December 23, 2009

Submit to God, Resist the Devil

“Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

The two words James used to admonish Christians in their walk – submit and resist – both involve action. This should not be surprising. Earlier in the letter he commended an active faith while condemning a passive faith.

Regarding the active faith, James wrote, “Show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:18). Further on he said, “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).
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December 21, 2009

How Much Does God Hate Sin?

Flight of Lot

Sin is not taken very seriously by many in our society. People ignore it, make excuses for it, and joke about it. This casual attitude is in stark contrast with the way God views sin.

There are three examples from the book of Genesis that clearly demonstrate to us just how much God hates sin. We will briefly look at each of these examples as well as how they compare with God’s view of sin under the gospel age.
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December 18, 2009

Harvest Is Past

Countryside

In Jeremiah 8, the prophet condemned the people of Jerusalem for their sins. The condemnation was not for an occasional misstep, but for the persistent practice of sin and their stubborn refusal to repudiate it: “Why then has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in apostasy? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return” (Jeremiah 8:5).

The deceit to which they held fast consisted of the lies of the scribes (Jeremiah 8:8) and of the priests who would say “‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:11). They had become so accustomed to their sin that they were no longer “ashamed of the abomination they had done…and they did not know how to blush” (Jeremiah 8:12). They had replaced the Lord with “graven images” and “foreign idols” (Jeremiah 8:19).

After outlining this miserable state of the people, the prophet said, “Harvest is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jeremiah 8:20).
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December 5, 2009

Balm of Gilead

By Deror_avi - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36512852

We sometimes sing the song, “Did You Think to Pray?” In one of the verses, it mentions the “Balm of Gilead.” This may be an unfamiliar term to us. What exactly is the Balm of Gilead? In order to have a better understanding and appreciation for the words we are singing, let us notice what the Bible says about it.
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November 21, 2009

All Spiritual Blessings in Christ

Ephesians 1:3

Paul began his letter to the Ephesians by offering praise to God: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). There are many reasons why God is worthy of all praise and honor; but in this passage, Paul directed our attention to the spiritual blessings we have from Him. We give glory to God because he has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

As Paul continued, he listed some of the spiritual blessings available to us:
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November 16, 2009

The Fertile Fields of Sin in Sodom

Lot and the Men of Sodom

Shortly after receiving the promises from God, Abram (Abraham) journeyed out of Egypt with his nephew Lot (Genesis 13:1). A problem soon arose between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen because the land was unable to support all of their livestock (Genesis 13:6-7). Abram proposed that they separate in order to resolve the conflict and allowed Lot to choose which direction he would go (Genesis 13:8-9). Notice what the text says about his decision:

“Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the Lord… So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. […] Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom” (Genesis 13:10-12).

While the area around Sodom provided fertile ground for his livestock, Lot ignored a very significant fact about the city: “The men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the Lord” (Genesis 13:13). Just as the ground was fertile to produce vegetation, conditions among the inhabitants of Sodom were fertile to produce the great wickedness in that city.
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November 10, 2009

What Have You Done?

Cain and Abel

“What have you done?” Children often hear this question from their parents. They quickly learn that this question means three things: (1) they did something wrong, (2) they were caught, and (3) there are consequences to follow.

Our heavenly Father asked this question twice in the early chapters of the Bible with the same kind of meaning. The first came after Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the forbidden fruit. He asked Eve, “What is this you have done?” (Genesis 3:13). Following that, Cain sinned when he murdered his brother Abel. When God confronted Cain, He asked, “What have you done?” (Genesis 4:10).

There are lessons for us today from this question.
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