2 Timothy 3:16-17–All Scripture is God-Breathed

2 Timothy 3:16-17–"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

God's Word, His written testimony about HImself for mankind, is a purposed work.  In other words, Scripture is not whimsical or haphazard but it is highly and directly intentional.  Every bit of Holy Writ, from Genesis to Revelation, was written at specific times and for a particular purpose.  In the very least, the purpose of Scripture is about conveying certain historical information.  However, this is just the basic.  Every bit of Scripture also serves to impart specific theological information as well.  It is this theological information that Paul is referring to in 2 Timothy.  This is why it is so vital that we would commit to reading Scripture and making it a foundational part of our lives.

No Substitute for Scripture

The Holy Bible is the authority for the life of God's people.  It is the rule for life, for theology, and for guidance in the life of the believer.  There is nothing more important for the believer than a regular, committed Bible study.

Holy Scripture is God's message to mankind.  It is how God communicates to us by the Holy Spirit.  When we read the Scripture, the Holy Spirit uses the text to transform our hearts and our lives.  Because of this, there is no substitute for Scripture.

Committing to a daily discipline of studying the Bible, then, is an essential component to the Christian life.  If we are not engaging His Word, we will not see the fruit that He has intended for us.  Only in prayerful Bible study do we grow the way God would have for us.

Let us then never forget to read the Bible for it is life for the believer.

Our Future Kids

A couple nights per week the same thing happens: my wife wants to cuddle and I have to tell her that I can't until my blog is written.  I've made a commitment to writing a daily blog and I try to remain disciplined to that responsibility.  However, it has not always been easy.  Not only is it difficult to turn down the affections of my wife but figuring out what to write about everyday is an exercise in itself.  If what I'm currently reading does not spark an idea, I sometimes resort to asking my wife for suggestions.  Today is one of those times.  She was pretty adamant about writing about our future children.

At the onset, it must be stated clearly: she is not pregnant.  There are no babies on the way, though we do talk about it quite a bit.  It is an important thing for us in the future and we're both excited for the day that she comes in to tell me that she's pregnant.  As of the writing of this blog, she hasn't told me any surprises like that yet.  Continuing...

Both of us, my wife and I, have made it our life's pursuit to be obedient to God and to His holy Word.  This means that we strive to have His Word permeate every facet of our lives that we may continue to grow in sanctification and to become the people that God desires for us to be.  Additionally, this means that we endeavor to hold every decision up to the light of Scripture in devotion and prayer.

As it comes to our future kids, this posture of obedience and praise will be put to the test.  We both have friends and family that have young children, and while the kids always seem so fun to spend time with in small doses, it seems to be clear that children are exhausting, taxing, and parenting will test everything we have.  I only need to think about how I was as a child and I rejoice that my parents didn't quietly kill me in my sleep.

But with all this, my wife and I have seen that the parents who keep a level head and who strive to teach their kids the Word of God seem to be the most effective parents.  This excites and convicts us.  Our goal is to raise the best children we possibly can, adhering to the Bible as closely as possible.  In thirty years, I hope to show this blog to our future kids to see how we did.

To our future kids: we prayed, we read, and we tried our best.  If you're still alive and you know that Jesus is Lord, then we did alright.  Please forgive us for when we lacked patience and when we considered cutting off your air supply in your sleep.  We love you and we are blessed to know you.

What Do You Think This Says?

Have you ever been in a situation like this: a group of Christians get together for a Bible study.  A passage is chosen somewhere in the New Testament.  Someone in the group steps into the role of leader (usually the one who likes to talk).  The leader prays and gets the study going.  Every person turns to the passage and it is read aloud.  Then the leader asks: "What do you think this says?  What does this passage mean to you?"

Unfortunately, this is an all-too familiar scenario.  Many of us have experienced more of these sorts of Bible studies than any other, where the focus is on what the Bible is saying to me personally.  In this way, the Bible is seen as something that needs to be applied to the individual.  The interpretive method of this kind would say that interpretation is 'up for grabs' in the sense that it is only as relevant as my imaginative interpretations can make.

This methodology, however clever the interpretations it garners may be, betrays two fundamental truths about Scripture.

In the first place, all Scripture is about God.  Let me say this again: Scripture is not about what we can get out of it; it is about Christ Jesus.  This means that any time we read ourselves into Scripture we are, in fact, not meeting Scripture on Scripture's terms.  We are trying to make Scripture fit our terms.  This, clearly, is not biblical.  The Bible interprets itself and changes us, we should not try to change it to get it to interpret us.

Secondly, the Bible is a message from God.  It is self-revelation to mankind.  It is redemptive, meaning that it serves the purposes that God has laid out.  This means, fundamentally, that the Bible meets humans from God's perspective with God's thoughts, and it is our duty, as interpreters, to think those thoughts and to see that perspective.  The Bible is not about what we see it is about what God has put there for us to see.

Quickly, it can be seen that interpreting the Word of God is no small activity and it demands no small amount of effort.  Striving to garner the most accurate interpretation is not about trying to make every verse fit our lives personally wherever we are; it is about trying our best to understand why God has put this verse there at that point in history, written that way, for that purpose as it relates to Christ Jesus.  This is how Scripture works and we need to meet it on its own terms.

The Discriminating Factor in My Life

When I became a Christian, that is, when I gave my life over to Christ Jesus as my Savior and Lord, my attitude towards the Bible changed drastically.  What was once an ancient history book of myths became a lively, vibrant, powerful revelation of God.  I read the Word as if I found a jug of water in the desert; I became obsessed.

This obsession led to a diet of Scripture and prayer which forced me to a major turning point, an unmissable fork in my life's road.  As I read the Scriptures and I began to see more and more of God in Christ, this grace and love spoke to me in my core and convicted me with a choice.

I had to make a serious decision that would have certain ramifications for my life: I was either going to trust God and to trust His revelatory Word which is the Bible or I wouldn't.  There was no middle ground here.  If God actually did speak to mankind through the Bible and through His Son Jesus, either this would be the foundation of my life or I would force myself to ignore it.

It became clear after reading the Scriptures that I couldn't ignore it: God had revealed Himself to mankind and this mattered to my life.  There was no escaping the reality that God's Word, because of its nature it forced me to address it with sobriety and seriousness.  At the final analysis, I determined to make the Bible the foundation for my life.

This could seem like a nice Christian sentiment or a platitude of dogmatism, however, making the decision to live in submission to Holy Writ has ramifications.  Not only would every category of thought and life need to be dramatically transformed by the revelation of Scripture but, and this is where it hits the road, I had to submit to the Word of God especially when I did not want to.

What I knew about the Bible was that it does not discriminate: all people are made in the image of God and have turned away from Him in sin, no amount of effort will overcome that sin, and, ultimately, only God can save from sin because only He sees it as it truly is.  This all points to the cross of Christ, where God took on Himself the sin of the world and showed grace and love.  But this love is not cheap and is not free; it demands my very life.

Now, every decision, every thought, and every element of my whole life must be held captive in submission to Christ.  And there is no middle ground; this submission is exclusive, it's discriminating.  But I know, as I have known from the moment I repented and turned to God in faith, that God has made me for Him and I would not be complete if I neglected this truth.

John 3:14 and the Old Testament

John 3:16-17, perhaps the most known verse in all of Scripture, is often amputated from its preface: 3:14-15.  The whole sequence in its entirety reads as such:

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.  For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world may be saved through Him." (John 3:14-17).

The striking thing about this passage is that taken as a whole, it is clear that Jesus is intimately tied to the Old Testament Scripture.  In a real sense, John is clear that understanding who Jesus is and what He has done requires that we know the Old Testament.

Unfortunately, many Christians woefully neglect this fact.  There is a tragic tendency in modern Christianity to sever the New Testament from the Old; just think of all the Bibles printed with just the New Testament and Psalms.

In truth, much of the New Testament will be enigmatic if not outright incomprehensible apart from an understanding of the Old Testament.  Matthew, Romans, John, Ephesians, Hebrews, Revelation demand that we read them with Old-Testament-tinted lenses in order that we understand what these writers were really saying.  Think of the aforementioned passage and antecedent precursor that it alludes to:

"And the people spoke against God and against Moses, 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loather this worthless food.'  then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.  And teh people came to Moses and said, 'We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you.  Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.' So Moses prayed for the people.  And the Lord said to Moses, 'Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.'  So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole.  And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live."  (Num 21:5-9).

Therefore, if ever we feel as if understanding the New Testament is hindered, one may need to turn the book several hundred years into the past in order to see the richness of Scripture more fully.  Also, let us make a concerted effort to read the Old Testament for this very reason so as to be prepared to engage the New.

Musings on Joy

Joy is one of those sincere pleasures of this human experience.  It is something more than mere happiness, for happiness is contingent upon what happens.  No.  Joy is something more, like a certain contentment, a profound satisfaction that propounds from the deep and overflows throughout ever cavity of person.  It is, in some ways, ineffable in that it lies beyond language's ability to convey it accurately because it is so sweeping, so radical.

But the experience of joy is real, the residuals are recognizable.  And though the experience of joy is a temporal, fleeting phenomena, the joy itself is something more, something lasting.  Think of the simplicity of a sincere smile, maybe the smile of a 1-year-old.  When a baby smiles, there is no questioning the joy as genuine and pervasive.  There is an honesty to this joy, a bona fide joy that stems from the depths.  And, although some external stimuli may initiate the response of joy, the joy is an internal well that pours in various form(s); a smile in the case of the baby.  But from where does this seemingly-bottomless wellspring of joy bubble from?

It is this, the source of joy that is worth talking about.  God.  God is the source of joy.  To be in His presence is joy (Psa 16:11).  The commandments of the Lord are joy (Psa 19:8).  And it is in obedience to the Lord that humans can experience the fullness of joy (John 15:10-11).  Understanding that joy is not something that is dependent upon the scenarios of circumstance or the happenings of life, but that it is solely a gift from God will keep us secure lest we begin to misconceive of joy as mere happiness or worse, pleasure.

The Story of Christmas

The story of Christmas is about a betrothed virgin bearing a son by the Holy Spirit.  It is about an engaged man stepping out in faith to trust the Lord with his fiance.  It is about shepherds and innkeepers and a census.  And it is about a baby boy being born in a stable and laid in a manger in the back-water bucolic village of Bethlehem.  But in the end it is about the greatest act of humility in all creation as the Lord Almighty takes on the form of a servant so as to perform the greatest act of love in all creation at His death.

Christmas is about Christ; it is about Jesus.  As we rip through the wrapping of gifts, as we clang the glasses of fellowship, and as we gather around the tables of finest fare, let us not lose sight of Christ.  Let us never cut the story of Christ from Christmas, and thus amputate the story of grace and love that He brings to the world through faith.

It cannot be stressed enough for us to read the Scripture this year; to really engage with the Word of God this season.  Let us commit this Christmas to Christ in every moment, every meal, every gift, and every interaction this year.

2 Peter 3:9 and Repentance

Peter, in his second epistle, writes: "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." (2 Pet 3:9).

This verse is an interesting verse and often used to make an argument for universal salvation, or the idea that everyone will be saved in the end.  This is asserted by some who construe this verse in such a way as to highlight that God does not wish that any should perish, and therefore, none will.

Clearly, this is a woeful misunderstanding of this verse, as the point here is not whether every will be saved but, rather, how gracious God is in His enduring patience to give opportunity upon opportunity for repentance unto salvation to take place.

We should not neglect that this verse indicates that some will perish, but not because God wills them to but because those that will perish do so as a result of their own lack of repentance.  This, along with faith, is one of the non-negotiable essentials of salvation.

Apart from repentance, salvation is not only impossible but it would be highly immoral for God to give salvation to those who do not wish it.  Consider that God, being holy and just as well as omnipotent, could if He desired override every freedom of man in order to save all.  But He does not for to do so would be tantamount to forcing someone to love Him.

Because this is the case, repentance is a necessary choice on the part of the human.  It is prompted, to be sure, by the Holy Spirit.  But salvation cannot be received apart from repentance.  It is the repentance, the turning away from sin and from self that we should not ever neglect and should not ever conceal when we present Christ.  Any diminishment of repentance in the Gospel is to remove salvation from the reach of humanity, for it is repentance in faith that is the required response of the person that allows for Christ's overwhelming grace to flow unhindered into the life of the person.

Call to Scripture amidst Christmas

The content of this blog is not one of teaching, as it were.  Instead, this is a simple call to reading the Scripture.  This season, this Christ-mass season, the world unites in commemorating a single historical event.  Across the globe, there are many held holidays of the cultures and nations of the world, but there is a distinct uniqueness to the story of Jesus, the baby born in a manger stall who grows from His seemingly bucolic surroundings to be the most influential person to have ever lived.

It is in the Holy Scriptures that we come to know this Jesus.  When we come into contact with the Scripture, the Holy Spirit commits them to our hearts and it comes alive within our chests.  For this season, then, we should make an ample pursuit of the Word of God in reference to Jesus' birth.

Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-3 will certainly present enough to chew on...

1 John 4:19 and Love

This is from 1 John, chapter 4, starting at verse 7-10 and skipping to verse 19:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be propitiation for our sins…” Truly, “We love because He first loved us.”             

        That last verse is so simple, pithy even.  “We love because He first loved us.”  It’s not long, not complicated but we should not mistake that for plain or basic.  “We love because He first loved us.”  It is profound, full of theological import and significance that not only encourages us with its brevity but challenges us with its meaning.  “We love because He first loved us.”             

John, the writer of this, is saying two intensely difficult things: that Christ is to be both the reason we love, but, even more so, He is the manner with which we love, He is the why, but He is also the how.   “We love because He first loved us."

Now, through faith in Christ Jesus, confession that He is Lord and belief that God has raised Him from the dead, we may enter into right, redeemed relationship.  Our frailty is replaced with strength, our brokenness is mended, and our infirmities our healed by Christ, in Christ, and through Christ. The love that He first loved us with at the cross now lives within us, guiding us, and empowering us to live and love as as Christ.  “We love because He first loved us.”

It was Christ’s perfect work at the cross that has enabled us to love.  He has empowered us with the ability to love.  And this is not love like the world thinks, like some emotional whimsy, or daffodil capriciousness of "he loves me, he loves me not."  No.  This is the real, serious love that can only come from Him who is living within us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Remember: “We love because He first loved us.”

This love is selfless, not self-seeking; it is pure, not tainted by our flippancy.  It is not an "I'll scratch your back you scratch mine," type of relationship.  No.  This love is altogether other, stemming from the deepest depths of our beings and welling up through our pores for us to lavish upon those we love.  Above all, it is a gift from God given through Christ to all those who call on Him as Lord and Savior.  This is a beautiful, easily memorable verse, but as we pull back the layers, as it unfurls, we begin to see the density behind it.  “We love because He first loved us.”

Christ’s love is not just an example for how we should love.  It is the very ability, the source within us to love.  In order for us to love as He has loved us, we must always keep our focus fixed, our gaze set upon the cross, which is the sole cornerstone of why and how we love.  It is at the cross that we see ourselves as we truly are.  And it is at the cross that we see who God is, and it is in this revelation that true love is made possible at all.  This is why "We love because He first loved us."

Love is rooted, ultimately, in God.  The why and the how of love is based in the life and work of Christ Jesus, who has set us free when He saved us at His cross.  At our cores, we are broken fragments and frail egoists as a result of sin’s pervasiveness in our lives.  Yet God, who is rich in mercy, condescended to us, emptying Himself through the incarnation of His Power into the human form of His Son, Christ Jesus, who lived a perfect, sinless life.  Yet He was tried for His innocence and found guilty of no punishable crime, though He did claim to be God’s only Son and, by that virtue, the rightful King of the World . 

For that, He was beaten, flogged, stripped, spat upon, and marched through the streets of Jerusalem carrying the cross of our shame and the instrument of His death.  He was then crucified naked alongside the main roads just outside the city gates.  He was murdered, not for anything He had done, but because it was God's will to bestow grace and love to humanity by taking on the sin of mankind in His own flesh and nailing it to the cross.  But three days after His death and burial, the stone that sealed His grave was moved and He was found risen.  He rose from the grave, confirming that He was and is the Messiah, the Son of God.  “We love because He first loved us.”

Now, through faith in Christ Jesus, confession that He is Lord and belief that God has raised Him from the dead, we may enter into right, redeemed relationship.  Our frailty is replaced with strength, our brokenness is mended, and our infirmities our healed by Christ, in Christ, and through Christ. The love that He first loved us with at the cross now lives within us, guiding us, and empowering us to live and love as as Christ.  “We love because He first loved us.”
           
It was Christ’s perfect work at the cross that has enabled us to love.  He has empowered us with the ability to love.  And this is not love like the world thinks, like some emotional whimsy, or daffodil capriciousness of "he loves me, he loves me not."  No.  This is the real, serious love that can only come from Him who is living within us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  Remember: “We love because He first loved us.”
            
This love is selfless, not self-seeking; it is pure, not tainted by our flippancy.  It is not an "I'll scratch your back you scratch mine," type of relationship.  No.  This love is altogether other, stemming from the deepest depths of our beings and welling up through our pores for us to lavish upon those we love.  Above all, it is a gift from God given through Christ to all those who call on Him as Lord and Savior.  This is a beautiful, easily memorable verse, but as we pull back the layers, as it unfurls, we begin to see the density behind it.  “We love because He first loved us.”
            
Christ’s love is not just an example for how we should love.  It is the very ability, the source within us to love.  In order for us to love as He has loved us, we must always keep our focus fixed, our gaze set upon the cross, which is the sole cornerstone of why and how we love.  It is at the cross that we see ourselves as we truly are.  And it is at the cross that we see who God is, and it is in this revelation that true love is made possible at all.  

God: Our Refuge

Throughout Scripture, God is described as our refuge.  The metaphor of God as our refuge is one of the primary descriptions of God, who He is and what He means to us.  It is this idea, that God is our refuge, that will be shortly discussed here.

A refuge can be described in two basic ways.  The first is a place.  In this sense, a refuge is a place of security, of stability, and of sanctuary.  In reference to God, He fulfills this purpose to us.  He is the place of our utmost security and safety.  When we come to Him, we know that we are held in the highest safety and enveloped completely in His love.  To say "we come to Him" is to say that we receive and seek Him in faith and humility.

The second meaning of God as our refuge, is as a source of healing.  In this sense, to say that God is our refuge is to acknowledge that He is the ultimate fountain of our healing.  God, being our Creator and Sustainer, heals us perfectly.  This healing is not limited to the spiritual as the countless medical miracles that occur attest.

If we keep these two conjoined concepts in mind when we read Scripture, when we come across those passages that speak of God as our refuge, it will stir in us a remembrance that God is both the place of our greatest security as well as our greatest healing.  Let us then always run to God who is our present refuge in all rimes of trouble and strain!

Courage is from the Lord

Fear, anxiety, worry are all parts of this human experience.  They can keep us up at nights, ringing our hearts and drenching our cheeks in floods of tears, and the stress of fear can be stifling like walking fully-clothed into a steam room and gasping for just one, good breath. It is at these moments, when we feel crippled by the strain of this life, when courage becomes real.

Courage does not mean the absence of fear and worry, far from it.  Instead, courage is putting on strength amidst the suppressive suffocation and strain of anxiety and fear.  This is important to remember: one cannot be courageous until there is a pall-like force attempting to overpower.  It is this struggle against an adversarial force that is the call for courage.

These times, when fear clenches our throats and anxiety grips our hearts, courage requires that we find a source of strength that is even more powerful than our greatest fears.  For this, God is.  He is our present help in times of struggle, our rock, our fortress, our strong tower, our mighty deliverer, our Savior.

Thus, when we feel overwhelmed or overcome by the dark shroud of evil terror, whatever the immediate source may be, our source of courage is to be the Lord Himself.  Praise be to God who is our strength and our shield when all else seems bleak and fearsome.

Psalm 23: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul.  He leads me in paths to righteousness for His name's sake.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days fo my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Covenant Chat

The Bible is rife with covenant language and theology associated with it.  In truth, covenants are the manner with which the Lord relates to humanity, so to understand what is meant by covenant is to understand God and how He relates to us.  Therefore, this will be a brief discourse on the nature of covenants and the theological import thereof.

At the onset, covenants define relationships between a strong party and a weak party in terms of promises.  The strong party promises to the weak and the weak promises to the strong.  Theologically, the strong One is God and the weak is man.  To list the promises of God would take all the memory of the internet, but suffice to state that God promises provision, life, and presence, all boiling down to the density of love.  For humans, the promise is singular: faith.

The promises, from God, can be broken down into two categories: (1) blessings, and (2) curses.  Both are dependent upon mankind's fulfillment of their covenant obligation of faith.  If humans are faithful, they will be blessed; if humans are unfaithful, they will be cursed.  Unfortunately, the last century has seen an overemphasis on the promises of blessing to the neglect of the promises of curses.  The net effect of such a lopsided and misconceived notion of God's covenants is that faith has been thought of as either an optional perspective dependent upon the individual's whims, or faith has been reduced to a single event.

Scripture is a book of covenants, in which the various authors write of God relating to people through His fulfillment of promises, either in the form of blessings or, more prominently, in the form of curses.  The important thing is that God's covenant obligations are intertwined with humanity's obligations: if humans remain faithful to the covenant decrees they will be blessed, however, if humans are unfaithful  to the covenant decrees they will be cursed.  This may sound harsh, but either way God is proven just and faithful for He has committed Himself in covenant and has obligated Himself to relate in covenant ways.  But praise be to God that He has revealed His covenant requirements to humanity in His Word and through His Son!

The Christ of Christianity

Colossian 1:15-17: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through Him and for Hm.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."

Hebrews 1:3: "He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of HIs nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power."

Philippians 2:6-8: "[Christ Jesus], who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, He humbles Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

1 Timothy 2:5-6: "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave HImself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time."

John 1:1-5, 14: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it....And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."

The whole of Christianity rests upon the person of Christ Jesus.  He was an actual, historical person who lived a perfect, sinless life, who was put on trial and murdered for His lack of crime, but on the third day after His death, He rose from the grave, as the resurrected Lord and Savior, King over all creation.  The last sentence, while being full of true theological assertions, is rooted in the theology of Scripture.  So, in an effort to always affirm that the Scripture is the authority, today seems a good day to let the Scripture speak for itself so that we could think about such important things as this.  This has been, admittedly, an all-too-abbreviated survey of Christological passages, but they are at least sufficient to get the ball rolling in our hearts and our heads.  And always: thanks be to God that He has revealed Himself in His Son so that we could know Him in redemption!

Training in the Word of God

Imagine you were a soldier ordered into battle by your commanding officer.  However, amidst the orders being given and the tussle to grab supplies, your base is fired upon and attacked.  During the scuffle, you realize that your weapon has gone missing and, apart from terrifying you due to your apparent impotence, you find your self defense-less and without any weapon to handle the oncoming attacks.

Or imagine that you were a doctor entering the emergency room to perform surgery.  Yet after you wash your hands, put on your cap, and pull the rubber gloves over your wrists you find that not only are their no scalpels to be found but you do not even remember how to do the surgery either.

Needless to say, both of these scenarios would be terrifying and are to be avoided at all cost.  But for some Christians, this is exactly how they live their lives.  Scripture states explicitly that the Word of God is the a two-edged sword, the offensive weapon of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12).  Therefore, when Christians neglect reading and studying the Holy Scriptures, they are like a soldier going into war without a gun or a doctor trying to perform surgery without a scalpel.

It might be most accurate to say that the Christian who does not study the Word of God is like a headlining professional musician who has never learned how to play a single note: an utterly preposterous proposition.  Instead, Christians should fulfill the exhortations of the apostle Paul, who writes, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly...(Col. 3:16)."  To conclude, let us look to the word of Paul again in his first letter to his friend Timothy:

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17)."

Let us then treat the Word with all the respect and reverence that it deserves, acknowledging that it is the very power and truth of God Himself, and the authority for our very lives.

Seeking after Wisdom

Wisdom is the ability to live life rightly.  It is both an attitude towards life as well as a rubric for making future decisions.  In this way, wisdom is as much about choices being made currently and in the past as it is about decisions that are yet to be made.  Thus, the difference between a person who is unwise and a person who is wise is determined by the rightness of their choices.  

Luckily, God has given us guidance in growing in wisdom, through the study of His Holy Word, as well as a way to receive heavenly wisdom by asking for it in faith.  The first sense, wisdom accrued from the study of His Word, means that we will read the Scriptures with a keen eye, focused on waht the Scriptures are saying about wisdom.

Additionally, there are three books of the Old Testament that are jointly focused on expressing the value and meaning of wisdom for humans: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job.  While each have different perspectives, they each are primarily dealing with wisdom's usefulness in the life of a man and are valuable resources within Scripture for wisdom.

The other sense of wisdom involves a person directly asking God to grant them wisdom.  Solomon did this (1 Kgs. 3:9), and the apostel James tells us that "If anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him (James 1:5)."  In this way, the believer has access to all the wisdom of heaven through faith.

At the final analysis, God has given us keys to the storehouses of His wisdom.  All we have to do is ask and pursue His wisdom in faith.  A word of qualification is needed here.  While Solomon was blessed with wisdom beyond comprehension, and was deemed the wisest man to have ever lived, he will be remembered as a man who forgot that the wisdom had not come from him but had been deposited in him by the Lord Almighty, and when he neglected that fact he fell into disbelief and unfaithfulness.  Let us then seek after wisdom in our pursuit of God so that we may live a righteous life in and by Him!

Preach the Word of God to See Him Move

Recently, and on previous occasions, I have found myself having to confront a certain type of theology that stirred my heart today.  The rudiments of this theology would state that the unbelieving world knows God by the actions and lives of Christians.  As in, the evidence of a person's Christianity to an unbelieving world is his/her lifestyle.  While on the surface this sort of theology jibes with underlying principles of the Christian faith, it neglects another, namely, the authority and power of the Word of God.

At the onset, a brief qualifying statement is in order.  Christianity is supported and, in a sense, evidenced by a life that adheres to the teachings and example of Christ Jesus.  Word and deed.  We need both of these.  However, being a Christian that expresses the love of Jesus to the stiff conviction of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) requires a deep and ardent commitment to the Word of God.

The issue at hand is one of power and of authority.  The essential question for every believer to ask is: what has the power and authority to cause people to repent from sin and to sling to the Lord in a life-changing, transformational way?  The answer is two-fold, involving two equally-necessary forces: the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.

Consider this from a logical standpoint for a moment.  If the Word of God is in fact Jesus (John 1:1-5), and becoming a Christian is a matter of faith in Christ Jesus, then how could anyone become Christian apart from them hearing, at the very least, the story of Christ?  Unequivocally, the appropriate response is that no one can come to Christ apart from encountering His Word.  For if anyone claims to know Christ apart from His Word, then their testimony is called into question as is the Christ they have chosen to worship.

It is the Word of God, inspired by and understood by the Holy Spirit, that is authoritative.  If we, as Christians, would like to "live by example" in order to express Christ to a fallen world, not only will we be ineffective in garnering the intended result of discipling people and bringing them to a transformational relationship with the Lord, but we will also fail to rely on the power of God to convict the hearts of those around us who we may actually be affecting.

Quite bluntly, to not preach the Word of God and to not make His Scripture be the very speech that falls from our lips is tantamount to not spreading the actual power of the Gospel.  I understand that this is challenging and convicting teaching, however, how we relate to and express the Word of God is at the very heart of how we relate to and express God Himself.

How we overcome such a deficient attempt at evangelism is simple but by no means easy: we need to speak the Word of God, share the verses that speak to that moment, and present the Scripture to those who may not be saved with grace and kindness.  This may sound like "Bible thumping," but what would be worse: being hit by God Almighty who reveals Himself through His Word for the purposes of humility and salvation, or eternal damnation because some believer was too afraid to share it?

Now, and this needs to be asserted clearly, this does require a fair bit of discernment and, frankly, Bible study on the part of the believer.  However, what could be more exciting for someone who claims to know God that digging into His Word in order to be obedient to His commandments?  Clearly, nothing is more important.  Although Christians must back up their beliefs by living them out, they must also acknowledge that their beliefs are dependent upon their reliance on the Holy Word of God, the Scriptures themselves.  Therefore, let us strive after the Word and be bold to preach it for in doing so we will see God move and transform lives!

Psalm 19 and the Revelation of Creation

Psalm 19: 1-4a:

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.  Day to day it pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.  There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the earth."

This passage of Scripture came up today in my Bible study and it seemed appropriate to bring it to light.  The essence of this passage is referred to by Paul in Rom. 1:19-20.  At the heart of it, and of our understanding of nature in general, is that God has revealed Himself in nature and nature continually reveals the character of God, declaring His glory and proclaiming His handiwork.

How we respond to this speaks of our devotion as well as the depth of our theology.  If, when we look at the majesty of creation, we are not drawn into awe and worship, then, we are not receiving the message that God has intended us to receive.

Instead, the appropriate response to the wonderful beauty of creation should be humility and reverence  before a mighty God.  In needs to be stated that the purpose of this has been neither doctrinal nor conviction.  Rather, God desires us to look for Him where He has left His imprint and the whole of creation is one of those sure places.  Let us then praise His name because of the revelation of creation!

Becoming Old Wise People

One of the realities of human life, that is a result of the Fall in Genesis 3, is aging.  In many ways, aging is a harsh reality because able-bodied young people decrease in physical capability just as a result of the passage of life and of time.  On the other hand, age should bring with it wisdom and dignity as well as insight into the Word of God.  The pertinent word is should, the process of aging should breed wisdom, but it is the process of such a decree that warrants further examination.

The issue at hand is the fact that wisdom is not accrued passively.  In fact, it requires our intentional and active pursuit.  More so, though, acquiring wisdom demands that God, particularly that we ask God to bless us with wisdom in faith (James 1:5-6).  Essentially, aging into an old, wise person does not simply mean growing into an old person.  Instead, it necessitates a life spent seeking God and asking Him to bless us with wisdom.

This is an all-too-often neglected reality.  We all know people who are old but are unwise.  However, they feel that their age is the only requirement of being wise.  This is just blatantly incorrect because, as aforementioned, wisdom and growing in wisdom does not happen passively but requires our active and consistent participation and pursuit.

Truly, aging in godliness requires more than merely the passage of time; rather, aging in a godly sense  demands our consistent and continued faithfulness.  Remember, wisdom at its heart is the ability to make right decisions.  And as rightness is a characteristic of God Almighty, wisdom is thus the ability to rely upon God for decision making.  Let us then pursue the wisdom of relying upon God so as to grow into the old, wise people that God intends us to be!