Evil, Good and Good, Evil – Blackaby devotional

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:20

It is Satan’s practice to convince people that what God calls good is actually evil and what God declares evil is, in fact, good. Satan persuaded Adam and Eve that their disobedience, rather than their obedience, would guarantee a full life. They believed him and immediately began to experience sin’s consequences! Despite the absurdity of Satan’s logic, he continues to deceive people into doubting that God has clearly said.

King Saul sought Samuel’s affirmation for the sacrifice he had offered, even though he had acted in direct disobedience to God’s command (1st Samuel 15:13). Ananias and Sapphira expected praise from the early church for their offering, though they were blatantly lying (Acts 5:1-11). An Amalekite soldier sought David’s gratitude for killing Saul, God’s anointed king (2nd Samuel 1:1-16).

We, too, will face the temptation to call something good that God has declared wicked. We may be persuaded that we can accomplish more good by lying than by telling the truth. We may claim that we are mobilizing Christians to pray for someone in sin when, in fact, we are spreading gossip. We may assert that we are following God’s will in our job when, in fact, we are striving to that which God declares is good. We may assert that we are following God’s will in our job when, in fact, we are striving to pursue our own ambitions. We will also be tempted to call evil that which God declares is good. God says it is good to love our enemies, yet we might decide our task is to hold them responsible for their actions.

It is so important to hold ourselves accountable to God’s Word. God does not need us to find exceptions for His commands. He requires our obedience.

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day

Some spiritual nuggets to “chew” on

Humorous to a point, but more importantly this serves as a reminder to me to not shelve God for another “god” though compromise of His Word for the sake of worldly tolerance/“political correctness”  or “unity”.

Exodus 20:3-6
3 "You shall have no other gods before [a] me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments. (See also: Isaiah 44:6-8 & Isaiah 45:5-7)

Matthew 10:4-39
34"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn
   " ‘a man against his father,
      a daughter against her mother,
   a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law –
36a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.'[e]

37"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

2nd Corinthians 6: 14-18
14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15What harmony is there between Christ and Belial[b]? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."[c]
17"Therefore come out from them
      and be separate, says the Lord.
   Touch no unclean thing,
      and I will receive you."[d]
18"I will be a Father to you,
      and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

1st Timothy 2:1-6
1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time.

Grace and peace be with you.

A Highway of Holiness – Blackaby devotional

A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.  The unclean shall not pass over it, But it shall be for others.  Whoever walks the road, although a fool, Shall not go astray.
Isaiah 35:8

The nation of Israel was designed to have a place where other nations of the world could come to worship the true God.  The temple in Jerusalem ws to be the center from which the good news of God’s salvation would spread to every corner of the world.  But those who were supposed to be God’s people forsook Him and practiced every  kind of sin.  Rather than being ambassadors for God, they disgraced His holy name.  Rather than attracting the nations of the earth to God, they became stumbling blocks to those who were seeking the true God.  The Israelites fell so far from God’s original intent that God judged them and sent them into exile.  Yet God promised that one day His people would be an avenue by which others could find salvation.

It is God’s desire that anywhere there is a Christian, God has a way for people to learn of his salvation (Romans10:14-15).  Whenever an unbeliever meets a Christian, the unbeliever ought to be face to face with everything he needs to know in order to follow Christ.

Sadly, however, Christians can be like the Israelites of Isaiah’s day.  We can be so involved in our sin that we are completely disoriented to God, ill-equipped to direct others to Him.  If your lives are filled with hypocrisy, we may turn people away from God, rather than helping them come to Him.  If our lives are filled with doubt or anger, we will impede others from coming to Christ.  Our lives ought to be a highway of holiness, providing easy access to God for anyone around us who seeks Him.  Ask God to remove any obstacle in your life that hinders others from coming to know Jesus.

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day

Who are we pleasing (continuation)

Continued thoughts from “Who are we pleasing?”…

Reading from Romans 5:20-21 a few days ago, I had to ask myself “Do you consistently practice grace ?”.  I don’t mean to imply “grace” in such a way as being anyone’s doormat. I’m referring to treating and dealing with others as God has dealt with us, firstly forgiveness of our trespasses.  Additionally though in the sense that because we are sinful creatures, slow to learn and imperfect; God it seems, allows some wiggle room.  Recall how God dealt with those stiff-necked folks that Moses led out of Egypt?

Romans 5:20-21
20The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I consider some of the following circumstances and attitudes that I’ve not been the most graceful at.

Reciprocity
Having expectations of payback for “helping” others.  Seems kind of insincere to extend a hand to someone if the motivation to do so is an expectation of payback.  Shouldn’t the motivation be to just help?  If God’s grace worked on the same principal, I suspect we’d all be doomed to hell as there’s nothing that any of us could do to “pay’ Him back.

Unforgiving attitudes
Over the years my kids have managed to destroy quite a few remote controls to my AV equipment.  I still recall the first incident which was the remote to my first new television, one of the kids managed to spill milk on the remote, after which the thing never worked again.  Yeah, yeah… “Don’t cry over spilled milk”.  ;)  Since then other remotes have managed to suffer a similar fate at the hands of my kids.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  :)  Now I realize that this sounds silly, then again aren’t a lot of the grudges we hold?  Imagine if God treated us the way we sometimes treat each other.

Psalm 103:12
as far as the east is from the west,
       so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Perfection of the Pharisees
Holding others to standards that you yourself don’t practice.
An example here.

On that note those notes, I invite you to check out this Blackaby devotional that briefly touches on this thought.

Grace and peace be with you.

 

Edited: 20090511 @ 1255

‘cause you gotta have faith

For those of you hovering around my age, you may recognize the post’s title as a play on the song from the late 80’s early 90’s by George Michael.  Nope, this post is no an ode to him.  :)  I closed yesterday’s post with the question… ”Do you labor/work in your faith or do you trust in the LORD?”.

Still on the subject of faith within Christianity, an additional thought I had concerns how we view faith.  Do you view it as a trait of your relationship with Christ that you nurtured or is it a gift from God?  I had a chance to speak with the pastor of my church last night and he shared his outlook as that “There are varying types of faith.”.

Before asking my pastor about faith, the perspective I held is that there are two types of faith.

1. faith that is a human product, that conviction we hold toward Christ and the relationship with Him
2. faith that is God given

The first example/examination of “faith” could be equated to the perseverance in the faith that Paul  exhibits and exhorts other saints to maintain throughout the New Testament.  My assumptions about Biblical faith had been that typically it seems that when the Bible speaks of faith, the Bible is addressing that faith that we believe or feel is a personal product; something manifested from our investment of time in God’s presence and Word as well as application, meditation and obedience to His Word.

Isaiah 7:9
The head of Ephraim is Samaria,
       and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah’s son.
       If you do not stand firm in your faith,
       you will not stand at all.’ "

Matthew 6:30
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Acts 20:21
I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

Colossians 1:3-4
3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints—

The second examination of “faith” leads me to lean toward the idea that whatever faith I “have” isn’t really a product of anything I’ve done, but rather a result of God’s Holy Spirit.  Divine influence.  For example, Tuesday evening we concluded our final phase of discipleship training.  The pastor made the comment that he was proud of the participants for making the 32 week commitment to mature in Christ.  I didn’t really look at it as a commitment, it was something that God had impressed upon my heart to do, so I responded by signing up and attending.  Another example is regular Bible Study/reading.  I would say that I’m fairly consistent in at least reading daily, sometimes it’s more in depth sometimes not.  Now on those days that I am being lazy, I sense the Holy Spirit urging me to get up off of my butt and go read God’s Word.  I might procrastinate and get a late start, but I eventually get to it; and it’s not as though I grumble about it or feel obligated out of guilt, but rather a sense of spiritual responsibility to respond to what God desires to produce in this life.   Hmmm, I think I’m starting to sound a little like the Calvinists. (Not so fast Tim!)  Below are a few verses that speak of God given faith, which I suppose is where I sit on on the “fence”.

Acts 3:16
16By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

Romans 12:3
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

1st Corinthians 12:4-9
4There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.

7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,

I don’t think this is one of those questions or topics that’s necessarily essential to salvation, I would like to hear what you readers think or otherwise have to say though. What do you think; according to what you believe God has laid upon your heart concerning faith?

• Is faith something produced from effort or response on our parts as believers in Christ?
• Is faith ultimately God given, regardless of who it’s attributed to?

Just a little something to exercise the spiritual noodle.  🙂

Ephesians 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

Grace and peace be with you.