One of our challenges is that our strength is exhaustible. We all run out of energy sometimes and have to face the problem of being weary.
We simply have to deal with weariness. We cannot accept being sick and tired as a way of life. We all have to learn about how to tap into the strength of God to overcome the risks of exhaustion, because the risks are many and it holds danger for our physical health, emotional wellness and our spiritual vitality.
Isaiah 40:30-31 deals with the fact that we all become tired, even the youth and even vigorous young men! It says:
"Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength: They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."
Isaiah, here deals with two truths we should be aware of to be able to defend our ourselves against weariness and to manage our risks. The first is the obvious truth, that every one grows weary. As we already said, even the fittest and healthiest young person does. The second truth is a deeper and most important truth and faith reality, that, as we learn to trust and expectantly wait on the Lord, we tap into his inexhaustible strength. Are we willing to remain sick and tired of being sick and tired, or, are we willing to learn about how to, through faith and trust in God, manage our energy, challenges and risks through a living relationship with the Lord?
We need to take note of the risks of allowing ourselves to become exhausted. And it is a choice to take on too much, to stress too much, not to be able to say no, in time, to have life priorities where being rested and having time to rest on God are too low on our list. Then we run the risk of being so vulnerable that we, in the words of Isaiah “stumble badly”. When our priories are primarily materialistic or when be defy reality thinking we can move mountains without faith – even spiritual mountains – we eventually will stumble badly!
When we allow ourselves to become too tired we also become vulnerable and defenseless against the enemy, namely evil attacks and temptations. We also loose perspective and we become victims of despair, of despondency and depression. We may burn all our energy to try to win the whole world and then we may loose our souls, our very lives, as Jesus warned.
During the following few Wednesdays we are going to discuss being sick and tired of being sick and tired here in the Midweek Devotion. And how God’s purpose, wisdom, strength and life can take us out of the rut that we may mount up with wings like eagles, running without getting tired and walking without becoming weary!
Here is a hint of where to start - if we in faith rest upon the Lord, trust his judgment, live according to his values, say no to the principles of darkness that run our plans, dreams and diaries, and return to the restful peace who is our God, and fellowship with the source of light, who is our God, and obey the Kingdom principles of the all wise and all knowing, who is our God, we will fly, run and walk with joy and hope and enthusiasm, again!
Say no to exhausting schedules today. Say yes to being recuperated by sharing quiet time and worship time with the source of rest, love, trust and hope, Jesus Christ, who died, that we may live triumphantly.
(I know this may sound airy-fairy – but watch this space for God’s reality!)
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Willing to pay the price for ministry!
Ministry is another word for service. The Apostle Paul had a passion for ministry, because he knew that it meant allowing God to use him for God’s purpose. Do you see serving God for the sake of the church, as a calling and a ministry? Do you have a passion for serving God? If we want to make a difference in people’s lives, we need to become passionate about this service.
We must know that to be used by God, we must be willing to even pay the price of ministry.
Paul says: (Colossians 1:24-25) I rejoice in what was suffered for you... for the sake of the body of Christ, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness.
If we desire to be used by God, we must know that it will involve sacrifice. If we are going to follow Jesus in suffering for the sake of the Church, then we, like Jesus, must be willing to pay the price required for our choice, and the price may even include suffering.
Paul knows for certain that his suffering as part of his service for the Lord had meaning. If the work we do for the Lord is even worth suffering for, we rejoice that the sacrifices we make produce something that matters. And we, the church of the Lord, work for a reason worth sacrificing for, even worth suffering for. The reason is the cause of Christ.
If we desire a life that counts and makes a difference, we will volunteer for duty. We will step out in faith. We will be determined to live a life dedicated to serve God and serve others. Then we will make a difference in this world for God. Our lives will count for a lot. It will touch others. It will bring glory to God’s Name.
We must know that to be used by God, we must be willing to even pay the price of ministry.
Paul says: (Colossians 1:24-25) I rejoice in what was suffered for you... for the sake of the body of Christ, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness.
If we desire to be used by God, we must know that it will involve sacrifice. If we are going to follow Jesus in suffering for the sake of the Church, then we, like Jesus, must be willing to pay the price required for our choice, and the price may even include suffering.
Paul knows for certain that his suffering as part of his service for the Lord had meaning. If the work we do for the Lord is even worth suffering for, we rejoice that the sacrifices we make produce something that matters. And we, the church of the Lord, work for a reason worth sacrificing for, even worth suffering for. The reason is the cause of Christ.
If we desire a life that counts and makes a difference, we will volunteer for duty. We will step out in faith. We will be determined to live a life dedicated to serve God and serve others. Then we will make a difference in this world for God. Our lives will count for a lot. It will touch others. It will bring glory to God’s Name.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
The Ultimate Love Affair (5) – with all your strength.
Not only do you have to love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind, you are required to love him with all your strength. Christianity is more than heartfelt dedication or soulful passion for Jesus. It is even more than thoroughly considering the Scriptures and saying “Yes” to what God revealed about himself. Being a Christian needs to be lived in every aspect of our lives. To love God with all our strength means to love God in everything that we do.
In Colossians 3:17 it says, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Christianity that is only in the heart or only in the mind may be the reason we fall for either sentimentalism or intellectualism. But being a true Christian is to practically live for the Lord. This changes our faith into a strong and powerful service to God’s Kingdom. It makes us soldiers of the cross.
A Christian lifestyle is required if we truly love the Lord. James says in his letter that faith without good deeds is a dead faith. We must be "doers of the word" he says. We can also say that faith that does not inspire Christian living is faith without love and Paul says that even if we have the faith to move mountains, if we do not have love, we are NOTHING.
We must be careful not to consent intellectually to the Christian faith while our lives, our practices, our priorities and the values according to which we live shout louder than what we say we believe. And what it may shout is that Christ is not relevant to everything in our lives. The powerlessness of many a church lies in the problem that too many whose names are on their rolls may not be far from the Kingdom of God, yet they are not in the Kingdom, of the Kingdom and for the Kingdom of God.
Hanging out with the Church does not make you a follower of Jesus. It is committing everything you are and you do to Christ and to surrender to his will in the most practical way imaginable that testifies of being truthful in your confession of being a Christian. What a tragedy it is to be so close to the Kingdom of God that you agree to what the Bible teaches, and you even sometimes wipe away a tear because you are touched emotionally by the Gospel, yet you live outside the City of God and the family of God, because you do not love the Lord with all your strength and all your choices and you are not doing what will make a difference to the glory of his Name and the extension of his Kingdom.
Jesus said – Seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness, and everything else you need will also be given to you.
What is the top priority in your life? We must surrender all that we are to all that God is, and dedicate ourselves to live for Christ. Submit to the guidance of his Spirit in a way that reflects a love for God that is genuinely devoted, full of passion, thoroughly considered, and finally, also fully lived for the Lord.
That is the ultimate love affair – an all consuming life for God.
In Colossians 3:17 it says, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Christianity that is only in the heart or only in the mind may be the reason we fall for either sentimentalism or intellectualism. But being a true Christian is to practically live for the Lord. This changes our faith into a strong and powerful service to God’s Kingdom. It makes us soldiers of the cross.
A Christian lifestyle is required if we truly love the Lord. James says in his letter that faith without good deeds is a dead faith. We must be "doers of the word" he says. We can also say that faith that does not inspire Christian living is faith without love and Paul says that even if we have the faith to move mountains, if we do not have love, we are NOTHING.
We must be careful not to consent intellectually to the Christian faith while our lives, our practices, our priorities and the values according to which we live shout louder than what we say we believe. And what it may shout is that Christ is not relevant to everything in our lives. The powerlessness of many a church lies in the problem that too many whose names are on their rolls may not be far from the Kingdom of God, yet they are not in the Kingdom, of the Kingdom and for the Kingdom of God.
Hanging out with the Church does not make you a follower of Jesus. It is committing everything you are and you do to Christ and to surrender to his will in the most practical way imaginable that testifies of being truthful in your confession of being a Christian. What a tragedy it is to be so close to the Kingdom of God that you agree to what the Bible teaches, and you even sometimes wipe away a tear because you are touched emotionally by the Gospel, yet you live outside the City of God and the family of God, because you do not love the Lord with all your strength and all your choices and you are not doing what will make a difference to the glory of his Name and the extension of his Kingdom.
Jesus said – Seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness, and everything else you need will also be given to you.
What is the top priority in your life? We must surrender all that we are to all that God is, and dedicate ourselves to live for Christ. Submit to the guidance of his Spirit in a way that reflects a love for God that is genuinely devoted, full of passion, thoroughly considered, and finally, also fully lived for the Lord.
That is the ultimate love affair – an all consuming life for God.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Christ qualified us for an eternal inheritance
Colossians 1:12 : Give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the believers in the kingdom of light. We have been qualified by God to receive an eternal inheritance in the kingdom of light. We have been made legitimate heirs of the kingdom of God. Only heirs receive an inheritance, and we have been placed on that list.
We know what Christ did to qualify us as heirs of God’s eternal light. Col 1: 14 says “in whom [Christ] we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”
The work Christ did for us can be summed up in the two words found in this verse. The words are redemption and forgiveness.
Redemption comes from the word "redeem" that literally means to buy back. It means that we were bought back by God.
This is precisely what Jesus Christ did for us. He made us and he bought us. We are twice his. He redeemed us by paying the penalty for our sin on the Cross. He died there in our place. He took upon himself our sins. He was our substitute. He purchased our redemption by giving his life as a sacrifice. And because we are redeemed, we now receive the forgiveness of our sins.
We have been qualified for our inheritance as God’s children, because we have been delivered from the penalty of sin. Because of what Christ did on the Cross we are set free from the penalty and from the guilt of sin. We can breathe a big sigh of relief. The burden of sin has been lifted. We are no longer guilty before God. Christ has taken our guilt away.
We are going to heaven! Praise be to God!
We know what Christ did to qualify us as heirs of God’s eternal light. Col 1: 14 says “in whom [Christ] we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins”
The work Christ did for us can be summed up in the two words found in this verse. The words are redemption and forgiveness.
Redemption comes from the word "redeem" that literally means to buy back. It means that we were bought back by God.
This is precisely what Jesus Christ did for us. He made us and he bought us. We are twice his. He redeemed us by paying the penalty for our sin on the Cross. He died there in our place. He took upon himself our sins. He was our substitute. He purchased our redemption by giving his life as a sacrifice. And because we are redeemed, we now receive the forgiveness of our sins.
We have been qualified for our inheritance as God’s children, because we have been delivered from the penalty of sin. Because of what Christ did on the Cross we are set free from the penalty and from the guilt of sin. We can breathe a big sigh of relief. The burden of sin has been lifted. We are no longer guilty before God. Christ has taken our guilt away.
We are going to heaven! Praise be to God!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Ultimate Love Affair (4) - with all your mind!
Our love for Christ begins with a pure devotion with all our heart, and expresses itself by being full of passion, with all our soul.
But there is more to the ultimate love affair. Jesus says that you are to love the Lord your God with all your mind. Our love for God is to be one that is systematically thought out too.
Loving Jesus is more than excitement and more than euphoric warmth and experience. It is not emotion that is illogical, and that excludes good understanding and dedicated learning.
There is a brand of Christian teaching that creates the impression that clear thinking, study and considering the Bible can get in the way of our relationship with God. While it is true that when you rely on intellectual aptitude to figure out God, you will always fail. God cannot be fathomed by human minds. And if you wait until you have figured God out, all the reasoning and debate can stand in the way of a blessed and spontaneous love affair with the Lord. Yes, our minds can be a barrier preventing us from devoted, passionate love.
But that does not mean that our minds are not also a big help in growing our relationship with God.
It is clear from the Scriptures that God knows that our minds, our thinking, our insight and our contemplation are always involved in our love for him. In Romans 12, we are told that our minds need to be renewed and then we will live for God with pure commitment. And Jesus says we are to love God with all our mind.
A mind committed to Christ, transformed by the renewing power of the Spirit, is a remarkable asset to the Kingdom of God. Christianity makes sense and anyone who thoughtfully considers the plan of God will soon be able to communicate just how reasonable it really is to serve the Lord passionately. Faith is after all a certain knowledge of God, his heart, his plan and his character. Faith is a big, heartfelt “Yes” to everything God has told us about himself through Jesus Christ! And our love for the Lord grows as our informed faith grows as a result of better understanding what God is saying to us about himself and his plan for our lives.
A mind that loves God will become a mind into which God will pour his wisdom and his insight. After all, our love relationship is with the almighty God who made the whole universe. Our God has all wisdom and all knowledge.
And as we commit all our ways to him in love, even our thinking, reasoning and learning, he gives us of his wisdom and his knowledge. All our intellectual ability ought to be dedicated to God. When it is, he will show us how to think and how to reason with less flaws and with more understanding.
There is perfect order in God’s creation. We will find the same in his character as we learn to know him better through our love relationship with him. One of the main reasons that we love him so devotedly and passionately, is because his Gospel makes so much sense to poor sinners that are lost! It is what he showed us and taught us about himself that made us love him with all our hearts and soul.
Therefore we simply have to love him also with all our mind.
But there is more to the ultimate love affair. Jesus says that you are to love the Lord your God with all your mind. Our love for God is to be one that is systematically thought out too.
Loving Jesus is more than excitement and more than euphoric warmth and experience. It is not emotion that is illogical, and that excludes good understanding and dedicated learning.
There is a brand of Christian teaching that creates the impression that clear thinking, study and considering the Bible can get in the way of our relationship with God. While it is true that when you rely on intellectual aptitude to figure out God, you will always fail. God cannot be fathomed by human minds. And if you wait until you have figured God out, all the reasoning and debate can stand in the way of a blessed and spontaneous love affair with the Lord. Yes, our minds can be a barrier preventing us from devoted, passionate love.
But that does not mean that our minds are not also a big help in growing our relationship with God.
It is clear from the Scriptures that God knows that our minds, our thinking, our insight and our contemplation are always involved in our love for him. In Romans 12, we are told that our minds need to be renewed and then we will live for God with pure commitment. And Jesus says we are to love God with all our mind.
A mind committed to Christ, transformed by the renewing power of the Spirit, is a remarkable asset to the Kingdom of God. Christianity makes sense and anyone who thoughtfully considers the plan of God will soon be able to communicate just how reasonable it really is to serve the Lord passionately. Faith is after all a certain knowledge of God, his heart, his plan and his character. Faith is a big, heartfelt “Yes” to everything God has told us about himself through Jesus Christ! And our love for the Lord grows as our informed faith grows as a result of better understanding what God is saying to us about himself and his plan for our lives.
A mind that loves God will become a mind into which God will pour his wisdom and his insight. After all, our love relationship is with the almighty God who made the whole universe. Our God has all wisdom and all knowledge.
And as we commit all our ways to him in love, even our thinking, reasoning and learning, he gives us of his wisdom and his knowledge. All our intellectual ability ought to be dedicated to God. When it is, he will show us how to think and how to reason with less flaws and with more understanding.
There is perfect order in God’s creation. We will find the same in his character as we learn to know him better through our love relationship with him. One of the main reasons that we love him so devotedly and passionately, is because his Gospel makes so much sense to poor sinners that are lost! It is what he showed us and taught us about himself that made us love him with all our hearts and soul.
Therefore we simply have to love him also with all our mind.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Living worthy of our Lord
Colossians 1: 10 - 12 We pray that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father…
Hopefully, we never quit learning and growing and therefore maturing. Just as we had to learn how to live as human beings in this world after being born as completely dependent babies, so we also must learn how to live as spiritual people. Just as our parents taught us how to walk physically, so the Spirit of God teaches us how to walk spiritually.
Col 1: 10 – 12 shows us four ways in which we must walk to live lives worthy of the Lord. (1) We must walk in increasing knowledge of God. (2) We must walk in fruitful service. (3) We must walk in Spiritual power. (4) And we must walk in joyful thanksgiving.
Think of all God has done for you. Yes, the greatest blessing for which we should be thankful for, is our salvation. It is the greatest gift that anyone can be given. What Jesus did on the cross, dying and paying for our sins, changed the destination of our walk from hell to heaven. Even eternity is not long enough to thank God for that. And then God has continued to bless us with an inestimable number of other blessings. If we see all that God has done, we do not want to live any other way than worthy of the Lord, pleasing him in everything as we live as joyfully thankful Christians.
Giving thanks is the worship of mature children of God. It is an acknowledgment of the goodness and grace of God. It increases our faith. And it shows others our trust in God.
Being a Christian is something you must be, as well as something you must do. You can not do it, without being it, but you must do it or you can not be it.
Who you are – a Christian - and how you live - the Christian life - always go together.
Hopefully, we never quit learning and growing and therefore maturing. Just as we had to learn how to live as human beings in this world after being born as completely dependent babies, so we also must learn how to live as spiritual people. Just as our parents taught us how to walk physically, so the Spirit of God teaches us how to walk spiritually.
Col 1: 10 – 12 shows us four ways in which we must walk to live lives worthy of the Lord. (1) We must walk in increasing knowledge of God. (2) We must walk in fruitful service. (3) We must walk in Spiritual power. (4) And we must walk in joyful thanksgiving.
Think of all God has done for you. Yes, the greatest blessing for which we should be thankful for, is our salvation. It is the greatest gift that anyone can be given. What Jesus did on the cross, dying and paying for our sins, changed the destination of our walk from hell to heaven. Even eternity is not long enough to thank God for that. And then God has continued to bless us with an inestimable number of other blessings. If we see all that God has done, we do not want to live any other way than worthy of the Lord, pleasing him in everything as we live as joyfully thankful Christians.
Giving thanks is the worship of mature children of God. It is an acknowledgment of the goodness and grace of God. It increases our faith. And it shows others our trust in God.
Being a Christian is something you must be, as well as something you must do. You can not do it, without being it, but you must do it or you can not be it.
Who you are – a Christian - and how you live - the Christian life - always go together.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The Ultimate Love Affair (3) - with all your soul!
We are not only to love God with all our heart, we are to love him with all your soul.
The soul speaks of our emotions. To love God with all our soul means that our love for God ought to be passionate. When we think of a love affair, we all think of passion. And we are all people of passion.
While we may try to deny our emotions, our emotions have a way of rising to the surface in spite of all our efforts to hide them. And emotions can be very good. God created our ability to feel and to feel passionately. Our emotions can make a most positive impact on our relationship with God and we must confirm that it is OK to express our emotions, especially as we express them in love for God. We simply ought to be emotional about our love for God. No, we are not talking about sentimentalism exposed in bad taste. We do not mean emotion only for emotion’s sake. We are talking about warm, passionate, self consuming love for the Lord who saved us.
Many people within our current society became cynical . They also became disillusioned and apathetic regarding “church”. Apathetic literally means "without passion." Others became passionate about less important matters and cooled off regarding the matter of salvation, of a lost world that needs to be reached with the Good News of Christ and about living holy lives for the Lord.
We cannot afford to be apathetic about our love for God. We must be excited about our relationship with Jesus. We must be passionate, because real, true love is passionate love. To love God with all our soul means that we must involve all our emotions in expressing our relationship with him.
When you gave Jesus your heart, sincerely and devotedly, it will be easy to become excited about following him.
The soul speaks of our emotions. To love God with all our soul means that our love for God ought to be passionate. When we think of a love affair, we all think of passion. And we are all people of passion.
While we may try to deny our emotions, our emotions have a way of rising to the surface in spite of all our efforts to hide them. And emotions can be very good. God created our ability to feel and to feel passionately. Our emotions can make a most positive impact on our relationship with God and we must confirm that it is OK to express our emotions, especially as we express them in love for God. We simply ought to be emotional about our love for God. No, we are not talking about sentimentalism exposed in bad taste. We do not mean emotion only for emotion’s sake. We are talking about warm, passionate, self consuming love for the Lord who saved us.
Many people within our current society became cynical . They also became disillusioned and apathetic regarding “church”. Apathetic literally means "without passion." Others became passionate about less important matters and cooled off regarding the matter of salvation, of a lost world that needs to be reached with the Good News of Christ and about living holy lives for the Lord.
We cannot afford to be apathetic about our love for God. We must be excited about our relationship with Jesus. We must be passionate, because real, true love is passionate love. To love God with all our soul means that we must involve all our emotions in expressing our relationship with him.
When you gave Jesus your heart, sincerely and devotedly, it will be easy to become excited about following him.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Stand by faith, and walk in love
You stand by faith, and you walk in love. Faith is our response to God’s Word, his Good News about Jesus. The authenticity of this faith is proven by the way we love one another.
Look at Colossians 1:4.
…we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints (fellow Christians) …
Love is indispensable for every true believer. Jesus said:
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)
John says: “If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20)
Do you believe that love is important? You certainly can’t read these passages of Scripture and come to any other conclusion. Following God in faith and walking in love are synonymous. You can’t have one without the other.
Are you walking in love?
We stand in faith, walk in love, and rest in hope.
Look at Colossians 1:5. “…the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven…”
Hope makes us willing to endure, even sacrifice for the sake of the Faith, the love and the future glory. Hope allows us to rest in God’s promises. We will be encouraged, even enthused, if we focus more on hope and on heaven. The glorious destination we expect inspires our faith in God and our love for our brothers and sisters!
May we be blessed by the gifts of faith, love and hope. It gives real meaning to our lives!
Look at Colossians 1:4.
…we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints (fellow Christians) …
Love is indispensable for every true believer. Jesus said:
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35)
John says: “If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20)
Do you believe that love is important? You certainly can’t read these passages of Scripture and come to any other conclusion. Following God in faith and walking in love are synonymous. You can’t have one without the other.
Are you walking in love?
We stand in faith, walk in love, and rest in hope.
Look at Colossians 1:5. “…the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven…”
Hope makes us willing to endure, even sacrifice for the sake of the Faith, the love and the future glory. Hope allows us to rest in God’s promises. We will be encouraged, even enthused, if we focus more on hope and on heaven. The glorious destination we expect inspires our faith in God and our love for our brothers and sisters!
May we be blessed by the gifts of faith, love and hope. It gives real meaning to our lives!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The Ultimate Love Affair (2) - with all your heart!
We are using a couple of Blogs to talk about the meaning and impact of the Great Commandments:
Love God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ And: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself!
Without a love affair with God, all that we do becomes meaningless. Without a love affair with God, we lack the motivation and the passion to do his work. There is a frantic need for a passionate, hot-hearted, intense, consuming love affair with God in this world.
This is the one and only love affair that will take you to heaven, even before you die!
But how is this love relationship to be worked out? There are many similarities with any other love affair, (yes I know its not exactly the same as falling in love with a partner!)
Jesus gives us four ways to work it out: with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.
Today we hear that we have to love the Lord our God with all our heart.
To love the Lord with all your heart means to love him with pure devotion. It’s not enough to give Christ a (little) place in our hearts. No, we are called to love him with all of our heart.
Remember how it was when you first met that one special person who captured your heart. Remember how you could not hide it and wanted to talk about it to whoever would listen? Remember the look in your eyes when the “beloved” walked into the room? Remember that you were thinking of the loved one all the time, wanted to make phone calls all the time and wrote letters every day? You longed to be with the one you love with all your heart! This person was a high priority in your life. Hope all still remember what we call “being in love" is and how wonderful it is. Being in love is a breathtaking experience. Many would say they were rushed off their feet by it.
Well, to love God with all your heart is a lot like that, and more! It means that your heart is totally devoted to him. It means that you are faithful to him. And it certainly means that God is the most important Person in your life! It means that you cannot stand being separated from him!
Remember the glorious experience of pure devotion when we first became Christians! The Bible calls it our "first love." Hope you remember it — the thrill of meeting Jesus for the first time, and for the first time understanding his love for you as well? You came to him, received his forgiveness and experienced his unconditional acceptance. For the first time you understood why people who know the Lord cannot stop talking about him, working for him, worshipping him, praising him!
How could you help but love him back? Remember the time when you gave Jesus your heart? Your whole heart! The wonder of being a follower of Jesus is, that this amazing love can be fresh every morning. This amazing love for Jesus brings us to love God, who gave us his Son, with all our heart! This love for God is the gift of the Holy Spirit who showed us the precious love of Jesus!
We never have to be deprived of our first love for the Lord. We can love him with all our heart till the end!
Remember the words of the Hymn writer?
Amazing love! how can it be,
that Thou, my God, should die for me?
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.(
Next Wednesday we will share on what it means to love God with all our soul!)
Love God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ And: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself!
Without a love affair with God, all that we do becomes meaningless. Without a love affair with God, we lack the motivation and the passion to do his work. There is a frantic need for a passionate, hot-hearted, intense, consuming love affair with God in this world.
This is the one and only love affair that will take you to heaven, even before you die!
But how is this love relationship to be worked out? There are many similarities with any other love affair, (yes I know its not exactly the same as falling in love with a partner!)
Jesus gives us four ways to work it out: with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.
Today we hear that we have to love the Lord our God with all our heart.
To love the Lord with all your heart means to love him with pure devotion. It’s not enough to give Christ a (little) place in our hearts. No, we are called to love him with all of our heart.
Remember how it was when you first met that one special person who captured your heart. Remember how you could not hide it and wanted to talk about it to whoever would listen? Remember the look in your eyes when the “beloved” walked into the room? Remember that you were thinking of the loved one all the time, wanted to make phone calls all the time and wrote letters every day? You longed to be with the one you love with all your heart! This person was a high priority in your life. Hope all still remember what we call “being in love" is and how wonderful it is. Being in love is a breathtaking experience. Many would say they were rushed off their feet by it.
Well, to love God with all your heart is a lot like that, and more! It means that your heart is totally devoted to him. It means that you are faithful to him. And it certainly means that God is the most important Person in your life! It means that you cannot stand being separated from him!
Remember the glorious experience of pure devotion when we first became Christians! The Bible calls it our "first love." Hope you remember it — the thrill of meeting Jesus for the first time, and for the first time understanding his love for you as well? You came to him, received his forgiveness and experienced his unconditional acceptance. For the first time you understood why people who know the Lord cannot stop talking about him, working for him, worshipping him, praising him!
How could you help but love him back? Remember the time when you gave Jesus your heart? Your whole heart! The wonder of being a follower of Jesus is, that this amazing love can be fresh every morning. This amazing love for Jesus brings us to love God, who gave us his Son, with all our heart! This love for God is the gift of the Holy Spirit who showed us the precious love of Jesus!
We never have to be deprived of our first love for the Lord. We can love him with all our heart till the end!
Remember the words of the Hymn writer?
Amazing love! how can it be,
that Thou, my God, should die for me?
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.(
Next Wednesday we will share on what it means to love God with all our soul!)
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Specialists in trivialities.
In Mark 12: 18 – 27, Jesus confronts the unbelieving Sadducees who were notorious for their lack of perspective. They were too focused on their own social status to focus in on the things which were really important. They had limited vision, were nearsighted, saw only the human dimension. The Sadducees rejected the supernatural, because they couldn't understand it. They didn't believe in the resurrection because it defied human logic. They were mistaken indeed. So Jesus confronts the Sadducees concerning their error regarding the resurrection. And in this passage, he points them to what really counts.
Mark 12: 24. "Jesus said to them, 'Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures, or the power of God?"
The Scriptures were given to reveal the power of God, yes, the character of God. It introduces a lost world to the one and only God we should worship and serve – the Creator of all things and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we keep this, the main thing in the Scriptures, the main thing of our faith and our lives, we will not be mistaken and we will not be misled, to wrongly follow peripheral issues and loose sight of God’s purpose with his revelation to us. The whole Bible was given to reveal God to us. The Bible testifies of Jesus Christ, who came to this world to reintroduce the almighty God to his people.
Do you find yourself getting sidetracked on minor issues? Did you become a specialist in trivialities? It is so easy to get sidetracked, instead of concentrating on understanding the focused message of the Scriptures and thus experiencing the power of God. If it happens, we will be limited in our vision. We will end up mistaken in our conclusions. And our spiritual life will be constantly frustrated, because we will continue to see through human eyes and perceive through human understanding.
The challenge for us is to shape our thinking in the light of God's truth about God's power, love and the salvation he affords. As we do, a whole new world will open up to us.
We desperately need to be students of God’s Word as followers of Jesus Christ. Nothing less, and nothing more!
Mark 12: 24. "Jesus said to them, 'Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures, or the power of God?"
The Scriptures were given to reveal the power of God, yes, the character of God. It introduces a lost world to the one and only God we should worship and serve – the Creator of all things and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we keep this, the main thing in the Scriptures, the main thing of our faith and our lives, we will not be mistaken and we will not be misled, to wrongly follow peripheral issues and loose sight of God’s purpose with his revelation to us. The whole Bible was given to reveal God to us. The Bible testifies of Jesus Christ, who came to this world to reintroduce the almighty God to his people.
Do you find yourself getting sidetracked on minor issues? Did you become a specialist in trivialities? It is so easy to get sidetracked, instead of concentrating on understanding the focused message of the Scriptures and thus experiencing the power of God. If it happens, we will be limited in our vision. We will end up mistaken in our conclusions. And our spiritual life will be constantly frustrated, because we will continue to see through human eyes and perceive through human understanding.
The challenge for us is to shape our thinking in the light of God's truth about God's power, love and the salvation he affords. As we do, a whole new world will open up to us.
We desperately need to be students of God’s Word as followers of Jesus Christ. Nothing less, and nothing more!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
The ultimate love affair
Love is not easy to define! It may be the topic that is the most thought about, written about, talked about, dreamt about and sung about. It has been called the “thing that makes the world go round” and "a many splendored thing," and many other things. The love story has been written about in poetry, in songs, in literature, in novels and for movies.
Yet it is most of the time not defined clearly, simply and often not even practically. Love has been confused with passion, sexual attraction, the need for mystical experiences, the answer to loneliness, and many other needs of men and women. These may be needs closely related to love, but not one of them is quite love itself.
But one thing is clear - everyone knows they need love in their lives. Everyone wants to be loved and wants to love. And many look for love in the wrong place and has been hurt, devastated and ruined by an unfulfilled need for love.
Most people would try everything to find real love. Many tried "free love," simply to find that it was not free at all and cost them their education, their youth, their purity and their self respect. “Free love” is expensive! It can cost you your marriage and the privilege to see your children grow up. You may find that extra-marital "love" affairs are dead-end streets and that at its best leads to nothing and at its worst leads to death itself.
But there is one love affair which is good for us, that we need to survive in life and that can teach us the true meaning of what love really is! There is one love affair that is worth dying for and that makes life worth living. The One who prescribed, even commanded, this love affair was Jesus. It is a love affair with God.
A scribe asked Jesus to explain, in a nutshell, the bottom line of what it meant to follow God.
In his reply to the Scribe, Jesus pulls together two well-known passages of Old Testament Scripture:
One of the teachers of the law came and asked Jesus, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:28-34)
The first commandment concerns itself with love for God; the other with love for your neighbour. We have nicknamed them the Great Commandments. Everything written in the Bible boils down to these two great commandments, and the key is found in these words: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the top priority. This is where it all begins. This is where true living begins. This is where understanding love that is real, begins! This is where spirituality, union with God, positive thinking, great personal relations, exciting church membership, successful parenting and a glorious marriage begins. Loving God is the source of a dynamic, caring, meaningful life!
As we consider the meaning and impact of the Great Commandments over the next couple of blogs - please listen carefully. Because without a love affair with God, all that we do becomes meaningless. Without a love affair with God, we lack the motivation and the passion to do his work, and any other meaningful work as well.
Of one thing I am certain - there is today a frantic need for a passionate, hot-hearted, intense, consuming love affair with God.
This is the one and only love affair that will take you to heaven, even before you die!
Yet it is most of the time not defined clearly, simply and often not even practically. Love has been confused with passion, sexual attraction, the need for mystical experiences, the answer to loneliness, and many other needs of men and women. These may be needs closely related to love, but not one of them is quite love itself.
But one thing is clear - everyone knows they need love in their lives. Everyone wants to be loved and wants to love. And many look for love in the wrong place and has been hurt, devastated and ruined by an unfulfilled need for love.
Most people would try everything to find real love. Many tried "free love," simply to find that it was not free at all and cost them their education, their youth, their purity and their self respect. “Free love” is expensive! It can cost you your marriage and the privilege to see your children grow up. You may find that extra-marital "love" affairs are dead-end streets and that at its best leads to nothing and at its worst leads to death itself.
But there is one love affair which is good for us, that we need to survive in life and that can teach us the true meaning of what love really is! There is one love affair that is worth dying for and that makes life worth living. The One who prescribed, even commanded, this love affair was Jesus. It is a love affair with God.
A scribe asked Jesus to explain, in a nutshell, the bottom line of what it meant to follow God.
In his reply to the Scribe, Jesus pulls together two well-known passages of Old Testament Scripture:
One of the teachers of the law came and asked Jesus, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:28-34)
The first commandment concerns itself with love for God; the other with love for your neighbour. We have nicknamed them the Great Commandments. Everything written in the Bible boils down to these two great commandments, and the key is found in these words: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the top priority. This is where it all begins. This is where true living begins. This is where understanding love that is real, begins! This is where spirituality, union with God, positive thinking, great personal relations, exciting church membership, successful parenting and a glorious marriage begins. Loving God is the source of a dynamic, caring, meaningful life!
As we consider the meaning and impact of the Great Commandments over the next couple of blogs - please listen carefully. Because without a love affair with God, all that we do becomes meaningless. Without a love affair with God, we lack the motivation and the passion to do his work, and any other meaningful work as well.
Of one thing I am certain - there is today a frantic need for a passionate, hot-hearted, intense, consuming love affair with God.
This is the one and only love affair that will take you to heaven, even before you die!
Monday, September 20, 2010
The authority of Christ in my life.
A few days after Jesus cleansed the temple, he returned to Jerusalem. So the chief priests and scribes and elders came to him with a question: "By what authority are you doing these things, or, who gave you this authority to do these things?" In essence they were saying to him, "Who do you think you are?" They didn't believe in Christ, and for this reason they questioned his right to rule and reign over them and teach them.
The question this passage (Mark 11: 27 – 33) asks us, is, do we also question the authority of God over our lives? Do we question the right of God to be LORD in our lives? When Christ speaks to our hearts, are we impressed with the authority of his word? Do we feel that it is optional and do we feel we can choose whether to obey Christ or not to obey?
Christ's word is not optional in our lives. His authority is not limited over us. When Christ speaks, we must do what he says. To do anything less is, in effect, to question God's right to the totality of our lives. When we question the authority of Jesus in our lives, when we question the authority of God's word in our lives, we tread upon dangerous, thin ice. Before you know it, the ice breaks and you are plunged into the icy depths where one is cut off from the life of God.
But whosoever surrender to Christ and humbly follow him, and love him, live in complete fellowship with God. The warmth and the light of his kind presence direct and keep us, always, until the end.
The question this passage (Mark 11: 27 – 33) asks us, is, do we also question the authority of God over our lives? Do we question the right of God to be LORD in our lives? When Christ speaks to our hearts, are we impressed with the authority of his word? Do we feel that it is optional and do we feel we can choose whether to obey Christ or not to obey?
Christ's word is not optional in our lives. His authority is not limited over us. When Christ speaks, we must do what he says. To do anything less is, in effect, to question God's right to the totality of our lives. When we question the authority of Jesus in our lives, when we question the authority of God's word in our lives, we tread upon dangerous, thin ice. Before you know it, the ice breaks and you are plunged into the icy depths where one is cut off from the life of God.
But whosoever surrender to Christ and humbly follow him, and love him, live in complete fellowship with God. The warmth and the light of his kind presence direct and keep us, always, until the end.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Reading the Bible for personal application. (4)
This is the last devotion about the personal application of what we read in the Bible. In the first three devotions we concluded that:
1. The Bible was written to others—but speaks to you too.
2. And, the Bible is about God—but draws you in. We have to look for what the passage says about God and recognise why it is straightforward to you that this passage has relevance for you personally, today.
3. When you recognise an unknown passage as a straightforward passage, it will generalize or summarize in a way that it invites personal application and relevance. Think, for example, about promises of God for all believers, especially those that we came to know as the Gospel promises – about salvation, redemption, forgiveness and reconciliation with God in Jesus.
But now, how to work out the implications for me, of less-direct Passages?
Lets consider two examples to help us understand that every passage holds a message for us. An extreme challenge to personal application is a genealogy or census. These are directly spoken, irrelevant to your life. Your name is not on the list. The reasons for the list disappeared long ago. You gain nothing by knowing that “Koz fathered Anub, Zobebah, and the clans of Aharhel” (1 Chron. 4: 8). But when you learn to listen with an open heart and mind you may find good things taught, even here, for example:
• The Lord writes down names in his book of life – even mine.
• Families and communities matter to him.
• God remains faithful to his promises through long history.
• He enlists individuals, like me, for his saving grace.
• These genealogies form part of the history and background of Jesus. If you are in Jesus, his family becomes your family and God’s promises to them become very personal promises to you!
The second example is Psalm 21: 1. “O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices”? The psalm is not talking about you. You are not a king in the way that David was. But it does connect with you.
David lived and wrote these words, but Jesus Christ most fully lived, is now living, and now fulfils this entire psalm. He is the greatest King, singing this song of deliverance; and he is also the almighty divine Lord. We know from the perspective of the NT that this psalm is explicitly about Jesus. And you, who are in Christ, share in the triumph of your King.
Having made the psalm your own, in Christ, you may now make it your experience too. You could adapt it into the first person, inserting “I/me/my” in place of “the king” and “he/him/his.”
Learning to wisely apply the harder, less obvious passages has a surprising benefit. Your whole Bible now “applies personally.” This Lord spoken about in the Bible, is your God – get to know him better from him dealing with believers that lived ages ago; this history in the Bible, is also your history; these people became your people; this Saviour has made you one of his own, to participate in who he is and be blessed by what he does. Venture out into the remotest regions of Scripture, seeking to know, love and trust God more.
The Bible, as holy Scripture, is the only certain source of God’s words. Paul’s statement that “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Tim3:16) means that all the words of the Bible are God’s words to us. Therefore if we want to hear our Creator and Lord speaking to us, we must continually give attention to all the passages of the Bible, asking what it says to you, today.
Jesus, after defeating Satan with three quotations from Deuteronomy, declared, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt 4: 4.)
The Scriptures were food to Jesus. Jesus’ dependence on the sufficiency and potency of God’s Word shows us that every word God shares with us, has meaning and application in our lives. What applies to Jesus implies meaning to me who has been saved by and in Jesus Christ.
(For this 4 part series I relied heavily on articles by David Powlison on this topic!)
1. The Bible was written to others—but speaks to you too.
2. And, the Bible is about God—but draws you in. We have to look for what the passage says about God and recognise why it is straightforward to you that this passage has relevance for you personally, today.
3. When you recognise an unknown passage as a straightforward passage, it will generalize or summarize in a way that it invites personal application and relevance. Think, for example, about promises of God for all believers, especially those that we came to know as the Gospel promises – about salvation, redemption, forgiveness and reconciliation with God in Jesus.
But now, how to work out the implications for me, of less-direct Passages?
Lets consider two examples to help us understand that every passage holds a message for us. An extreme challenge to personal application is a genealogy or census. These are directly spoken, irrelevant to your life. Your name is not on the list. The reasons for the list disappeared long ago. You gain nothing by knowing that “Koz fathered Anub, Zobebah, and the clans of Aharhel” (1 Chron. 4: 8). But when you learn to listen with an open heart and mind you may find good things taught, even here, for example:
• The Lord writes down names in his book of life – even mine.
• Families and communities matter to him.
• God remains faithful to his promises through long history.
• He enlists individuals, like me, for his saving grace.
• These genealogies form part of the history and background of Jesus. If you are in Jesus, his family becomes your family and God’s promises to them become very personal promises to you!
The second example is Psalm 21: 1. “O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices”? The psalm is not talking about you. You are not a king in the way that David was. But it does connect with you.
David lived and wrote these words, but Jesus Christ most fully lived, is now living, and now fulfils this entire psalm. He is the greatest King, singing this song of deliverance; and he is also the almighty divine Lord. We know from the perspective of the NT that this psalm is explicitly about Jesus. And you, who are in Christ, share in the triumph of your King.
Having made the psalm your own, in Christ, you may now make it your experience too. You could adapt it into the first person, inserting “I/me/my” in place of “the king” and “he/him/his.”
Learning to wisely apply the harder, less obvious passages has a surprising benefit. Your whole Bible now “applies personally.” This Lord spoken about in the Bible, is your God – get to know him better from him dealing with believers that lived ages ago; this history in the Bible, is also your history; these people became your people; this Saviour has made you one of his own, to participate in who he is and be blessed by what he does. Venture out into the remotest regions of Scripture, seeking to know, love and trust God more.
The Bible, as holy Scripture, is the only certain source of God’s words. Paul’s statement that “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Tim3:16) means that all the words of the Bible are God’s words to us. Therefore if we want to hear our Creator and Lord speaking to us, we must continually give attention to all the passages of the Bible, asking what it says to you, today.
Jesus, after defeating Satan with three quotations from Deuteronomy, declared, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt 4: 4.)
The Scriptures were food to Jesus. Jesus’ dependence on the sufficiency and potency of God’s Word shows us that every word God shares with us, has meaning and application in our lives. What applies to Jesus implies meaning to me who has been saved by and in Jesus Christ.
(For this 4 part series I relied heavily on articles by David Powlison on this topic!)
Monday, September 13, 2010
God is in his temple!
Seven hundred fifty years before Christ the prophet Isaiah went to the temple to worship and pray. The Lord opened his spiritual eyes and he became aware of God’s presence in this place of worship. He could see how the glory of God filled the temple. The train of God’s robe was like carpeting on the temple floor. Above the glorious presence of the Lord, seraphim were hovering. They are six-winged spiritual beings. With two wings they fly, and with the remaining wings they cover their faces and feet in humble admiration of our awesome God of perfect holiness. Isaiah heard in stunned silence, that they chanted to one another, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory." (Isaiah 6:3)
The smoke of the incense burnt by the priests filled the temple. And the holiness of God was as thick as the smoke. Isaiah fell to his knees. And in all humility cried out, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." (Isaiah 6:5) Isaiah was amazed, yes smitten, by the glorious presence of the holy God in the place where his people worshipped him.
Our awesome God was there. That was what kind of place the temple was.
This is a dramatic statement about the importance of worship. Where two or three are together in the name of Christ, our God is present – just as he was in the temple in the days of Isaiah.
God desires communion. What he wants is for us to fellowship with him, for us to be awe-struck by him, to love him, to honour and glorify him. That we may serve him with all of our hearts. “Having church” is so much more than going through the motions. It is coming into a divine encounter with the living God. An encounter that changes our lives.
Through real worship and service, we are changed, and then our lives can touch the lives of others. True worship and service are living testimonies to the power of God - to us and to the world.
Is there more than an appearance of Christianity about us? Is there substance? Is our worship real? Is fruitfulness the result of our holy communion with God? By God's grace it can be.
The smoke of the incense burnt by the priests filled the temple. And the holiness of God was as thick as the smoke. Isaiah fell to his knees. And in all humility cried out, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." (Isaiah 6:5) Isaiah was amazed, yes smitten, by the glorious presence of the holy God in the place where his people worshipped him.
Our awesome God was there. That was what kind of place the temple was.
This is a dramatic statement about the importance of worship. Where two or three are together in the name of Christ, our God is present – just as he was in the temple in the days of Isaiah.
God desires communion. What he wants is for us to fellowship with him, for us to be awe-struck by him, to love him, to honour and glorify him. That we may serve him with all of our hearts. “Having church” is so much more than going through the motions. It is coming into a divine encounter with the living God. An encounter that changes our lives.
Through real worship and service, we are changed, and then our lives can touch the lives of others. True worship and service are living testimonies to the power of God - to us and to the world.
Is there more than an appearance of Christianity about us? Is there substance? Is our worship real? Is fruitfulness the result of our holy communion with God? By God's grace it can be.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
The Sacraments
Christ ordained two sacraments: baptism and holy communion. They respectively succeed the two sacraments found in the Old Testament, being circumcision and the Passover.
The same Word of God that addresses us verbally through Scripture, preaching and personal witness, comes to us visibly and tangibly through the sacraments. The sacraments are not just symbols of the Word or visual aids to it, but visible, material forms of the Word itself that apply, confirm and seal the promises of the gospel to each individual believer. To all who receive these promises with open hearts, Christ comes with saving grace in the power of his Spirit.
As the Holy Spirit awakens faith by means of preaching, teaching and the personal witness of believers to Christ, so by means of the sacraments the same Spirit confirms our faith, binds us to Christ and through the faith that grows from the work of the Word through preaching and the sacraments in our lives, Christ establishes our salvation.
Jesus Christ alone saves. Just as no printed or spoken human words themselves can save, so no water, bread, wine or outward ritual can save us. Yet Christ chooses to come to us wrapped in human words and in the elements of water, bread and wine. As the very Word of God, Christ is the essential content of the sacraments, just as he is of Scripture, preaching and personal witness.
The spoken Word, experienced in the reading and preaching of the Word, in singing, worship, praise and prayer, constitutes our relationship with Christ. In the same way the sacraments make our faith relationship with Jesus stronger and more relevant to our lives, by making clear the message of God’s offer of grace. Only by trusting in God’s promise and assurance, signified by the sacraments, do we receive this saving grace that they promise and confirm to us.
Jesus chose to enter into this faith relationship with us through the faith that grows when we hear and believe his Word. Jesus therefore commanded us to celebrate his Supper, because he longs for an ever growing and more intimate relationship with us. May we be found faithful in answering his call
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Reading the Bible for personal application. (3)
We are currently learning about the personal application of what we read in the Bible. We already concluded that:
The Bible was written to others—but speaks to you too.
And, the Bible is about God—but draws you in. Your challenge is always to apply Scripture afresh, because God’s purpose is always to rescript your life through reading and contemplating his Word.
We already saw that we must be willing to listen and to fuse the passage with our own life situations. We also have to look for what the passage says about God and recognise why it is straightforward to you that this passage has relevance for you personally, today.
Before we tackle the difficult part of this process, where we read a passage that does not NOT seem to be so straightforward for personal application, let’s ask ourselves, how do we read a passage that is not known to you, but you still recognise as a straightforward passage? Typically these passages generalize or summarize in a way that they invite personal application and relevance.
Think, for example, about promises of God for all believers, especially those that we came to know as the Gospel promises – about salvation, redemption, forgiveness and reconciliation with God in Jesus. Also recognise joys and sorrows, moral principles and commandments in the Bible that present themselves as of everlasting and universal importance. Apply these universal promises of God for all believers to yourself. Or test your own life situations against the universal expectations of God for all believers.
Pay attention to how various scriptures specifically reapply the same promises and standards and that the whole Bible relates to these universal assurances and decrees. Then, look for the place in such a passage where these words come to you as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, and are therefore applied differently by you, than by a non-Christian, such as a Jew or a Muslim. In simple terms, how do I apply this for and in my relationship with my Saviour, Jesus.
In matters of obedience, the Bible often proclaims a general truth without mentioning any of the multitudes of possible practical applications. When Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and money” – Luke 16:13, you are left to decide for yourself what “love for money” means in your life and in your culture. There are multitudes of similar generalised expectations of God addressed in Scripture.
These generalised cases, where the Bible speaks in large categories, addressing many different experiences, circumstances, and actions by only stating the principle, the universal truth must be applied to me – to my challenge, my concern and my sin!
Understanding what it specifically means in your life asks for self examination, prayer pondering and guidance of the Holy Spirit as to what you should take from those words in order to rescript your life in obedience to God’s Word.
The Bible was written to others—but speaks to you too.
And, the Bible is about God—but draws you in. Your challenge is always to apply Scripture afresh, because God’s purpose is always to rescript your life through reading and contemplating his Word.
We already saw that we must be willing to listen and to fuse the passage with our own life situations. We also have to look for what the passage says about God and recognise why it is straightforward to you that this passage has relevance for you personally, today.
Before we tackle the difficult part of this process, where we read a passage that does not NOT seem to be so straightforward for personal application, let’s ask ourselves, how do we read a passage that is not known to you, but you still recognise as a straightforward passage? Typically these passages generalize or summarize in a way that they invite personal application and relevance.
Think, for example, about promises of God for all believers, especially those that we came to know as the Gospel promises – about salvation, redemption, forgiveness and reconciliation with God in Jesus. Also recognise joys and sorrows, moral principles and commandments in the Bible that present themselves as of everlasting and universal importance. Apply these universal promises of God for all believers to yourself. Or test your own life situations against the universal expectations of God for all believers.
Pay attention to how various scriptures specifically reapply the same promises and standards and that the whole Bible relates to these universal assurances and decrees. Then, look for the place in such a passage where these words come to you as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, and are therefore applied differently by you, than by a non-Christian, such as a Jew or a Muslim. In simple terms, how do I apply this for and in my relationship with my Saviour, Jesus.
In matters of obedience, the Bible often proclaims a general truth without mentioning any of the multitudes of possible practical applications. When Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and money” – Luke 16:13, you are left to decide for yourself what “love for money” means in your life and in your culture. There are multitudes of similar generalised expectations of God addressed in Scripture.
These generalised cases, where the Bible speaks in large categories, addressing many different experiences, circumstances, and actions by only stating the principle, the universal truth must be applied to me – to my challenge, my concern and my sin!
Understanding what it specifically means in your life asks for self examination, prayer pondering and guidance of the Holy Spirit as to what you should take from those words in order to rescript your life in obedience to God’s Word.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
God's promise of grace is my birthright.
Sometimes we call ourselves children of Abraham. Jesus was a descendant of Abraham and in Christ we too received all the grace promises God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
It is God’s firm grace promises to be our God, our Saviour, our Protector, and our Lord. It is the promise that, through the death and resurrection of Christ, we are saved and received the Holy Spirit.
This is a precious birthright that our parents and grandparents, our church, and our Lord have entrusted to our keep. To lead a Christian home is both a wonderful privilege and a huge responsibility to hand the gospel to the next generation.
Our birthright is to own this precious faith of the martyrs who during the first centuries died for the Lord and still do until this day. It is the faith of the fathers and mothers of the Reformation during the 16th century till now, and it is the faith of our fathers who kept it, preserved it and carried it faithfully upto our generation.
It is, by God’s grace, our birthright and our inheritance to know that although I am a sinner in need of salvation, I am redeemed in and through Jesus, my Lord. It is the faith that says Jesus alone, by grace, can save me and help me. It is the faith that says the proper response to God's grace in Christ, is to lead a life of holiness, commitment to God and of gratefulness.
We have a duty to defend this faith, to keep this faith, to guard this faith that has been entrusted to us. We have a holy responsibility to carry the Good News far and wide, but most importantly, to hand it, safe and sound, to the next generation. And it is our duty, our privilege and our calling to keep it for our children’s and grand children’s sake. And for the sake of God and his Kingdom. And for the sake of the true church and those who will carry the light of God as the next generation of the followers of Jesus.
May we be blessed as we put God first in our lives and serve our Saviour Jesus with humble and devoted hearts. Let’s keep and defend our birthright with everything we do and are!
It is God’s firm grace promises to be our God, our Saviour, our Protector, and our Lord. It is the promise that, through the death and resurrection of Christ, we are saved and received the Holy Spirit.
This is a precious birthright that our parents and grandparents, our church, and our Lord have entrusted to our keep. To lead a Christian home is both a wonderful privilege and a huge responsibility to hand the gospel to the next generation.
Our birthright is to own this precious faith of the martyrs who during the first centuries died for the Lord and still do until this day. It is the faith of the fathers and mothers of the Reformation during the 16th century till now, and it is the faith of our fathers who kept it, preserved it and carried it faithfully upto our generation.
It is, by God’s grace, our birthright and our inheritance to know that although I am a sinner in need of salvation, I am redeemed in and through Jesus, my Lord. It is the faith that says Jesus alone, by grace, can save me and help me. It is the faith that says the proper response to God's grace in Christ, is to lead a life of holiness, commitment to God and of gratefulness.
We have a duty to defend this faith, to keep this faith, to guard this faith that has been entrusted to us. We have a holy responsibility to carry the Good News far and wide, but most importantly, to hand it, safe and sound, to the next generation. And it is our duty, our privilege and our calling to keep it for our children’s and grand children’s sake. And for the sake of God and his Kingdom. And for the sake of the true church and those who will carry the light of God as the next generation of the followers of Jesus.
May we be blessed as we put God first in our lives and serve our Saviour Jesus with humble and devoted hearts. Let’s keep and defend our birthright with everything we do and are!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Psalm 130
Oppressed and lost, I’m calling,
in darkest night to God.
Downhearted, hopeless, ailing:
to die remains my lot.
O Lord, now hear my wailing.
I plead, I beg, depraved.
Remember me, Redeemer,
for only you can save.
My sin disgraced me, shamed me.
I cannot, Lord, face you.
Your holiness, LORD, broke me,
defeated, shattered me too!
Lord, will you still forgive me,
as you have always done?
I thirst for rest, for knowing:
a new day has begun.
As soldiers guarding a fortress,
wait for the sun to rise,
for countless, endless hours,
through nights with darkest skies.
So I wait on the Lord God,
I’m waiting long, its hard!
But God in grace and mercy,
will not my plea discard.
Have hope, have faith, God’s people,
and trust in God who saves.
With sunrise comes his mercy!
God rescues from the grave.
His love, his grace, his pity
bring light, create the day.
Absolve my sins, forgive me,
LORD, while I wait, and pray.
(Copy Right: AJ Combrink.)
in darkest night to God.
Downhearted, hopeless, ailing:
to die remains my lot.
O Lord, now hear my wailing.
I plead, I beg, depraved.
Remember me, Redeemer,
for only you can save.
My sin disgraced me, shamed me.
I cannot, Lord, face you.
Your holiness, LORD, broke me,
defeated, shattered me too!
Lord, will you still forgive me,
as you have always done?
I thirst for rest, for knowing:
a new day has begun.
As soldiers guarding a fortress,
wait for the sun to rise,
for countless, endless hours,
through nights with darkest skies.
So I wait on the Lord God,
I’m waiting long, its hard!
But God in grace and mercy,
will not my plea discard.
Have hope, have faith, God’s people,
and trust in God who saves.
With sunrise comes his mercy!
God rescues from the grave.
His love, his grace, his pity
bring light, create the day.
Absolve my sins, forgive me,
LORD, while I wait, and pray.
(Copy Right: AJ Combrink.)
Monday, August 2, 2010
Tell of God's awesome works of redemption!
In Ps. 145 David praises God for his greatness in the area of redemption. It is redemption that David has in mind in verses 4-7:
(Ps 145:4-7) One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. (5) They will speak of the glorious splendour of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. (6) They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. (7) They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
What kind of awesome works of redemption was David thinking about that revealed God’s greatness? Was David thinking of the day God sent a great and mighty flood, yet he saved and protected believing Noah and his family? Or when God gave an elderly Abraham and Sarah a child even though it was humanly impossible for Sarah to bear a child anymore?
Did David remember that God sent the ten plagues upon Egypt in order to force Pharaoh to let his people go. Or when God led his people Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground while in the same sea Pharaoh and his whole army drowned.
Did David consider that God made the walls of Jericho fall down. Or that God gave victory to Gideon and 300 men against a Midianite and Amalekite army of 140,000.
We look at the revelation of God's greatness in all of these acts of redemption and we have to say the same thing God said when Sarah laughed about bearing a child: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Gen 18:14). Our God is so great, so strong and so mighty!
Tell of the power of God’s awesome works of redemption.
Since the days of David God has continued to show his greatness in the area of redemption. He let a virgin conceive and bear a son. On Good Friday he let three hours of darkness come upon the land at midday. He split the temple curtain from top to bottom. And, three days after Jesus died on the cross, God raised his Son from the grave.
We look at God's greatness in all of these acts of redemption and we have to say the same thing the angel said to Mary: "Nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37).
Our God is so great, so strong and so mighty!
Tell of the power of God’s awesome works of redemption.
And today God has continued to show his greatness through his awesome works of redemption. He takes men and women who are dead in sin, and makes them alive in Christ Jesus.
Our God is so great, so strong and so mighty!
Tell of the power of God’s awesome works of redemption.
(Ps 145:4-7) One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. (5) They will speak of the glorious splendour of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. (6) They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds. (7) They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
What kind of awesome works of redemption was David thinking about that revealed God’s greatness? Was David thinking of the day God sent a great and mighty flood, yet he saved and protected believing Noah and his family? Or when God gave an elderly Abraham and Sarah a child even though it was humanly impossible for Sarah to bear a child anymore?
Did David remember that God sent the ten plagues upon Egypt in order to force Pharaoh to let his people go. Or when God led his people Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground while in the same sea Pharaoh and his whole army drowned.
Did David consider that God made the walls of Jericho fall down. Or that God gave victory to Gideon and 300 men against a Midianite and Amalekite army of 140,000.
We look at the revelation of God's greatness in all of these acts of redemption and we have to say the same thing God said when Sarah laughed about bearing a child: "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" (Gen 18:14). Our God is so great, so strong and so mighty!
Tell of the power of God’s awesome works of redemption.
Since the days of David God has continued to show his greatness in the area of redemption. He let a virgin conceive and bear a son. On Good Friday he let three hours of darkness come upon the land at midday. He split the temple curtain from top to bottom. And, three days after Jesus died on the cross, God raised his Son from the grave.
We look at God's greatness in all of these acts of redemption and we have to say the same thing the angel said to Mary: "Nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37).
Our God is so great, so strong and so mighty!
Tell of the power of God’s awesome works of redemption.
And today God has continued to show his greatness through his awesome works of redemption. He takes men and women who are dead in sin, and makes them alive in Christ Jesus.
Our God is so great, so strong and so mighty!
Tell of the power of God’s awesome works of redemption.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
