Love is a favorite topic for many in the religious world. While it is good for us to talk about love, John warned us not to stop there: “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18). That is, we must display love in our actions, not just our words.
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February 15, 2007
True Love
February 5, 2007
Don’t Believe Everything You Hear
“The naive believes everything, but the sensible man considers his steps” (Proverbs 14:15).
When it comes to things that pertain to the Bible, many have a belief that is based upon what someone has told them, whether that is a parent, preacher, pastor, etc. But we are being naive if we believe everything someone might tell us, regardless of how much respect we have for that person.
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February 1, 2007
Rebaptism
From time to time, the question arises as to whether or not one who has been baptized needs to be baptized again. This is an important question to answer given the emphasis the New Testament places upon baptism. Some may be quick to point out that we do not read of a second baptism, or “rebaptism” in Scripture. But the fact that a second baptism is not mentioned does not automatically mean that the practice is unauthorized. However, since it is not specifically mentioned, we must consider certain principles to help us answer the question.
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February 1, 2007
Reverend
[This article was written by Tim Haile.]
King David said of God, “He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever: holy and reverend is His name” (Psalm 111:9). David exalted God’s name as being “holy and reverend.” David gave this description on the basis of God’s ability to send redemption and establish His eternal covenant. Obviously, these two things are utterly impossible for man to do, so man is not in this classification. “Holy” means “set apart,” and “reverend” means “to fear, to be afraid, to stand in awe of.” So, in this context David describes God’s name as “holy” because it is set far apart from any ordinary name, and God’s name is “reverend” because God is to be feared and honored for His greatness, glory and power.
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February 1, 2007
Training Our Senses
In Hebrews 5, the writer began a discussion in which he compared Jesus Christ with the high priest Melchizedek. He broke from this discussion in verse 11 before picking it up again in chapter 7. The reason for this interlude was because there was “much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.” So the writer had to pause to reinforce some more basic truths before finishing this discussion. By this point, these Christians should have been mature and able to consider such a discussion about Melchizedek; yet they were not. The mature are those who have trained their senses (Hebrews 5:14).
What is meant by the term senses? This is the part of us that can perceive or judge right and wrong. We might call this our conscience. The writer said that our senses – or our conscience – should be trained in such a way that it can “discern good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14). We are striving to develop an inherent – almost subconscious – sense of right and wrong. This passage shows how we can train our senses in this way.
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January 31, 2007
Achieving Obedient Faith
[Article written by Matt Nevins. Originally published in his email newsletter “The Lamp.”]
Despite external forces working to put out lights of righteousness, the potential of maintaining purity is just as high as in the first century. Times of great wickedness can often give opportunity for demonstration of the strongest faith. God noted that the intent of individuals’ thoughts in the ancient world were continually and only upon evil (Gen 6:5). Yet we also read of a man who did all according to what the Lord instructed and achieved salvation by the grace of God (Gen. 7:5, 23). Noah is described as a man of faith in Hebrews 11 because of his obedience to the word of God. Men and women today are capable of having a caliber of faith equivalent to that of Noah or a host of other examples in the Bible.
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