Many of us are familiar with the popular hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." We all agree that the Savior is a great friend, but few of us have an exhaustive knowledge of the heights and depths of His friendship. Let's consider some of the elements of His relationship to us.
1. He is committed to us as a friend for life. In fact, this commitment is for more than a lifetime. It's eternal. He will never leave you or me, no matter what we do. Some of our expectations may be dashed, but the Lord Himself will never disappoint us.
2. He is open and transparent to us at all times. Jesus will show us as much about Himself as we desire to learn and are able to appreciate. He isn't going to keep from us anything about Himself that we need to know.
3. He is renewing His loving overtures on a daily basis. He knows how to meet our deepest longings, and He is sensitive to our wants as well as our needs.
4. He is an inspiring, comforting listener who will never interrupt or be quick to criticize. He attends wholeheartedly to our requests. His eyes are so lovingly fixed on us that His heart hears exactly what we are saying.
What kind of friend is Jesus? John 15:13 answers that question: "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" Because He gave Himself once for many people, we His followers can give ourselves for a few. Who in your circle of influence needs the sacrifice of your time or caring?
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Our Personal
Accountability
God holds us accountable for our words, actions, and thoughts. In Psalm 139, David writes: "O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways" (vv. 1-3). There is a mystery to God’s love that our human minds cannot understand fully, and that is this: God knows all about us, and yet He loves us. He knows our inner thoughts and how we flash with anger when someone hurts us. He sees how we become jealous, resentful, and critical of others. The fact that God loves so freely should stir a desire within us to draw closer to the Lord. David wrote: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me . . ." (v. 24). Will you pray this prayer with David, and ask the Lord to reveal anything in your life that is displeasing to Him? Godly friends are a rich source of accountability. They can help us discern pure motives and right actions, thoughts, and feelings. Be willing to accept this type of accountability from a committed Christian friend. When you do, you will find your spiritual walk with Christ has deepened, and you will gain fresh insight into your own life and habits. |
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Does It Matter
What You Believe?
Our Christian beliefs form a mental grid through which we determine the validity and usefulness of what we hear. We know that a filter with large holes isn't very successful at keeping out impurities and unwanted material. The same is true of our mental filter—it must be tightly woven with scriptural truth in order to separate out ungodly values, unbiblical opinions, and erroneous thinking. Knowing what we believe prevents us from being misled by error and false doctrine. Remember how the Adversary has made our minds his battlefield? He wants to create holes in the helmet of "biblical thinking" that protects us. If we allow our mental grid system to include worldly thinking as well as scriptural truth, then there will be weak spots or openings the Enemy can penetrate with his deception. Satan fooled Adam and Eve by disguising his lies with partial truths. (Genesis 3:1-7) He tries to deceive us in this way too. The more we understand God's character and plan, the quicker we will recognize error, no matter how it is camouflaged. Our beliefs also protect us from fear and intimidation. By being well grounded in the Scriptures, we can stand firm when our convictions are aggressively challenged. But without a protective covering of faith, we could find ourselves fearful about discussing our beliefs and intimidated into silence when "hard" questions are asked. It is essential that we know what we believe and that our faith is based on God's truth alone. How well protected is your mind? |
Yesterday we learned that knowing what we believe protects us and prevents us from being misled. A solid grounding in biblical principles also prepares us to answer people who are honestly seeking to know the truth. It is our privilege to help a soul find its way to Christ. By having a strong grasp on God's truth, we can confidently act upon opportunities to share our faith. The world offers "hope" based on opinion—and there are many opinions. We need to offer hope based solely on the reality of Jesus Christ.
Saturating our minds with scriptural truth has two outcomes:
There is nothing more important in our day than meditating on Scripture to build our faith and experience the presence of God. Is that what you believe?
Does it make any difference what we believe? Yes, because what we hold to be true affects every area of our life. Unless we clearly understand our convictions and why we embrace them, we will waver in our faith and poorly represent Christ to others. The problem is, most people have only a vague idea about their beliefs. It's wise to consider foundational truths that govern our thinking and lifestyle.
Let's start with the Scriptures, God's unfolding revelation of Himself. Every part of the Bible is inspired, or "God-breathed." (2 Timothy 3:16) This means God chose certain individuals according to their background, their spirituality, and the message the Lord wanted to convey at a particular time in history. Then He gave them every idea and recollection that He wanted included. The human authors in turn wrote down what they had received.
In light of the fact that men were involved in the writing process, it is understandable that people question the Bible's reliability. Yet it is perfectly trustworthy and accurate because God was doing the speaking and the overseeing. He also made sure there would be substantiating evidence. You have undoubtedly heard about the discovery of numerous ancient scrolls—despite their age, nothing in them has contradicted the reliability or accuracy of the Bibles we use today.
When you pick up a Bible, realize what you hold in your hand. It isn't merely ink on paper—it is the living Word of God, which He lovingly gave mankind so that we would grow in our relationship to Him.
Many people have an unscriptural idea of what "salvation" means, but the term is so basic to understanding Christianity that it merits our careful attention. We can define salvation as the gift of God's grace, goodness, love, and mercy, whereby He provides forgiveness for your sin and mine.
The Bible explains that "the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). All of us are sinners deserving of death (Isaiah 53:6), but in His love and mercy, God made provision for our forgiveness: He allowed for atonement to be made by the shedding of blood. (Leviticus 17:11)
All of the Old Testament sacrifices foreshadowed what was to come, pointing to the once-for-all, substitutionary death of God's sinless Son on the cross. Jesus took our place, receiving the punishment that was rightly ours. Indeed, mankind's redemption was the purpose for which Christ came into the world. (Luke 19:10) And so, salvation is related strictly to the person of Jesus Christ. That's why John the Baptist proclaimed, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
There is no acceptance before Almighty God—no way to come to Him—apart from the Savior. (John 14:6) Throughout Scripture, we see that salvation is a free gift that derives from a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It is not a result of good works; rather, a person who is saved will naturally produce good works. Have you chosen to receive God's gift?
The Bible contains numerous promises, which are declarations of God's intention to graciously bestow blessing. They fall into several categories—understanding the difference will help us know how to claim the blessings our Father has in store for us.
Some biblical promises are general, but others are limited. This means certain pledges involved a specific person, time, or purpose, but may not apply to us. For instance, Genesis 18:13 assured Sarah a son. We cannot simply claim that promise, assuming God will do likewise for us. He certainly can use such a passage to impress upon your spirit His desire to bless you in that way. But we must guard against grabbing promises randomly, expecting them to be fulfilled no matter what.
Scripture contains many unconditional promises—assurances whose fulfillment requires nothing on our part. For example, God has said He will bear our burdens daily (Psalm 55), He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), and He will come again. (John 14:3) We also find many conditional promises, which are guarantees with an "if…then" stipulation. (Proverbs 3:5-6; 1 John 1:9)
God delights in meeting His children's needs and desires, and His promises are for their benefit. But He also makes one promise to unbelievers: when a lost person requests forgiveness of sins and receives Jesus as Savior, that individual will be saved. (John 3:16) Have you acted upon that first promise? If not, don't wait—once you do, there are many more promises waiting for you to claim.
In society today, the push to become more open-minded is forced upon us daily. We are asked to be more open-minded about a number of issues. And when society’s issues don’t line up with God’s Word, Christians grow especially uncomfortable.
So, how do you stand up to someone who thinks your faith is narrow-minded? It’s not easy, but if you really stand for what you confess, then the answer is easily found in the words of Jesus: "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and broad that leads to destruction" (v. 13).
Opponents of the Christian faith bombard Christians with comments like, "You Christians are so narrow-minded." Christians know it’s not narrow-minded, just a narrow way.
The eternal hope for salvation is narrow because Jesus said so. Is God narrow-minded? No, the vastness of God is far beyond our comprehension. But the way He made for us to be restored unto Him and forgiven of our sins is narrow.
What distorts thinking by non-believers’ is this: they think by being broad-minded they are in tune with truth. The truth is narrow and there’s no broad-mindedness allowed in it.
Jesus said there’s only one way to Heaven, and that comes through confessing our sins to God and believing Jesus is the son of God who died to take away the sins of the world.
God chose to create you, and He went to amazing lengths to save you from your sins. He asked you to be conformed to the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ, and He promised to engineer all circumstances to your good. (Romans 8:28) Why would He do so much? The answer is simple. God desires to have a personal relationship with every single one of us. The tragedy is that many people live their entire life without ever realizing that God genuinely loves them.
In the 13th through 16th chapters of John, we see several of the Lord's most intimate moments with His disciples. Christians sometimes think of Jesus only as the Great Intercessor seated at the right hand of God. But He also wants to be our closest friend, who encourages and guides us. God created us for intimacy. He does not need us; He wants us. No matter how many people in the world love us, we will feel incomplete if we do not recognize God's love.
The only thing that stands between us and God is our sin, from which we are helpless to save ourselves. So our Father made a provision—He sent His Son Jesus, who was fully divine, to take on human form and die on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice. Our heavenly Father did not accept us in spite of our sin or by ignoring our transgression; instead, He removed our sin as far as the east is from the west. (Psalm 103:12) Then He went even further and invited us to be His friend. As the hymn writer exclaimed, "Amazing love! How can it be!"
Many people miss God's purpose for their life because they are waiting for details about what He has in mind. But nowhere does Scripture say that God is required to spell out His plan. If He does have something for us to do, His only obligation is to show us how and to enable us to accomplish it.
If we do not know the particulars, our walk with the Lord can seem perplexing. Abram (who was later known as Abraham) must have felt that way. When God told him to pack up and head to a place he'd never been before, the would-be patriarch probably wondered, Lord, why can't You just bless me here in Haran? But God had something greater in mind than Abram could envision.
Feelings, sight, and human reasoning can be terrible enemies to our walk of faith. So that we might demonstrate faith and rely upon Him, God sometimes calls us to a place where emotions, physical vision, and logic are of no help. The Lord wants us, as believers in Jesus Christ, to lay down our own ways of figuring things out, and to trust Him instead. That may sound irrational in human terms, but it is completely reasonable in the infinite mind of complete knowledge and wisdom.
Whenever you are tempted to prefer your own logical solution, remember that God is watching from a vantage point of omniscience. (Isaiah 55:8-9) Like Abram, choose to follow the Lord's instructions. (Genesis 12:4) A step of obedience may feel like blind faith, but you can fully trust the One who sees all.
The Bible tells us to bring our requests to God. (Philippians 4:6) When we do, we of course desire that they be fulfilled. Therefore, it is very important that we understand what is required in order for our prayers to be answered
Today's verses say we can be confident the Lord hears when we ask in accordance with His will. You may wonder, How can I know my petition lines up with His will? For starters, the Bible provides some precise guidelines. One example is 1 Thessalonians 4:3: "For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, . . . abstain from sexual immorality." And verse 18 of the next chapter tells us, "In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." While many passages are not so clear-cut, Romans 12:2 gives guidance on how to be discerning. Rather than conform to a worldly pattern of thinking, we are to let scriptural truth renew our minds. In that way, we "may prove what the will of God is."
When we pray about something that is not God's will, but we sincerely desire to know His mind on the matter, we often discover our interest in the request begins to wane. Eventually, we'll probably cease praying about it, or else we might start to think, Lord, somehow I'm not too sure my request is of You. In this way, God honors our attempt to discover His will and gently moves us toward His viewpoint. Do you have any unanswered prayers that might be outside of God's will? Ask the Lord to help you see your petition from His vantage point.
The Lord's plan for our life often involves different timing than we would choose. I picture the pathway of faith as a highway with two signs on it. The first one says, "Slow down"; the other one says, "Wait here."
We don't like either of those signs, do we? We want to keep moving so we can quickly arrive at our destination. But God is all-knowing; He sees when rushing would land us on our face. He is also a God of purpose—He knows what He wants to accomplish in our lives, so He erects a sign that says, "Wait." If we are wise, we will keep pace with Him, not lagging behind, but not taking five steps in place of the three He sanctions.
Abram again provides the illustration, only this time, He demonstrates what not to do. When famine threatened the land, he took matters into his own hands and journeyed to Egypt without consulting God. Though he rightly assumed that Pharaoh would want his beautiful wife in the royal harem, Abram willingly took the risk of never seeing her again. Then to save his own life, he had Sarai say she was his sister, not his wife.
Even a person of faith (Hebrews 11:8) can resort to the "flesh" and respond from old thought patterns. It is absolutely essential that we wait for the Lord. Even if we don't understand His purpose, that is still no excuse for coming up with our own course of action. What situation in your life is tempting you to run ahead of your heavenly Father? Have patience. God is never late.
God wouldn't have made all the promises in the Bible if He didn't want to give His children great blessings. Yet, we cannot be presumptuous and simply assume such benefits automatically belong to us. So how can we claim God's promises with the expectation He will take pleasure in answering our petition?
There are several questions we must ask in order to test the needs we bring before our heavenly Father:
Does this promise meet my personal need or desire? When I request that God keep this promise, do I ask with the spirit of being submissive to His will? Can God perform this request without harming another person or interfering with His will in someone else's life? Does the Holy Spirit bear witness to my spirit that God is pleased with my petition? Will God be honored by fulfilling this promise? Does my request to claim this promise contradict the Word of God in some fashion? If God fulfills this promise, will it further my spiritual growth?
Once we have satisfactorily answered these questions, inheriting God's promises depends upon just three requirements. In the first place, we need to have faith. Our Father wants us to trust Him, and He rewards those who do. (Genesis 15:6; Hebrews 11:6) Second, we must be obedient to whatever we know is God's will for us—we will never attain His best if we knowingly disobey. And third, we must have patience and be willing to wait for the Lord's perfect timing. It is well worth our while, considering the blessings He longs to give us.
With temptation swirling around us each day, it’s hard to walk in what we consider "holiness." But that might be because we don’t truly understand holiness.
We often equate holiness with a pious life, one devoid of sin at all times. But holiness isn’t a trait you earn.
Holiness comes when you understand your position in Christ. Once you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and ask God to forgive your sins, God’s Holy Spirit begins to dwell in you. And one thing is for certain: God is holy. So, if God is holy and His Holy Spirit inhabits you, wouldn’t that make you holy as well?
The minute you gave your life over to the Lord, you became holy. Peter reminds us of our call to live a holy life: "Because it is written, ‘You shall be Holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). God wouldn’t require us to do something that we couldn’t do.
Walking in holiness comes when we are no longer comfortable with sin. As sin becomes more repulsive, we grow more attracted to His ways, His ways that are higher than ours.
No longer should we desire to walk in the way of the ungodly, nor should it feel comfortable. (Proverbs 1:15) God has saved us from sin. And when we remember this and choose His way each time temptation crosses our paths, we will walk in holiness.
God gave Israel the Old Testament to instruct the nation and to offer her hope. The Father's commands were designed not to ruin His children's fun, but rather to help them avoid harm.
In Deuteronomy 8:19, we see that God holds believers accountable: He will bless and protect them, but if they turn away, they can expect His hand of judgment. Were He to operate in any other way, He would be permissive and unreliable. But we can count on God to do exactly what He says because the Bible records that is just how He interacted with His beloved nation of Israel. In fact, their history was a continuous cycle of blessing, waywardness, judgment, repentance, and blessing. If God deals with the "apple of His eye" this way, what can we expect?
Although our country was not created as a Christian nation, the Founding Fathers did structure our government on biblical principles. As a result, we have experienced abundant blessing. But as we drift and turn a deaf ear to God's instructions, how can He continue to pour out His favor? The principles of Scripture work whether or not people heed them.
The Lord is longsuffering, but if we as a nation reach a certain stage of moral depravity and cross a "divine line," we can expect His judgment. Is it too late? Second Chronicles 7:14 encouraged believers of that day to humble themselves, pray, seek God's face and turn from wickedness. We must do the same. Only then will God hear from heaven and heal the land.
Some lessons in Scripture are completed right away. For example, once we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior, our salvation is accomplished. Though we may need assurance occasionally, the issue is settled for all eternity. At other times, a lesson has to be learned over and over. Just when we think we have it down, something comes along to test our understanding. One of those lessons involves being content in all circumstances. To experience contentment is to be free from frustration and worry about unfulfilled desires in our life.
When we look closely at Paul's words in Philippians, we recognize two important principles. First, contentment is not governed by circumstances. If it were, we'd have big problems. We can't flip a switch and make everything right at work, in our home, with our children, or in situations which we cannot control. Most people are discontent because they do not understand this principle. But Paul's secret can also be ours: "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).
The second principle is that our inner self, or attitude, regulates contentment. Paul did not have "roller coaster faith" that went up and down; instead, he had a calm confidence that nobody could steal something he possessed on the inside—his relationship with God was his source of satisfaction. We all experience anxiety, but if we respond with faith and prayerfully cast cares upon Him (1 Peter 5:7) our contentment cannot be stolen.
Many people think that life will be clear sailing after they get saved. Instead, they frequently find they seem to have even more struggles than before. We should not be dismayed, however; this is the normal Christian life. Before we met the Savior, we were drifting downstream, but upon our salvation, we commenced a journey that would take us through rough waters and wild currents.
In the epistle to the Galatians, the apostle Paul warned us not to use our newfound freedom in Christ as an excuse to revert—instead of drifting back downstream, we must take the yoke of Jesus and learn to walk in the Spirit. Paul specifically says "walk" (v. 16) because the Christian life has direction. We are climbing new heights toward a specific goal, and climbing means struggling.
Every day, we grapple with jealousy, lust, and pride because we live in a world filled with such things. At the same time, we can learn to walk by the Spirit and rise above our temptations and enemies. Yes, it is tough to be in a perpetual fight, and many people have no stomach for such constant exertion. When they see the high standard of Jesus' example, they sometimes drop out of the contest and settle for doing the best they can in their own strength. But doing the best we can is exactly what Paul says will not work—it simply isn't good enough. That's why the Holy Spirit came. By fully submitting to Him, we can learn to let the Spirit of God do the best He can. Then we will walk in victory.