Matthew 12:30 observes whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me
scatters.
On occasion in the gospels, Jesus, God Who has become man, throws down the gauntlet and demands we choose sides. This passage is one of those times when Jesus invites us to separate ourselves into wheat or chaff.
What does it mean for us when God demands we choose but we refuse to even engage the discussion? (more…)
Matthew 7:14 warns small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
This generation finds offensive God’s instruction that He has only one way for entering heaven. It seems more fair, more loving, more gracious for all religions to be acceptable to God so that all people can get to heaven.
The problem with this thinking is that it ignores the love of God and the sacrifice God made for saving people. (more…)
Matthew 6:19 commands ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.’
When God lived among us He said, ‘do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth.’ We need to read that again slowly, thinking carefully about His words. God said, ‘do not store up treasures on earth.’
Yet most of us ignore Him. We are like the Israelites we read about in the Bible who constantly ignore God’s commands so we find ourselves shaking our heads at their disobedience and subsequent negative consequences. (more…)
Matthew 5:3 proclaims blessed are the…
Most likely there is no one on the planet who doesn’t want to be blessed by God. There is an entire Christian industry claiming wealth and health to all those who know God and have faith in Him (and give generously to His messengers).
The thinking we associate with blessing is always around money, influence and power, not the things God identifies as blessing when He lived among us in the Man, Jesus. God has told us what it means to be blessed by Him.. (more…)
2 Chronicles 36:13 records Zedekiah was a hard and stubborn man so far as obeying the Lord God of Israel was concerned, for he refused to follow Him.
The Bible does a lot of recording of how people finished their lives.
Any of us can run a ten yard sprint. Some of us can run a 100 yard dash but very few of us could run a marathon. What’s the difference? Focus, commitment, training.
Living on earth is a marathon and not a sprint. (more…)
Malachi 2:6 describes he passed on to the people all the truth he got from me. He did not lie or cheat; he walked with me, living a good and righteous life, and turned many from their lives of sin.
In this description of one of God’s favorite people, Levi, He is describing the role of the priest. At least among the Protestants, the belief is held that all Christians are now priests. The tribe of Levi has been replaced with the Spirit filled people of God who walk by faith and obedience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. (more…)
John 14:23 reveals I will only reveal Myself to those who love Me and obey Me.
God loves everyone but God does not treat everyone the same.
God loves everyone as He demonstrated by coming to earth as a man to die as a sacrifice so that all humanity might be pardoned for all their evil done against God and one another. Yet not all of humanity will receive God’s pardon nor will all recognize Jesus as God the Savior while they continue in this life living selfishly and ignoring the commands of God.
It is only those who love God as demonstrated by obedience to God that see God and experience His presence in their lives. (more…)
John 12:25 warns if you love your life down here—you will lose it. If you despise your life down here—you will exchange it for eternal glory.
For a long time I understood this instruction from God to mean I was to despise the way I lived in disobedience to Him. I thought if I was really connected with God my disobedience to Him which is so consistent, would grieve me to such a degree that I would despise myself.
My logic flowed from understanding the opposite of this thinking. Those who ignore God have a good time doing those things that displease God without regret or concern (much of the time), so the opposite must be true as well. Those who seek to please God but find themselves constantly falling short must despise themselves for their poverty of godliness. (more…)
James 1:13 teaches us, when someone wants to do wrong it is never God who is tempting him, for God never wants to do wrong
and never tempts anyone else to do it.
What is the difference between a temptation and a test?
The Bible declares that God has tested people but that He does not tempt people. Likewise, the Apostle Paul commands us to test ourselves to see if we are still in the faith.
Neither temptation nor testing is wrong only our response to them. God was tempted while living among us as a Man by His enemy the devil and passed those temptations without compromise. God never fell to temptation because it is not in His nature to do so which is also why He never uses temptation against a person.
So what is temptation? (more…)
John 5:17 records “My Father constantly does good, and I’m following His example.”
Whoever claims to live in Christ must walk as Jesus did the beloved Apostle John wrote in his first letter to the church. How did God the Son walk? He followed the example of God the Father.
How should we as the children live? We should follow the example of God the Son. Simple really but not easy for the requirement of putting others first before ourselves is immensely difficult and to know what Jesus did we must be students of Who Jesus is.
God in Jesus set before us the example of seeking God the Father diligently through the Scriptures and through prayer. (more…)
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