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Deuteronomy 1:5-7

This Land Is Mine!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 9, 2023

“This land is mine,” croons Andy Williams in the song titled “The Exodus.” He sings, “This land is mine. God gave this land to me, this brave and ancient land, to me. And when the morning sun reveals her hills and plains, then I see a land where children can run free. So, take my hand and walk this land with me and walk this lovely land with me. Though I am just a man, when you are by my side with the help of God, I know I can be strong…To make this land our home. If I must fight, I will fight to make this land our own.” Although the song was written for the 1960 movie about the founding of the modern state of Israel starring Paul Newman, Pat Boone wrote the lyrics that were son by Andy Williams. The song fits well with the determination of the Zionist movement after World War II, along with the movement we read about in Deuteronomy about the determination to occupy that which had been promised by God to the former slaves coming out of Egypt after having spent 40 years in the wilderness homeless.

As God prepares His people to enter into their promised inheritance, He lays out the dimensions of what he had promised as their land. If our understanding of this short passage is correct, Israel never occupied all this land. Deuteronomy 1:5-7 says, “Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying, The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.’” Most commentators agree that this would cover nearly the whole middle east. The western boundary is the Mediterranean Sea. The eastern boundary is the River Euphrates. The southern boundary is the Arabian peninsula, and the northern border reaches Lebanon. Merrill writes, “The great extent of the land—’ as far as the great river, the Euphrates’—reflects the ideal inheritance that God had promised the patriarchal ancestors as part of the covenant pledge he had vouchsafed to. The fact that this territory was never, in its entirety, brought under Israelite control does not vitiate the promise, for its eschatological fulfillment lies yet ahead. That it was theirs by right and not by might” is clear from the verb used, which is better translated as “inheritance.” Merrill continues, “Yahweh the Great King owns all the earth, and it is his to bestow upon his peoples as he wishes. His people, therefore, were not about to take the land of other people but to receive the land as a gift from its divine owner, coming into their own rightful claim as vassals who work the royal estate of the Lord their God.”[1]

Throughout the history of the church, there have been preachers arguing that this is still the promise and that this land will be occupied by the descendants of Abraham. Some have taken this to include the church of Jesus Christ. This is seen as early as 150 AD. In the writings of Irenaeus. He said, “Thus did [Abraham] await patiently the promise of God and was unwilling to appear to receive from people what God had promised to give him, when he said again to him as follows, ‘I will give this land to your seed, from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates.’ If then, God promised him the inheritance of the land, yet he did not receive it during all the time of his sojourn there, it must be that together with his seed, that is, those who fear God and believe in him, he shall receive it at the resurrection of the just. For his seed is the church, which receives the adoption to God through the Lord, as John the Baptist said, ‘For God is able from the stones to raise up children to Abraham.’” (This is taken from “Against Heresies” by Irenaeus.)[2] If so, we too can sing, “This Land Is Mine!”

[1] Merrill, Eugene H. 1994. Deuteronomy. Vol. 4. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

[2] Martin, Francis, and Evan Smith, eds. 2006. Acts. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

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Numbers 1:4-15, Various

Names and Numbers

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 8, 2023

Moses, under God’s direction, named various persons from each tribe that would be there to assist him in taking the census of all the people of Israel. Only men are mentioned in this list because it was a census for war. The women did not go to war with the men. During my 27 years in the Navy, women did not serve in combat roles for the United States either. They were considered too valuable as the carriers of the next generation. This is one of the major issues that feminists have against the bible as a whole. They argue that the Bible is misogynistic. But you might just notice that the whole tribe of Levi is excluded here as well. They had a religious function. Their function was considered too valuable to go to war with the nation as well. Numbers 1:4-16 tells us, “And there shall be with you a man from each tribe, each man being the head of the house of his fathers. And these are the names of the men who shall assist you. From Reuben, Elizur, the son of Shedeur; from Simeon, Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai; from Judah, Nahshon, the son of Amminadab; from Issachar, Nethanel, the son of Zuar; from Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon; from the sons of Joseph, from Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud, and from Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; from Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni; from Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; from Asher, Pagiel the son of Ochran; from Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel; from Naphtali, Ahira, the son of Enan., These were the ones chosen from the congregation, the chiefs of their ancestral tribes, the heads of the clans of Israel.” Allen comments, “By having a representative from each tribe assist Moses and Aaron, not only would the task be made somewhat more manageable, but the resultant count would be regarded as legitimate by all. No tribe would have a reason to suggest it was under or over-represented in the census since a worthy man from each tribe was a partner with Moses and Aaron in accomplishing the task.”[1]

It is this passage, along with a few others like it, that gives the book of Numbers its name. Of all the thoughts that come from reading something like this is the thought that God knows us all by name. The world population has reached 8 billion recently, and it’s hard for us to see how God can know each one that intimately. Yet, David tells us in Psalm 147:4 of God, “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.” Surely, if God can make them all, he knows them all. Jesus once told his disciples that God pays close attention to His creation. He pays closer attention to the people he creates. In Matthew 10:30-31, Jesus encourages us all to realize that truth. The fact that he not only knows everyone by name, but He also knows every sparrow and when one of them might fall to the ground dead. He tells his followers, “But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Each person is valuable to God. Their self-worth is not based on their view of themselves relative to other people but on God’s expressed love for them.

God’s promise to Abraham to make him the father of a great nation whose numbers will be like the stars at night or the grains of sand on a beach is fulfilled in many ways in the book of Numbers. We see that the first census taken in the book of Numbers and the second census taken before the nation moves into the promised land a generation later are nearly the same. I think Sakenfeld is right when she writes, “The narrator wants to emphasize God’s amazing sustaining of so many people under the difficult and dangerous wilderness conditions so that the second generation is the same size as the first. In a world where population stability (rather than growth) was the norm and where decimation by famine was well known, the very numbers of the census counts proclaim the power and grace of Israel’s God.”[2]

[1] Allen, Ronald B. 1990. “Numbers.” In The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, edited by Frank E. Gaebelein, 2:705. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

[2] Sakenfeld, Katharine Doob. 1995. Journeying with God: A Commentary on the Book of Numbers. International Theological Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Edinburgh: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.; Handsel Press Ltd.

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Leviticus 1:4, Hebrews 2:9

Acceptable to God!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 7, 2023

I’ve enjoyed watching the Tom Hanks movie, “The Terminal,” several times. He’s an eastern European whose country has been engrossed in a civil war. His visa and passport have been invalidated. He’s stuck in the terminal for about a year, according to the story. I hear it’s based on true events, but I’m not sure about that. One of the best scenes involves his daily reporting to the security desk to fill out an application for admission into the United States. The female security guard looks at his form and stamps it “Unacceptable.” She is astounded that he shows up day after day, even when she tells him that he will remain “unacceptable.” He points to the two stamps. The red one says “unacceptable,” and the green one says “acceptable.” He argues that every day he has a fifty-fifty chance of being accepted.

Leviticus gives us instructions regarding the sacrificial offerings the Israelites had to make to atone for their sin. Without the shedding of blood, there could be no forgiveness of sin. The sacrificial animal had to be brought to the priest, and the presenter would identify with the beast by laying his hands on its head, and that would make atonement for his sins. Leviticus 1:4 says, “He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.” In the book of Hebrews, we read that one of the purposes for the incarnation was to become the perfect offering that will make all those who believe in Him “acceptable” to God. Hebrews 2:9 says, “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

Pentecost explains, “Jesus Christ became incarnate that He ‘might taste death for everyone.’ The penalty for man’s disobedience to God was spiritual death; that is, the separation of the soul from God. And before one who is dead can be restored to life, to fellowship with God, the penalty for his disobedience must be paid. Jesus Christ came to offer a payment to God on behalf of the sin of the human race. He came to offer Himself as the sinner’s substitute in death. And to be man’s substitute, He must be identified with man. Thus the Incarnation was necessary that Jesus might offer Himself an acceptable sacrifice to God on man’s behalf, as humankind’s substitute. Jesus Christ came into the world specifically that He might die.”[1] According to Leviticus, one could not offer a sacrifice that was not perfect in any way. Any marks, scars, broken bones, or any other deformity meant that the sacrifice would be stamped “unacceptable.” Jesus, the sacrificial lamb, was wrapped in swaddling clothes at his birth to ensure there was no damage to him. He lived the perfect life and was the only living being never to have sinned. One blogger observes, “A permanent sacrifice for sin is needed to deal permanently with our sin problem. The Levitical sacrifices could not deal permanently with our sins; however, the once-for-all perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross dealt with our sins permanently. There will never be a need for another sacrifice for sin. The blood of Jesus Christ wipes the record clean forever.”[2] With a clean record, we are now “acceptable” to God through faith in Christ, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

[1] Pentecost, J. Dwight, and Ken Durham. 2000. Faith That Endures : A Practical Commentary on the Book of Hebrews. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.

[2] http://www.abideinchrist.com/messages/heb10v1-18jesusonlytruesacrificesin.html

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Exodus 1:8-9

No God-No Peace. Know God-Know Peace

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 6, 2023

As God continued blessing His chosen people as they occupied their appointed lands in Egypt, Pharaoh took notice and didn’t like what he saw. It was a different Pharaoh than the one that took advantage of Joseph’s gifts to bring prosperity to Egypt. This Pharaoh felt threatened by Joseph’s descendants. Exodus 1:8-9 gives us his reaction, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.’” The problem that this new king had was that he didn’t know Joseph. You’ve heard it said that what you don’t know can’t hurt you! That’s not true in this case.

The new king didn’t know Joseph, and it greatly directed the course of Egypt’s future. I saw a license plate the other day that said “NOGDNOPC.” I took it to mean “No God, no peace.” This is a pretty familiar saying for Christians. But I like a different spelling of the word for “NO.” It’s “know” God, know peace! They are both true, and because Pharaoh did not “know” Joseph and Joseph’s God, he had “no” peace. There are many agnostics in the world who fall short of being outright atheists but say that they “do not know God.” Some even say you “can’t” know God. I like the way the Living Bible Paraphrases 1 Timothy 6:21, “Some of these people have missed the most important thing in life—they don’t know God.”

Not knowing Joseph and Joseph’s God brought some great suffering upon the nation of Egypt. Because of his ignorance concerning Joseph, Pharaoh saw him as an enemy instead of an ally. Butler observes, “He looked upon the Jews with disdain when he should have looked upon them with delight. Likewise, when one is ignorant of Jesus Christ, he will despise the good and dignify the bad, which is the habit of our society today. What you love and what you hate depends upon your knowledge of Jesus Christ, and by the looks of things, most of our society is ignorant of Jesus Christ.”[1] Because of Pharaoh’s ignorance of Joseph and Joseph’s God, Egypt was ruined. His ignorance resulted in the awful plagues which fell upon the land at the hand of Moses, God’s servant. It ruined the Egyptian economy that Joseph had saved in the past. The forced labor he imposed upon the Israelites brought much death and sorrow to the land.

Butler concludes his discussion on Pharaoh not knowing Joseph by using the situation as a metaphor for our day in America. He writes, “Because of his ignorance of Joseph, the king made a bunch of laws that tried to kill the Jews, which were his biggest blessing. So it is with our government. They oppose God, and the courts decree periodically that God cannot be allowed in certain places. How stupid to not want God around and to make laws to that extent. The laws allow all sorts of evil to be taught in our schools, but they will not allow Christ to be even mentioned in many cases. Such laws reflect ignorance, not wisdom. Education that excludes Christ is not education. Laws that exclude Christ from a land are bad laws and laws that curse, not bless.”

[1] Butler, John G. 2014. Sermon Starters. Vol. 2. Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.

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Genesis 7:4-5

No One Knows!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 5, 2023

After God gave Noah the instructions regarding the number and kinds of animals to bring into the ark, male and female, God informed him that the coming rain, which would bring about a worldwide flood, was about to start. It will happen in the next week. We learn more about the event with each paragraph beginning in Chapter 7. Hughes writes, “Each of the brief paragraphs reveals something more about the event. Verse 2, which commands Noah to ‘Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals,’ anticipates Noah’s offering sacrifices at the end of the voyage and also anticipates the sacrificial system that would develop after the flood. Noah and his family were sinners who would carry into the new world the sin of the old. Verse 4 records God’s final spoken sentence before the flood, one of total destruction: ‘… and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.’” In Genesis 7:4-5, God tells Noah, “For in seven days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.  And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him.”  Hughes also believes that the seven-day warning was to give them time to mourn the death of Methuselah. He died in the year of the flood as predicted by his very name, which means “when he dies it will come.”[1]

Noah was told exactly when the floods would come. He had a year or more to prepare the ark, and now he’s told when the catastrophe will begin. Now he is told that it will begin in exactly seven days. According to the Bible, another great day of destruction awaits us, but when Jesus was questioned regarding when that would happen, he made it clear that no one knew when except God the Father. But Jesus did give us some things that would give us a clue as to the cause of the coming events. The gospel writers tell us that Jesus told his disciples that the coming of the Son of man would be like the days of Noah. There are two things we might look for in a society that could be a sign of the coming of the end. The first thing is that nobody believed it would happen. They would just be eating their dinner, marrying and burying, and living their life as if everything is just fine. It would be a surprise. This is how it was in Noah’s day. No one believed it would actually happen. It wasn’t until the rains started that society began to question their unbelief.

The second thing we might look for is the increase in violence in society. You will remember that in Genesis chapter six, God explained that it was the atrocities that man committed against one another that caused God’s heart to fill with pain. It was then he purposed to bring an end to it all. A web blogger writes, “A major reason for God’s bringing the great Flood was that the earth was filled with violence (Genesis 6:13). Consider the age we live in. There’s been an alarming increase in global violence just in the past 100 years. Wars in the past 90 years killed more people than during the previous 500 years combined. An estimated 203 million people were killed by wars just in the 20th century. Between 170 and 360 million people were killed by governments in the 20th century, apart from war. Recently, more civilians have been dying in armed conflicts than combatants themselves, accounting for 90 percent of casualties since 1945. Just in the last decade, war has claimed the lives of an estimated 2 million children and has disabled another 4 to 5 million children.” This Web blogger adds, “A silent form of violence is perpetrated around the world by deliberate abortions of innocents. Each year about 44 million abortions are performed globally.”[2] We do not have the luxury of knowing exactly when the Lord will return as Noah did, but we have Jesus’ exhortation in Mark 13:33, “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.”

[1] Hughes, R. Kent. 2004. Genesis: Beginning and Blessing. Preaching the Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

[2] https://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/end-times/as-in-the-days-of-noah/

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Revelation 1:2

The Truth, The Whole Truth & Nothing But The Truth!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 4, 2023

The second verse of Revelation chapter 1 needs a little grammar discussion. It begins with the word “who.” Looking back at the first verse, we see that the relative pronoun might take as an antecedent either John or the angel who brought the vision to John. The verse says, “Who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.”

Since John will speak in the first person in the course of the book of Revelation, I think it’s safe to believe that John is speaking of himself as the one who is bearing witness to God’s word and the testimony of Jesus. He is an “eyewitness” to what he writes about, and he assures his readers that it is all reliable. It comes from God and is verified by Christ Jesus. The Word of God and the testimony of Christ certify the accuracy of what John is writing. Osborne observes, “Throughout the book, these two phrases frequently emphasize the actual source of everything written down in it. The emphasis is on the trustworthy nature of these God-sent communications. These are not subjective dreams or imaginative stories but visions stemming from God in heaven. They are absolutely true, and the church must carefully study the book’s message.”[1]

There is a focus on what was seen, not on what was said. Most prophets in the Old Testament would say, “thus saith the Lord.” Although there are some comments to be recalled, the brunt of John’s Revelation concerns what was “seen.” The phrase “I saw” appears about 45 times in the book of Revelation. But we don’t have the visions only the verbal descriptions of them. John is a living eyewitness to what he testifies to. There is nothing “hearsay” about John’s communication to us. The validity of the New Testament is attested to often. The Father bears witness from heaven to his Son. He opens the heavens and declares, “This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.” The Holy Spirit bears witness, coming down bodily in the form of a dove. Archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing good tidings to Mary. That Jesus was born of a virgin bears witness to the fact that he was the Messiah promised in Isaiah. Now, in the book of Revelation, John testifies on the witness stand. McGee says, “He was an eyewitness to the visions. What John saw, he made pictures of, and the Book of Revelation is television, friend. It was the first television program ever presented, and it is one you would do well to watch. It came from heaven from God the Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ, and it was given to an angel who gave it to John, who wrote about what he saw. Not only did John hear, he also saw, and these are the two avenues through which we get most of our information. I sometimes wonder if John didn’t smell things just a little bit, too, because there are parts of this book where you catch the odor also.”[2] You might say that John is swearing in before he takes the stand. He is taking a lawful oath. A lawful oath, even in our culture, is calling upon God, who alone knows the heart, to bear witness to the truth and to punish me if I swear falsely. Thus, an oath that appeals to the name of God should impress on an oath-taker that he is to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. This is what John does in the book of Revelation.

[1] Osborne, Grant R. 2016. Revelation: Verse by Verse. Osborne New Testament Commentaries. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

[2] McGee, J. Vernon. 1991. Thru the Bible Commentary: The Prophecy (Revelation 1-5). Electronic ed. Vol. 58. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

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Jude 1:3-4

A Matter of the Heart!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 3, 2023

After his introduction and personal greeting, Jude explains how much he wished to be able to just fellowship with his fellow believers at the feet of Jesus. But there was a more vital need in the church that he felt he had to address. Their common salvation was that they all stood on level ground at the foot of the cross. They were all, Jude included, just sinners saved by grace. The Gospel was the “truth” that was once and for all delivered to them at the beginning. In the third verse of his letter, Jude writes, “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” Jude refers to his gospel as “the faith.” He means the doctrine that we are all sinners saved by grace. Being sinners saved by God’s grace makes us “beloved” and brothers and sisters who can enjoy each other’s company and share sweet fellowship. But something was happening in the church that inspired an urgency in Jude’s address to the believers. He needed to call them to action.

The call is an exhortation to “contend” for the faith. Helm argues that this phrase is the theme of Jude’s entire letter. He writes, “The theme is an appeal to ‘contend for the faith.’ After that we are clued in that verse 4 supports the theme by the little word ‘for,’ and reading on it becomes obvious that the occasion for the letter rests in Jude’s knowledge that the faith is being challenged by opponents he only will call certain people.”[1] That this is Jude’s theme in his little epistle helps us understand the urgency of his plea. Whereas Jude wanted to sit by the fire and talk about our common love for God and the good things of life that come to those who share a common faith in Jesus as their savior, he was compelled to focus on a less edifying subject. With his call to “contend,” the alarms go off, and we go to battle stations (Navy terminology). Helms finishes his comment by saying, “Urgency and immediacy move him. He wants contenders, and he wants them now. And with this letter, he means to raise them up. If Jude were to write a letter to the church in our day, he wouldn’t change a thing.” Jude calls all believers to contend with a particular heresy.

We don’t know who these people were, but Jude describes them for us in Verse 4. He says, “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”  Whereas Paul does battle with those who attempt to draw Christians from the bosom of God’s love into the tyranny of the law and the performance trap, Jude (and James) does battle with those who want to turn unconditional love into license. Paul tells us that Christ has set us free from the law. However, He writes in Galatians 5:13, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.” Peter makes a similar request in 1 Peter 2:16. He tells his readers, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” Jude insists we contend against those who will pervert God’s grace into license to sin. There has been a historical struggle between being free from the law and still being obligated to some moral standard. Around 400 AD, Theodore of Mopsuestia recognized this struggle and described it, “If we find ourselves outside the law, there is nothing to stop us from doing what we like, but if there is some way of determining what should and should not be done, then we are back under the law again.”[2] The resolution of this dilemma is resolved by looking at our heart. The Psalmist instructs us to “delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” God’s grace works to align our hearts with his. It’s a perversion to think that God wants us to pursue things that will harm us, like immorality, envy, lust, gluttony, etc.! No, the perversions associated with the desires of our flesh are transformed into a glorious passion for living for God and others. Jeremiah speaks to us of a new covenant during which the law will be written on our hearts rather than on stone tablets.

[1] Helm, David R. 2008. 1 & 2 Peter and Jude: Sharing Christ’s Sufferings. Preaching the Word. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

[2] Bray, Gerald, ed. 1998. Romans (Revised). Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

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3 John 1:5=6a, Various

Love From the Inside!

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
June 2, 2023

The Apostle John is delighted to hear the good news that his disciples in Gaius’ church are holding on to the truth. They continue to walk in the light of the reality of their own sinfulness and in the reality that only by faith in Christ and His perfect righteousness can anyone find favor in God’s eyes. It is the truth of our sinfulness that makes possible genuine love for one another. This is the Gospel message that works its way out as we live together from the inside. John commends the believers that meet in Gaius’ church in 3 John 1:5-6a. He says to them, “Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church.” That believers did not work up from within themselves, the motivation, the energy, or the desire to be better people and care for others. They found that in the truth of the Gospel, hearts are opened to true love for others. Max Lucado seems to have grasped this idea well and said, “Do-it-yourself Christianity is not much encouragement to the done-in and worn-out. Self-sanctification holds little hope for the addict.… At some point, we need more than good advice; we need help. Somewhere on this journey home, we realize that a fifty-fifty proposition is too little. We need more.… We need help. Help from the inside out.… Not near us. Not above us. Not around us. But in us. In the part of us, we don’t even know. In the heart, no one else has seen. In the hidden recesses of our being dwells not an angel, not a philosophy, not a genie, but God.”[1]

It’s clear to us all, if we’re honest about it, that the law is powerless to change our life. It only focuses on the externals. We need to be “born again” through personal faith in God’s love expressed to us all on Calvary while we were yet sinners. Max Anders wrote, “The grace of Christ is powerful because it changes us from the inside out. Every person struggles with selfishness. We get preoccupied with our finances, our families, our loneliness, our time crunches, and our aches and pains. Yet all around us are people sharing the same problems. They are so overcome by difficulties that often, they are emotionally and spiritually down. Grace frees us and empowers us through the Holy Spirit to reach out to them and to turn their heart light on through simple expressions of love. They simply need us to love them in word and deed.”[2] This is what the disciples were doing, and the Apostle John commended them for it.

John was at war with the gnostics of his day. They professed something special that they had above and beyond the others. You had to come to them for this special revelation in order to gain God’s acceptance. It was a matter of secret “knowledge” or “wisdom.” But several times, the bible teaches us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. True reverence for God is found only in those who realize their own impotence. As life teaches us the limits of human wisdom and understanding, we learn to marvel at God’s omnipotence and omniscience.   In 1 Corinthians 8:2, Paul wrote, “And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.” True wisdom involves coming to know that we don’t know very much. Before 1950 it was said that the world’s knowledge more than doubled every 50 years. Today the amount of the world’s knowledge is doubled every other year. Along with man’s limitations comes the reality of man’s sinfulness. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 ended with the indictment of the entire human race as sinners. Every man and every woman has sinned and fallen short of God’s standard.  When we walk in this truth, we can walk in love for God and others.

[1] Lucado, Max, and Terri A. Gibbs. 2000. Grace for the Moment: Inspirational Thoughts for Each Day of the Year. Nashville, TN: J. Countryman.

[2] Anders, Max. 1999. Galatians-Colossians. Vol. 8. Holman New Testament Commentary. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

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