Month: October 2023

The entire Epistle of I Peter was an exhortation to trust & obey…written by a man called The Apostle of Hope. Peter explained the purpose in the pain…the significance in our suffering…and the aim of our affliction & anguish was to look to Jesus as our model to follow in preserving through all suffering. With Peter’s encouragement in the end being, we will learn the greatest lesson of all… trust & obedience.

Charles Spurgeon once wrote, ” Faith enables a man both to live and to die without fear.” Hebrews Chapter 11 is known as the Faith Chapter, and if you haven’t read it in a while I’d encourage you to do so today. The Writer of Hebrews looks at faith as the certianity of receiving what God has promised but not yet given…namely eternal life. It’s the right now kind of faith that can see the future, and is the means by which we can lay hold of Christ & His blessings. This faith is the future assurance of eternal life with Him made concrete in the here and now as we live a life of steadfast belief in Him. So whether we live or die, we can be fearless… because our journey’s destination is certain.

The love spoken about here is Agape love…unconditional & sacrificial love…for God & for one another. It’s shown in God’s love for us, demonstrated in His covenant faithfulness and His relentless pursuit of sinners in spite of their rebellion or indifference. In turn, we are to show this same type of love…first to God as obedient love, and secondly to others…completing & fulfilling to perfection this love He first gave us.

Israel’s pride in their military strength had usurped their reliance on God. To the point that God declared He abhorred their conceit & smugness. But it had not always been that way, as we read in Psalm 47:4, “He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom He loved.” For it was only through God’s grace that Israel would come to possess the Promised Land…but know God’s anger seethed over their haughtiness of military superiority rather than acknowledging where their true deliverance came from…and as history tells us, this stubborn pride would become the downfall of Israel.

Job’s friend, (and I use that word friend loosely) Eliphaz continued to insist that Job was guilty of great sinfulness – even though he had no evidence to support his theory. Eliphaz’s rational being…Job must of done something pretty bad for all these terrible things to happen to him. But even though his preaching was misguided, presumptuous, and crass, Eliphaz did make some good points in verses 21,22, and 23. We all have a choice to make about God…We all have the chance to accept His instruction…and we all possess the ability to change though our faith in Jesus.

Within this verse we have two commands…walk in obedience, & walk in love, the two going hand in hand. First, to know Christ is to have close communion and love for Him…and so by knowing Him, we keep His commands out of love not just lip-service. And the proof of our love for Him is then found in our day to day obedience. Secondly, when Jesus told His disciples to love one another, (John 13:34) it was both an old & a new commandment…old because it dated back to the dawn of the Christian era when Jesus taught its principles here on earth…but it is also a new command…continually being reapplied in new acts of love and service we do one to another. So in the end, walking in obedience & love meld together, in our relationship with the Lord and with others.

If you would stop someone on the street and ask them if they knew the difference between right and wrong, most would tell you, yes. That’s because we inherently have a moral compass called our conscience that governs our thoughts, acts, and motives…helping us to conform to the principles and standards of right & wrong in society. Except when knowing it’s wrong but doing it anyway is a whole different matter. That’s when we get cunning & crafty in our unethical and immoral behavior, (done many times under the cover of darkness)…for we don’t want to be caught. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “Morality may keep you out of jail, but it takes the blood of Jesus Christ to keep you out of Hell.” For no matter how good you think you are, or how decent, honest, and upright your actions may be…you’ll never be good enough to go to Heaven on your own. That’s because it’s only by the blood of Jesus that you can be saved. (Romans 3:25)

We can live a victorious life through Christ Jesus even in a hostile world full of persecution, oppression, and injustice. How? Our triumph comes not from anything we’ve done but in the fact that God demonstrated His great love for us by sending Jesus…representing us in His life, death, & resurrection, that we may be justified by faith and reconciled to our Heavenly Father. This gives us the strength to endure, but not just bear up under persecution but thoroughly conquer it.

It’s so easy to allow discouragement, and dismay to creep into our lives when we’re not careful. Bad reports coupled with lack of sleep & frustration can cause the best of us to be disheartened with our current situation. And if we add the element of fear…it’s no wonder we start questioning our confidence in the Lord. But our confidence can quickly be brought back to where it needs to be by this…focusing the object of our faith on the faithful One, Jesus Christ and by prayer. Isaiah went on to write, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am Your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10) This verse is bursting with encouragement & assurance from the Lord…the words “I am with you” being the reality summed up in His Name Immanuel – God with us. We also have God’s promise here that His Presence will always be with us… as He graciously delivers, exalts, and vindicates His children.

It was the corruption of mankind that prompted the devastating flood of the entire earth in Genesis Chapters 6-9. For even as Moses was at the end of his life he predicted that Israel would rebel against their God after his passing and become utterly corrupt. (Deuteronomy 31:29) With the people becoming even more corrupt than their fathers by the sheer stubbornness of their hearts. (Judges 2:19) In Psalm 7:9 David prays a prayer of deliverance from such wickedness, cruelty, and lawlessness when he pleads, “O righteous God, Who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure.” And so today I also ask God to bring an end to the world-wide oppression, evil, and violence that has filled every corner and affected some many innocent people.