Faith Musings: Nothing to Boast About - Part 9

We should be drawing this study to a close this week. I hope you have enjoyed this look at 1 Corinthians 1 and 2. I can only say it was one of those Holy Spirit directed studies that I had not been intending to do. You must understand, what I put on the blog is most often things I am learning and/or struggling with. I hope I can always bring you the same clarity and understanding that the Holy Spirit gives me when revealing truth in His word.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

“10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,
13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.
16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

— I Corinthians 2:10-16 (NASB 1995)

Last week we looked specifically at verse 13 diving into the concept that it is the Holy Spirit who teaches us and who gives us God’s wisdom. Paul’s teaching came, not from human wisdom, but from the wisdom taught to him by the Spirit of God. The same is true in our own lives as we grow closer to God and learn to listen to His Spirit with open ears. We looked specifically at 1 John 2:27 which reminds us that when we have His anointing, or the Holy Spirit we have no need of other teaching or wisdom. God’s wisdom is all we need. I also made a note that we must have His discernment to make sure that what we are saying is of the Spirit actually is His Spirit and not the spirit of the world. Remember, the spirit of the world is not for God.

Let’s start looking at verses 14 - 15.

14 - But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

Image by Gina Janosch from Pixabay

I think this verse is pertinent to what is happening in the world as we look around at the violence, hatred, and sin that permeates all cultures. In our own country we have seen a definite uptick in violence as a way to respond to ideas, people, religion and beliefs that are not liked or agreed with. This is the response of the natural man. Our sin nature wants what it wants and it looks at the things of God as ridiculous.

Even as believers we find ourselves regularly battling against this old nature and fighting to turn to Jesus and His truth rather than give in to our baser sin nature. The difference is, we have God’s Spirit gently reminding us how much God loves us, what He did for us and why His wisdom is always better than the world’s.

Why does the natural man think God’s teaching and wisdom is foolish, after all, didn’t God create man in His image? Shouldn’t that give man His wisdom? Unfortunately, this is what Satan tempted Adam and Eve with in the Garden. See Genesis 3. There were two things going on in the Garden. The first, the Serpent, or Satan, was intent on causing God’s beautiful creation to crash and burn. The second, Adam and Eve made a choice to not trust God. If instead of listening to the Serpent they would have ran to God and asked Him what to do, they would not have made that same choice. God’s wisdom, would have given them the understanding to know what Satan was plotting.

Sin is what took away the ability to know and understand God’s wisdom. What God intended to be the norm, a regular, intimate, relationship with Him, became obscured by the veil of sin. It is only by giving our lives to Him in an intentional choice to trust Him, that we receive the Helper and the ability to know God and understand His teaching and wisdom.

“12 Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,
13 and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.
14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.
15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart;
16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

— 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 (NASB 1995)

What we see in our country right now is the spirit of the natural man fighting against what they see as the foolishness of God, because they can’t understand it. Why does this surprise us? God has always had a better way, but He allowed mankind to make their own choices and He still does, even to the point of violence and persecution.

“5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

— John 1:5 (NASB 1995)

15 - But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.

Image by Thomas from Pixabay

Seeing that our Creator is a spiritual being, and when we are in Him we are also spiritual beings, we are able to appraise, or to use a more unfavorable word, judge, all things. (I thought that chicken looked pretty judgmental to me. what do you think? Ha, ha.) What does this mean? In simple language it means that we are able to look at everything around us and discern what is actually happening. For instance, the things that are happening in our country are looked at political and idealogical differences, but one who has the Spirit of God, knows there is a spiritual element to these things. Of course if we speak that, we are seen as even more ridiculous and unaware. What is most concerning to me is the disparity in the church. We know it is okay to have differences of opinion, but when that turns into anger, and anger turns into hate, then as people with God’s Spirit we need to step back and recognize the spiritual side of things.

With regard to the second half of that verse, we are appraised by no one. In other words, people can judge us on the outside. If I commit a crime I will go to court and be sentenced, but only God judges our eternal soul. Only He knows where we are at spiritually. That, to me, is why it is important to get to know people and have dialogue with people. We may find we have a lot more in common than we do differences.

16a - For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him?

Image by srfparis from Pixabay

There is not one person on this planet that knows the mind of the Lord to the extent that he is able to instruct Him. God doesn’t have to be teachable. He knows everything. The theological word for this characteristic is omniscient. It is not just knowing things like 2+2=4, or that all matter is made up of atoms, and all the other billions of bytes of data in the world. Omniscience includes an awareness, understanding and insight. God doesn’t just know stuff, He knows us. Isn’t that mind bending? Read through Psalm 139. God knows our thoughts, when we lay down, when we rise, where we go, what we are going to say, and the very condition of our heart. He knows every child ever used in the sex trade. He knows every tumor rooting itself in a human’s body. He knows where your lost cat is. He knows the pain you carry deep beneath your smiling exterior.

To the natural man, this doesn’t make sense. In fact, it may be the case they don’t want it to make sense. Knowing that there is a being who knows your every thought, your every pain, your every dark sin is too much. The crazy part is, He knows all that and still He loves us. He loves you, and He wants you, every single bit…the good, the bad, and the dark ugly.

16b - But we have the mind of Christ.

Image by Chil Vera from Pixabay

Perhaps it is because I have the mind of Christ that as I have been typing this I want to fall to my knees and cry. Not only to shed tears for so many who are hurting, angry, and lost, but for my own wretched soul. He has done it all. He has provided a way when there was no way. He provided a light in the darkness, a path through rocky mountain slopes; food for my peckish soul and water for my dried up heart. He has done it all, and I have nothing to boast about, except in Him.

Faith Musings: Nothing to Boast About - Part 6

We have spent the last few posts looking at 1 Corinthians 2:1-9. Today I would like to start mulling over verses 10-16. We won’t get through all the verses today, but I’ve included the rest of the passage for you to read. I’m also including a fall picture for you to enjoy. I’d like to be driving through there right now! :)

Image by Alexandru Manole from Pixabay

“10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,
13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.
16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

— 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 (NASB 1995)

Let’s start dissecting this passage.

For to us God revealed them…

Image by James Nichols from Pixabay

First let’s understand that it is God who should be revealing things to us, not some other entity. We live in a world where information is instantaneous. Type into Google any question you have, or anything you want to research and within seconds you have lists of sites where you can learn all sorts of things. We now even have AI ChatGPT to come along side and teach us how and why we should commit suicide. Such tragedies are not of God, and are precisely why we still need God and His revealed truth.

What exactly is God revealing to us? Who are the “them” referred to in this verse? Them is looking back at verse 9. Them refers to: “Things which the eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” In other words God reveals His truth to us through His word. How does this happen?

…through His Spirit;

Image by Thomas from Pixabay

This revelation comes about through the Holy Spirit. Paul testified of this divine revelation in his own life.

“11 For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”

— Galatians 1:11-12 (NASB 1995)

As you may know, the Holy Spirit was given to us to be our companion, helper, revealer of God’s truth, and our very own prayer warrior.

“16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

— John 14:16-18 (NASB 1995)

“25 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.
26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. ”

— John 14:25-26 (NASB 1995)

Image by Siggy Nowak from Pixabay

The Holy Spirit is vital in our relationship with the Creator. Just as Jesus had a role, that of the Savior of the world, the Holy Spirit has a role in the triune God-head. He is the presence of Jesus in our lives. He is the One who binds us to God the Father. He also dwells in us, daily guiding, and helping us as we battle the flesh, and as we scramble to remember what we have been taught from God’s word. Not only does He help us remember, He also helps us to live it out.

Over the last few years of dealing with illness on the regular and just the normal struggles of an aging body, I have learned over and over that there is very little I do in this relationship with the Holy One, other than bend my knees in humility and prayer. He does everything else. He provides energy when I have none. He helps me to remember my value in God, when I question it over and over again. He establishes me in Christ, in a way that no teaching, exercise, or activity can. He even gives life. (See the examples of Elizabeth and Mary in the Gospel of Luke chapter 1). And as I have taught about before, He prays for us. (See my take on Romans 8:26-27.) It is a fun study to explore the many works and facets of the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture.

…for the Spirit searches all things even the depths of God.

Image by Jan Alexander from Pixabay

I don’t know about you, but that makes me want to cry. The fact that this Spirit, who lives inside of me searches all things, even the depths of God makes me realize, there is no thing and no one in this world that knows me better than God. There is no drug, no activity, no teaching, and no internet search that is going to reveal more than the Holy Spirit. He is the conduit through which we have full access to the Kingdom of God the Father.

God forgive me, for not giving the Holy Spirt His due, and God forgive others who limit Him to the mere center of an emotional experience. The Holy Spirit works in perfect synchronization with the Father and the Son to give us complete understanding of His truth, and complete redemption and forgiveness of sins through the blood of Jesus.

Hallelujah! What an awesome God we serve!

Next time we will delve deeper into how His Spirit works in our lives. Have a great, Spirit filled week!

Faith Musings: Nothing to Boast About - Part 5

As we see August come to an end, and September begin, I feel the pull of fall. I have always loved this season. From the changing leaves and the cooling temperatures, to the pumpkin muffins and jack-o-lanterns, fall always gives me a feeling of expectation. I think part of that stems from the fact that fall includes Halloween, Thanksgiving and leads to winter and my favorite time of year, Christmas. Seasonal changes give us many things to think about with regard to our faith walk with Jesus, and I will be pursuing some of those ideas soon, but today, I want to continue our walk through 1 Corinthians 2.

Image by claude alleva from Pixabay

“1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;
7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;
9 but just as it is written,

“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him.””

— 1 Corinthians 2:1-9 (NASB 1995)

Right now we are still looking at verses 1-9. We learned from Chapter 1:18-25 that man’s wisdom and God’s wisdom are two distinct things. The reality is God uses all that is contrary to our wisdom to accomplish His plan from the weak and foolish, to the cross of Christ, His wisdom is contrary to all that our wisdom believes is important. We see Paul reiterating these same ides as Chapter 2 begins and we read, “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified…”

6 - Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; however, not of this age or of the rulers of this age who are passing away;

Paul, who has made clear that he was weak, and fearful when it came to his ability to speak, and who also made clear that his message was not of his own wisdom and ability, but God’s, now states with confidence he speaks wisdom among the mature.

Who were the mature? People who already knew the gospel, believed it and were living their lives following Jesus. Think of your own situation as a Christ follower. Do you feel like you know more now than when you first came to Him? Have you gained more understanding as you delved into His word? Would you consider yourself more mature than you were several decades ago? I say a resounding yes, but it is because of His work and His wisdom.

Let’s take a closer look at what this wisdom is (verses 6 - 9).

What it isn’t - Not of this age (and that is true just as much today as it was in Paul’s time). Not of the rulers of this age (who come and go, live and die). Not able to be understood without God.

What it is - Of God. A mystery. Hidden. Predestined before the ages. Prepared by God for those who love Him.

One may wonder if it is something God wants us to know and understand, why does He keep it a hidden mystery? Go back to the title of this series - Nothing to Boast About. He did the work. He does the work. He has hidden it, He will reveal it. What then is my part?

To believe.

It seems so very simple, but how often do we doubt? How often do we find ourselves second guessing? How often are we pacing the floor because we don’t see our prayers answered in our time line? How often do we live in the flesh, rather than in His Spirit?

Man’s wisdom says, “You do you! Be all you can be! Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps!”

God’s wisdom says, “Come to Me! Believe! Trust!”

How are you living today? By your own wisdom, or by trust God?

Faith Musings: Nothing to Boast About - Part 4

After a few more busy weeks we are at the end of our summer hiatus and schools are back in session. My spouse, who is a college professor, is back in the classroom next week. I wanted to return to the verses we had been looking at in 1 Corinthians. You can see the first three parts: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 by clicking on the links.

“1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;
7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;
9 but just as it is written,

“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him.””

— 1 Corinthians 2:1-9 (NASB 1995)

Image by Arnie Bragg from Pixabay

Last time we looked at the first two verses and we emphasized two important points: 1 - Paul determined, and 2 - to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. We looked at the disparity of a social gospel built only on the foundation of love and good works, and the true gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection. Make no mistake we are responsible to love and to do good works, especially to those who are less fortunate (see Matthew 25:31-46), for without the good works we are merely a clanging cymbal or a ringing bell in a symphony of humanity. Part of what makes Christianity different is the example Christ set of loving others, but not just that. The true difference lies in His death on a cross, and His ability to walk out of the grave. This is the power that gives us the ability to love the unlovely, and help the helpless.

Paul continues his letter by reminding them - I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. This was a reference to himself, and not to the people he was with. Paul was not an entertainer. Even though he was learned in the teachings and ways of the Torah and his own people, it is possible he felt “less than” among the intellectuals in Corinth. Orators of that time period were expected to wow the crowd, and this was not Paul’s gift. He simply preached the truth of the gospel. Paul continues this line of thought.

…and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power…

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

How often do we pine for the notoriety and visibility of being someone important? I grew up in an era where every young person wanted a guitar or a set of drums so they could become the next great rock and roll sensation; myself included. Now we live in a world saturated with images, and videos of people being “important” in what they say, how they dress, what they do, how they identify, and all of it being based on how many views, thumbs up or hits they get on their social media posts. We have people like Taylor Swift who started out by sharing her music on YouTube and now she is “…a cultural icon of the 21st century. She is the highest-grossing live music artist, the wealthiest female musician, and one of the best selling music- artists of all time.” (Wikipedia) How many will long to follow in her footsteps, but will never make it past the borders of the small town they grew up in?         

We now hear speakers in seminars, podcasts and talk shows discussing the art of persuasion. Being able to persuade seems to be important enough that it must be taught and discussed like ancient history or English grammar. Why are we so anxious to persuade? Because we want, not just recognition, but community in our ideologies and thoughts. We want people to agree with us, and join us in turning others to our side and our way of thinking.

Paul recognized the work of the Spirit was beyond a seminar on the art of persuasion. It was a supernatural affair. Any effect he had as an apostle he attributes to the work of the Holy Spirit. People coming to Jesus when he spoke were a demonstration of Spirit and the power. What power? God’s power?

“but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.””

— Acts 1:8 (NASB 1995)

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Do a quick walk through of the book of Acts and you will see numerous places where the Holy Spirit moved, and saved, and worked. His power filled the disciples and helped the fledgling churches to grow into a world wide movement that today still holds the power of God.

Once again we are reminded that we have nothing to boast about when Paul says, “so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.” God intended from the beginning that the foolish things would overcome the wise and the weak would overcome the strong.

Until next time, keep walking in His strength and in His Spirit!

Faith Musings: Nothing to Boast About - Part 3

This second chapter of 1 Corinthians seems a perfect continuation of the verses we looked at previously in Faith Musings: Nothing to Boast About - Part 1, and Nothing to Boast About - Part 2.

Image by Joe from Pixabay

“1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;
7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;
9 but just as it is written,

“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him.””

— I Corinthians 2:1-9 (NASB 1995)

Paul continues his discourse on the wisdom of God versus the foolishness of man by stating that when he came to the church at Corinth he did not preach by his own ability, but by the ability God gave him.

“And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.”

If anyone could have boasted in his own abilities it was Paul. Born a Hebrew, he was raised in the prosperous city of Tarsus, a center for trade on the Mediterranean coast, a city which also housed a well known school.

Image by sebastiano iervolino from Pixabay

“4 although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:
5 circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;
6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.”

— Philippians 3:4-6 (NASB 1995)

“6 But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!””

— Acts 23:6 (NASB 1995)

Paul referred to his upbringing not to boast in his abilities, but to appeal to the audience he was talking to. He always made clear that his abilities to teach and preach were from God .

For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

This stands out to me for two reasons. First, Paul determined. This word does not give us a feeling of being wishy washy. It shows us the apostle was firmly resolved. It is convicting to me, because when I ask myself what am I firmly resolved or determined about, I realize in this chaotic world we are living in I have become more uncertain, unsure and even doubtful about many things, even my relationship with Christ. Yes, there are things I am sure of: my salvation, the Bible, God’s good character and so on. Perhaps, like Paul I need to focus on the main thing.

Image by DetBe from Pixabay

Second, what was Paul determined to know? Nothing…except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Why is this so important? Isn’t it more important to preach and teach love? After all Christ loves us and desires that we all be in heaven with Him. This is where I am beginning to see disparity in the church. If we do not preach the reason Christ came, and had to be crucified, all the love in the world will not fix all that is wrong with it. Christ came because we are sinners. Not one of us is good enough to earn our way into heaven, no matter how much love we show. And the truth is, if I only preach the love of God, then I do not really love. We have to talk about the darkness, the disobedience, and the distance between us and Him.

Remember these verses? Jesus said of Himself:

“6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

— John 14:6 (NASB 1995)

“5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”

— John 15:5-6 (NASB 1995)

“23 He who hates Me hates My Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.
25 But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’”

— John 15:23-25 (NASB 1995)

“18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death,”

— Matthew 20:18 (NASB 1995)

“31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

— Mark 8:31 (NASB 1995)

These are just a few of many verses in the Gospels where Christ talks about His purpose, which was to be obedient to the Father, and die on a cross for sinful humanity.

Does the Bible talk about God’s love? Of course it does. One of the most famous verses many of us memorized as youngsters in church follows:

“16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

— John 3:16 (NASB 1995)

Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay

However, even this verse talks about God’s love in the context of our need, and our sin. Why would we perish if we were perfect? Why would we need God if love was the answer to all our problems? Love is the answer, but it is God’s love; God’s pure, perfect, and holy love.

I would like to let these first two verses of this second chapter of 1 Corinthians sink in for the next week. Do you think we need to be more determined like Paul? If so, what are we to be determined about? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment or two below.

Until next week, have a great weekend!

Faith Musings: Nothing to Boast About - Part 2

Last week I started a short series revolving around a number of verses in I Corinthians 1. In the first part we looked at verses 18-25. This week I want to continue by directing our thoughts to verses 26-31.

“26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;
27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,
28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,
29 so that no man may boast before God.
30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
31 so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.””

— I Corinthians 1:26-31 (NASB 1995)

Let’s work our way through these verses by statements.

Image by Umkreisel-App from Pixabay

For consider your calling…

Paul wants the recipients of this letter to think about their calling. Why is this important? I think we need to remember when, and how God called each of us into a personal relationship with His Son Jesus Christ. I was raised in a Bible teaching church by believing parents, but it was at age 12 that I stepped into the promised land. I recognized my sin, my inability to live life without Jesus, and gave my life to Him. God called me, not like some through a lightening bolt, but more a continuous soft whisper. Everyone’s calling is different. What was yours like? It is good to remember where we came from and what God called us out of.

This is also a challenge to those who have been called to remember, “according to the flesh” there were, “not many wise…not many mighty…not many noble….” In other words we weren’t all that. Ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden we have been fighting a battle against the truth. The truth of God says we are nothing without Him. The truth of God says all our righteous works are as filthy rags. The truth of God says that man’s wisdom will never rise above the wisdom of God. In fact, as we look at the next few verses we are struck, once again, it is all about Him.

Image by Couleur from Pixabay

But God has chosen…

Did you get that? God has chosen. It wasn’t our abilities, or beauty, or wisdom, or might, or power that God chose. Indeed, He is a beautiful study in contrasts. The almighty God chose the foolish things, the weak things, the base things, the despised, and the things that are not. Why did He do this? He could have chosen the best of the best; the bright and beautiful; the pure and holy; the pretty and clean; the popular and well liked, but He chose everything that was not in order to nullify the things that are. He chose the foolish to shame the wise. He chose the weak to shame the strong. He chose the things that were not shiny and perfect - SO THAT - no man may boast before God.

“8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

— Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB 1995)

Image by Paul Stachowiak from Pixabay

But by His doing…

Here’s the good news…You are in Christ Jesus! Of course, you had to make the choice to believe who God is, who God says we are and who Jesus is, but it has always been God working behind the scenes wooing, drawing, orchestrating, working, sometimes tripping you up and other times washing over you with His lavish love and undeserved mercy. It has always, is always and always will be an act of God that we come to embrace His boundless grace.

In addition, the beautiful perk to this astounding gift is Jesus becomes to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption; all of which come from God through His Son. We do not have to worry if we are not wise. We cannot sanctify or redeem ourselves. We cannot make ourselves righteous. All of these things come to us freely when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

Why?

So That….

“Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Faith Musings: Nothing to Boast About - Part 1

I want to apologize for the inconsistent status of my blog right now. Life is, as it has so often been in the last decade, relentless. Just trying to live each day has become something closer to survival and I often have to stop myself from saying, “If I can just make it to 5:00, or if I can get to Friday…” Many of you are living this life as well, so I know you get it.

It seems somewhat appropriate that the thoughts coming to my heart and spirit today for this blog post are a bit of a continuation of my post from last week on The Plague of Individuality. I was searching the Scriptures wondering what to write about and this passage came across my line of sight.

Image by Pedro Ivo Pereira Vieira Pedin from Pixabay

“18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”

20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

— I Corinthians 1:18-25 (NASB 1995)

I want to focus on these verses and what follows for the next few weeks. From these eight verses we can see that God’s wisdom and man’s wisdom are vastly different. What man deems as wisdom, God deems as foolishness. What God sees as wise, the world sees as ludicrous. Let’s take a closer look.

The Cross - Foolishness or Power?

Verse 18 says “…the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Paul used the phrase, “the word of the cross” in reference to the preaching and teaching of the gospel: the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It is in the cross, and its purpose that we only experience the true power and might of God.

The world sees the cross of Christ as a crutch; as something offensive and undesirable, just as the Jews of Jesus’ time did. They could not believe Jesus was the chosen One of God, nor could they believe He was the Son of God as He had claimed, because that would mean everything they had built to control and govern their people would come crashing down around them. Jesus was supposed to be a victorious king; a man of noble birth. He certainly wasn’t suppose to be the son of a carpenter and die a horrible death on a few pieces of splintered wood.

As Christ followers it is in this “foolishness” of the cross we find our greatest power. Jesus and the sacrifice of His own life on that cross has given us the ability to not only have life in Him, but to have abundant life here on this earth, even amidst the struggles and relentlessness of the fleshly grind. The cross and the blood that flowed is what gives us hope. The cross is the reminder that we are not our own, but bought with a price. The cross deletes all our boldest attempts to have peace with God, because we can’t. Only the cross could do this!

…For it is written…

I cannot say enough how important the written word of God is to the believer’s faith walk. It is with increasing numbers that people, including our children, have walked away from the faith because they have chosen to disbelieve the authority and validity of the written word. Books like Josh McDowell’s Evidence That Demands a Verdict, and Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ, are just two of the many books that explore the claims surrounding the inspiration, writing and collection of the word of God as it is laid out in our Bibles.

However, the true test of the validity of scripture is the Word itself. It baffles me how a person can read a news article, take it as God’s honest truth, with little validation, but the Bible which has been around for centuries is constantly doubted and touted as having all sorts of inconsistencies, etc. Jesus himself attested to the validity of God’s word in His high priestly prayer.

“17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

— John 17:17 (NASB 1995)

The Wisdom of the Wise, or of God.

What follows, “For it is written…” is a reference to Isaiah 29:14. The main message of this Old Testament chapter had to do with the warning God was giving Jerusalem for pretending to follow His ways and His laws, but not really meaning it in their hearts. Matthew Henry’s Commentary says it rather well:

Image by djedj from Pixabay

“Here, I. The prophet stands amazed at the stupidity of the greatest part of the Jewish nation. They had Levites, who taught the good knowledge of the Lord and had encouragement from Hezekiah in doing so, 2 Chron. 30:22. They had prophets, who brought them messages immediately from God, and signified to them what were the causes and what would be the effects of God’s displeasure against them. Now, one would think, surely this great nation, that has all the advantages of divine revelation, is a wise and understanding people, Deut. 4:6. But, alas! it was quite otherwise, Isa. 29:9. The prophet addresses himself to the sober thinking part of them, calling upon them to be affected with the general carelessness of their neighbours.”

— Matthew Henry's Commentary

What follows is God’s discipline of His people by taking away their ability to be wise or clever. Does this seem at all familiar? “Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

The rest of this passage reminds us that it is through God’s wisdom, not man’s, that He is found. In other words, we can read all the books, listen to all the podcasts, watch all the YouTube How To’s, follow all the health, spirituality, exercise and mental well being gurus and still never find our way to God. The Jews asked for signs, which they rejected, because they could not believe Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. The Greeks searched for wisdom, but when it came in the form of the gospel of Jesus Christ it was just foolishness.

The wisdom of God is Christ crucified. This is our power. This is our wisdom.

Because -

The foolishness of God is wiser than men,

And -

The weakness of God is stronger than men.

All we need to do is put our trust in Him. End of story.

Faith Inspiration: Oswald Chambers - Our Great Capacity for God - Part 5: The Plague of Individuality

Since it has been a while since I have posted under this Faith Inspiration post, I wanted to give a bit of a refresher. We have been looking at a quote from Oswald Chambers, which inspired me to dive deeper into the ideas revolving in and around the quote, and into the Scripture to find God’s words on these ideas. Here’s a look at the quote, which I took from the devotional book put together by Oswald’s wife Biddy from copious notes she took of his preaching and teaching. (For a look back click on the links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.)

“We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us from sin——we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality. This means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so He may transform it into spiritual life through our obedience...We must see to it that we aid and assist God, and not stand against Him...we must discipline ourselves. God will not bring our ‘arguments...and every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5)——we have to do it.””

— Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest - November 18th

Note: I took this quote out of my devotional book. If you go online to the website you will see the book has been reissued a number of times and the language changed slightly to make it more modern. I prefer the quote as I have shown it here because it actually lists three things: sin, our individuality and wrong thinking as the deterrents in our great capacity for God. I think all three of these need to be looked at.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Let’s look at this idea of individuality. Webster’s Online Dictionary defines individuality in this way: total character peculiar to and distinguishing an individual from another; personality; separate or distinct existence; individual, person; the quality or state of being indivisible.

Being an individual is not a bad thing. The Bible has many verses that talk about God creating us to be unique and gifted.

“13 For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.”

— Psalm 139:13-16 (NASB 1995)

“27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

— Genesis 1:27 (NASB 1995)

“4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,
5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;
7 if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;
8 or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”

— Romans 12:4-8 (NASB 1995)

“10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. ”

— 1 Peter 4:10 (NASB 1995)

In addition to these verses we have been taught that our relationship with Christ is a personal one; one of intimacy, friendship and love, and one where our unique personalities remain intact.

Why, then, does Oswald say that our own individuality can deter us from our great capacity for God? For the rest of this post, I want to point out certain societal messages regarding individuality and how these can become problematic.

Image by Lucienne from Pixabay

Be yourself. This one seems relatively harmless, at least superficially. I think that in the beginning the idea of being yourself was not necessarily a bad one. Individual preferences like food, books, movies, or even singing in the shower are certainly part of who we are. I like pizza, fantasy novels, murder mysteries and only occasionally hum in the shower. These are my preferences and part of what make me myself. Being anything other than yourself would be to live a lie, but that is where this gets complicated.

Our enemy, Satan, is the Father of Lies. Jesus makes this clear in a conversation with the religious leaders of His time.

“42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.
43 Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ”

— John 8:42-44 (NASB 1995)

This idea of being yourself has become a toxic campaign instigated by Satan to turn people away from Christ and plant them in the soil of self centeredness and political agendas.

Image by wal_172619 from Pixabay

Don’t Follow the Crowd. I remember my own parents using this phrase when I was young, and I used it with my daughters. As parents we used this to try to keep our kids from following people we deemed were the bad influences. Unfortunately, for many, this only made our kids more interested in following some other crowd.

This is more fodder from the Liar King. There is no way to not follow a crowd. We live in community. We work, go to school, even go to church with other individuals, and the simple truth is, no matter what we decide to believe, or what choices you make, you will always be following another group of people who think they are all about being individuals. What really matters is who we are following.

Image by Daga_Roszkowska from Pixabay

Don’t Care What Others Think. If there is any being who doesn’t give a care it is the domestic feline. Ha, ha. Not caring what other’s think might seem innocuous, but once again a seemingly sublime idea can become a weapon when wielded by the Prince of Darkness. When we stop caring what others think we open ourselves to not caring about anything, or we begin to care more for ideas and appetites that revolve around pleasing ourselves.

In our current world is is easy to get caught up in caring too much. We have all heard horror stories of attempts gone wrong of people attempting to look like, act like or be someone they are not. Look for instance at the whole transgender culture. Women trying to be men; men trying to be women and parents leading their children to make decisions about their sexuality before they even know if they like colas or fruit sodas certainly has the flavor, on the one side, of caring too much; and on the other side of not caring enough.

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

You Do You. This is the latest phrase I see and hear all over social media platforms. Once again, it sounds so kind. It has the feel of open mindedness, and tolerance. It seems to encourage rather than correct or control. Indeed it is quite freeing, and even I buy into this idea. I’m a casual style blogger, and I don’t have to be like all those other bloggers who regularly wear dresses and show off their pretty legs. Ha, ha.

However, just like the three other phrases, the mentality behind you do you is giving ourselves the permission to do whatever we want. In addition, it also relieves me of the responsibility of caring about people’s well being, especially when it comes to eternal issues, and engaging people in difficult and uncomfortable discussions.

All of these ideas overlap, and on the surface are relatively harmless, but there is a darker agenda going on here, that we as Christ followers need to remember and be in constant prayer about. Next month I will delve into the Scriptures to more clearly understand why these ideas keep us from owning our great capacity for God.

Word for the Year: Trust - Its Connection to Belief

I decided to take my word for this year and approach it in a little different way than I did the word wait, last year. I would like to look at the word trust in the context of how it relates to other words and ideas. For instance, in order for a child to trust their parent they must feel safe. Safety is a key component in understanding how and why we trust or don’t trust.

I would like to start with the connection trust has to the idea of belief. In 2022 my word for the year was believe. You can see that post here. In order to trust we must also believe. One might even say that belief has to come before trust can be invested.

Image by HAMED ASAD from Pixabay

Take, for example, the idea of gravity. Gravity has been here since God created the world, but it was Sir Isaac Newton that came to understand how gravity worked and who developed the Law of Universal Gravitation. Gravity is a reality, whether I believe it or not. However, because I trust the Law of Universal Gravitation I am completely confident to walk outside and not fear falling off the earth into the vastness of space. Belief allows me to act.

“5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.”

— Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB 1995)

In order to trust the Lord with all our hearts we must believe in Him. How can we possibly trust an entity we know nothing about? How can we trust a being we haven’t met? In order to truly know God I must believe in Him. Not in a superficial way, but in a life changing commitment. I must move from merely knowing about Him to knowing Him in an intimate way.

Image by Scottish Guy from Pixabay

The way we grow in our relationship with God is by digging deep into His word, the Bible. The Bible is His story. It is also a collection of historical accounts starting with the creation of our world, the entrance of sin into that world, the growth and history of the nation of Israel, the succession of the kings of that nation, and the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

As we learn and grow the trifecta of the divine Creator works together to reveal and open our minds to a deep and intimate understanding of His word. Not only do we realize the reality of the historical accounts, we also dive deep into the processes God uses to turn us towards Him and away from our sinful habits and ideals. We come face to face with the reality that He alone is worthy of our trust, and we are but dust blown whichever way the wind might go.

Image by Enrique from Pixabay

“And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.”

— Psalm 90:10 (NASB 1995)

The above verse begins with, “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You…” We have to know His name, His character and His work in order to put our trust in Him. The psalmist goes on to give us a reason, He has not forsaken those who seek Him.

Let’s think about this for a few moments. I am pretty sure all of us have felt forsaken at some point in our lives, whether it be by our family or our friends. We may have also felt forsaken by God. However, He is always with us. He alone is true to His word.

Image by falco from Pixabay

“For the king trusts in the Lord, And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he will not be shaken.”

— Psalm 21:17 (NASB 1995)

“In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them.”

— Psalm 22:4 (NASB 1995)

“To You they cried out and were delivered; In You they trusted and were not disappointed.”

— Psalm 22:5 (NASB 1995)

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him.”

— Psalm 28:7 (NASB 1995)

“Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.”

— Psalm 32:10 (NASB 1995)

“For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name.”

— Psalm 33:21 (NASB 1995)

Image by PixelAnarchy from Pixabay

There are many more verses that talk about our trust in God. I love the last one…our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Perhaps we don’t experience joy, because we do not trust, and we do not trust because we do not believe, and we do not believe because we do not know. In order to truly know Him we must be in His word listening for His voice.

I hope, if you are reading this, you made a choice to commit your life to God, to believe in Him, in doing so you have taken the first step to being able to trust Him.

Faith Inspiration - Oswald Chambers - Our Great Capacity for God - Part 4: Sin's Effect on Our Capacity for God

Now that we have looked at sin’s beginnings, and the truth laid out in God’s Word about sin we need to talk about how sin affects our capacity to know and believe God. Obviously, sin is all around us. We are human and frequently fail to resist temptation, or find ourselves giving in to the sin nature in the form of anger, envy, gossip, or even over indulgence. Does the occasional sin keep us from this great capacity that Oswald was talking about?

Image by Ramon Perucho from Pixabay

The first thing we have to acknowledge as truth is that we have sin in us as long as we walk in the flesh. While we obtain salvation and are fully redeemed when we believe in Jesus we don’t automatically stop sinning. Won’t it be nice one day when sin no longer appeals to us: the lure of things that only momentarily satisfy, and the pull of wrong thinking? The key is to not allow sin to reign in us. Look at the following Scriptures.

“5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”

— 1 John 1:5-10 (NASB 1995)

“1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.”

— Romans 6:1-7 (NASB 1995)

Image by Rob van der Meijden from Pixabay

If we have given our lives to Jesus sin no longer has ownership over us. We are no longer slaves to sin. That being said, it is a daily choice to live a sinless life. In fact, sometimes it is an hour by hour or even a moment by moment choice. As we saw above in 1 John 1:9 we have a pathway to deal with our sins. When we fall, we confess, and Jesus who is faithful and just will forgive us. What a blessing.

Sin affects our capacity to know and understand God in the following ways:

1 - It keeps us in the dark. Look back at 1 John 1 again. Sin, when regularly allowed to have sway in our lives puts a veil over our ability to know God’s truth and dig deeper into His layers. We will find ourselves stumbling in the dark because we are not making use of the light He has given us.

2 - It prevents us from having full fellowship with God. It is in this intimate fellowship that we really begin to understand this Almighty Being who created us and loves us. When we walk in the light and we keep short accounts of our sin by confessing to Jesus, we start to engage in a relationship that is so much more than just believing words written in a book. It becomes vital, essential and real.

3 - It warps our thinking. We will look at this more in the future, but for now we know that our old self was crucified with him, in order that our body of sin might by done away. In order to live a victorious life we must bring our thinking into line with the truth we find in His word. In addition, we must allow the Holy Spirit to have sway in our thinking so that we are living according to Him rather than our flesh.

Next month we will begin our descent into the depths of wrong thinking and how that affects our great capacity for God.

As always thank you for following along as we journey deeper into the layers that are God!

Faith Inspiration - Oswald Chambers - Our Great Capacity for God - Part 3: The Truth About Sin

I think most of us would agree that we are living in dark times. Yes, the light of God is still present, but if we believe God’s Word we know hard times are coming and the darkness will reach all across the world. The cause of this darkness revolves around the existence of sin in the world and the desire of Satan to destroy. There will come a time when God will pull His protective hand away from this world and Satan and his evil will reign, but only for a time.

Image by Harmony Lawrence from Pixabay

The world, since the fall, has been guilty of propagating the lies of Satan. Today the word “sin” is no longer politically correct. Children no longer learn about sin and its ramifications. Now parents are raising their children with the “benefits” of learning, not only academic, but psychological. We tell our children to embrace their emotions and teach them to “work through” those feelings and thoughts, hopefully with the end result of becoming a mature adult who embraces all people and treats everyone with kindness and respect.

I do not downplay what these parents are doing, but even with all the proper training, a child can still experience influences that will change his/her thinking and behavior that a parent has no control over. What does the Bible say about sin?

“9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?”

— Jeremiah 17:9 (NASB 1995)

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

The Bible tells us the heart is deceitful, and desperately sick. Those are pretty harsh words. It doesn’t say that only the hearts of bad people are deceitful, it is referring to all of our hearts. A heart, even a kind one, can be turned to stone by the difficult circumstances of life. Jeremiah even asks, “Who can understand it?” The Bible and its author reminds us why the heart is deceitful and sick, and we can follow the trail back to Genesis.

We know what happened there, as we reviewed a few weeks ago Sin’s Beginning. Sin entered into the world at that point and has been the bane of man’s existence ever since. Mankind turned away from the omnipotent, loving God and turned inward in an attempt to fill the hole that sin left behind. Murder, lust, envy, stealing, lying, cheating, adultery, the list is long, are all an attempt to fill that which only God can fill.

God’s Word is clear on sin. Let’s take a look.

“18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

— Romans 1:18-23 (NASB 1995)

Image by Darpan Joshi from Pixabay

In the account of Adam and Eve’s sin we see these words fulfilled, “…their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools…” Satan is a master of deception, and we buy into it allowing our foolish hearts to be darkened. The darker we become in our understanding of God and His truth, the more foolish we become

“10 As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one;
11 There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,”
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
16 Destruction and misery are in their paths,
17 And the path of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.””

— Romans 3:10 -18 (NASB 1995)

These words are not popular. We want to believe we are good by our own merit. We also want to believe that we can work our way to God, or whatever afterlife image we believe. We don’t want to be accountable to someone else, particularly a being we are trying to run away from. However, that does not delete the reality of who God is, what sin is and what God has done for us through His son, Jesus Christ.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

“21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ”

— Romans 3:21-23 (NASB 1995)

We all fall short. End of story. We cannot measure up to the glory of this enduring, eternal, perfect God. We are exactly what the text says, sinners. We all stand condemned due to the original sin.

“8 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

— Romans 5:18-21 (NASB 1995)

“23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

— Romans 6:23 (NASB 1995)

Image by Christopher Keough from Pixabay

I wonder if this is how we appear to God before being washed in the blood of Jesus…?

At this point we may be feeling rather hopeless. If we are all sinners, and the wages of sin is death, are we not all condemned to die? Read on.

“9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.””

— Romans 10:9-13 (NASB 1995)

There are two things from this last passage that I want to point out. The first is the if - then truth. If we confess with our mouths, Jesus as Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, (then) we will be saved. The confession is essential. It is a statement that we are placing ourselves under the Lordship of Jesus. There are many who call themselves “Christian”, but they have not confessed the Lordship of Christ.

Belief is the the next ingredient in this first if - then truth. We have to believe what happened over 2000 years ago in Jerusalem. Jesus died on a cross and then three days later God raised Him from the dead. There are many doctrinal points we can quibble over, (though I prefer to just believe what the Scriptures say), but if we do not believe He died and rose again we cannot call ourselves Christians.

The second thing I wanted to point out from this passage is the Scriptural truth stated, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” I have heard people say they are disappointed in God, because He let them down in one way or another. We can be disappointed in people, circumstances, life, but there is no reason to be disappointed in God. He loves us without reservation, He knows us like no other, and only He is completely trustworthy.

Next month we will look at how sin keeps us from realizing our great capacity for God.

Mulling It Over: Romans 8:35-36

This month we are going to look at Romans 8:35-36. Last time we looked at two questions that needed to be answered. Here we find one more question written in two ways, that begs a response.

“35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 Just as it is written,

’For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’””

— Romans 8:35-36 (NASB 1995)

As we learned in the last installment we are God’s elect, and as such there is no one who can bring a charge against us. Only God has the right to judge, because he is the only one who can do it with purity and without prejudice.

We also learned that while the world condemns, for those who are in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation. He is the one who died, who was raised from the dead, who sits at God’s right hand and who intercedes for us.

Image by Alexa from Pixabay

With this knowledge we are now faced with the most important questions of all: Who will separate us from Christ? Will tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword? This list Paul gives is meant to be inclusive of whatever trial or tribulation a Christian might find themselves in. Many of us have never known persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword, but that doesn’t mean we never will. The world is becoming more under the influence of our shadowed enemy and he regularly does all that he can to make us feel separated from our precious Savior’s love and care. However, that is all he can do.

These questions are followed by a description from Psalm 44:22. What does this mean, and why does it follow these questions? Our knowledge and understanding of the Old Testament remind us that as God’s people we will suffer. Christ, Himself, said, “…in this world you will have tribulation, but take heart I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

The phrase, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long…” was part of a Maskil written by the Sons of Korah. A Maskil was a contemplative, didactic (meant to teach), and skillful psalm. In other words it was not written off the cuff, or in response to a difficulty being experienced. Many of David’s psalms are wholehearted emotional songs both of praise and thanksgiving or of discouragement and despair. This psalm was thought through and had the purpose of teaching us, not only about God, but about our struggle to find Him when we are suffering.

Let’s look a little more closely at this psalm.

“O God, we have heard with our ears,
Our fathers have told us
The work that You did in their days,
In the days of old.”

— Psalm 44:1 (NASB 1995)

Image by Robin Higgins from Pixabay

As the psalm begins the author(s) remember what they have learned from their forefathers. They understand how God moved and was involved in the lives of His people.

“4 You are my King, O God;
Command victories for Jacob.
5 Through You we will push back our adversaries;
Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword save me.
7 But You have saved us from our adversaries,
And You have put to shame those who hate us.
8 In God we have boasted all day long,
And we will give thanks to Your name forever. Selah.”

— Psalm 44:4-8 (NASB 1995)

Image by Christine Engelhardt from Pixabay

They recognize God as King. They know that it is not their own efforts that will save them, but God will give them the victory. However, in the next set of phrases we see that this same God who had given them victories and fought for them, allowed them to be brought low.

“9 Yet You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor,
And do not go out with our armies.
10 You cause us to turn back from the adversary;
And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
11 You give us as sheep to be eaten
And have scattered us among the nations.”

— Psalm 44:9-11 (NASB 1995)

Image by M W from Pixabay

The psalmist is left questioning. He even goes on to suggest the unwritten question: Why?

“17 All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You,
And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
And our steps have not deviated from Your way,
19 Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals
And covered us with the shadow of death.”

— Psalm 44:17-19 (NASB 1995)

Image by nadia Clarence from Pixabay

The author allows himself to question to the very end of the psalm, but he also makes that statement in verst 22. He knows it is for God’s purpose that God is silent. He knows it is for God’s glory that we suffer.

“20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
Or extended our hands to a strange god,
21 Would not God find this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
22 But for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord?
Awake, do not reject us forever.
24 Why do You hide Your face
And forget our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul has sunk down into the dust;
Our body cleaves to the earth.
26 Rise up, be our help,
And redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.”

— Psalm 44:20-26 (NASB 1995)

Image by Ara_a from Pixabay

I think it is important to end this post focusing on the very last phrase of the psalm, “….redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.” For those of us who have been studying the Word, and maturing in our Christian walk we have wrestled with the very same thoughts that the author of this psalm did. “Why did you leave us? Where did you go? Why have you let us be cast down? We have been faithful, but still we suffer?”

We can certainly look at our own circumstances or those of the people around us that we love and care about and see the suffering. But, we can always appeal to His lovingkindness. God does not have to save us, or rescue us or give us comfort, but He does. Our struggles and feelings will come and go, but when we place our focus on Him and remain in Him (John 15), He will always be found faithful.

Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, no matter how we feel; no matter how far away we might think He is, He is always with us.

“9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. ”

— John 15:9 (NASB 1995)

Word for the Year: Trust

Here we are, barreling through another January. A new year has begun and time continues to fly. As I was mulling over the idea of doing another Word of the Year, I had several in mind including a return to believe, or a look at hope. As a friend and I were discussing after our Saturday morning Zoom Bible study the words believe and trust came up. Both words are rich and full of meaning and depth, especially when taken in the context of the Holy Scriptures and our relationship with Christ.

Image by Lisa Caroselli from Pixabay

The word believe is defined: to accept something as true, genuine or real; to have a firm, wholehearted religious conviction or persuasion that the existence of God is true; to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy or ability of something.

The word trust is defined: the assured reliance on the character, ability, strength or truth of someone or something; dependence on something future or contingent - hope; to rely on the truthfulness or accuracy of - believe; to place confidence in - rely; to hope or expect confidently.

Both of these words have similar tones and you honestly can’t have trust without belief, nor can you experience true, life changing belief without trust. We can see this idea in the the story of the man who brings his demon possessed son to Jesus for healing. I did a more in depth look at this passage in 2022 when I chose believe as my word for the year.

“20 They brought the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth.
21 And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood.
22 It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”
23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.””

— Mark 9:20-24 (NASB 1995)

Image by Artur Skoniecki from Pixabay

This man took an actionable step from belief to trust. He recognized he did not have enough belief to go from “…if you can do anything…” to “Of course you can heal him! You are the Son of God.” (My own idea of what he might have said if he already placed his complete trust in Jesus.) He placed his trust in Christ when he exposed his vulnerability by saying, “help my unbelief."

This idea of trust is not easy. It is a step that takes us from a place of alleged safety to a place of exposure. Take for instance an individual going to a counselor seeking help for a mental health problem. Perhaps they are struggling with depression or anxiety. In order to take this action step they first need to see they have a problem that requires help. After they make that discovery they must call a therapist or psychiatrist. It might be that they ask friends and co-workers for the name of someone these people deem trustworthy. They make the call, setting up the appointment, then with some additional amount of fear they go to their first appointment.

When they are sitting in the therapist’s office they must answer this question: “Am I going to trust this person enough to really open up to them? Am I going to expose my inner most fears and struggles? Am I going to let them peek into my inner closet where all the skeletons and, perhaps demons, hang?” It is only by choosing to trust the professional with their struggles that the individual is going to make progress towards being mentally healthy and whole.

The same idea is true in our relationship with Christ. We come to Him by believing, but what makes our belief different than that of the fallen angels?

“18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? ”

— James 2:18-20 (NASB 1995)

Our belief is a choice to open up to a mighty God and the first thing we must do is admit we have a problem. We are sinners. We are of the lineage of Adam and Eve and their sin became our sin. The only healing for this problem is to place ourselves in the hands of a pure and holy God. We come to Him hoping for His mercy, love and forgiveness and He freely gives it to us. This is the beginning of a life of trust.

Over the next twelve months we will look at the word trust and how a lack of it leads to a life of worry and fear, whereas a life of abandoning all to Him will free us up to know joy unspeakable. I hope you will join me.

Faith Inspiration - Oswald Chambers - Our Great Capacity for God - Part 1

Oswald Chamber’s devotional book My Utmost for His Highest has been one of my most used devotionals over a span of nearly three decades. The book, put together by his wife after his death at the young age of 43, gives 365 devotions taken from her notes of his sermons, talks and writings. Each devotion emphasizes a verse or two from the Scripture, and my personal habit is to read the entire chapter where the verse or verses are found. This has been a great exercise in learning more from God’s word and understanding the context of certain passages. Today I want to look at a quote from the devotional that struck me as profound and has stimulated a good deal of additional thought and study.

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay

“We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us from sin——we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality. This means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so He may transform it into spiritual life through our obedience...We must see to it that we aid and assist God, and not stand against Him...we must discipline ourselves. God will not bring our ‘arguments...and every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:5)——we have to do it.””

— November 18th

There are three things, Oswald lists that keep us from God. I want to take the next few months of these Faith Inspiration posts to look at these in depth and talk about steps we can take to get closer to our amazing God. Before we take an in depth look at the first of these deterrents, sin, next month, I want to talk about what it means to be “designed with a great capacity for God.”

We learn in the very first book of the Old Testament that we are creations of God. Not only are we His artistic work, we are made with His image stamped on our beings.

“26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

— Genesis 1:26-27 (NASB 1995)

We also see evidence of this Creator/creation connection in the New Testament.

“10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

— Ephesians 2:10 (NASB 1995)

Image by endri yana yana from Pixabay

Just as an artist, or a craftsman puts a bit of themselves into the things they make: the pictures they paint, the statues they mold, the beautiful furniture they carve, God put a bit of Himself in each of us. It is in this imprint where our great capacity for Him lies. This image of Him we are created in enables us to know Him intimately, and to enjoy a pure and beautiful relationship with Him. This frontier is wide open, and yet we know so little. Just as many of the Israelites stood at the edge of the Promised land, but were denied access due to their stubborn sin of pride and lack of trust in God, we too stand at the edge of our great capacity to dive into the deeper layers of God, but fear, mistrust and pride keep us from jumping off the precipice.

The Psalmist also recognized our position before God. We are not His equal. We are His possession, but not a possession to be taken advantage of or abused. We are a possession He longs to come along side and care for.

“6 Come, let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you would hear His voice,”

— Psalm 95:6-7 (NASB 1995)

“1 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.
3 Know that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations.”

— Psalm 100 (NASB 1995)

Sheep do not care for themselves. They are cared for by a shepherd and Christ described Himself as our Good Shepherd. It is not the fact that we are truly like sheep. We can certainly take care of ourselves. Our humanity demands that we pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps and do what we have to do. Unfortunately, this independent spirit limits our capacity for God, and we will talk more about that when we look at the idea of our own individuality. No, we are not sheep, but perhaps the Psalmist and our Savior are making the same point, we should be.

“11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
13 He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,
15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. ”

— John 10:11-15 (NASB 1995)

I believe to truly understand, as Oswald states, “our great capacity for God,” we must learn the ins and outs of humility and trust. We will look at these more fully next time as we delve into how sin keeps us from truly experiencing what that great capacity is. I hope you will follow along.

Mulling It Over: Romans 8:33-34 - Two Questions

I know a lot of time goes by between these Mulling It Over posts, so if you feel a little lost that is understandable. In order to bring you up to speed I am providing links to the last two posts: Romans 8:30 and Romans 8:31-32. You can always go back even further by venturing over to my Faith page and scrolling through. Today we are looking at verses 33 and 34.

Image by stempow from Pixabay

These two short verses present us with two questions:

Who will bring a charge against God’s elect, and who is the one who condemns?

“33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.”

— Romans 8:33-34 (NASB 1995)

There are several simple, yet profound truths in these two verses. The first question asks who will bring a charge against God’s elect. Those who have put their faith in the work of Jesus Christ are God’s elect. They are the ones that placed their trust in Him.

Image by 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay

Truth 1 - God is the one who justifies. The word justify as it is used in this verse means to judge, regard, or treat as righteous or worthy of salvation. God, the Creator of the universe, the beginner of all time, the maker of humanity, and the author of the plan is the only one worthy to administer justice on that which He created. No one else can do this. No one else can stand in His place, because no one else judges without partiality. No one else is pure, righteous and holy. He alone can justify.

The next question begs yet another answer. Who is the one who condemns? In today’s world we often feel the weight of condemnation, whether it is our own voice that condemns us, or the voices of others around us, or the masses on social media. Condemnation seems to leak through our pores making us feel worthless, and hopeless.

The answer to the question is not a list of those who are condemning, but the second truth, which involves four clauses.

Image by Kati from Pixabay

Truth 2 - Jesus Christ is He who died…rather who was raised…who is at the right hand of God…who also intercedes for us. We see here, four things that Christ did for us so that we would not be condemned. Look again at the first verse of this chapter.

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”

— Romans 8:1 (NASB 1995)

This beautiful truth has to be repeated to make sure we get it. If you are in Christ Jesus you are not condemned, not by anyone! Read that again. You see Jesus died, rose, sat down at the right hand of His Father, and now intercedes for us in order that we no longer fall under condemnation. It is sin that condemns, and Jesus has washed us whiter than snow. He is our surety. He became our bail so we might get out of the jail we were trapped in by the enemy of our souls. What blessed and beautiful truth.

These verses allow us to rise in the morning without feeling the heavy weight condemnation puts us under. These truths remind us that we can move through our day without fear. They also surround us with the truth that we are His and He provided everything we need.

I hope you find His encouragement today through this reminder. Thanks for reading.

A Year of Waiting - Anticipate - Part 1: Waiting for the Wrong Things

The year is quickly drawing to a close and it is time for me to finish up my monthly series on my word for the year - Wait. This month I am going to focus these last few Faith posts on the word Anticipate. As we look forward to Christmas, the word anticipate seems apropos for the season. We are anticipating the holidays, the family gatherings, the cookie baking and the gift giving, but we wouldn’t celebrate if over two thousand years ago the birth of Christ was not anticipated.

The coming of the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was born to a virgin in a pauper’s stable in Bethlehem. See this article on the Jews for Jesus website showing 40 Old Testament prophesies and their New Testament fulfillment. These are a few of the most famous surrounding Christ’s birth:

Image by PBernfeld from Pixabay

Born to a virgin.

Prophecy:

“14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”

— Isaiah 7:14 (NASB 1995)

Fulfillment:

“31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

— Luke 1:31-35 (NASB 1995)

“23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”
24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife,
25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.”

— Matthew 1:23-27 (NASB 1995)

Image by G.C. from Pixabay

Born in Bethlehem.

Prophecy:

“2 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.””

— Micah 5:2 (NASB 1995)

Fulfillment:

“1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:

6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah;
For out of you shall come forth a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”— Matthew 2:1-6 (NASB 1995)

Image by GERVASIO RUIZ from Pixabay

Descendant of David

Prophecy:

“12 When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men,
15 but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
16 Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’””

— 2 Samuel 7:12-16 (NASB 1995)

Fulfillment:

“32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.””

— Luke 1:32-33 (NASB 1995)

“1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:”

— Matthew 1:1 (NASB 1995)

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Called out of Egypt.

Prophecy:

“When Israel was a youth I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son.”

— Hosea 11:1 (NASB 1995)

Fulfillment:

“13 Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”
14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt.
15 He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.””

— Matthew 2:13-15 (NASB 1995)

I wanted to share these with you, not only as a reminder of what Christmas is truly about, but a reminder of who and what we are anticipating. The people of Israel were knowledgeable of the Old Testament scriptures. They memorized multiple portions and read and reread the commandments, the laws and the prophecies. However, knowing all this did not make them any more in tune when the true Messiah actually was born and dwelt among them. I believe that was because they were waiting for the wrong thing.

Many of the Jews at Jesus’ time were looking for a Messiah who would overthrow the oppressive Roman empire and lead them into a new kingdom with their Messiah as king. We have been studying the book of John in my Saturday morning Bible study and I have the distinct impression that the religious leaders would have preferred a puppet king that they could control. Jesus was far from the Messiah they were looking for.

“37 But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.
38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again,
40 “He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.”
41 These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.
42 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue;
43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”

— John 12:37-43 (NASB 1995)

We see in the above passage that unbelief was prophesied about Jesus’ ministry, and it was not just the unbelief of choice, but in many instances a situation where God “blinded their eyes” and “hardened their heart”. This is not an easy thing. We don’t like to hear that our loving God would purposefully keep people from getting into heaven, but many commentaries reveal that this hardening and blinding was already in process by the individuals’ unrelenting disbelief. Disbelief almost always turns a soft heart into unmovable stone. This truth makes me more grateful that our Lord has always kept a remnant of the Jewish people who believe He is the true Messiah, and that those of us who are Gentile were brought into the family of God just as much His sons and daughters as those who were from the lineage of Abraham.

All of this causes me to pause and ask the question, this Christmas what am I anticipating? What am I waiting for? Am I looking for a God who will get me out of a jam; who will get rid of the oppressive people in my life; make life comfortable for me? Or am I awaiting and anticipating a God who will bring me from the edge of the abyss to the deepest most profound peace a person could ever know?

Next week we will take a closer look at this idea of anticipation and how it leads us to hope. Until then have a great week.

Mulling It Over: Romans 8:31-32 - What Shall We Say?

We are looking once again at Romans 8. I have been going through different chapters of the book of Romans in the New Testament on my own in recent months. I have started the practice of writing out several verses at a time, word for word as they are written in my English Standard Version of the Bible. After I write the verses out, I ask the question what do these verses tell me about God. It has been a wonderful practice to not only hand write, and yes I am doing it in cursive, but also to dwell on who God is and what He has done for us that has given us the ability to come into His presence as one of His children.

Image by Amanda Truscott from Pixabay

I have not written out Romans 8 as of yet, but it has been eye opening to go through this chapter over the last year and a half with all of you who read this little blog. Today we take a closer look at a few very familiar verses that I am sure many of you can quote.

“31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? ”

— Romans 8:31-32 (NASB 1995)

Let’s do our usual and look at these verses a phrase at a time.

What then shall we say to these things? This question is a referring back to the previous verses. Verses 1 - 25 remind us of our deliverance from bondage, and the awaiting transformation to glory. Verses 26 - 30 remind us of our position in Him. What can we possibly say to all of that? Can we condemn God, saying He is a malevolent being who does not care for us; that he has not provided a way for us to have peace with Him; that He cares not for our well being? How could we say such untruths when it is clear that He provided the way, and He gives us all we need, and even in our weakest moments His own Spirit is praying for us; interceding according to the Father’s will.

If God is for us, who is against us? I can hear the voices accusing, “If God is really for us then why are there all these problems? Why is our world is such a state of chaos? Why is there so much hate? Why is there so much pain?”

I do not want to throw out pat answers or give a couple of other verses to support this idea and send you on your way. This is tough. Once again, however, I must remind all of us of our Savior’s very own words.

“33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

— John 16:33 (ESV)

Once again, we have to refer back to Genesis 3 when the serpent, Satan, tempted Eve. He didn’t just tempt her flesh, he tempted her ability to trust in her Creator. Isn’t that true of the world ever since? Why did Adam and Eve sin? Because they did not believe that God really loved them and wanted the best for them. They believed, with the help of Satan’s manipulation of God’s words, that they would be better off making their own choices and decisions.

Image by Briam Cute from Pixabay

We still live in that shadow of mistrust. We begin to doubt God’s Word, we stop going to church, we start reading and listening to philosophies and voices that tear apart Christian thoughts and beliefs, and we start focusing on what is going to make us happy. We become rights based. No matter how much faith we put in our founding fathers, the reality is they were fallen men, and only God and His truth can be fully trusted. The only true rights we have are those given to us by the Creator of life. Without Him we are nothing.

Why do we have trouble, problems, struggles and trials; because sin entered a perfect world, but the beautiful thing is God provided a way. It doesn’t require my work, my money, my time, my identity it only requires my faith. It isn’t just faith in a verse here or there, but in the whole inspired Word of God. When we start throwing scripture out the window we tear down the foundation He laid for our redemption, justification and glorification. We open the door to racism, fascism, humanism and communism. We make up justifications for our behaviors saying like Madonna sang, “I was born this way.” We descend into mind numbing chaos revolving around a continuous search for peace, identity and value.

But God….

It is God who is for us. It is God who created this little blue and green gem we live on. It is God who gave us the law as a foreshadow of a more perfect way, and then gave us His son Jesus Christ who died on a cross for our sin so that we might be made right with the Father.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

“15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” ”

— Romans 8:15 (NASB 1995)

It is God who imprinted His very own image on us and no matter how hard we try to run from that imprint we are distinctly God’s because of that image. God is not against us. He is the only one who is truly, purely for us, because He loves us and recognizes each one of us as His handiwork.

He who did not spare His own son, but delivered Him over for us all… This needs little explanation. God sent Jesus as a baby to Mary. He was born, and lived a human life for approximately 33 years. The last three of those years he ministered and taught His disciples doing miracles and teaching about His Father and the Kingdom of God. Most of the Jews in His time did not believe what he said, even accusing him of having a demon (see John 8:48). Eventually, it was His own people, the Jews, who condemned Him to death via Pilate. He died an agonizing death on a cross, but it was what He did after that made all the difference. If Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead, we would still be slaves to sin. It was God’s power displayed in this act of resurrection that gives us the ability to leave the world of shadow and emerge into His light.

…how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? So what does this mean? We know the triune God isn’t Santa Clause. We don’t just ask Him for anything we want like He is our very own Genie in a Bottle. When you grow in your relationship with Christ you come to realize He provides everything you need: peace, love, joy, strength, rest, hope, thanksgiving…these are not physical things, but He is also providing our physical needs as well. Things like jobs to buy food and pay our bills; family and friends to provide a space of security and joy; a home to live in, blankets on our beds…the list is pretty much endless. He will always come through and give you exactly what you need when you need it. I have found, the more I rely on Him for every single thing, the more He provides when I haven’t even asked.

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

““For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.”

— Psalm 50:10 (NASB 1995)

I hope these verses were a pertinent reminder of how very secure you are in Christ, and I hope that helps you to walk with peace, joy and confidence in Him.

Have a great weekend!

Mulling it Over - Romans 8:30

Last month we looked at Romans 8:29, and had a short discussion on the theological points of predestination and free will. We also looked at what followed this idea of predestination, that we are being conformed to the image of Christ.

Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay

Today we are going to look at verse 30. Once again, we are proceeding slowly, so that we might truly understand and let the Spirit drive home the truths revealed in these Scriptures.

“30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”

— Romans 8:30 (NASB 1995)

and these whom He predestined,

We discussed this in last month’s post. The end result is God is able to both predestine and give us a free will. We tend to limit God, because we think if it is beyond our understanding then it must not be the case. We need to recognize God’s wisdom is a mystery and is not always completely known to us.

“6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away;
7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;”

— I Corinthians 2:6-8 (NASB 1995)

For instance, a 7 day, literal creation has stumped many a Christian over the decades. This is not a problem for me. As my husband always says, “Seven days? What took Him so long?” Ha, ha. Unfortunately, rather than taking God at His word, and according to His word, man has come up with alternative theories to better coincide with the evolutionary theory touted by Darwin. The Day Age Theory, and The Gap Theory are two of the most popular.

Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay

I just wanted to reiterate, we are the Creation, not the Creator, and we are limited in our understanding of the many layers of God. With that said, lets move on.

He also called;

This idea of calling has also had its day on the debate floor. Questions that have been around for years include: Is everyone called? Is calling just for special people at certain times? Is calling only for people going into full time Christian service, like a missionary or a pastor, etc?

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay

I see calling as a general term, much like predestination. We are all predestined, meaning God wants all of us to become His children by belief in Christ. In the same way we are all called. The difference lay in the fact that we must respond to His calling. We must choose to believe. Of course that presupposes you believe in free will. :)

“God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord..”

— I Corinthians 1:9 (NASB 1995)

Let me reiterate, I am not a theologian. I had three years of Bible school, but that doesn’t mean I have exhaustively studied every topic. However, I do believe God gives us His wisdom, understanding and knowledge as we delve into His deeper layers through His Holy Spirit. That being said, if you ever think I am in error in the ideas I bring to you, I welcome your thoughts.

and these whom He called, He also justified;

The word justify is defined in several ways: to judge, regard or treat as worthy of salvation; to prove or show to be just, right, or reasonable. Justification is the process by which Christ takes on our sin through His death on the cross enabling us to be worthy of God’s calling. In essence Christ’s blood covered us so that we might be made right before God.

Image by Sang Hyun Cho from Pixabay

“24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;”

— Romans 3:24 (NASB 1995)

…and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

The predestination, calling and justification all lead to the perfect end result, our glorification. The older I get, the more I look forward to this glorification process. At 60 I am experiencing all the things that age brings with it. I have become acquainted with chronic illness, my hair is thinning, my joints ache, and my brain is almost always in the phase of post menopausal fog.

Image by kapokia from Pixabay

Jesus told us we would have trouble in this world.

“33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

— John 16:33 (NASB 1995)

We don’t have to look very far to see trouble. The southeast part of the U.S. has see two large hurricanes in the last two weeks. Out west there continue to be wildfires consuming thousands of acres of trees. We are entering in to flu and Corona season, in addition to that allergens are ever present and driving many of our sinus cavities wonky. We have political and societal unrest in the United States and there is still a war going on in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Jesus told us we would have trouble, but He didn’t want us to stay in that mindset. He told us He would give us peace, and He has overcome the world.

This mentality of looking towards glory is not a bad thing. Yes, we still need to be present. We need to live our lives as the brightest lights of Christ that we can be so others might come to know Him. How much easier it is to do this when we know that we are called, justified and one day will be glorified.

Just like the Morning Glory flower we need to turn our faces towards the light of God and His truth and open ourselves up completely to what He is trying to do in our lives. Only in doing that will we become the beautiful reflection of Him that we are meant to be.

Mulling it Over - Romans 8:29

We are working our way through Romans chapter 8. I know I have taken a long time to get through this passage, but it has been worth the plodding pace. There is so much in this chapter to chew on, so like our friend the cow, we will continue to ruminate on this a few verses at a time until we are done.

Image by Heiko Stein from Pixabay

Today’s verse is one that has been included in what I like to call the predestination/freewill debate. I am no theologian, but I am a believer in a powerful and mysterious God, who can be beyond my human comprehension. In fact, I prefer it that way. He is beyond our complete comprehension and understanding. He gives us enough information to know His unchanging character, His complete and boundless love, His merciful forgiveness, and His long suffering patience. I do not need to know every single thing about Him, or completely understand his ways.

“8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

— Isaiah 55:8-9 (NASB 1995)

I have always believed that the most important aspect of the Scriptures are the Gospels of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament is pointing forward to the necessity of a Savior, and the New Testament is the fulfillment of the prophecies and the subsequent start of the church. I most definitely agree that all of Scripture is the inspired Word of God and all of it is important and we can learn from it, thus the reason I am spending so much time on these different passages, even the pieces that may not be easily explainable.

“29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; ”

— Romans 8:29 (NASB 1995)

Let’s dive in to this verse phrase by phrase.

For those whom He foreknew…

Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay

It is no stretch of the imagination to understand that God is all knowing. We could read all the books in the world and still not have a fraction of the knowledge He has. That doesn’t mean He just knows everything about the universe and how it all stays in place and was put together, but he knows you and I.

I have been doing a personal study on Psalm 139, a passage I have long loved. I shared some thoughts on the first three verses on a Faith Inspiration post recently. (Click on the link to go directly to that post.) From that psalm we learn how much God knows us, and it isn’t just current knowledge, it is from the foundation of the world. To say “those whom He foreknew” makes perfect sense. He knew each and everyone of us from the beginning of time.

He also predestined…

Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay

This is where, for some people, things get sticky. There are basically two theological points of view that underly the predestination/freewill debate: Calvinism and Arminianism. I am choosing to not go into details on those two points of view. A good comparison of Biblical texts that are controversial between the two can be seen here. You can also look up each and see what their basic points are if you are not familiar with them.

However, let me make clear, God is the one who gives us knowledge and understanding. It is important to search things out ourselves and ask for God’s wisdom and direction when looking at different passages. I think things are pretty clear when it comes to sin, Christ’s role in atoning for our sin, and our need to believe in the work of Christ on the cross and His resurrection to have eternal life. Also, if a person leans one way or the other, does not mean they are not saved.

Remember, God is God. He is almighty. He is beyond our finite minds to understand. There is most certainly a way for Him to predestine something, and also give us freewill to choose. The key is to not get hung up on it.

…to become conformed to the image of His son…

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I think the important point here is what follows the word predestined. What did God predestine us to do? To become conformed to the image of His son. Isn’t this what God wants for everyone? He wants all of us to accept His son as our savior, and be conformed to His likeness. He wants all of us to look like Jesus. Christ left us the Holy Spirit to make this possible.

You might be thinking, there is no way I can be perfect, but God knows that. The fact that we are still in our flesh means we will continue to struggle until the day He takes us home, but we do have the power and strength through Him to become more and more like Jesus.

…so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren…

Image by Victoria from Pixabay

Jesus is not only our savior, but our brother. We become His brothers and sisters when we believe in Him and call God our Father. When Christ died for us and rose again He became the firstborn among all of us who believe, meaning we will all, like Him have eternal life and rise from the dead by the power and might of the Father above. Indeed, there will be many brothers and sisters because of our belief in the finished work of Christ, not what we believe about predestination or freewill.

Next month we will look into verse 30 and learn more about the process God uses to draw us to Himself, make us His own even though we are sinners and bring us to future glory.

I hope you will join me then.

Faith Inspiration: Psalm 139:1-3

This column is meant to inspire our faith; to move us to action or even to contemplation. Scripture has become more and more my source of inspiration. After all, these are the words of God; His thoughts given to men and written down. All of them were spoken, or God breathed by His Spirit to the men who wrote. I believe, though this is becoming a less popular opinion, that God’s word is without error. I believe that it is alive and transforms us as we read and meditate on it.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Today’s source of inspiration comes from one of my favorite Psalms. Psalm 139 is a psalm of David. I recently decided to reread this Psalm taking it three verses at a time. Often, if we want to learn more we need to take a deep dive into just a few verses at a time, thus my Mulling it Over series. I am finding more and more that a brief look at God’s word is never enough. He has so much more to say to us in between the lines, through the voice of His Spirit speaking to our spirit. This is the beauty of an intimate relationship with God.

“1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.”

— Psalm 139:1-3 (ESV)

I have long looked at this passage as a way to understand my standing before God. Indeed, it reminds us that we are worthy and needful of His love and compassion, and it has been so since the beginning of time. As I read through these verses again, I was suddenly struck by the fact that the psalm is not just telling us details about ourselves, but it it telling us great secrets about the Almighty God.

What do we learn about God from these three verses?

1 - He desires to know His creation. God didn’t just set the world into motion and walk away, though some like to believe that is the case. God interacted and wanted to have a relationship with his artistry. Let’s look back at Genesis. First of all we see God actively involved in the making process. He didn’t just make primordial ooze and let it evolve, he spoke, molded, shaped, and breathed everything into existence. The more telling statement is this, “And God saw that it was good.” God actually took time, not only to create, but to enjoy what He had created.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Further on we see God’s personal involvement to make sure His work was taken care of by creating Adam. (See Genesis 2:5.) After this He also attended to Adam’s need to not be alone by making a companion completely suited to him. (See Genesis 2:18-24.) In addition we are told that God walked in the Garden. He was part of their community, and though we don’t know exactly what this was like we can use our imaginations. (See Genesis 3:8.)

Maybe this seems scary or off putting to some, but to me it gives such comfort and reassurance that can only be described as complete trust. If a being as powerful and righteous as our God wants to know us He is doing it with complete, pure love.

2 - He has know His creation from the foundation of the world. This is obvious from the same verses I pointed out from above. In addition, the first line of the psalm says, “…you have searched me and known me.” Both these words are past tense.

Image by info254 from Pixabay

As a writer I do like words to make sense; to choose the correct word for the correct sentence, and have the appropriate grammar, tense and so on. However, when it comes to God, I do recognize He is outside the bounds of time. The Bible is written for our understanding, so that we might comprehend what is being said. Since God is eternal He not only knew us from when He set the world into orbit, but He knows us in the present and in the future.

3 - He desires intimacy with us. It isn’t enough for God to know His creation. He wants to be intimate with us. Intimacy basically means familiarity. We often use it with regards to a sexual relationship, but today many sexual encounters require no intimacy at all. True intimacy is a feeling of closeness, belonging and trust.

“The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.”

— Psalm 25:14 (ESV)

Image by Dim Hou from Pixabay

The psalmist says, “You know when I sit down, and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.” God must be up close and personal if He knows when I am sitting, and when I am getting up. He also knows my personality and what makes me tick. He can take one look at my face and know exactly what I am thinking. My husband is good at reading me, but not that good. He also knows where I am most of the time, but not every single minute of every day.

4 - God is aware at all times. For the same reasons stated above, God is fully aware of where we are, what we are doing, and what we are thinking. (See Psalm 139:7-8.) I know there are varying thoughts on the omnipresence of God. Some say that while He is everywhere present, He doesn’t necessarily know everything that is going on at every moment. Others say God can be everywhere present, but also chooses to not be at all times. My belief is that God is big enough to know all of us, at all times, in every place, and in all circumstances. This is what makes Him a personal God. It is not for us to understand this mystery, merely believe.

“9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””

— Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

“4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.”

— Psalm 23:4 (ESV)

“God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.”

— Psalm 46:1 (ESV)

5 - God is actively involved. Verse 3 states that God searches out our path, and our lying down. He is acquainted with all our ways. How can you be acquainted with all of someone’s ways without being a part of their life? God is our Good Shepherd. He knows the lamb who has the loud, obnoxious baaa; the one who hides in the corner of the fold; the one who bullies the others, and the one who tends to wander away. Make no mistake, God quietly observes, but He is actively orchestrating our lives to bring us into intimacy with Him.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

“He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.”

— Isaiah 40:11 (ESV)

This gives me great comfort. Life is hard, and having loved ones who don’t walk with Him makes it even harder, but these revelations about God, through His word inspires my faith to trust, be still and lean on His timing and compassion to bring them back to Him.

I hope this has inspired you to worship, praise and thank Him for the amazing God He is.

Until next time.