Thursday Thought -- June 20, 2013

Good Morning Friends,

“Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.” (1 John 2:7-11)

The world is constantly seeking something new. There must be some key to life that we have not yet discovered. There must be some new secret that will ensure success and happiness and fulfillment. But it isn’t something new that will provide what we desire! Rather, it is something very old that we need.

A few years ago there was a contemporary Christian song about getting back to the basics of life. That is John’s encouragement here, to go back to the basics, back to the fundamentals, back to the old command. The old command that John refers to is simply to “love one another.” There is nothing new about that command, but it is the one we need to hear again and commit to all over again.

As far back as the Old Testament book of Leviticus, God has been giving the same command to His people. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Leviticus 19:18)

Our problem isn’t that we’ve never heard the command before. Our problem is that we haven’t been doing the old things that God has given us to do.

In the days of the New Testament there was one thing new about this command: it could be seen lived out perfectly in the life of Jesus. Until Jesus came no one had ever seen that. And more than just living it out Himself, He offers the power (His own Holy Spirit) to enable us to live it out, too.

It is an old command we need, coupled with the new power that comes from Jesus.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Wednesday Thought -- June 19, 2013

Good Morning Friends,

“We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:3-6)

What Would Jesus Do? You’ve heard that phrase many times in past years. Children,

teens, and adults used to wear those letters on wrist bands, t-shirts, hats, and all other sorts of items of clothing. It was a fad that swept the country. WWJD -- What Would Jesus Do. I’ve even seen it re-phrased to make a political point: What Would Jesus Vote? I’ve heard it used to challenge social issues, too: What Would Jesus Drive?

It was a modern fad, but it is an old philosophy. It was popularized years ago by Charles Sheldon when he wrote the best-selling book “In His Steps.” But Sheldon didn’t invent the philosophy, either. In fact, it’s a philosophy that can be traced all the way back to the Bible.

It’s the philosophy the Apostle John calls us to in today’s text: to walk as Jesus did, to live like Him. Knowing and loving Jesus is not just a Sunday thing. Knowing and loving Jesus can’t be compartmentalized into a small segment, or even a large segment of our lives. It must encompass every aspect of our lives. It’s a lifestyle.

We don’t check our Christianity at the door of the church as we exit the service on Sunday morning. We live our Christian faith on Sunday – on Monday through Friday – and on Saturday, too. Our Christian faith is a 24/7 thing that is to affect every aspect of our lives – our thoughts, our words and our actions.

The outworking of our Christian faith is about daily life lived after the pattern of Jesus. It’s about treating others like Jesus treated people. It’s about having the priorities of Jesus in our life. It’s about seeking God’s will at every decision point in life. It’s about obedience, knowing God’s Word and His will, and doing what it says.

WWJD – it’s not a fad, it’s a command of God!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Tuesday Thought -- June 18, 2013

Good Morning Friends,

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense -- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2)

There is a goal laid before us in this passage – “so that you will not sin.” Sin is a big deal to God. He is grieved by our sins – angered by our sins – disappointed in our sins. His goal for us is that we will leave our sin behind and move toward His righteousness.

But the truth is – we won’t make it all the way to the perfect righteousness of God. No matter how hard we try and no matter how long we are working at it – we will never reach the goal. There will always be sin with which we will need to deal.

What are you going to do with your sin?

You can try to cover it up, but though we might be able to hide our sin from other people, we can never hide our sin from God. He sees everything we do.

You can excuse it, and that will work with some people. They will understand the forces that were at work around you and in you that led to your sin. But is there any excuse that you can to God?

You can compare it to the sins of others and hope you come out looking better. That works in some ways because we can always find someone whose sins are worse than ours. But it works not at all with God. When we compare ourselves to Him we always come up far short.

You can try to overcome it, and can have a good deal of success, but complete success isn’t possible in this life. There’s still sin to deal with!

There’s only one things to do with our sin -- give it to Jesus. He’ll speak in your defense, He already is. In fact, He “lives to intercede.” (Hebrews 7:25) But there really isn’t much to say in your defense! He has that covered, too. He’s already made the sacrifice to pay the penalty for your sins.

Take your sins to Jesus – He’s the only place that offers any real help!

His, by Grace,

Steve

Monday Thought -- June 17, 2013

Good Morning Friends,

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” (1 John 1:8-10)

We are to walk in purity and righteousness. That is what God has called us to. If we aren’t doing that, then there should be concern about the genuineness of our relationship with God. However, we should never get to the point where we think we’ve reached the goal and got this righteousness thing under control – that we’ve got sin licked.

In fact, it seems that the greater degree of maturity that you see in people’s lives in the Bible, the greater degree of awareness of their own sin. Paul called himself the “chief of sinners” and knew he still had not reached the goal of getting rid of the sin in his life.

A right and mature relationship with God is marked by honesty. An honest awareness of our sin and a sincere appreciation of His grace. The pathway to removing all unrighteousness is not by achieving perfection, but through the honest acknowledgement of our problems – it is through confession.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Friday Thought -- June 14, 2013

Good Morning Friends,

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:5-7)

In the Bible, light is often used to refer to what which is righteous and pure. Darkness is often used to refer to that which is evil and unrighteous.

We can take great confidence in the knowledge that there is absolutely nothing evil and unrighteous in God. There are many things about God and about what He has done and is doing that we don’t understand. But we can take great confidence that there is a righteous and pure explanation to it all. Most of the explanations for the things we don’t understand will wait for eternity, but then we will see how everything that God was good and accomplished His purposes.

The life God calls us to is to be characterized by the same light that characterizes Him. God never asks us to do anything that is impure and unrighteous. His will is always characterized by righteousness and purity. It is the devil who tries to trick us into thinking that sometimes we need to do something less than pure and righteous in order to accomplish something good. But that is never God’s direction.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Thursday Thought -- June 13, 2013

Good Morning Friends,

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched -- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.” (1 John 1:1-3)

There is a certainty to what is shared in the Bible. The certainty comes from the eyewitnesses themselves. John was among them. What he wrote about Jesus was not mere speculation. What he wrote was not history that he was taught in the classroom. What he wrote was not tradition passed from one generation to the next.

He wrote what he himself saw. He wrote what he himself heard. He wrote about what he himself had touched. There was nothing mystical about Jesus. He was as real as you and I.

There was nothing mythical about the things Jesus did. When He walked on water, what is reported is what actually happened. When He raised the dead, John and the other eyewitnesses, saw exactly what happened. Even when Jesus Himself came back to life again, the account of it was written by those who saw Him die and saw Him alive again; who saw Him laid in the tomb and saw it empty again.

The relationship that is offered with Jesus is real. Those who saw Him have testified. Those of us who know Him now offer our testimony, too.

His, by Grace,

Steve

Wednesday Thought -- June 12, 2013

Good Morning Friends,

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.” (2 Peter 3:8-12)

Why doesn’t God just put an end to the world? Christians have been looking for it to happen for 2,000 years. Almost every generation has expected theirs to be the final one. Yet, life just goes on and on as though there will never be an end. What is God waiting for?

Peter tells us what God is waiting for: He’s waiting for as many to turn to Him for salvation as possible. There are still unsaved people, many of them. There are still whole groups of people who have never heard the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. There are countries where the Gospel has not had the opportunity to be proclaimed. And God is patiently waiting.

But – God’s patience will end. The world will be destroyed. God has promised it and He will keep His promise. It will come suddenly and unexpectantly -- like a thief in the night. We won’t be able to precisely predict when it will happen, no one will. It will be the end of the world. The whole world will be destroyed and refashioned.

In the meantime, Peter has three instructions for those who are waiting:

·               Live holy lives that reflect our commitment to the Lord.

·               Look forward to the Lord’s coming. It’s not something we should dread, but anticipate.

·               Speed its coming. If God is waiting for as many to be saved as possible, then the one way we can affect the timing of the coming of the Lord is to diligently and faithfully spread the Gospel as much as possible.

His, by Grace,

Steve