God Defines What Pleases Him, Not Us.
Jeremiah 38.20-21 promises,…
1 John 3.18, commands, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.
Too much talk, to little action. Everyone wants world peace and for all people to get along yet we see little evidence of this wish coming true. God wills for it to be so and has provided all we need for making it happen. (more…)
Luke 14.27 observes, whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Whenever something difficult occurs in our lives we are fond of saying that we are bearing our cross. We associate hard things with our share in the burdens the world seems to give to everyone. This is not what God meant when He commanded us to carry our cross. (more…)
2 Chronicles 31.2 observes, Hezekiah organized the groups of priests and Levites for their respective
tasks, handing out job descriptions for conducting the services of worship: making the various offerings, and making sure that thanks and praise took place wherever and whenever GOD was worshiped.
Two essential elements of worship of the One true God is thanks and praise. We give God thanks for all He has done for us. We praise God for Who He is. Thanks and praise are critical elements of our worship because they take our eyes off of ourselves and place our focus where its always supposed to be: upon God. (more…)
2 Corinthians 1.5 promises just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort
abounds through Christ.
We are promised abundant sufferings of Christ. The word ‘of’ is the key to understanding what the Apostle is promising those who believe.
Jesus suffered the shame and humiliation of Creation not honoring Him as God, Lord and Creator of all. Instead, all of creation rejected Him, some spat upon Him while others struck Him with their fists. Many cursed Him and a few crucified Him.
Though He was God He did not demand His honor and rights as God but instead took the role of a servant and humbled Himself to the point of death, even death as a criminal upon the cross. (more…)
Psalm 146:8 proclaims the Lord loves good men.
If you’ve ever watched the movie Saving Private Ryan you are no doubt moved by his powerful question to his wife, ‘was their sacrifice worth it.’
Nearly every man wants to know that he is good, that he has done good with his life. It is only after repeated bad decisions as a husband or father or business man does our conscience become seared, we lose hope, and surrender to the despair of failure.
The Good News from God is that He loves good men and every day is a new opportunity to be redeemed and begin anew. God forgives the past of the repentant and invites us into an eternal future of hope and glory.
But here’s the deal. God is the definer of good. (more…)