You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. – John 5:39

While driving to work this Monday, I was praying for the ministry of The Gideons International. As I thought about the importance of getting the Bible into the hands of those who have never even seen one, I was reminded of Sunday’s devotion in my favorite devotional, My Utmost for His Highest. It contains the reminder that “We are not asked to believe the Bible, but to believe the One Whom the Bible reveals.”

Of course, if we didn’t believe the Bible, then we wouldn’t believe its revelation. You can’t disbelieve a witness and simultaneously accept their testimony. The point, then, must be that although faith comes from hearing the Word of God, salvation and eternal life are found in Christ.

In Christendom, we sometimes (not as much as in years past) talk about the importance of memorizing Scripture. I usually have more respect for someone who knows the Bible well. However, as the first-century Pharisees demonstrated, it is possible to know the Bible without knowing Jesus. The Scriptures were given not for our intellectual growth, but that we might know the One Who gave them.

The Psalmist wrote, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You!” (Psalm 119:11). He was not concerned with simply learning techniques for living a righteous life, but guarding his relationship with God. God has given His Word that we might know Him more and more.

God, help me not to be satisfied with simply knowing the Scriptures, but cause them to make me hunger and thirst for You.

I know that both of you who read this blog may be hesitant to compete for space, but since there are only two of you, you need not worry.

Below each post - on the right-hand side - is a hyperlink for comments. If the link reads “No Comments”, then you will be the first to add a comment. Any fear of competing for space is assuaged! Even if the link reads “1 Comment”, (the other person commented before you), you can still respond to the post, or even respond to the other person’s repsonse. Oh what fun!

“After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” – Acts 16:7-9

Sometimes, we “get serious” in life, and set out on a plan of action that we think will be the best. That plan of action may even be something that we are going to do “for God”. All too often, though, I think that we grow weary in doing good, or we are taken aback by obstacles in the course that we have envisioned for ourselves. We take a break to inwardly sulk before deciding what we might want to think about doing instead.

Paul and his companions set out to preach the Gospel to the Mediterranean world, with a fairly detailed itinerary. When they could not go into Bithynia, they continued on to Troas. When they arrived there, a vision directed them to essentially drop their immediate plans and head for Macedonia.

They still were able to preach the Gospel to the Mediterranean world, just not in the order that they had anticipated. Although the course was changed, the purpose was not affected. It makes me wonder if I am too often concerned with a particular plan of action rather than a particular purpose.

In Proverbs 16:9 we read “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.” Notice that it doesn’t say that if a man plans his steps, the Lord will direct his way, helping him move along the course that the man has determined for himself. This passage tells me two things:

1. We may start out in one direction, but God may redirect us, and we must be open and flexible to such leading.
2. Sitting and waiting for direction will get you nowhere. You must be moving (stepping) in order to receive the Lord’s direction.

May I be more committed to God’s purposes than to my plans.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. - 1 Cor. 11:26

Yesterday I was contemplating this significant aspect of the Lord’s Supper. If the purpose of the Communion was only to proclaim the death of Christ, it would be somber observance. As the Apostle Paul also observed, “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” (1 Cor 15:17-19). That is, if Jesus (Y’shua) simply died, then He died for an ideal. His claim to forgive sins is simply a platitude, and His promise of resurrection utter silliness. Both the saint and the sinner die and decay.

If the Bread and the Cup were to proclaim only His coming, then that would be a fearful prospect. We would be facing a day of judgment, on which each of us would stand or fall on the merits of our own righteousness. Since “There is none righteous, no, not one,” (Rom. 3:10) the outlook would be quite grim.

How marvelous that when eat the Bread and drink the Cup, we remeber both Christ’s death for our sins and His coming again!

“No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” – From 2 Samuel 24:24

This morning, I began my prayer with my usual plea: “God me merciful to me a sinner.” Although I am a faithful church-going, jail-preaching, Bible-distributing, upstanding, law-abiding citizen, I am also a sinner. Before I met Christ, my sins were mostly those of commission - bad things that I should not have been doing; nowadays, my sins are mostly those of omission – good things that I ought to be doing. Even during prayer, I often find myself thinking more about composing music, my business, or my long to-do lists rather than setting my mind on “things above”.

It got me to thinking: How often do we give God our leftovers; the time that we can spare, or our unexpected free time? Do we write the tithe check first, or simply try to make sure that we have enough money left in the account to give on Sunday? I believe that it was the famed preacher G. Campbell Morgan, in his book “Wherein Have We Robbed God?” who astutely observed that sacrilege is often defined as taking something that belongs to God and using it profanely, and yet there is a bigger sacrilege that we commit all the time: that is offering to God that which is of no value to us.

When I think of the recognition made in 2 Corinthians 5:14 and 15, those sins of omission become glaring. Indeed, may God be merciful to me, a gross sinner. Further reflection upon the aforementioned passage demonstrates that God has been merciful. Christ died for me, a sinner. May that fact inspire me to give a little more of myself.