“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
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(I brought this one out of the archives from August 28, 2014. Presently the old Couch Potato has a bad case of writer's block. I hope that you will enjoy this article from the past. It encouraged me today and I hope it encourage you.)
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him; but I will maintain my own ways before Him.” I do not want to leave the impression that Job went through all that Satan put him through with no complaining at all. He was a good man, but, like all men, he was not perfect. But one thing is clear in the Book of Job, and that is that Job did not deny God, nor did He waver in his faith. If we put ourselves in Job’s place, we can’t even imagine how we would react. Of course, Job was not happy during his trial. He did not face it, always smiling, always positive, but he did face his trial in faith and trust in God. He teaches us to trust. What do I mean? Job trusted God in spite of personal loss. Think of all Job lost. He lost possessions. He lost all of his children. He had been proud of his children and was concerned that they live good lives. Now they were all dead. He lost the respect of his wife who told him to “curse God and die.” That was hardly a statement that showed that she supported Job in his predicament. What would be worse than losing the respect of the person with whom you had ten children and a seemingly happy home– until tragedy struck? Job lost the respect of his community. He had been a leader among the people, and the people had great respect for him and hung on his words. Now even the youth were making fun of him. Worst of all, Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, lost respect for him because they thought that he had committed some great sin and was being punished by God. They were never told that Satan was doing all of the nasty work. But through it all, Job held on to his trust in God. Job 23:10 is a good example: “But (God) knows the way that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job trusted God in spite of personal afflictions. Today we would say that Job had lost his health. I guess one of the most painful things that can happen to us is to lose our health. When we are afflicted we will react either positively or negatively. An old cliché reminds us that when we lose our health “we will become bitter or we will become better.” In the final analysis, Job became better. If we will put ourselves in Job’s place, thinking of all that he lost and of the pain and misery that he went through, we will say that we do not know exactly how we would react. Either one of the things that happened to Job would be traumatic, and that’s putting it mildly. We can’t put ourselves in Job’s place, but we can stay close to the Lord, pray and read His word, etc. in order to prepare ourselves to face the contingencies of life. Job trusted God in spite of the fact that God was silent. Throughout most of the book of Job, God did not intervene in Job’s difficulties. In fact, God never explained to Job what had occurred between He and Satan. Through it all, Job had to hear the false accusations of his great sins. God did not come to Job’s defense. He did in the end, and his friends had to pay for their cynical advice, but not until Job had come through the worst and had “come forth as pure gold.” We need to learn from Job that though God is silent, He is not absent. He has promised to go with us through all of the things that we encounter in life. He will not shout, but He will be present and He will do what we need for Him to do. Rejoice! Bro. Joe “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our Lord stands forever…”
There are some verses in the Bible that speak volumes about the human situation. Isaiah 40:8 is one of those verses. The longer we live, the more we realize that nothing around us is permanent. It has always been true, and will remain so, that “the grass withers, the flowers fade.” You can substitute any number of things for “grass”and “flowers,” and the verse will remain true. But the verse gives a promise that is just as sure and true: “but the word of our Lord stands forever.” This can be widely interpreted. We can say that it is true of the Bible, for it certainly is, but beyond that it also means that we can take God’s word for it that all of His promises will stand. In other words, we can take God’s word for it that all of His promises are true. Let’s take a look at few of these promises. We have God’s promise that we can receive the salvation that He has provided through His Son. This promise is succinctly stated in John 6:37: “All that the Father gives me shall come to me: and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out.” We have God’s promise that those who come to Him for salvation will not be turned away if they come in repentance and faith. This was true of Simon Peter; it was true of Zacchaeus, the hated tax collector; it was true of the thief on the cross, and it will remain true for everyone who comes to Him through Christ throughout the ages. We have God’s promise that He will never leave us nor forsake us. This promise is found in Hebrews 13:5-6: “Let your conversation (conduct) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” Before Jesus was crucified and resurrected, He promised His disciples that He would be with them through the “comforter,” the Holy Spirit who He would send to them after He ascended to the Father. One of Jesus’ final promises to His disciples, and to us, just before He ascended was:“Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the ages….” (Matthew 28:20) We can be content and secure in this life knowing that we will never be alone, that God will never forsake us. There are times when it might seem that He has forsaken us, but we can take His word for it that He has not forsaken us. Throughout the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation, we see the reality of this great promise. We see it with Moses as he leads the Israelites through the desert. We see it in David as he tended his sheep and as he ran for his life from king Saul. We see it in Paul when he put his life on the line time after time to take the word of God to the world. We can experience this promise in our lives if we will just be aware of it. We have His promise that: “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) The promise is not that “all things will work for good” for God’s people. The promise is that all things will “work together for good…” “Together” is a big word here and defines what the promise entails. It means that God is at work in our lives and as we face everything in this life, good or bad, God will work them all together for our good. I have found this to be true in my life, and I imagine that many of you reading this have found it to be true in your lives. You might be going through a difficult time at this time in your life. You have the promise that God is working in your life and that it will turn out to your good. You can take God’s word for it. I have not even scratched the surface of this great promise that “the word of our Lord stands forever,” but what I have shared should be sufficient to show that it is true. Don’t just take my word for it; take God’s word for it. Bro. Joe “(Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16. For by Him 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.”
If you are skeptic about the Christian faith, you are going to really scoff at this passage. If you are a true believer, you are going to rejoice. The passage tells us that Jesus is the creator. This is not the only reference to His creatorship: “All things were made by (Jesus); and without Him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:3) In fact, the Bible alludes to the fact that all of the Trinity was involved in creation - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Even more wonderful is what is recorded in verse 17: “…and by Him all things consist.” The word “consist” actually means held together, so that the verse could be translated: “and by Him all things are held together.” Think about this for a moment. Our Lord and Savior holds all of His creation together. He holds the planets in their orbits and He holds the whole universe together. We do not worry about planets colliding because Jesus is holding them in their orbits. Wow! That is fantastic. Some of you reading this might say that this is too fantastic. It’s not too fantastic to me. It gives me great peace knowing that Jesus, who loves us beyond reason, is in control of the whole universe. As fantastic as this is, it is not the greatest news out of this passage. If Jesus can hold the whole universe together, doesn’t it stand to reason that He can hold our lives together? As we follow the news day by day, we can get awfully discouraged. It seems that the world is spinning out of control. There are earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and all sorts of other catastrophes happening all of over the world. I don’t know about you, but when I observe all of that, if I didn’t believe that Jesus was ultimately in control, I would be awfully antsy – to say the least. Actually, this is the way the world has always been. There is no real security outside of the love, mercy and control of God. Going beyond these facts, however, there is another angle to this that I want to share with you. Jesus can hold you together – mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. If you are anxious, you can turn your anxieties, whatever they might be, over to Him. Read what Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6-7: “Be careful for nothing (do not be anxious about anything); but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” This text has held me together many times. What a joy it is to know that Jesus has not given up on my difficult situations, but is there to hold me together as I go through them. The same is, or can be, true of your life as well. You don’t have to go through life trying to get control of things. Jesus is already in control. You don’t have to go through life feeling lonely, unappreciated and out of control. Turn your life over to Jesus and let Him hold you together. Do you realize what good news this is? It is life-changing! Try it! Bro. Joe “And (Jesus) said unto (Andrew and Peter), follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
This is Jesus call to His first disciples, Andrew and Peter. According to John’s gospel, Andrew had been a disciple of John the Baptist, and when John the Baptist showed Jesus to him, he followed Jesus and went and found his brother Peter, who also became a follower. This was their formal call to “become fishers of men.” They didn’t realize it at the time, but Jesus was calling them to a lifetime opportunity to serve Him. He still gives the opportunity to people today. When we accept His call to become Christians, we accept the opportunity to serve Jesus and to “fish for men.” We need to see it as the opportunity that it is, and actually follow Jesus and invite people to Jesus – which is what “fishing for men” is. It is a tremendous opportunity because it is a call to follow Jesus. We are all going to follow something or someone. Some people follow their own inclinations and follow only what, or who, they want to follow. For example, some people seem to substitute sports for Jesus. Of course, there is nothing wrong with enjoying sports and pulling for your team, but when it consumes your life it has gone too far. I certainly have my “druthers” when it comes to ball teams, and I really want them to win, but my whole life doesn’t depend on it. Jesus is “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” This means that it was decided back beyond eternity that Jesus would come, live a perfect life, die on the cross for our sins, rise from the dead, ascend to the Father, intercede for us and come again to receive us. It is not just an opportunity to follow Jesus; it is an honor to follow Him and serve Him. He wants you to follow Him. If you aren’t already following Him, surrender to Him now. It is a tremendous opportunity because of His involvement in our lives. Notice that Jesus said, “I will make you fishers of men.” This means that when we make the decision to follow Jesus, He becomes involved intimately in our lives. It’s not just an invitation to follow Jesus on our own. Part of His “making” us fishers of men is sending the Holy Spirit to live in our lives to empower us for witness and to guide us into truth. Becoming a follower of Jesus is not a shallow thing. Being “fishers of men” is not a shallow thing. Jesus wants to use us to do His work on this earth, just as He did for Andrew and Peter. You can follow Peter’s life after he became a follower of Jesus, and see that Jesus, and serving Him, took over his life. Following Jesus is a tremendous opportunity because it is a call to become involved in the lives of other people. When we fish for people, we do not do it without having to become involved in their lives. Just as Jesus does not call us to follow Him and then dump us, we do not lead people to Jesus and forget about them. We invite them into fellowship with us and the fellowship of our church, where we will be involved in their lives as they grow in discipleship. Have you accepted Jesus call to follow Him and become a “fisher of men”? Bro. Joe “The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. 26. It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the Lord. 27. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young.”
If you know anything about the Book of Lamentations, you know that, for the most part, it lives up to its name. It is the book written by Jeremiah as he lamented over the Babylonian Captivity of Judah. But there are bright spots within the book too. One example is in verse 22 of chapter 3: “Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for His mercies never end…” Then there are the verses that are printed above that hold out hope in God, even through difficult times. It is about waiting on the Lord. Waiting on the Lord can be difficult, for He does not work within our time frame, but He works within His own time frame for our good. Jeremiah tells us that “the Lord is good to those who wait for Him.” All I have to share with you on this particular verse is what I have experienced in my own life as I have waited on the Lord. When Jeremiah writes that the “Lord is good to those who wait for Him,” he means that God is doing good things in our lives while we wait for Him. God’s Spirit is always active in our lives, and He ministers to us through all of the events of our lives and through all of the things that happen in our lives - good and bad. The important thing is that we will not realize God’s goodness for us while we wait, if in the process we do not seek Him and seek His will and way for us. What are you waiting for right now in your life? (I guess that we are always waiting for something.) This is the time to seek the Lord, to draw from His wisdom while you wait for the next thing that He is going to do. I should tell you that the Lord might remind you that you are waiting for the wrong thing and that He has something better for you. I have discovered that seeking the Lord while I wait is not a painful process. In fact it is a wonderful process, for while we wait, we learn a lot about our Lord if we will just open our minds and hearts to Him. So, while you are waiting, trust in God, listen to Him, and know that He only wants the best for you, and that He wants you to see what is best for you as He does. I have stopped trying to predict what God has next in store for me. I guess that the best thing to do is to wait quietly for Him and enjoy the wait. Whatever you are waiting for today, stop and pray, seek the Lord, for He has an answer for you. Remember the admonition in verse 26: “It is good to wait quietly for deliverance from the Lord.” Don’t get impatient with God, and stop complaining about the wait and get ready for God’s deliverance. Verse 27 offers the best advice for us while we are waiting: “It is good for a man (or woman) to bear the yoke while he (or she) is still young.” I don’t think that I will change the word of God if I shorten this a bit to say: “It is good for a man (or woman) to bear the yoke” whatever stage of life he or she is in. Bearing the yoke is a biblical way of saying that we are to serve God. Oxen are put in the yoke to work. While we are waiting on the Lord, we do not sit idly by and just meditate on what His master plan for us might be. He wants us to be active while we wait. He wants us to serve Him while we wait. Waiting on the Lord does not make us selfish. It does not just lead us to navel-gazing and wondering what’s next for us. While we are waiting, there are needs out there that God wants to use us to meet. There are people out there who need a word from God from us, whether it is a vocal witness or an encouraging word. God wants us to reflect on His part in our lives and on His will in our lives, but He does not just call us to quiet reflection. He calls us to reach out to a world in dire need of Him, and share with the world what we know of Him. Take the advice of Jesus: “Look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35b) Bro. Joe “He restores my soul: He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake."
Why do we need restoration? We need it because we have wandered from the path that God has laid out for us. It is at these times that we need the replenishment that only the Lord Jesus Christ can give us. He comes to our rescue before we make any more of a mess than we have already made. I imagine that you know what I mean. (Okay, I will go ahead and confess that I know what I mean.) What we really fail to understand is that God really, really wants to restore us. You must seek it in prayer and deep meditation. Jesus literally stands at your heart’s door, not to just to save you, but to restore you to a deeper relationship with Him. This brings us to the “paths of righteousness” to which He leads us. When we are restored, we will not be so puffed up with our own religiosity that we will be stuffy and unapproachable. It is the path that will lead us away from the destructiveness that sin can bring into our lives. It is the path that leads us to saying “no” to things that we should say “no” to, and to saying “yes” to the things to which we should say “yes.” I don’t think you need a diagram to what I mean here. You already know right from wrong. But this is why we need to stay in the word of God in order to instill in us what it means to live a righteous life. It will be the path to humility and to the place of prayer. It will be the path to, not just to attend church, but to be the church in our daily lives. What does David mean by “for His name’s sake”? There is probably no end to what this means, but I will share you my limited understanding of what it means. I think that it means that He will restore us as we draw closer to Him in our daily lives. It means that we will cease living only for our “own name’s sake,” and for living for “His name’s sake.” I think that it is to have the attitude of John the Baptist when he said that “He (Jesus) must increase but I must decrease.” It should mean that instead of seeking self glory, we will seek to bring glory to Jesus. This doesn’t mean that we should not take great satisfaction in what we do in His name. We just need to realize that He is to receive the glory for what we do in His name. Seek His restoration of your life today. Bro. Joe "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 man can do to me.” (verses 3-4)
“In God will I praise His word: in the Lord will I praise His word. 11. In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid of what man can do unto me.” (verses 10-11) It is worth noting that David did not claim to be fearless. We usually think of him as the “fearless warrior” who took on the giant Goliath when he was very young. But in this psalm, he simply states “what time I am afraid…” This means that David had to face his fears, just like we have to face our fears. Fear is an integral part of life, and we have to deal with it. We can fear the weather, especially when we see what hurricanes and tornadoes can do. We can fear for the future, especially when we think of what might happen, and in the case of those of us who are older, we fear for the future for our children and grandchildren. Come to think of it, there is a lot to be afraid of, but David is going to teach us in these verses how to deal with whatever fears we have to face. David could face his fears because he trusted in God. He made the bold assertion, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” We are saved from sin by trusting in Jesus as our Savior, but we are sustained in life by that same trust. We need to remember that God is always with us, and when we face trying and fearful times, He is with us. He illustrated this in Psalm 23:4: “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” We need to realize that no matter what we face, whether it is sickness, nature’s wrath, or people, God is with us and will see us through whatever it is that we have to face. I don’t know what you are dealing with at the present time that would make you afraid, but I do know that God is aware of it and will be with you through all of it. Many times He will deliver you from whatever it is that you fear, but at other times, He will deliver you through whatever it is that you fear. FDR was right when he told the citizens of our country as we faced a world war, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Fear will ruin our lives if we will let it. It will cripple us in our creativity and in our relationships with people if we give in to it. I remember back in 1969 when we were thinking about cutting loose from the security of a good church and school teaching job and going to the seminary. We simply had to face it in faith and do it, because God willed it. I am glad that we knew that He would be with us. Whatever you are afraid of now, release into the powerful hands of God. David referred to another thing that helped him in his fear – God’s word. In verse 4 he wrote: “In God I will praise His word…” Again in verse 10 he wrote: “In God will I praise His word…” Of course, David’s word from God was the Pentateuch, which recorded what God did for His people Israel. In our case, we have the whole Old Testament and New Testament. We know the complete story of salvation history. What a comfort it is to know that when we are afraid, we have the Bible that we can turn to that will reassure us of the presence of God. There is power in the word of God that can help us transcend our earthly fears. There have been many times in my life when I rushed to the word of God for comfort in trying times. There have also been many times when I would have been better off if I had rushed to the word of God. No doubt, you have a Bible. Read it and let its inspired passages remind you of the love of God for you and the power of God in your life. Don’t be upset that there are things that make you afraid; just be glad that you have God and His word to lean on when you are afraid. Bro. Joe “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24
“Again, He limits a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is said, today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” Hebrews 4:7 Have you ever wished that you lived in another time or another place? I guess we have all wished this at some time or other, but it is a useless exercise. We are living in a certain time at a certain place, and the way I see it, we are living in this time and place because that is what God wants of us. I have often said that I would go back to simpler times if I could take air-conditioning and medical science with me. I think you get my point. If we could live in another time and another place, we would still have to face the hardships of each day. I think that the Bible teaches us that we need to live today, because we can’t relive yesterday and we can’t live tomorrow until it gets here. That’s right, that only leaves today. We should live each day to the fullest, giving our time to the Lord, and following His will for our lives. I want to point out some things about living life to the fullest today. What we do with each day will determine what will take place in the future. I remember that when I was in high school, I decided that studying was a waste of time, and that homework was just a nuisance, so I gave them up. Each day passed, and life just kept going on. It took awhile, but I finally decided that I had better make better use of my days. Suppose I had not wised up and had kept on like I was going. The days would have kept passing and I would have gotten sorrier and sorrier. (Some of you are probably thinking that I couldn’t be any sorrier – shame on you. lol) How we use the time that we have each day will determine the quality of our lives as we live from day to day. It is important that we embrace each day. The psalmist gave us some wise advice: “This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” It is worth noting that he did not write: “We should rejoice and be glad in it,” but he wrote “we will rejoice and be glad in it.” The NIV translates it: “Let us rejoice and be glad in it. ”Either way it is a positive statement about living each day that God has given us and rejoicing in Him and in the fact that He has given us another day. You can rejoice in the day or bemoan the day, but it is all you have at the moment. We can meet each new day with rejoicing, or we can bemoan each new day, and it will still be all thhat we have at the moment. Too many people are putting off today what they plan to do tomorrow. We need to take advantage of the fact that we are alive today, and that we can live it in a positive way. I have heard it said many times that we can greet the day with “good morning Lord,” or with “good Lord, it's morning.” Which do you think will give you a better day? It is today that we can take care of the things that we know need to be taken care of. One of these has to do with our spiritual lives. We can start off the day with prayer and reading God’s word. We know that if we want to draw closer to the Lord, we need to communicate with Him, and that we need to delve into His word. Today is a good day to start your day, as best you can with the time that you have, in fellowship with God and His word. I have found that the exercise of prayer and Bible reading has helped me “rejoice in the day that the Lord has made.” Today is the day to get right with the Lord. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:2b: “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”In the spirit of that text, we can say that today is the accepted time to draw near to the Lord. You have today! What are you going to do with it? There are choices before you as you face today. You can spend some time praising God and thanking Him that you have today. You will be surprised at how much difference that will make in the rest of your day. Try it! Bro. Joe “But now being made free from sin, and become servants of God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
These two verses appeared to me to be a victory cry, by a man who had won the victory through Christ. Paul was victorious in that he had been made free from sin. This did not mean that he did not sin anymore, but that sin did have victory over him. He had been set free from sin through faith in Jesus Christ, which is the same victory that we have. In fact that is the only victory over sin. We are born into a world filled with sin, and we have to deal with sin almost from birth, at least until we reach an age of accountability. There are numbers of people who are so enamored with sin that they do not know that they need to be set free from it. To them sin is not a problem until they encounter Jesus Christ, then they know how awful sin is. You have been made free from sin, or you can be by accepting Jesus into your life by faith. Paul was victorious in that he had become a servant of God. In fact, dealing with the sin factor in life sets us free to become true servants of God. We do not become servants of God just because we decide one that we will be called servants of God. We become servants of God when we come to know Him through faith in His Son. One of the greatest privileges that we can know in this life is to become servants of God. A servant of God is not one who becomes extremely religious, and wears his or her religion on his or his sleeve. A servant of God who gladly serves the Lord, knowing that he or she does not deserve that title but they have been given that title through Christ. Paul was victorious in that he knew the holiness that comes only through faith in Jesus Christ. That’s what “fruit unto holiness” means. He did not mean that he had become holy, but that he was benefitting through the holiness that became his by faith in Christ. Whatever holiness we have, we have it through faith in Christ. The moment we think that we ourselves are “holy” we have become like the self-righteous Pharisees who opposed Jesus. Paul was victorious in that he knew that because of his faith in Jesus, in the end he had everlasting life. This means that through faith in Christ, we do not just win victory over sin, but that we will live eternally with Jesus Christ. Paul summarizes this victory shout with the following: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Sin does not just kill people, but it kills their souls as well. The “wages of sin” is always death…” Jesus died on the cross to set us from free the effects of sin and from the eternal damnation that it brings. Claim victory in Christ now! Bro. Joe |
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