October 13, 2014
Paul prayed for the persecuted believers in Thessalonica that the God who called them would also “enable” them to live for Him. When we answer God’s call our faith begins to “prompt” us to act. This prompting comes from our new nature in Christ which gives us the will to do good. Yet, this new will power always moves us to attempt things so beyond our ability that we must totally rely on God’s power to accomplish them. The time between the prompting and the accomplishing of God’s call is a time of testing. It is a time when we finally die to self-effort and live to total dependence on God’s enabling power. As the missionary pioneer, William Carey said, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.”
October 12, 2014
This is a description of how the prophet Jeremiah felt before he preached. The Word of God burned within him until he had to let it out. The disciples who encountered the risen Lord Jesus on the road to Emmaus described a similar feeling, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32). Does God’s Word set your heart ablaze?
October 11, 2014
Our faith is anchored in the historical fact of Christ’s death and resurrection, giving us a future hope in God’s power to “bring back” our believing brothers and sisters who have died. This is not myth nor make believe, but God’s revelation to us through Christ. As Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:25-26). Christ defeated sin, death and the grave, so that we who believe might share in His victory. And this future life is not a non-corporeal existence that some imagine, but a real physical existence in a resurrection body. Christ is the prototype of this future existence, the firstborn from among the dead, and someday we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2).
October 10, 2014
The Bible is the very Word of God to those who bear His Name. His Word nourishes like real food. It’s promises, encourage and bring joy, filling our heart’s with delight. It’s admonitions, convict us and move us to yield to the Spirit’s correction and empowering. Those who attack the Bible, seek to lay siege to our faith, hoping to starve us out and cause our surrender. Yet, God’s Word has endured throughout the ages and it will outlast this generation of opponents as well. Those who bear the Name, believe the Book.
October 9, 2014
Paul said that the One who “entrusted” him with the gospel message was also the One whom he sought to please in its delivery. Those who claim to share the Word, yet water it down to please its hearers, are not approved by God. Not only do they not please God, they mislead the people. Whose approval do you seek? Whose applause?
October 8, 2014
Our independence is an illusion, our mortality always before us. We make our plans for tomorrow, but cannot determine whether tomorrow ever comes. Admitting our dependence, our mortality, our tiny limited perspective, we come before God in prayer as Jeremiah did. We approach Him as the only truly independent, self-sufficient, immortal, omnipotent, omniscient One. We pray, “You are God and I am not. Here I am. Use me.”
October 7, 2014
Paul said that we are to let the peace of Christ “rule.” The Greek word for rule is βραβευέτω, brabeuetō. It literally means to “umpire, arbitrate, to let make the call.” When our circumstances appear to overwhelm us, we are to let the peace, the shalom, of Christ act as our umpire, determining what’s in or out of bounds.
October 6, 2014
Human thinking is marred by sin’s mind-twisting effect. And it is further limited by its tiny perspective across time and space. Yet, this does not dissuade its foolish claims for superior wisdom. Paul calls man’s thinking “empty” and “high-sounding nonsense.” Instead, he calls us to place our trust in the revelation of God’s wisdom given in Christ. Christ is the Wisdom and the Power of God (1 Cor. 1:24). For those who would be lifted out of sin’s tangled-thinking and know the renewing of the mind, Christ is the answer.
October 5, 2014
Paul’s goal for the Colossians and for everyone to whom he preached is here revealed: that he might present them to God as “perfect” (fully mature, finished, complete) in Christ. He did not wish to just introduce them to Christ or to tell them a little about the Savior. No, Paul used every faculty available to him, “warning and teaching” them to not only believe, but to follow Christ, becoming like Him in all things. This should still be the goal of those who would answer the call to pastor. It should also be the goal of every person who would call themselves “Christian.”
October 4, 2014
Creation itself is a general revelation of God to those who would acknowledge it. Yet, the ultimate revelation is Christ. No one has seen the invisible God, but Christ is His “visible image.” If you want to know what God is like, then gaze upon the face of Jesus. Read the gospels and see God’s nature revealed. Through Christ, God has created all, offers redemption and sustains all. Everything was made by Christ and for Christ. You were made for Him. So, turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.