the Lord is my shepherd.” A Lord is one who can tell you what to do and you have to do it – or should do it if you are wise. Paul dealt with this in relation to our Lord Jesus in Colossians 1:16-18: “For by Him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. 17. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist (held together). 18. And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence (first place). Our relationship with our Lord is not an equal one. It shows us that our relationship with the Lord is positive – it is certain. “The Lord is my shepherd.” Psalm 23:1 does not tell us the Lord might be our shepherd. When we are one of His people through faith in Christ, we have a relationship with Him as our shepherd. In 1 John 5:13, John wrote of this certainty in our relationship with the Lord: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.” There is no such thing as a “maybe so” relationship with the Lord. It shows us that our relationship with the Lord is personal. “The Lord is my shepherd.” Cynical unbelievers like to make fun of those of us who say that we have a personal relationship with Jesus. I don’t know what they think is funny about it. I will take my personal relationship with Jesus over a personal relationship with absolutely nothing Jesus has invited us to come to Him in order for us to have a relationship with Him. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said: “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” That is certainly an invitation to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. In this personal relationship, we have a claim on Jesus, but more importantly, He has a claim on us. . I think that you will agree that this is a good portrait of our relationship with the Lord. Bro.Joe “But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. 9. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled we shall saved by His life. 11. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received atonement.”
I have been chasing the word “reconciliation” in the Greek and English today, and this is the passage that I landed on to share with you. First, we have been “reconciled to God by the death of His Son.” Though we are sinners as mentioned in verse 8, we have been, or can be justified by Christ’s blood as mentioned in verse 9.. The only way we can be justified before God is through the blood of Jesus. This does not call us to religious ritual, but to a faith relationship with Jesus. Second, to be reconciled through Christ is to be saved from the wrath of God. We don’t like to dwell on the wrath of God, but it cannot be erased from the Bible. God hates sin, which makes it imperative for us to seek reconciliation with God. For we have “all sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Christ died on the cross that we might turn to Him in faith in order to be saved from the wrath of God. Third, to be reconciled through Christ enables us to find “joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Christian gospel does not call us to gloom and doom. Some people see us as a joyless bunch, but they are wrong. In Christ we have found joy, and we call you to join us in the joy of Jesus Christ. It is not a call to be “religious” but it is to be reconciled to God by faith in Jesus Christ. We call people to repent and confess their sins and invite Jesus into their lives, believing that He died and rose again to reconcile them to almighty God. Fourth, to be reconciled to God is to be atoned. It is interesting that the same Greek word that is translated as reconciliation is also translated as atonement in this verse. As far as I know, the King James Version is the only Bible to translate this verse as atonement. Look at the word this way: “at-one.” Through Jesus we can be at one with God. That is one of the basic meanings of reconciliation, which probably explains why the KJV translators rendered the word as atonement. It is better to be at one with God, than to be separated from Him. I imagine that you agree! Well, this is my feeble effort to deal with the word “reconciliation.” I hope that it makes sense to you and that I have shown it to be an essential word in the Bible. Bro. Joe “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18. Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. 19. Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20. But you have not so learned Christ.”
Being alienated from the “life of God” is a sad thing. The opposite of life is death, and when a person is alienated from God, he. or she. is spiritually dead. That is a sad condition. It is described in verse 17 as “walking in the vanity of their mind.” This is also translated, “in the futility of their thinking.” Their thinking is futile because it is based solely on the wisdom and way of the world and not on the wisdom and way of God. This doesn’t mean that all of the wisdom of the world is bad, but it does mean that if that is the only wisdom that one has it is insufficient. Being “alienated from the life of God” also means to have one’s “understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God.” The righteous way is described as light, while the unrighteous way is described as darkness. This describes a life that is alienated from the life of God. John wrote about this in 1 John 1:5-6: “This is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. 6. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.” The reason so many walk in darkness is that they prefer darkness to light. They do not see it as darkness, but in the eyes of God it is living in darkness, and He is the one who really counts in this matter. Being “alienated from the life of God” also means to live in ignorance of the things of God, and the way of God, “because of the blindness of their heart.” This is a matter of the heart. Many people have given their hearts to Satan and to the world. They do not see it this way, because their hearts are blind to the truth. People who live away from God, and ignore the sacrifice of Jesus, accuse us of self-righteousness and bigotry when we say that their hearts are blind. People who live alienated from the life of God are not considered our enemies, nor do we hate them. We don’t have some “phobia” that the world’s people accuse us of if we walk in the light. We are not as “phobic” about their lifestyle and they are about our lifestyle. I call this “Christophobia.” Being “alienated from the life of God” means to be “past feeling” and “giving themselves over to lasciviousness, uncleanness and greediness.” Wow! That covers a lot of territory. This does not just describe sexual sins, but it describes all kinds of sins that we will commit if we are “past feeling.” Not loving people and having their best interests at heart is an example of this unfeeling way of living. Paul reminded the Ephesians, and us, that we are not to live in darkness, spiritual ignorance and blindness of our hearts, because “we have not so learned Christ.” It is Christ who directs us into the light because He is the “light of the world.” (John 8:12) Do not live “alienated from the life of God.” It doesn’t lead to anything good. Bro. Joe “Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24. Grace to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ with undying love.”
These are the closing verses of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. They contain four qualities that should be, or will be, part of every Christian’s life. If we will cultivate these qualities in our lives, we can live victoriously for the Lord and we will be better witnesses for Him. “Peace to the brothers” One of the great promises of Jesus to His disciples was that He would give them His peace. He mentioned this specifically in John 16:33: "These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” We already have the peace of Christ in our lives; we just need to claim it. Jesus means for us to be at peace within ourselves. We need to remember this when we come across hard times in our lives. Christ’s peace has come to my rescue many times in my Christian sojourn. In that peace we find victory. But this also means that we are to live at peace with other people. This means to be at peace with people at work, at church, and all other places that we might be. The inner peace of Christ makes us peaceable. Claim this great peace today and live at peace with those around you. It is really the best way to live. “And love” The Greek word for “love” used here is the most powerful definition of love. It is the word “agape” (Agahpay). This is God’s kind of love, which means that we are to love people as God loves them, i.e., sacrificially. It is the kind of love that is described in John 3:16. We should not just feel love for others, but we should act in love toward them as God did toward us in sending His Son to serve as a sacrifice for our sins. This kind of love is aptly described in 1 John 3:18: “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue: but in deed and truth.” I guess every married man has heard his wife say at some time or other: “Don’t just say that you love me, that’s easy to do, show me that you love me.” The love that we have should be the kind that shows! “With faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” Hebrews 11:6 tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Faith is, as we would say today, “belief on steroids.” To have true faith is not to just believe about Jesus, but to believe in Him and let that faith guide us in our everyday actions. Faith is a gift from “God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” He gave it to us to use in our service to Him and in everything that we do in life. When you mix faith with love and peace, you have a better witness to the world. We should make decisions in our lives based on what we think God wants instead of always what we want. In other words, we should be guided by our faith in the Lord. “Grace to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ with undying love.” “Grace” is the word that makes everything possible in the Christian life. It comes before faith, peace or love. As you probably already know, grace is God’s unmerited favor. We don’t earn it; God just gives it to us. God’s grace enables us to be saved and to live the Christian life. But grace is not just something that we get from God; it is to be part of our lifestyles. We are to practice grace in our dealings with people. Think of how much better our lives would be, and the lives of those around us, if we practiced God’s grace in all of our dealings. I know that the witness of our churches would be much better. All four of these characteristics are, or should be, part of our lives. We need to prayerfully cultivate them in our lives. Bro. Joe |
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