Spiritual Food for Women

Become As Little Children

Part 3- God, Our Father

In parts one and two of this series, we have looked at what Jesus meant when He told the disciples they needed to become as little children in Matthew 18. Let’s look at two more ways that we can become like children in God’s eyes. I don’t believe these ways are what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 18. He was simply answering the question that He was asked by His disciples. But let’s look at the idea of becoming like children a little further. How dependent were we on our parents when we were babies, toddlers, young children, and even teenagers and college age? Imagine a newborn baby, who is totally dependent on his/her parents or caregivers for his/her needs. Newborn human babies are probably the most helpless of all creatures. They are completely at the mercy of their parents or caregivers. Toddlers and young children are still solely dependent on their parents to watch after them, teach them things they need to know, discipline them when need be, and give them unconditional love. How about teenagers? Well, they may think they don’t depend on their parents as much, but in reality they actually depend on them as much as ever in a lot of ways. Actually, I’m 52 years old and I still depend on my parents for things such as unconditional love, advice, wisdom, and honesty. I still and will always need my parents. Even more so, we have to depend on God the way we do our earthly parents. He is God, Our Father, hence the name of this post. When we were sick or hurt or needed something as a child, who did we turn to? Momma or Daddy, right? Or Grandma or Grandpa if we were with them at the time? Or whoever our parental figure was when we were children? Whatever the problem, we knew we could take that problem to our parents and they would give us the help we needed. That is, if we were lucky enough to have the kind of parents that all children deserve. In the same way, when we are hurting, struggling, worried, or grieving, whether it be physical pain, mental anguish, or emotional distress, we should be totally dependent on God, our heavenly Father. How do we depend on Him? Through opening His word and letting His precious word soothe our souls, and going to Him in prayer and laying everything at His feet. When worry or negativity creeps into my mind, it is always because I haven’t been in His word or in prayer enough for a few days straight. This is another way that we can become like children, by turning to Him in our time of need before we turn to anything else. Proverbs 3:5-7 is still one of my “go to” verses to remind myself that I need to completely depend on God. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” I want to always remember that it is not in me to direct my own steps. (Jeremiah 10:23) Just like I kept a close eye on my children when they were little and first walking, I want to allow God to watch my steps and guide me in my life every day. My babies knew no danger at that age, so I had to watch them all the time. As teenagers and even young adults at times, we don’t see danger the way the older adults in our lives do. We are inexperienced in life at that age. We think we are indestructible, some of us even on into adulthood tend to think this way for one reason or another. Our parents try to warn us about things we shouldn’t get involved in, people we should steer clear of, and places that could be dangerous for us or get us into trouble. Isn’t this what God does for all of us in His word? I want to hold God’s hand, through His word, and let Him guide me, just like I used to hold Rhiannon’s and Jordan’s little hands and guide them across busy streets, and through crowded places like, for example, the Warren County Fair. I would say, “Guys, do not let go of my hand!”. And…… I know they got tired of me giving them the third degree when they were teenagers, “where are you going?”, “who else will be there?”, “what time will you be home?”, “will their parents be there?”, and the list goes on. Luckily, my kids have been much better behaved than I was. They have both been a blessing to Jeff and I. You’ve heard the saying, “You pay for your raising”? I haven’t paid for mine. God is good. He knows what we can handle!! Those of you who knew me many moons ago can chuckle because…. “you know”!! But just like our parents question us, God does the same thing through His word. He warns us over and over about sin and the destruction it will bring to our lives. In Romans 6:23, Paul puts it very plainly, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” How do we know if something we are doing is a sin? We look in His word and it tells us. God gives us example after example of people who allowed sin to either destroy them or cause them great anguish and grief. God gives us these examples to teach us, because He doesn’t want us to ruin our lives like some of the people from the past ruined theirs. I love Psalms 1:1-2, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” This is God’s warning to us through an inspired Psalm of David to stay away from sin and to “delight” in and “meditate” on His word. If we truly intend on being completely dependent on Him, then we need to be in His word daily and in prayer daily. His word will, in turn, cause us to question ourselves. “Should I do this? Should I go here? Should I wear this? How should I handle this situation?” His word convicts, teaches, and chastises us if we allow it to. But we have to be in God’s word for it to convict, teach and chastise us. We also have to be present at bible study and worship services, not only because we are commanded to do so, but also so that we can hear God’s word explained in a way that we can understand. We also have our brothers and sisters in Christ to support us if we are actively attending services. Plus we are able to support them when they need us. I ask myself, am I totally dependent on my Father in heaven? Is He who I turn to first? Do I allow Him to guide me?

The second way that I believe we can use children as an example is in our enthusiasm. Children are so curious and enthusiastic about their surroundings. They have an enthusiasm for learning that is amazing to watch. I used to order a caterpillar to butterfly kit for my classroom in the spring. The kids were so excited about every stage that the caterpillar was going through. They were questioning, analyzing, predicting, etc. For my readers who are teachers…..you know the term……they were using critical thinking skills without even realizing it!! Also, have you ever watched a child when they first learn to sound out words and begin reading? It’s amazing to see that enthusiasm and that light come to their little eyes. Friends, what if we were to have a child-like enthusiasm when it comes to God’s word? Think about how much we would learn and grow!! Here are some synonyms for enthusiasm: fervor, zeal, eagerness, and passion. God loves to see our enthusiasm for His word and His purpose. Romans 12:11 says we are to not be slothful (lazy), but to be fervent (enthusiastic) in spirit, serving the Lord. Titus 2:14 says we are to be people who are zealous (enthusiastic) for good works. And one more, Colossians 3:23 tells us that whatever we do, we should do it heartily (enthusiastically) for the Lord. How enthusiastic am I for God’s word? Do I delight in His word? Do I meditate on it? How enthusiastic am I for His purpose? Do I study and analyze His word like my students analyzed the caterpillar to butterfly stages? Am I excited about His word like a child who has first learned to read?

On a side note, as parents and grandparents, we don’t want our kids to make the same mistakes that we did. We don’t want our kids to experience the heartache that we caused ourselves. We want our kids to be “all in” when it comes to their Christianity. We want them to be in heaven on that great and terrible day. This is the ultimate goal for us as Christian parents and grandparents. But if I want my kids and grandkids to be on a path to heaven, then I first have to be on that path. I have to be “all in”. They have to see me giving my all to Him. They have to see me totally depending on Him and putting Him first. I have been far from the perfect parent. I didn’t have Him first all the time. I wasn’t totally dependent on Him and I’m sure my kids saw it. I tried very hard, but I know I fell short often. But friends, it is never too late to change. It is never too late to do better. I truly hope that my children can see that I am trying to do better. I am trying to do better for God and His Son, for His church, for my husband, for my four children, for my grandson, for my future grandchildren, for my parents, for my aunt and uncle, for Jeff’s family, for all of my extended family and my friends. Equally as important, I am trying to do better for my brothers and sisters in Christ. But most of all, I should be trying to do better for the lost. That is my commission from Jesus found in Matthew 28:18-20. He says for me to GO to them. I have to ask myself, am I going to them? In what way am I going to them? We all have our own ways of using our talents to grow Jesus’ kingdom here on earth. There are different ways that we can GO to them. What is your way of going to them?

To end this post, I want to point out something that I found to be humbling while I was studying this subject of becoming as little children. In the book of 1st John (KJV), John, through the inspiration of God, refers to the church as a whole as “little children” nine times. Of course, just like every word of the Bible, God, through John, is also speaking to us today. He talks to us in such a tender and kind way, like a mentor or a father figure. In six of these various verses, He gives us profound fatherly reminders and advice. He says, “little children”, your sins are forgiven, “little children”, you have known the Father, “little children”, abide in Him, “little children” if you do righteousness, then you are righteous, “little children” let us show love with our actions and not just our words, and “little children” you are of God. (1 John 2:12, 2:13, 2:28, 3:7, 3:18, 4:4) In 1 John 2:1-2 he writes, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” John is telling us, the little children, that we should do our very best to keep from sinning, but ultimately, because we are human, we will mess up, make mistakes, and fall short. But….. because we are in Christ, we have Him as our advocate with God. If Jesus is our advocate with the Father, then that means He will have our backs on judgment day if we have obeyed the gospel and remained faithful. He bears our sins before the Father so we don’t have to. Amazing right? Just a question for you to think about, have you obeyed the gospel? Are you in Christ? The plan of salvation is at the bottom of the article with scripture references for you to study. In 1 John 2:18, John warns us, “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” The antichrists that John is talking about are false teachers. John is warning us, the little children, to be aware that there are false teachers everywhere. We see these false teachers everywhere we look in our society today. Let’s be sure that what we are being taught is the truth by digging into His word for ourselves. Have you made sure that what you have been taught is the whole truth? And finally, John’s last words to the church in this epistle are in 1 John 5:21, which is the very last verse of 1st John, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” What is an idol for us today? Friends, it is anything that we put ahead of God and His kingdom, the church. It can be anything, from our jobs, to our hobbies, to even our own families. I have to look at myself here for sure. Am I putting God and His kingdom first in my life in all things? 

To end this three part series, here are my questions to challenge myself first and then my readers. Are my motives for everything that I do for God pure? Have I put others ahead of myself? Have I lowered myself as a little child? Am I totally dependent on God as a little child is to a parent? Do I have the enthusiasm of a little child for God’s word and God’s purpose for my life? Ask yourself these questions this week. After diving into 1st John and seeing all the references to us as “little children”, I have a feeling our attitude of humility is very important to our Father. I hope this series has sparked some thoughts and feelings inside you during the last couple of weeks. It certainly has sparked some conviction in me. I know I can do better. I hope everyone has an awesome Lord’s day and a wonderful week ahead! Thank you for reading!

God’s Plan of Salvation

If anyone ever needs help in learning the truth of the gospel, please reach out and I can help you or put you in contact with someone who can. Below is the plan that God has set forth in His word, for mankind to receive His grace that leads to salvation and an eternity with God in heaven. 

• We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 
• Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 
• Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 
• Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 
• Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)
• Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)

Become As Little Children

Part 2- What did Jesus mean by saying this?

In part 1 of this series, I looked at the question that the disciples asked Jesus in Matthew 18, “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Comparing ourselves to others in our Christian walk was the subject. I ended with the challenge to not compare ourselves to anyone except Jesus. This week, I want to focus on Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ question. “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” This is the question that Jesus’ disciples asked Him in Matthew 18:1. I can just imagine Jesus thinking, “nope, they don’t get it. I’m going to need to show them an example that they can understand.” The disciples needed a lesson in humility. Would anyone who was truly a humble person be worried about who is the greatest? Let’s think about this in regards to a team. On any sports team, all the players are, or they should be anyway, of equal importance to the coach. They each have different levels of ability and different sets of skills that are valuable to the team. The quarterback of a football team cannot win the game all by himself, nor can any other member of any team. It is the coach’s job to find each player’s strengths and build on them and use them for the success of the team. Everyone cannot be in the starting lineup of a basketball team, as there can only be five on the court at a time. However, those players who start the game on the bench, are every bit as valuable and should feel as such. That is….if they have a coach who truly cares about all of his/her players and has his/her priorities right. And…..everyone cannot be the leading scorer on a basketball team. However, can that leading scorer win the game all by himself or herself? Do you see where I’m going with this? 

In comparison, the disciples were Jesus’ ministry team. To tie in with the above examples, Jesus was their “coach”. He had handpicked each one of them to be by His side throughout His ministry, up until His death, His resurrection, and ultimately up until the birth of the church and the spreading of the gospel to the whole world. All of these men had characteristics, abilities, and qualities that Jesus was looking for. Even Judas. Jesus could see inside each one of them, into their heart, and know that each one of them would ultimately help Him fulfill His purpose here on earth. He was also training them to be His vessels after He ascended back to heaven to be with His Father. After His ascension, He would appear to Saul of Tarsus, later called Paul, on the road to Damascus, and handpick Him to be the apostle to take the gospel to the gentiles. All of the disciples were equal in Jesus’ sight, just like we are all equal in His sight. Each disciple probably had his own special talents and abilities, just like we do today. They were all equally important to Jesus’ ministry, just as we are. They probably each had specific responsibilities or roles in the work of Jesus’ ministry, just as we do in the church today. Just like on a sports team, they all should have been working together for a common goal, instead of being concerned with who was the greatest. Shouldn’t we also be working together for a common goal in the Lord’s church today?

So……how did Jesus answer them? He brought a little child to Him and set that child before the disciples. (Matthew 18:2) Then Jesus answered them. He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3-4) Let’s begin with “unless you are converted”. Some synonyms for convert are: turn, change, transform, and metamorphose. Jesus is telling His disciples that they need to convert or transform their way of thinking. They are completely missing the mark. Their concern for greatness is wrong and is hindering them from humility. Of course, they weren’t talking about “greatness” in the physical world. They were talking about “greatness” in heaven, in the spiritual world, when their physical life was over. It doesn’t matter though. Instead of being concerned with each other’s souls, they were trying to see who could be the best in Jesus’ eyes when they got to heaven. They were turning Jesus’ gift of eternal life into a competition!! They didn’t realize at that point how wrong they really were. If the disciples were desiring to be more important than someone else in heaven, then they would not be in heaven. We talked about this in my last post, about turning our Christian life into a competition. We can’t do this. The bottom line is, if I have the desire to be more important than others in the kingdom here on earth, the church, then I won’t get to be in the kingdom of heaven when Jesus returns. The disciples were commissioned by Jesus in Matthew 28:19 to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. How would they have been able to do that with their attitude in Matthew 18? This commission by Jesus is still ours today and we have to have the right mindset as well. Jesus said in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” You can substitute humble in place of “poor in spirit”. And to end this section on being converted, I give you these beautiful inspired verses written by Paul, “ Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4 NASB) Wow. There is nothing I need to explain about those verses. God’s word says it all, friends.

Why did Jesus use a child as an example? What did He mean by “become as little children”? Children had no status during the time when Jesus was on earth. Even in today’s society, children are minors and don’t have all of the rights that we have as adults. It is not a morality issue. It is an issue of significance. He doesn’t want us to act like children and never mature in our thinking. This is about our attitude in regards to ourselves and others. Jesus is saying that we have to lower ourselves, not elevate ourselves. Imagine a doorway that only a child could fit through easily. As adults, we would have to stoop, or lower ourselves, maybe even crawl, to fit through that door. Use this analogy to illustrate us getting into heaven someday. We have to lower ourselves and put others ahead of ourselves if we want to “fit” through the door of heaven. This is the definition of humility. If we look at Matthew 18:4, Jesus says if we humble ourselves as a little child, then we will be greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Well, if we look at this logically, verse 3 says we won’t enter unless we become as a little child. Therefore, we will all be equally “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”, because all of us who are there spending eternity with God, will be those who lowered ourselves so we could “fit” through heaven’s doorway. Isn’t this what Jesus did? Jesus is the ultimate example of lowering oneself. After Paul tells us to lower ourselves and put others ahead of ourselves in Philippians 2:3-4, he explains to us how Jesus put Himself ahead of us. Just listen and ponder what He did for us. I know that we all know what He did, but do we really know? Do we really truly understand how what He did for us should affect how we live our lives and treat others today? Listen to these verses and truly think about them. Read them out loud. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8 NASB) I want to key in on the phrase “emptied Himself”. Other translations of this phrase include, “gave up everything” (CEV), “made Himself nothing” (ESVUK), “made Himself of no reputation” (KJV), and “gave up His place with God” (EXB). Let those words sink in, friends. He gave up everything for us. So I ask myself, what have I given up for Him? Have I emptied myself for Him? Have I lowered myself to become as a little child? Am I doing what Jesus told the disciples to do in Matthew 18? Everything Jesus said to them applies to me today.

These are the questions that I leave with you this week, my friends. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and week ahead! Thank you so much for reading my blog!

God’s Plan of Salvation

If anyone ever needs help in learning the truth of the gospel, please reach out and I can help you or put you in contact with someone who can. Below is the plan that God has set forth in His word, for mankind to receive His grace that leads to salvation and an eternity with God in heaven. 

• We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 
• Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 
• Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 
• Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 
• Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)
• Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)

Become As Little Children

Part 1- “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

In Matthew 18, the disciples came to Jesus asking Him a question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” (Matthew 18:1) Did you ever wonder why the disciples were debating over this question? They were all Jesus’ chosen disciples so why were they asking Jesus this question? Jesus had just begun to explain to His disciples in Matthew 16:21-23 and 17:22-23 of how He would be killed and raised the third day. He was beginning to prepare them for what was to come. Then, they heard Jesus scold Peter and refer to him as Satan for simply saying that he would defend Jesus and not allow Him to be hurt. (Matt. 16:23-24) Imagine what they were thinking at this point! I’m sure they were confused. Why would Jesus not want them to defend Him and save Him from harm? Wouldn’t you be confused if you were them? I know I would. After this happened with Peter, they heard Jesus say those famous words, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever will save his life shall lose it: and whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.” (Matthew 16:24-27) Wouldn’t you like to have been a fly on the wall when the disciples were discussing these words of Jesus? I bet the part about God “rewarding every man according to his works” is the part where they got into a debate about who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. In their human minds, they all wanted to be the greatest in Jesus’ kingdom. It was a human reaction. They may have each been saying all the good things they had done for Jesus, and trying to see who had done the most for him. Or maybe they were comparing what each of them had done for others or how many people they had told about Jesus. Who knows what they were thinking? My question to us is, “don’t we do this today?” 

To relate this to us as Christians today, don’t we look at ourselves sometimes and think that we are not doing as much as someone else. Or…. maybe we complain that we are the only ones doing the bulk of the work. This reminds me of the infamous sisters, Mary and Martha. (Luke 10:38-42) Maybe we start thinking that we are “greater in the kingdom of heaven” (the church) than someone else, like the disciples did in Matthew 18. Or….. equally as bad, we start thinking less of ourselves because we think someone else is doing more than us. Maybe we feel like we aren’t “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”. Also, do we sometimes feel like we aren’t as good as someone else in the kingdom, a.k.a. the church, because of our past or our upbringing? Maybe you were raised in the church, but you don’t have as pristine of a past as others for one reason or another. I have to admit, this would be me! Maybe you weren’t raised in the church at all, and don’t have the Bible knowledge that someone else has. You simply didn’t get the opportunity to learn those precious Bible stories that children who are in Sunday school their whole lives have the opportunity to learn. Or vice versa, do you feel better about yourself, because you were raised in the church and were always well-behaved, and didn’t get into any mischief while you were growing up. Maybe you are a Christian who has had to go forward for prayers and forgiveness often over the course of your Christian life, for things that you did that brought shame on the church. Maybe you have had to rededicate your life to Christ over and over because you struggle to stay faithful to the church and keep God first in your life. Can I just say that God/Jesus doesn’t care about any of those things? He doesn’t care about our past or how we were raised. He doesn’t care about our level of Bible knowledge at any given moment. He doesn’t care how many times we have allowed ourselves to be caught up in sin or fallen away from the church. He only cares about the fact that we are doing something about our situation now. He only cares about the condition of your heart and my heart right now. He knows if I am truly trying to overcome my past. He knows if I am giving it my all in my personal Bible study no matter my level of knowledge. He knows if I am trying to apply it to my life. He knows all of my struggles, because He walked on this earth and was tempted in all points just as I am. The only difference is, because He is God, He walked this earth without committing a single sin. (Hebrews 4:15) God definitely wants all of us to grow in our knowledge of His word, but He doesn’t keep a graph of everyone’s Bible knowledge. All He asks is that we study and grow at our own true pace. 2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to show thyself approved unto God….” It does not say that you need to make sure you study as much or more than anyone else! God does not compare us to others!! So we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others!! Now let me be clear, looking at other wonderful Christians as examples is fine. We are all supposed to be Christian examples for each other and the lost in a positive way. But we can’t cross that line and turn it into a competition to try and be better than someone else. At that point, the good that we do becomes all about us and not God. The Christian life is not a contest to see who is the “greatest in the kingdom.” Let that sink in friends!! 

And let me just give us this reminder, it is not always about how much of the Bible we can recite or Bible facts that we know. It is more about application. Do we know enough about the Bible to understand how to truly be saved? This is the most important question. If you need this information, you will find it at the bottom of this post with scripture references. Also, for we who are Christians, do we apply what we know about God’s word to our everyday lives? It does us no good to know it and not apply it. Knowledge without application is useless to us. All the Bible knowledge in the world will not help us get to heaven. We have to apply that knowledge to our lives if we want that heavenly home.

So what does God look for in us? What will he be looking for when we stand before Him on that wonderful and terrible day? I say “wonderful and terrible” because it will be both……wonderful for some and terrible for others. When we stand before God on judgment day, He isn’t going to compare us to others.  2 Corinthians 5:10 tells us, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” He is going to look directly at our lives and our hearts. No one else’s life or heart will be on our Father’s mind except for ours in that moment. Each of us will have God’s complete attention. 1 Corinthians 4:5 says that when the Lord comes, He will “bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts.” So what is our motive for the things we do? What will our life and our heart show God? Will it show a life and a heart of devotion to God and His purpose of saving souls and serving others? Or will it show a life and a heart of us worrying about whether we are as good as someone else? Will it show a life and a heart of thinking we are doing “better” than most of the other people around us? Do we have the “I’m good enough” syndrome? Or the “I’m ok” syndrome? Friends, we can never be “good enough”? What is our mindset? The bottom line, my Christian friends, is that God is only going to be comparing us to one person, and that is His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The only person we need to be concerned with being more like, is Him. Are we making every effort to be like Him? My friends, this post is certainly making me look long and hard at myself. I hope this helps all of us realize that we are all special in the eyes of God and we all have so much to offer His kingdom here on earth. The challenge for the week? You guessed it! Let’s not compare ourselves to others in a negative way. Let’s simply work on being more like Jesus. 

So…..with all that being said, let’s go back to the disciples’ question for Jesus, “who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” How did He answer them? I will continue with this study next week. I hope you all have a wonderful Lord’s Day tomorrow and a wonderful week ahead! Thank you for reading!

If anyone ever needs help in learning the truth of the gospel, please reach out and I can help you or put you in contact with someone who can. Below is the plan that God has set forth in His word, for mankind to receive His grace that leads to salvation and an eternity with God in heaven. 

• We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 
• Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 
• Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 
• Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 
• Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)
• Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)

Grace

Part 3- How and what does grace teach us?

Titus 2:11-14

11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 

12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

In part 1 of this study on the grace of God, I looked at how God’s grace has been here since before time began. I used 2 Timothy 1:9 as my key verse for this statement. I also looked at how God’s grace touched the lives of people in the Old Testament leading up to Jesus, and how His grace back then, has been reaching forward to each of us today. In part 2, I looked at Romans 6:1-4, 15 which proves that grace does not give us a free pass to sin over and over willfully. I also used Titus 2:11 to show that God’s saving grace is available to every person on earth, however only those who follow God’s plan of salvation will be able to accept God’s gift of grace. I will now look at Titus 2:12-14 and answer the question, “how and what does grace teach us?”

First of all, does grace teach us without any effort on our part? Titus 2:12 says that grace teaches us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. But how does grace teach us to live this way? The word teach has many synonyms: train, instruct, educate, discipline, and chasten. When I look at all these words that go along with the word teach, I realize that to teach someone something relevant to their lives is one of the greatest gifts we can give someone. Let’s say someone tries to teach us how to swim. In my opinion, I feel that this is a good example of something relevant, because I feel that everyone needs to know how to swim for their own safety. You never know when you will wind up in some water and have to swim to survive or you may have to save someone else from drowning. Will we learn to swim if we don’t follow what we are being taught by the instructor? No we won’t. We won’t learn anything if we ourselves don’t put forth effort into what we are being taught. There are certain things that go into learning to swim. First, you have to train yourself to not be afraid of the water. You have to train yourself to have the courage to put your head under the water. You have to learn how to hold your breath. Putting my head under water was my biggest fear when I was learning to swim. But no one could make me overcome my fear. I had to do that on my own. I could have all the adults around me cheering me on and telling me I had nothing to be afraid of. However, until I talked myself into not being afraid, I was still holding myself back from learning. This example ties in perfectly with how grace teaches us. I was holding myself back from learning to swim because of my fear. 

Can I hold myself back in my Christian walk? Can I keep grace from teaching me how to live the Christian life? Absolutely I can! If I don’t deny myself some things, then I keep God’s saving grace at bay, meaning I don’t gain access to it. I’m literally keeping God’s grace at an arm’s length from me. I’m not allowing myself to be molded into the kind of person that God wants me to be. And this is all because I don’t want to give up or deny myself certain things that are worldly. But I can’t expect to have my cake and eat it too. I can’t continue in whatever sin tempts me, and still receive His grace anymore than I could learn to swim without getting my head wet. So what are we supposed to deny in order to live the Christian life? Paul tells Titus that if we deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, then we will be able to live soberly, righteously, and godly. Of course, the world doesn’t think we should deny ourselves anything. The “live for the moment” and “live for self” mantra is what the world continually tries to teach us. So ask yourself, do you want the world to teach you or do you want God’s grace to teach you? Do you belong to the world or to God? Jesus expects us to deny ourselves if we are going to follow Him. Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 16:24, “that if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me”. We have to say “no” to sin or we deny Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:12 says that if we deny Him, then He will deny us. That is a scary thought since He is our Savior and our mediator between us and God. 

Ok……my sisters in Christ…. I’m going to get more personal for a bit. It might be a bit of a soapbox. The thought of Jesus denying me before God is horrifying and heartbreaking for me to even think about. But more than that, the thought of intentionally harming Jesus with my sin is even more heartbreaking to me. I mean God has this amazing plan to save me with His grace through His Son, that started before time began, and I couldn’t deny myself of ungodliness and worldly lusts so that I could live for Him? I don’t know what I’ve been thinking in my past with how I have acted at times. You may be saying to yourself, “wow, she’s hard on herself.” Yes I am! Well…. maybe not hard on myself anymore, just aware of myself and the temptations that I have struggled with in the past. I keep my guard up all the time, because Satan is just waiting for me to let it down. Now don’t get me wrong, I have forgiven myself of past sins which was hard for me to do, believe me. We all have to forgive ourselves for things we have done in our past, either before we were baptized or possibly after we became Christians, and let ourselves be pulled back into the world. Maybe this has happened multiple times for some of us. But if we don’t forgive ourselves, then we won’t allow ourselves to grow spiritually through God’s grace. I firmly believe that I had stunted my own growth for a pretty good while just by not being able to let go of some things from the past. I had gotten things right with God…. at least I thought I had. I was denying ungodliness and worldly lusts like I am told to do in our key verses. However, I was also denying myself grace because I wasn’t  forgiving myself. I wouldn’t be able to write this blog if I had kept that kind of thinking up, because I didn’t think I had anything to offer God’s kingdom. I didn’t think I was worthy to put my words out there. I had to show myself grace. It’s taken lots of soul searching, lots of Bible study and prayer, support from my wonderful family, and support from some very special sisters in Christ. You know who you are ladies! Letting myself feel God’s grace and know that I am truly His and knowing that He has really forgiven me has been the most wonderful experience that has ever happened to me. It took me years. Don’t wait years to figure this out my friends. If this is you and you are feeling like I have in the past…… like you just aren’t good enough to receive God’s grace, you need to KNOW that God has wonderful plans for you. None of us are good enough for God’s grace, am I right? Because of Jesus we don’t have to be “good enough”! It’s a gift! Let go of the past and fully accept that God loves you and wants to save you through His amazing grace. Then let Him transform you into a vessel for His purpose. And one more thing, if you are like I used to be, you might have looked at someone else and thought……”Wow, she is such a wonderful Christian lady. I could never be as good as she is”. Or…..”I wish I was as good of a Christian as she is”. Let me just say a big ole “NO” to this kind of thinking! If we compare ourselves to others in a derogatory way toward ourselves, we are only holding ourselves back from what God’s purpose is for us. And all the good that we could do for God’s kingdom will stay hidden, because of our feelings of inadequacy. Is it ok to pattern after a person who is a wonderful Christian example to us? Absolutely! Just don’t put yourself down in the process. Friends, we are here to support each other and encourage each other in our talents for God’s kingdom. Everyone has talents that can be used to spread God’s word to the lost. 

Let’s look at Paul and his ugly past for a bit. Do we think he would have been as successful as he was in his ministry if he had kept looking back at his past in a negative way? Of course, he did tell people about his past and about his conversion story in order to relate better to his audience. We can do this also. Our past and our conversion stories could help someone else open up to us and could even open a door for us to teach them the gospel. Our past could make someone feel less alone in what they are going through. But this is the only way we should be looking back at our past, to show people that we were once where they are. We should not look back so that we can continually beat ourselves up again and again. What if Paul had compared himself to Peter and thought, “I’ll never be as good as Peter’? Let’s all remember what Paul was in his former life as Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor and murderer of Christians. In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul writes some of the most encouraging words for me personally, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Wow. He says I don’t have heaven yet, but that is what I am pressing forward towards. And I’m not looking back to where I was, only forward to where I want to be. He tells us in verse 15 that if we are mature, then this is the mindset that we should have. So if I really think about what God’s grace has done for me through Jesus Christ, then why wouldn’t I want to deny the things that will hurt me as a Christian, hurt Jesus, hurt the church that He died for, and cause me to abuse and lose God’s grace? This is how grace teaches us. When we fully realize what God has done for us and understand that our actions have hurt our Savior again and again, this is when we start allowing grace to teach us how to live. Grace is what teaches us about the love that God has for us, even when we are in sin before we are baptized into Christ, even when we turn our backs on Him after we are baptized into Christ, even when we don’t put Him first in our lives, even when our human weaknesses cause us to stumble, and even when we can’t let go of our past enough to let God heal us and use us for His purpose. You see, God is waiting on all of us to accept His grace and fully give our lives to Him. The gift is there for us when we are mature enough to fully accept it and let it truly transform us. To all my Christians readers, especially my younger readers, don’t wait on your chance to feel the freedom you can find by letting go of the past and the world, and fully living your life for Christ. It truly is the best life and honestly, it’s our only chance to be in heaven with God someday. God wants all of us, not just the parts of us we allow him to have.

What is godliness? Godliness is simply “God likeness” or “like God. So ungodliness would be “unlike God”. If we are Christians, then we should deny any words, behaviors or actions that are uncharacteristic of someone who is striving to be “like God” or “like Christ”. If we are striving to be Christ-like, then we will deny worldly lusts. As it says 1 John 2:15-17, we will not love the world or things of the world. If we do, then we don’t have the love of the Father in us. Then we are told the three worldly lusts that all sin falls under, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Every sin can be put under one of these three categories and all sin is ungodliness. The bottom line is that if we are continually giving in to worldly lusts, then we are ungodly. If we strive to deny these things, then we will be able to have the kind of life that God wants for us, a good and healthy life, with the ultimate reward at the end of it. Obviously, we will slip up and make mistakes but God will know our hearts, and He will know that we are striving to give Him our best effort. I used some verses from Romans 6 in part 2 of this series to show that we can’t abuse God’s grace. If we look at Romans 6:12-13, we can see that these verses tie in well with the verses in Titus about denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” (Romans 6:12-13) Remember verses 3 and 4 of this same chapter, baptism into death, to newness of life? Sin is supposed to be dead in us and grace should be alive in us after our baptism into Christ. I really love this entire chapter of Romans. I feel a series coming on this in the future! Notice the word “reign” in verse 12. Sin should not “reign” or rule over us. Making a mistake every now and then, because of human weakness, is not the same as letting sin “reign” in us or have control over us. God’s grace will not abide in us if sin reigns in our mortal bodies. 

So…..if we are in Christ, and we deny ourselves these things, then we will live the way God wants us to live, soberly, righteously and godly in this present age.  I find it interesting that the Bible uses the word “soberly” here. Some versions I have read use the word sensibly which means having self control. This is referring to keeping our mind sharp and clear. It is also a direct reference to the abuse of alcohol or drugs. We can’t have a sensible or right mind for God if we abuse substances or use them as coping mechanisms instead of turning to God. And….. if we drink socially as a Christian, we could be complicit in helping cause someone to stumble who has a serious problem with alcohol. Romans 14:13 says for us to resolve not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. To resolve to do something means to set a firm course of action. It is a decision made ahead of time to prepare our minds to either do something or not do something. We never know who we are influencing around us. Let’s always keep in mind that we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. We are to show Christ to the world. We may be the only window through which some will ever see Christ and see how to live the Christian life. This is why Paul put emphasis on living soberly. There is no righteousness or godliness if we are not living a sober lifestyle. Of course living righteously and godly goes right along with living soberly. Let’s never forget our purpose is to show others the way to heaven through the way we live. 

What does grace teach us to look or wait for? Verse 13 tells us that as we live the Christian life, we are to be looking for our blessed hope, which is Jesus Christ who gave His life for us. We are waiting for Him to come back and take us to our heavenly home. Through grace, we have that hope if we are in Jesus. Verse 14 is a beautiful verse because it reminds us to always look back at the cross and remember why we have the hope that we have. It also reminds us of why Jesus did what He did, “that He might redeem us from every lawless deed”. And again, here is grace. Grace is what redeems us. The next part of verse 14 says that He redeems us so that He can “purify for Himself His own special people”. We are His special people if we are in Christ and living soberly, righteously and godly in this present age of 2023. How cool is that? To be Jesus’ own special people! Let that sink in! And for good measure, Paul added one more phrase to verse 14. Jesus wants us, His special people, to be zealous of good works. He wants us to take every opportunity that we can to do good unto all men, especially to those of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10) Paul told the Christians at the church at Ephesus these words, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) We were created for good works when we were baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. God’s awesome grace toward us should make us want to live the best Christian life we can possibly live, which would include being zealous for good works. Some synonyms for zealous: enthusiastic, eager, fervent, intense, passionate, and dedicated. Let those words sink in for a minute. We are all passionate about our families, especially our precious children. We may be passionate about a lot of worldly things such as, sports, music, movies, books, and these are just a few of the things I enjoy. Everyone has different interests and hobbies. But none of these should surpass the zeal and passion that we should have for God, His Son, His Word, and His Church. If we keep these things as our number one passion, then everything will fall into place and we will be free, because we will 100 percent know that God’s grace is with us, even when we fall short at times. 

So now as I end this post and this series on grace, I ask myself, “Am I zealous for good works for God? Am I zealous for the cause of Christ? Am I zealous about saving the lost?” Because being zealous directly correlates with Jesus showing us grace and purifying us as His own special people. That is the challenge for us this week. Let’s all work on our zeal for God and His purpose. I promise you that getting in God’s word more will help us gain more zeal for Him. I hope this post helps us also. It has certainly helped me to write it. Every post is written to myself and is something I need to work on in my life. Thank you all so much for reading my blog!! I appreciate all of you so much!!

If anyone ever needs help in learning the truth of the gospel, please reach out and I can help you or put you in contact with someone who can. Below is the plan that God has set forth in His word, for mankind to receive His grace that leads to salvation and an eternity with God in heaven.

• We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 
• Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 
• Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 
• Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 
• Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)
• Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)

Grace

Part 2- Does grace give us the right to sin? Who gets access to God’s grace?

2 Timothy 1:9

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,

9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began…..”

Romans 6:1-4,15

1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 

2 Certainly not! How shall we who have died to sin live any longer in it?

3 Or do you not know that as many of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life.

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Certainly not!

Titus 2:11-14

11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 

12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

In part 1 of this study, I focused on how God’s grace has been here since before time began. I looked at several examples of how God’s grace worked in the lives of people in the Old Testament and connected that to us today. God’s grace was reaching out for us before time began! What a mind-boggling thought! Now I would like to focus on Romans 6:1-4, 15 and answer the question, does grace give us the right to willfully sin? I also want to use Titus 2:11 along with the verses in Romans to explain who is eligible to experience God’s saving grace. Is it for every person regardless of their actions, behavior, or lifestyle?

First of all, I want to say this very plainly……..grace is not a free pass to sin. This way of thinking is a blatant abuse of God’s grace. We can’t willfully sin and then say, “well God will forgive me because I have His grace”. God will forgive us, but not with that kind of attitude. The world has this attitude running rampant, thinking that it doesn’t matter what you do, that God’s grace will cover you no matter what. Sometimes we in the Lord’s church can get this mindset if we aren’t grounded in truth. I know I have been guilty of this kind of thinking in my younger days. I’m talking about continuing in willful sin and knowing day after day that you are doing wrong and just keeping on doing it without trying to change. I’m talking about planning ahead to do something that I knew was wrong, and then doing it anyway. Friends, this just isn’t logical at all. It is not logical that God’s grace would work this way. Paul hits this subject hard in Romans 6! He is writing to the Christians in Rome. He makes this perfectly clear in verses 1-2, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” And again for good measure in verse 15 Paul says again, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!” Paul says guys you died to sin when you were baptized into Christ and now you’re supposed to be walking in newness of life! (Romans 6:3-4) Walking in newness of life does not mean going back and forth from walking in darkness to walking in the light. That is lukewarm behavior and it is of the world. Do we all remember what Jesus said in Revelation 3:16 about people who are lukewarm in their Christianity? He says He will spew us out of His mouth because we are neither hot nor cold. We are lukewarm and are useless in His kingdom. Hot and cold water are both useful. Lukewarm water is useless. This is a wonderful analogy to show us that we can’t be useless in His kingdom and still expect to receive His grace. We are walking in darkness if we are lukewarm. We can’t walk in darkness on Friday and Saturday night and then attempt to walk in the light as we walk in the church building on Sunday morning. Friends, we can’t take advantage of God’s grace in a worldly way and think this gives us a pass to do anything we want. We are walking in darkness when we do this, not walking in the light. There is no stepping back and forth from light to darkness. We have to stay in the light. Hopefully, Romans 6 helps make my point clear on that. But…..what about people who are not Christians and are walking in darkness on the daily? How does Jesus want us to treat people who are living in sin? There is a really good case study about this very thing in John 8.

In John chapter 8, a woman who was caught in adultery was brought to Jesus by the scribes and Pharisees. They were ready to stone her according to the old law. Jesus was actually with a group of people in the temple teaching them. The scribes and Pharisees were actually trying to test Jesus to see how He would handle this situation. Of course, they would want to put Jesus on the spot in front of a group of people that He was teaching. They asked Jesus what He had to say about this woman and what should be done to her. How did Jesus handle it? Well first, He convicted the people who were ready to stone her by telling them they could only throw stones at her if they had no sin. Of course no one could throw a single stone because all have sinned. Even they knew that. So all of the scribes and Pharisees dropped their stones and went away. Then when He was alone with the woman he asked her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? She said, “No one Lord.” (John 8:10-11a) The next part of verse 11 is what I am really focusing on. “And Jesus said to her, ” Neither do I condemn you……” So here is grace coming from Jesus towards this woman caught in sin. But does Jesus stop there? No, He does not! Jesus has a stipulation. He says, “go and sin no more.” What does this tell us about grace? He forgave this woman, but He did not give her a free pass to go and continue in sin. This story is a wonderful example of how grace works for us today if we are in Christ. Now all of this happened in front of people as Jesus was teaching in the temple. Jesus then turned to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12) This was a wonderful thing for Jesus to say to the people after what happened with this woman. The woman had obviously been walking in darkness. No one can follow Jesus and walk in darkness. With the statement that He made to the woman in verse 11, he taught them to have compassion and love for others who are in sin, but not to accept and uphold their sin. He told her she was not condemned, but to stop what she was doing. This is a lesson for us today. In our world, sin is literally celebrated every day of the year, but especially this past month. But should we look down on or treat others who are living in sin with contempt and disrespect? No, we treat them the way Jesus treated the woman caught in adultery. We show them the same kindness that we would anyone else, but without condoning the sin they are in. We will never be able to reach anyone by being rude or disrespectful to them. The world says that in order to love others, we have to accept whatever way they want to live even if it is against what the Bible teaches. But this is not love. Love is trying to help others to not be lost for eternity by telling them the truth. Love tries to save people, not keep them in darkness. Grace is for every person who is willing to transform their life, and every person has the potential to change. I believe this because I believe that with God all things are possible. ( Matthew 19:26, Luke 1:37) Let’s never forget that so many have not had the opportunities that we have had to know God’s word. My Christian friends, let’s never take it for granted.

So….can I sin while walking in the light? Of course I can!! I do!! When I refer to “lukewarm” and “walking in darkness”, I’m not referring to mistakes we make because of our human weaknesses. We are not perfect and we are all going to sin. (Romans 3:23) Because of this fact, we need God’s grace. We may try our very best but still have weak moments where we simply just mess up. It happens to all of us sometimes. And…I know I do things wrong that I don’t even realize I’ve done!! Let’s face it, we all do. However, if we are truly “in Christ”, then we have God’s grace and we have Jesus’ blood which cleanses us daily of our sins as we strive to “walk in the light as He is in the light”. (1 John 1:7) Striving is the key. To strive means to make great efforts to achieve or obtain something. It also means to struggle or fight vigorously. Does this sound like a lukewarm Christian? In Luke 13:24 of NKJV Jesus says, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” Will we enter through that narrow gate if we are abusing God’s grace by being lukewarm, by trying to ride the fence between darkness and light? I think we all know the answer to that question. And boy have I ever been there, lukewarm I mean. I was absolutely useless in His kingdom and doing more harm than good at times in my life. I never want to be that person again. And because of Christ I don’t have to ever be in that bondage again. None of us have to. The freedom we feel because we are in Christ and have fully given everything in our lives over to Him is a freedom that the world just doesn’t understand. Christ and His sacrifice for us is the definition of God’s grace. And just a reminder, by “in Christ”, I mean people who are Christians, who have followed God’s plan of salvation and have been baptized into Christ for the remission of sins. “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Galatians 3:26-27) Please, if you are not in Christ, reach out for help to understand the truth of the gospel so that you can feel this freedom. And if you are in Christ, but are struggling to stay in the light with Jesus, please reach out for help as well, so that you can have complete freedom from the bondage of sin. I know what it’s like to feel the way you feel. You feel basically trapped. BUT, I now know what it feels like to finally break free and let Jesus do His work on me and heal me when I am broken. He is the Great Physician and He will put us back together when we are broken if we follow what He says in Matthew 11:28-30 where He tells us to come unto Him and lay all our burdens on Him and He will give us rest.

What does Paul mean in Titus 2:11? Let’s first remember that verse 11 says that God’s grace that leads to salvation has appeared unto all men. This means that God’s grace is available to every person on earth. And salvation is also available to everyone as well. God is no respecter of persons therefore the same opportunity for grace and salvation is offered to everyone. (Romans 2:11) 2 Peter 3:9 beautifully says that God doesn’t want anyone to be lost and that He is longsuffering toward us. Do we understand the word longsuffering? It is not just showing patience, but it is showing patience toward someone who has wronged us. We have wronged God with our sinfulness, but He is waiting on us to repent if we haven’t. What an amazing God and Father we have!! However, just because grace and salvation is available to me, does that mean I automatically receive it no matter what I do? Like Paul said in Romans 6:2, 15, certainly not!! Let’s use a simple worldly analogy. Tickets to a concert may be available but that doesn’t mean I’m going to get them and get into the concert. I have to first go through the steps to buy the tickets to get to go. In the same way of thinking, just because God’s grace that leads to salvation is available to me, doesn’t mean that I will automatically receive that saving grace and be able to enter heaven. I have to go through the proper steps of God’s plan to receive that grace that leads to the salvation of my soul so that I can then enter my heavenly home with God. The day we are baptized into Christ is when we receive salvation through the grace of God. We receive that grace that leads to salvation only because of what Jesus did on the cross for us. When we make the commitment to follow Christ, by completing God’s plan for salvation, with baptism being that final step, we are then eligible to receive God’s saving grace. Not before. Unless we have come into contact with Christ’s blood through baptism, we can’t accept God’s grace. It’s a process that we go through. Once we have accepted God’s grace on His terms, not ours, we then allow God’s grace to transform us as we grow and mature as Christians. The process for becoming a Christian is the same for everyone. The world disagrees with this, but we don’t follow the world, we follow God’s word. His word speaks of only one way to be saved. Now, as far as the process for maturing as a Christian goes, it is different for every person. God sees our efforts and is patient with us as we fall and get back up again over and over again in our Christian walks. Actually the maturing process continues throughout our entire life. We never fully mature because if we did, we would be sinless, like Jesus. The image of Jesus is our goal that we strive for every day. His image is what we are supposed to show the world. Oh how thankful I am to have Him as my example to follow and how thankful I am for God’s saving grace through Jesus. Here is a challenge if we need it and I feel like we all do sometimes. Let’s be hot or cold in our Christian walk starting this week my Christian friends, not lukewarm, so that we can walk in the light with Jesus and show the world how wonderful God’s saving grace can be. If we do, then maybe…..just maybe, someone we cross paths with will notice something different about us, and want to have the joy and freedom that we have. We never know who is watching or listening. Let’s show others Jesus this week!! I hope you all have a wonderful Lord’s day and a blessed week ahead. I truly appreciate all of you who read my blog! Please feel free to share!

Well friends, this post has turned into three parts. I will look at Titus 2:12-14 in my next post. Our question will be, “what does grace teach us?” We will look at how grace helps us to learn how to live the Christian life. It teaches us what to deny, what to look for, and what type of people God wants us to be. Grace is a powerful word and is at the heart of Christianity. Without grace, where would we be?

If you are someone who needs to obey the gospel, so that you can experience God’s saving grace through Jesus, the plan that you need to follow is below.

• We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 
• Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 
• Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 
• Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 
• Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)
• Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)

Grace

Part 1- God’s Grace Transcends Time

2 Timothy 1:8-9

8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,

9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began…..”

Titus 2:11-14

11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 

12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

What is grace?

Grace is an undeserved favor with God. It is something that can never be earned by our own merits. As Titus 2:11 says, this grace is offered (has appeared) to every human on earth, but it has to be accepted. Just because something has appeared to me does not mean I have it. I may have been shown it, but did I respond properly to it? Grace is a free gift, however when we are given a gift, does that gift do us any good if we don’t first accept it? And how do we accept God’s gift of grace? Our birthday gifts do us no good unless we accept them and claim them as ours. We must claim God’s gift of grace through Jesus Christ if we want the blessings found in that grace. We accept God’s grace when we complete God’s plan of salvation. We hear the word, believe that Jesus is God’s son, repent of our sins, confess Jesus’ name before men, and are buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk a new life in Christ. Then we must be faithful in our commitment to Him all of our lives. I have scriptures to back this plan up at the end of each of my posts. 

So when did God’s grace for mankind begin? Was it a switch that was turned on the day Jesus died on the cross? We know that Jesus died so that we can have access to God’s grace and have the opportunity to be in heaven for eternity. So was there grace before Jesus Christ died on the cross?

Let’s look at what Paul has to say about this in 2 Timothy 1:9, “…who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began…” Did you catch that? Grace in Christ Jesus began before time began! God always knew He would have to have a plan to save mankind from himself. He knew it before day one of creation. God’s plan to save mankind began in the mind of God before He ever said let there be light. 

God has always shown grace to His people. Grace is the common thread throughout the entire Bible. For example, Genesis 6:8, says that “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” The Bible says Noah was a just man and walked with God. (Genesis 6:9) Obviously Noah wasn’t perfect or he wouldn’t have needed God’s grace, but he was committed to living his life for God. 

God also showed grace to Abraham and Sarah when Abraham stretched the truth by saying that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife, because he was afraid for his own life. (Genesis 12:13) Abraham argued with God in Genesis 17:17-18 saying that he and Sarah were too old to have a child and for God to just let Ishmael be the son of promise. Imagine that, arguing with God! Then, Sarah laughed at God’s promise to give her and Abraham a son in their old age. (Genesis 18:12) But God still kept His covenant with Abraham even though Abraham took matters in His own hands instead of trusting God. Genesis 12:3b says, “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Is this not grace that God is showing towards Abraham and Sarah? 

God even showed grace to Sarah’s handmaid, Hagar and her son Ishmael after Abraham had to banish her from the camp. (Genesis 21:17-21) God showed grace to this woman and her son who got caught up in the mess that Abraham made when he and Sarah didn’t trust God to keep His promise to them of having children. God knew it wasn’t Hagar’s or Ishmael’s fault that they had gotten put in the situation they were in and He had mercy on them and showed them grace. Genesis 21:17 says that God told Hagar to not be afraid and that He would make a great nation come from Ishmael. And then one of the sweetest verses that I noticed while studying this lesson is Genesis 21:20, “So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.” Can you just imagine God watching over this child that was not even the son of promise? What a wonderful God! Hagar and Ishmael were not even of the lineage of Christ in which God was trying to preserve but He cared for them and saved them anyway. If this doesn’t show us what kind of God we serve, I don’t know what else could. Is this not the epitome of grace?

And what about Joseph? To start with, it sure doesn’t look like God is showing grace when Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery. However, Joseph explains in Genesis 45:7 that God sent him before them to preserve a remnant for them in the earth and to save their lives by a great deliverance. I love what Joseph says in Genesis 50:20, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” God saved His remnant, the lineage of His Son, by letting Joseph be despised by his brothers, sold into slavery, thrown in prison, and then elevated to governor of Egypt through the providence of God. Sometimes bad things happen that lead to a good end. This is so hard for us to understand, but if we will just put our complete faith and trust in our Father in heaven, we will get through our trials. Just like Joseph, we will be able to bear whatever cross we have to carry because God will help us carry it. 

Then, we have Moses, who argued with God three times telling God to send someone else to deliver the people of Israel out of Egyptian slavery. And this was even after God turned Moses’ rod into a snake and then back into a rod! (Genesis 4) And the children of Israel, need I say more? They were in and out of God’s good graces all the time. They complained non-stop and were made to wander in the wilderness for 40 years because of a lack of trust in God. (Deuteronomy 8:2) But what did God do for them in the wilderness? He made sure they had water and food, manna and quail from heaven. (Exodus 17:6, Deuteronomy 8:3, Numbers 11:31) He even made sure their clothing and shoes did not wear out for the entire time they were wandering. (Deuteronomy 8:4) After the time of the judges, they wanted an earthly king because they wanted to be like all the other pagan cities around them. The God of heaven wasn’t good enough for them! God warned them of what would happen if they had an earthly king, but they didn’t listen to Him. (1 Samuel 8) Can you imagine not listening to God’s advice? This statement by God breaks my heart, “And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” (1 Samuel 8:7) God said, give them what they want. They don’t want Me. After all the grace that God had shown to them and after all He had done for them, they wanted a man to rule over them instead of God! They followed after false gods and were carried into captivity and the list goes on and on of their shenanigans, but God still showed grace to them and preserved the lineage of His Son……not only for them, but for us!! We have Jesus as our Savior because of what God did back then. Let that sink in!

I have two more examples of people in the old testament to whom God showed grace and they are Rahab and David. God knows the hearts of men and women. He knows my heart. He knows your heart. He knows our motives in everything we do. I know He saw a good heart in these two people. Rahab was a prostitute, but she was willing to give shelter to God’s two spies in her home and ultimately saved their lives. She risked her life to save theirs because she believed in the God of heaven. God showed grace and mercy to her and she left that sinful lifestyle and served God the rest of her days. (Joshua 2) She is one of the women mentioned in the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1:5. Her example of faith is mentioned in Hebrews 11:31 and James 2:25. How is that for God’s grace? And David, called a man after God’s own heart in 1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:22, committed adultery and murder during a time in his life when he allowed himself to be drawn away from God. But God showed grace to David and forgave Him. We can see David’s heart and love for God in the inspired Psalms that he wrote. The grace of God has always been here, and it has gotten us to this point in history. God knew we had to have a Savior. And it had to be a sacrifice that would take away the sin of everyone from the beginning of time until the end of time. That sacrifice is Jesus Christ. The blood sacrifices of the old testament only rolled sins forward. They could not take sin away. 

So how does the grace that God showed people in the Old Testament compare to the grace God shows us today? Well, the grace part is the same. God showed them grace because of different reasons and the reasons are the same with us today. Maybe they tried their very best to follow Him when no one else was. This sounds like Noah. Maybe they truly repented when they were convicted of sin. This refers to Abraham, David, and the children of Israel. Maybe they trusted Him enough to turn to Him and cry out for help in times of great distress. This would be the example we see with Hagar. Maybe they risked their life for the purpose of God’s will and then turned from a sinful lifestyle to follow God the rest of their days. This sounds like Rahab to me. And then maybe they went through an entire life of ups and downs from slavery, to prison, to prosperity and never wavered in their faith in God. This sounds like Joseph. Maybe they had no confidence in their ability to do God’s will and resisted God’s purpose for them. This would be Moses. Christians all over the world today can fall into any of these categories. We all probably fall into one or more of them. I can see a glimpse of my own life story in a couple of these folks. I’m sure we all can. And then this……maybe they were used to carry out God’s purpose on this earth of saving mankind. This would be all of the above people and more. All of these people were used by God to preserve His Son’s lineage for us today, so that we would have the opportunity to have salvation through the sacrifice of His son. So is God using us to preserve anything today? Yes, He absolutely is!! He is preserving His church through us and it is up to us to train the next generation to allow God to use them and then they train the next generation and so on and so forth. Our purpose as Christians will never end until Christ returns. We cannot stop working for His purpose of saving souls no matter how bad we think the world is getting, no matter how far away from God the world seems, no matter how ugly things get, we DO NOT GIVE UP! God shows us grace as Christians, through our obedience to the gospel of Christ, because we are all imperfect sinners who can never earn salvation on our own. He does this not only because He loves us as Christians, but because He loves all of mankind. He is using us to reach others and convince them that they need His grace in order to be saved and to show them how they can tap into that grace through Jesus Christ and be with God for eternity. Are we all allowing Him to use us for His purpose with all our many talents and personalities? It’s a beautiful thing to be a Christian and fully embrace His purpose for our lives. We can do this only because of His grace. 

Did you ever wonder why God chose to make Jesus the sacrifice for our sins? When I was much younger, I had questions in my mind about God’s whole plan for us to be saved. I remember thinking, couldn’t He have saved us without sacrificing Jesus. He’s God. He can do whatever He wants. Why did He have to send Jesus to die? But that was just my immature mind trying to figure out the mind of God. And by the way, my mind is still immature. I’ve just grown enough spiritually that I don’t question His plan for us. At least I try my best not to question it. The point is, my questions don’t matter and your questions don’t matter. God is the Creator of the universe and His ways and thoughts are higher than my ways and thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)  I can never understand the “why” behind God’s plan of salvation from the beginning of time. All I know is that I am going to follow my Creator’s plan. I’m not going to try and change God into what I want Him to be or change His grace into something other than what it is. The world has decided that it can take care of itself without God’s plan, that it can decide right from wrong without consulting God, and that it can basically save itself. The devil has the world convinced that God is wrong, just like he convinced Eve that God was wrong when he said “you will not surely die”. Satan has convinced the world that it can make up its own god and that it can make their god’s rules up that, of course, are not in the Bible. It’s no different than when God’s people convinced Aaron to make the golden calf. The world’s version of god is not my God. As Joshua said, “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15) The world can choose who it serves, but as for me, I’m serving the God who has shown me grace my entire life and has had a plan for me since the beginning of time, even when I was in sin and far away from Him. But let’s always keep in mind that everyone else in the world, no matter what walk of life they walk, has just as much right to hear the gospel and have the opportunity to receive God’s grace as I do. I’m no more deserving than anyone else. Let’s never forget that God is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34) Now whether they accept it or not is up to them, but they deserve the opportunity. 

Why did God show us grace through the sending of His Son to earth to die for us? I believe that He knew that He needed to make a statement of love toward us that was so amazing and so tremendous that it would transcend throughout all time until He sends His Son back again. And nothing else would show His love for us more than allowing His son suffer through humiliation and beatings and then die that cruel death on the cross. Jesus’ entire existence as a human on earth, from His birth, to His death, to His resurrection, is so profound in our history that our entire system of keeping time is based on Him. It’s either B.C., before Christ’s birth, or A.D., after Christ’s birth. A.D. actually means “anno domini”. This is latin for “in the year of our Lord”. Since Christ was raised from the dead, this means He is alive with God in heaven right now. So guess what, it is the year of our Lord, 2023. Have you ever thought about that? It’s 2023 only because Jesus was born 2023 years ago. Everything is under His authority whether we recognize that authority or not. So whether you accept God’s grace through obeying Jesus or not, it’s still 2023 friends, and it’s still all about Jesus, no matter what the world says. Let’s never forget that His grace was reaching forward to each one of us even then.

 This post has been about how God has shown grace to mankind since  before creation up to this point in time. In my next post, I will discuss what grace means for us as Christians today and we will dive into what grace actually teaches us about living the Christian life. I really hope everyone has a wonderful Lord’s Day and week ahead! I appreciate everyone who supports and reads my blog!

If you are someone who needs to obey the gospel, so that you can experience God’s saving grace through Jesus, the plan that you need to follow is below.

• We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 
• Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 
• Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 
• Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 
• Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)
• Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)

Be Like-minded

Part 2- When and why did we become divided?

Why do people become divided in any situation? This usually happens when someone wants to do something different than what was originally agreed upon. In secular situations such as a business, this can be for the good of the situation sometimes if it will benefit employees or make the company stronger. However, it can be bad if it is taking benefits away from employees and causing division and chaos in the company. In a successful marriage, both husband and wife need to agree on most everything, all the major subjects anyway, religion, children, and money probably being the top three. There are always going to be minor disagreements, but as a couple they can work through those things. It’s one thing to try and change things in a company, or even in a marriage when dealing with a financial budget, but it’s another thing entirely to try and change doctrinal teachings or change the pattern of the Lord’s church. In the book of Acts, there was only one church. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it”. The “rock” Jesus was referring to in that verse was Peter’s confession that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16) Jesus said He would build His church, singular. So what happened? Why are there all these different churches teaching different things?

To answer the question of when division in the church started, division started in the first century when the church was established, because Paul had to address it in 1st Corinthians and Galatians and it is still running rampant today. Jesus warned about the coming of false prophets who would come as wolves in sheep’s clothing. (Matthew 7:15) Whether they are called false prophets or false teachers, they have the same goal, to change God’s word and cause chaos and confusion. They may look harmless on the outside but gradually and with subtlety, they will try to establish their own will instead of God’s will. This is called self-imposed worship and it is preached against in Colossians 2:23. It is simply when people do something in worship that is not for God, but for themselves. Our will should not be entering into the worship of God. What we want does not matter. The verse says this type of worship has the appearance of wisdom but is of no value. In Romans 16:17-18, Pauls warns the Christians in Rome, “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.” Paul said there would be people who would come along who would want to do things their own way. They would want to serve “their own belly”. He warned that they would be charismatic in their speech and would deceive people with flattering words. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 also addresses false teaching, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. Anything that is contrary to God’s word is a fable when it comes to religion and the church. They might say something like, “well God didn’t say we couldn’t do this, so that means it is ok to do it” or “this is not a salvation issue”. Friends, I’ve never read either of those statements in the Bible from God, Jesus nor the apostles. And remember, this all started in the Garden of Eden with Satan being the first false teacher. Remember how Satan deceived Eve in the garden? This is how he did it. He made her ears itch. He tickled her ears with things she wanted to hear. And he used one little three-letter word to finally convince her. He used the word NOT. He said to Eve, “You will NOT surely die.” Then it spread. Eve went and became a false teacher herself and told Adam what Satan told her and he believed her. This is how false teachers operate. They may change one word of the Bible and it can change the whole meaning of a verse. They get one person to believe it and then it spreads to another person and before you know it, it has overtaken thousands. But friends, let’s not forget that every word in the Bible is inspired and of the utmost importance. We can’t cherry pick what we want to follow, and we certainly cannot ignore things the Bible says that are made very clear. Some people seem to believe that we as humans can make worship better or more pleasing to people so that it will be more entertaining and draw more people in. But how can we improve upon what God ordained in His word through His apostles in the first century? And the church should not be in the business of entertaining people to get them to come. And what good does it do to draw thousands of people into our assembly when the entire truth of the gospel is not being preached? And is worship about me and what I want? Is worship about my entertainment? My emotions? My feelings? My wants? I believe everyone who reads this would answer that worship is about God and what He wants from us as His children. We should glean so much joy from worshiping our Creator, but we have to make sure that what we are doing is authorized by God and use His Word to guide us in our worship. After all, who is our audience during worship? Our Father in heaven is our audience!  

Does it matter to God how we do things in our worship? Does it matter to God how we claim to be saved from our sins? Let’s always remember that God is about details. God is specific. Look at all the specifics that He gave to Noah about building the ark. What if Noah had used a different kind of wood? Would he and his family have been saved? Look at all the specifics that He gave Moses about the building of the tabernacle. What if he hadn’t built to every specification that God instructed? Would God have accepted their worship if Moses hadn’t followed God’s instructions on how to build His house? Look at the specifics that God gave the children of Israel when they went into various battles. Do we remember what happened when King Saul didn’t fully obey God in the battle with Amalek? God took the kingdom from him. (1 Samuel 15) And also, in the battle of Ai when Achan took spoils and went against God’s instructions to utterly destroy the city, what happened in that battle and what happened to Achan? They lost the battle and Achan was killed. Remember Nadab and Abihu. What happened when they didn’t use the specific fire that God wanted for the altar? They were consumed by fire from the Lord. (Leviticus 10:1-2) Now…what happened at Jericho when the children of Israel did fully obey God? God’s people gained the victory!! (Joshua 6) The old testament is for our learning. (Romans 15:4) We can learn so much about God by studying the old testament. These examples show that God wants things done His way. If God was detailed and specific back in old testament times, would it not make sense that He would be detailed and specific now? Nothing about God has changed. He is our Creator and He wouldn’t give us His word for us to interpret it any way we see fit. Now I don’t say any of this to judge anyone else because I am certainly not the judge. And I am far from perfect and I need Jesus’ blood to cleanse me daily just as much as anyone else. Without Him I would be lost. No human on earth is the judge. Only God is the judge and His son is our mediator if we are in Him. I have no right to judge any other person because I am a sinner in one way or another, just like everyone else. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) However, I can judge or discern if certain behaviors, actions or words spoken are right/acceptable or wrong/unacceptable by using God’s word as my measure. The only way to really know what we should and should not do in any situation in this life is by studying God’s word and applying it to the situation. He wants us to be willing to spend time in His Word and not take any person’s word for what is acceptable and what is not. He wants us to rightly divide His word. (2 Tim. 2:15) This means we study it, keep it in context, teach the whole truth of it, and live it. After all, it is the standard and pattern that we should follow for salvation, for worship, and for our Christian walk through this life. 

Let’s take a look at what the apostles had to say about unity in the Lord’s church back in the first century. The church at Corinth had become divided on many things. First Corinthians was certainly written with tough love to the Christians at Corinth. Paul gets right to the point in 1 Corinthians 1:10, “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” Paul is literally begging them to be unified. How can we be “perfectly joined together” if we are in disagreement on so many things? 1 Peter 3:8 says, “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous.” Here the apostle Peter is calling for brothers and sisters in Christ to be of “one mind”. This verse is in direct opposition to any sort of division over doctrine. In Philippians 1:27, Paul again calls for Christians to be like-minded,  “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel….” This verse calls us that are in Christ to “be worthy of the gospel of Christ” in our conduct. How do we be worthy? We stand fast in “one spirit” and “one mind”. We strive together for THE faith, singular! Paul, again in Philippians 2:1-2, “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”  If we are to have any blessings in Christ we have to be like-minded in the one true faith of the gospel. We have to be like-minded with Jesus and the apostles and be of one accord with what they taught us. And my favorite verses regarding oneness among Christians is found in Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” The “one body” that Paul is talking about is interchangeable with one church. The “one faith” is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The “one baptism” is the baptism into Christ for the remission of sins. (Acts 2:38) That one baptism is also how we call on the name of the Lord. (Acts 22:16) If you want a beautiful explanation of baptism, then go read Romans 6. The entire chapter explains the meaning of baptism and it is absolutely beautiful! The apostles preached for unity in the church and against division. And since we know that everything that the apostles wrote was inspired by God, we know that God Himself wants unity, not division. What else do we need to prove that unity is essential in the church? Finally, I want to present Galatians 1:6-7, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.” Here it is! Some of the Christians had turned away because they listened to false teachers. When did division start? It has always been a problem. Back then, it was mainly Judaizing teachers who were trying to get Christians to still keep the old law. For us today, it is a whole plethora of different doctrines and practices. Paul is expressing how surprised he is that these Christians are being confused or “troubled” by false teachers who are “perverting” or changing the gospel of Christ. Paul is very straightforward in Galatians 1:8 and 1:9 and says basically the same thing twice, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” Wow! Paul says this very serious statement twice for good measure to make sure and get his point across. He says not to listen to anyone who tries to change the gospel of Christ, even if it’s an angel or even if it is Paul himself or those traveling with him! All of these verses in this paragraph make it very clear that God wanted unity in His church in the first century.  Why would He feel any different today? Nothing about God has changed and nothing about God’s plan has changed. Let’s look back at John 17:20-21 that I quoted in part 1 of this post. Jesus is praying for all who believe in Him to be one with Him and God the Father. This tells me that simply believing in Him is not enough. If that were true then this statement by Jesus wouldn’t have to be made. Jesus could see all this division coming. He knew it would happen. Being one in Jesus is more than saying we believe in Him. We have to obey Him. We have to live for Him. We all have to be like-minded in how we obey Him and live for Him. Jesus also gives the reason why we are to all be one. It is so people will believe in Him. He knew that the only way to truly save the world was through unity. When everyone is teaching something different, what are people supposed to believe? This confusion makes it harder for people to find the real truth. If everyone would just decide to follow the Bible without adding to it, taking away from it or twisting it to suit themselves, then we could have unity. Someone might say it’s impossible, but with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)

To conclude on a personal note, I want to be somewhere that is giving me a book, chapter, and verse from God’s word, to prove that what is being taught is truth from God’s word and therefore is approved by Him. I don’t want to take any chances with my soul. And I don’t want to ever be afraid to speak up for the truth again, because that is what my Creator expects me to do. I used to be afraid to speak up for fear of offending someone. But….. I have to remember 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hasn’t given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” I can’t be afraid to speak the truth in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16) I write about the truth of what the Bible teaches to the best of my ability, BECAUSE I love people. And if I truly know about Jesus who can save someone’s soul and I know what the Bible says we have to do to be saved and I don’t tell it, then I am not doing my part in taking the truth to the world. The religious world and the world in general expects us to accept doctrines and practices that the Bible simply doesn’t teach. Because we don’t, we are considered to be judgmental and rigid. According to the world, because we don’t accept sins that the Bible clearly condemns, we are accused of being intolerant and even hateful. I don’t judge or condemn, and I certainly don’t hate any person, however, I will not tell someone that what they are doing is right when it is not done with God’s authority or when the Bible straightout says it is wrong. So friends, please study and look for yourselves and don’t take chances with your soul. And certainly don’t take my word for it or trust feelings and emotions to guide you. Satan is deceitful and can use our emotions and feelings against us. Remember, he can appear to be an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14) We may feel like what we are doing is right, but does God’s word back it up?  Let’s use only the word of God because it is all we have in this world to guide us into all truth. (John 16:13) Jesus says to the woman at the well in John 4:23 that the true worshipers will worship God in spirit and truth, and He says that God is seeking those true worshipers to worship Him. Then in John 4:24 Jesus says, “God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” One last question, are we worshiping in both spirit and truth? Only God’s word can measure whether we are or not. I hope I have given everyone who reads this post some food for thought. Should we be divided? Think about it honestly. Every post I write is something that is weighing on my heart and written with love for all of you who read it. 

1 Corinthians 16:14 “Let all that you do be done with love.”

Have a wonderful Lord’s day tomorrow and an awesome week ahead! Thank you so much for supporting me in my writing! 

Friends, here is God’s plan of salvation for anyone who needs to hear it:

• We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 
• Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 
• Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 
• Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 
• Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)
• Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)

Part 1- Aren’t we supposed to be united?

Why does it seem like everything in the world demands unity except religion? Unity is defined as a state of being joined as a whole. It is also referred to as oneness. Other words that are interchangeable with the word unity are, harmony, agreement, accord, cohesion and many more. In the Bible, unity is referred to as like-minded, of one accord, all speaking the same thing, and simply just being one. 

In our careers and workplaces, we must “be a team player” or we won’t have a job for very long. I am a teacher and I teach reading intervention to kindergarten through 5th grade students. I work together with another lady in this position and we are like-minded in our purpose, which is to serve our children to the best of our abilities. We share all our materials and ideas. We do our lesson plans together. We respect each other as educators. There is no jealousy or competition between us. We just simply work to serve our children by building relationships with each child, working to instill confidence in each of them, and helping each of them improve in their reading skills. We also work closely with an interventionist assistant with whom we share everything. She also is united in purpose with us. It is the best working environment I could ask for. In the bigger picture, we work together with the classroom teachers to help them as well. Could we be an effective reading intervention team if we were not like-minded? In sports, division between players is not tolerated. There are five players on the court in a basketball game. Just imagine if three of the players were performing the coach’s game plan, but the other two were just doing whatever they wanted to do and paid no attention to the coach. This would be a disaster on the court. What about in a marriage? Do both husband and wife need to be on the same page about finances? What about disciplining the children? The answer is yes!! If husband and wife are divided on how money should be spent, then this causes friction between them. If they are divided on how to raise their children, then this not only causes friction between them, but it causes confusion for the children. So if unity is so important in all of these situations, then it must be important in religious matters and in the church. 

Is unity important to God/Christ? What does God/Christ say about unity? Jesus spoke of unity shortly before his arrest in John 17:20-21. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” God and Jesus are one. Jesus performed the will of God because He was one with God. Their purpose was the same, to save mankind from sin. Jesus humbled Himself to perform that will of God by coming to earth to carry out God’s plan of salvation for all of us. Jesus told the Pharisees when He was accused of casting out a demon by Beelzebub that “every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25) If we who are in His kingdom, His church, are going to be like Him, then shouldn’t we all be one in Him? Of one accord? Like-minded?

And if we are all to be one in Christ, doesn’t this unity need to be based strictly on God’s word and not man’s opinion? I’ve heard people in the religious world say that everyone interprets the Bible differently, but this is not what the Bible teaches. No one says this about any other book that has ever been written. I can’t take a math book and come up with my own system of mathematics/numbers that is different from everyone else’s. I can’t say that two plus two isn’t four anymore just because I don’t want it to be. Math is math. The Bible is no different my friends. The Bible is the Bible. We either believe every word of it or we believe none of it. We either follow all of it or none of it. And the things that the religious world today differs on, are things that simply can only be interpreted one way. God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. (1 Corinthians 14:33)  2 Timothy 3:16-17 is such a powerful scripture because it completely authenticates the scriptures as being inspired and complete, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” If the scriptures are so perfect, then how can they be interpreted all these different ways? God is perfect, therefore His word is perfect. Notice this says “all scripture” not “the scriptures we want to follow”. It also says that scripture is “profitable for doctrine”, singular, not doctrines, plural. We should only have one doctrine according to 2 Timothy 3:16-17. And all scripture is given for the purpose of the man (person) of God to be complete and able to perform every good work. God’s word is not of any private interpretation. (2 Peter 1:20) I feel that I would be showing disrespect for God’s word if I say that it can be interpreted in all these different ways. Why would God want that for His creation? He doesn’t want all of us disagreeing. He wants us to study and find the whole truth. He wants all of us to go back to Acts 2 and study what happened then, when the church was first established. What were they told to do to be saved? He wants us to study all Paul’s epistles that He wrote to the early congregations of the Lord’s church to see how things pertaining to worship and the church were conducted, so that we can follow that same pattern of worship as closely as we possibly can in our assemblies today. He wants us to go back and study the old testament and see God’s personality and how He dealt with the children of Israel when they did not follow Him. Do we think He has changed? Friends, He is unchanging. (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17) Jesus is unchanging. (Hebrews 13:8) God’s word is unchanging. John 1:1-2 says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Now let’s look at John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” These verses plainly say that God, Jesus and the Word, which is the Bible, are one and the same. This is why the Bible has stood the test of time. Throughout history, people have tried to destroy it, prove it to be false, and change the meaning of it, but God will not allow His word to pass away. (1 Peter 2:25, Matthew 24:35) God’s word is the only pure truth we have in this life. (John 17:17) Proverbs 30:5 says this so beautifully, “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.” Why would the most important book in the history of the world be allowed to be interpreted any way man wants to interpret it? 

This leads me to try and answer a difficult question. Why is there division in religion? What has caused it? The cause is really simple. It’s the “why” that is difficult for me to understand. Someone simply decided to go away from the original pattern. The original pattern being the church that was established on Pentecost in Acts 2. That was the beginning. Then men wanted to put their own ideas into the church and this caused division. It’s still happening to this day. Someone simply decides to go away from what the Bible says on a subject. It can be any subject. Here are just a few subjects folks in the religious world are divided on:

What is baptism? Is it sprinkling infants, pouring water on a person’s head, or is it fully immersing someone in water? Is baptism essential for salvation? Are we saved before or after we are baptized? When and how often are we to take the Lord’s supper? What kind of music should be included in the worship? What day of the week do we assemble for worship? Whose name should the church wear? What does the Bible say about divorce and remarriage? Is drinking alcohol something a Christian should engage in? What does the Bible say about modesty? Are alternative lifestyles biblical? Is it ok to live together outside of marriage? Is it really necessary to attend all the Bible study and worship services? Are there spiritual gifts in this day and age, such as speaking in tongues, miracles, prophesying, etc?

These are only a few things that people disagree on and there are many more. Personally, all I can say about all of these questions is this, I never want to try to guess what God is ok with or not ok with. God tells us what he wants us to do in his word, either by command or by showing us an example or a pattern. I also never want to think that just because it makes me feel good that God is ok with it also. Oh have I been guilty of this in my past, guilty of trying to justify sin. Nor do I ever want to twist the scriptures to make them mean what I want them to mean to suit my particular lifestyle or someone in my family’s or friend’s lifestyle. Again, guilty! It’s easy to get caught up in the world and become accepting of man’s ideas of right/wrong and acceptable/unacceptable instead of using God’s word to determine these things. This happens if we allow ourselves to be more influenced by the world than by God’s word. I have been there. I know how easily this can happen. So my advice from experience is this, start spending more time with God each day. Keep yourself grounded in Him. I promise you that the more time you spend in God’s word, the more time you will want to spend in it. The desire for His Word grows. It becomes such a joy if you put your heart into it. It will become nourishment that you want and need daily. You will look forward to getting into God’s word each day and you will look forward to worship and Bible study services with your brothers and sisters in Christ all the more because you have been in the Word daily. It doesn’t matter how much time you spend in God’s word each day. Obviously, everyone has more time some days than others. But whatever the time you have, it will be quality time with God. What matters is you are in it, you are focused, and you are letting it guide every step you take. 

Now obviously, I am not going to address all the above questions that people are not unified on in this post. Each one of those questions would have to be a post all its own. However, I ask you to get into God’s word yourself, with an honest heart, and search for yourself. Go search those subjects that I listed above and see where the Bible stands on them, honestly and with an open heart. When you go to your assembly on Sunday, look into God’s word and see if what you are doing was being done in the first century church. That church should be our pattern. Listen and discern what you are being told to see if it is actually the truth, the whole truth of the gospel. If you aren’t in the habit of attending an assembly for worship, please find one that lines up with God’s word. If you need help with this, please reach out. I can help you or I can put you in contact with someone who can help you. With only love in my heart, I ask you not to just assume what God wants or take a person’s point of view without truly testing it to see if it is scriptural. Humans have no authority to add to or take away from God’s word.

Can we add what we want and take away what we don’t want from God’s word? The Bible is very clear on adding to and taking away from God’s word. In Deuteronomy 4:2 God says, “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”Also, Revelation 22:18-19 plainly says, “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” So the old and new testaments both have scriptures condemning adding to and taking away from God’s word. What else do we need? Not adding to and taking away from God’s word must be super important because it is some of the last inspired verses we have in God’s word. It is a stern warning and it’s scary to me. Why take chances? Friends, I’m going to end with that question for this week.

 I will post part 2 of “Be Like-minded” next week. Please come back and read the rest next week. This started out as one post and turned into two once I got into it. This subject has weighed on my heart for a really long time. I write all my posts out of love for others in all walks of life. Hope everyone has a wonderful Lord’s Day and a wonderful week! Thank you for reading!

1 Corinthians 16:14 “Let all that you do be done with love.”

Friends, here is God’s plan of salvation for anyone who needs to hear it:

• We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 
• Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 
• Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 
• Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 
• Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)
• Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)

What is the relationship between what we think and what we say? The Bible speaks of our tongue being a fire in James 3:6. It says that our tongue can be a “world of iniquity”, and it can “set on fire the course of our lives”, and finally our tongue can be “set on fire by hell” if we do not tame it somehow. Basically this is saying that our tongue can ruin our lives and the lives of others while we are here on this earth and it can cause us to be lost for eternity.

But where do our words come from? Nothing can come out of our mouths unless we first think about it, and then let it take up residency in our minds. Now this can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what we allow our minds to dwell on. Can we control what pops into our minds all the time? No, we can’t. Sometimes we think things that we should not think. Maybe someone hurt us and we get bitter towards that person. Maybe we watch something on TV or in a movie that we should not watch and it causes us to have impure thoughts. Some of these images are sometimes very hard to get out of our heads. This can even lead to an addiction. Maybe we get jealous of another person’s success and this causes us to think negatively about that person simply because they have something that we don’t. And……..by the way, these negative and destructive thoughts can be about ourselves for various reasons…… negative words people say to us, negative or even traumatic things from our past, or things we have done in our past that we can’t seem to forgive ourselves for. Personally, being negative towards myself has been a major problem for me. It became a habit for me at a young age. It was a very hard habit to break and I have to keep myself in check at all times or I’ll slip back into that negative self-talk again. It could be a number of things that cause us to get negative or destructive thoughts in our mind. We are only human. However, we can’t allow those thoughts to dwell in us and become a permanent part of our thoughts. When we allow those types of thoughts to set up camp in our minds, they turn us into someone that God does not want us to be. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he”. So how does all this relate to our tongue?  Is it a safe assumption that if we let thoughts such as jealousy, hatred, envy, filth, and such like, make a home in our minds, that they are likely to eventually come out of our mouths at some point? Of course they are! The only way to control our tongues is to first take control of our thoughts. 

So James 3:6 has established that our tongue can cause us to be lost. How about our thoughts? I mean if I don’t let it come out of my mouth, I should be fine, right? Can our thoughts cause us to be lost? Absolutely! God sees our thoughts whether we speak those thoughts or not. Proverbs 21:2 says “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts”. The word heart here actually means mind. And Psalm 139:2 says that God “understands my thought afar off”. We can’t hide our thoughts from God. And one more, Psalm 94:11, “The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile”, meaning that compared to the thoughts of God, our thoughts are useless. Remember Genesis 6:5, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” We know what happened to the people during Noah’s day because of, not only their wicked ways, but their wicked thoughts as well. It was so bad that God decided to basically start over, with Noah and his family being the new beginning of mankind after the flood. Let’s also remember that Jesus spoke about people in Matthew 15:8 who “draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.” He said many times in the New Testament that he knew people’s thoughts. (Luke 9:47, Matthew 22:18) Since Jesus was God in the flesh, it makes sense that he could know people’s thoughts. We have examples from the Old and New Testaments of God the Father and God the Son knowing people’s thoughts.

So can we as humans control our thoughts and tame our tongue? James 3:8 says that no man can tame the tongue and that it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. The things we say can be poison to other people around us. Our tongue can cause others to be lost along with us. So is it hopeless? I mean, the inspired writer, James, just said that no man can tame it. The key phrase we need to focus on here is that he says “no man” can tame the tongue. If we are truly in Christ, then we have the mind of Christ, according to 1 Corinthians 2:16. Therefore Christ controls our thoughts and our tongue if we let Him. We cannot do it without Him. Will we still fail sometimes? Yes we will! Like I have said before, negative thoughts pop into our minds. Our brains work so fast that we can’t control incoming thoughts. This is just something that happens sometimes before we can stop it. The fact is, we have to live IN this world, and because of this fact, sometimes by no fault of our own, we are exposed to things that cause us to think negative, destructive, or even impure thoughts. And sadly, we sometimes make the mistake of allowing ourselves to be exposed to these things by choice. But as Christians, we are not OF the world. (John 15:19) We are OF Christ and His kingdom/His church. And because of this, Satan works very hard to make sure we struggle with our thoughts and words. He wants to put temptations in front of us so that he can take over our minds through negativity and impurity. This is an area where he knows he can get to us if we are not diligent to take care of our minds. So how do we take care of our minds? Well first we have to be in Christ to truly be able to get our minds right. If we are in Christ, we can train ourselves to immediately replace that negative thought that Satan wants us to hold on to, with a truth from God’s word. We can capture that thought before it makes a home in our mind. I present to you 1 Corinthians 10:5, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” This verse gives me such hope and encouragement because it tells me that through Christ, I can capture every thought that shouldn’t be there, if I’ll just recognize those unhealthy thoughts. Notice, it doesn’t say that we shouldn’t ever have these thoughts because we will have them. It is impossible not to have them because we are human. However, it says we can capture them and replace them with God’s word. When we do this, we bring our thoughts in submission to the “obedience of Christ”. Then, those thoughts never have a chance to come out of our mouths and hurt others or bring shame on the Lord’s church.

Ok, so how do we replace these thoughts that come across our minds so that we can, in turn, control our tongues? Well first, we MUST have our daily spiritual food if we are truly going to battle against Satan and these potentially destructive thoughts. We have to get in God’s word each day. We need several “go to” verses either in our minds or on our person for when these thoughts/battles come. I actually have a spiral book of index cards in my purse with my “go to” verses in it. It helps me to have them readily available. If you would rather have them on your phone, you could make a google doc or put them in the notepad app. How do we find these “go to” verses? A very common verse that most of us raised in Sunday school memorized as children is 2 Timothy 2:15, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” We need to know the Bible to battle Satan for control of our thoughts and words. We have to make time to listen to God through reading and studying His word, even if we only have a few minutes some days. Some of us spend lots of time on our phones and watching Netflix. I know I do. Could we all discipline ourselves to cut back on those things for time with God? I’m not at all saying that it is wrong to enjoy these forms of entertainment as long as we are making time for God each day, and as long as our form of entertainment doesn’t allow Satan to take control of our thoughts. Because that is exactly what he wants……..control of our minds and our mouths. When Satan can get in a member of the Lord’s church’s mind and get him to influence other members in a negative way, can you imagine what a victory that is for him? Satan already has the world in the palm of his hand with no work at all. He is concentrating on getting a hold on us in subtle ways that we don’t realize, through our thoughts. Let’s never forget, one minute Satan is a roaring lion seeking whom he can devour (1 Peter 5:8) and the next minute he can make himself look like an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). 

Am I guilty of negativity? I am so guilty. It breaks my heart to think about all the ways I’ve been a negative influence in my past to friends outside of Christ and even to my family, including my husband and children. Satan had a hold of my thoughts for a time. But I’m working on keeping those thoughts out of my mind and focusing on my future in Christ. No more beating myself up. I can’t change the past but I can decide how I will behave in the future.  God has forgiven me, so it’s time to forgive myself. We will all have slip ups. I had one this past week. I let something negative come out of my mouth. I felt it immediately………the guilt and the feeling of failure. I have been in God’s word so much lately that I immediately knew I had messed up and let a negative thought come out of my mouth. You see, if we aren’t in God’s word enough, we won’t recognize our negative thoughts and words as clearly and quickly and we may not even realize that we need to make it right. I immediately went back to the two people I was with when I said it and apologized, then came home and renewed my mind with God’s word, and prayed and asked Him to forgive me and help me to do better in the future. I love Romans 12:2 because it says we can transform and renew our mind, “And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” I could not let those negative thoughts I was having continue to take up residency in my mind. I had to capture those thoughts and replace them with truth from God’s word.  Oh and I’ll mess up again. We all will. We wouldn’t need a Savior if we were perfect. Thank goodness for Jesus’ love for us. It’s how we handle our “mess ups” that matters. Do we let them build up in our minds and make us feel defeated? No! We have God’s word to renew us and Christ’s blood that cleanses us daily. We have His cleansing blood as long as we have completed God’s plan for salvation and been baptized for the remission of our sins and are living faithful to Him. (Acts 2:38, Revelation 2:10) Romans 8:37 lets us know who we are through Jesus, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” We are “MORE than conquerors” friends! We can conquer those negative thoughts and, in turn, conquer our tongue through Jesus Christ our Savior. When God’s word says we are more than conquerors if we are in Jesus Christ, then there is no reason to feel defeated when we make a mistake. We just renew our minds with God’s word, pray to Him for forgiveness and resolve to try and not make that mistake again.

In closing, our ultimate goal as Christians is to do our best to help God’s kingdom here on earth, the Church, to grow so that more and more people can feel the “peace that surpasses all understanding” that will “keep (guard) our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 4:6) Christ will keep/guard our minds if we allow him to. What a comforting THOUGHT!! Every sin starts with our thoughts. Everything that comes out of our mouths begins in our minds. Thoughts can lead to words and words can then lead to positive outcomes or negative outcomes. Will we allow Christ to control our thoughts or will we allow Satan to control them? Will we train our brains through studying God’s word so we can capture those negative/destructive thoughts and replace them with God’s truth, before they take up residency in our minds and then come out of our mouths? To everyone who reads this, I believe in you! You can do this! Positivity in life is so much more satisfying and joyful than negativity! And the world needs to see us, members of Christ’s church, being positive in our words and actions as much as possible. We want them to want what we have. Friends, I leave you with this verse to ponder and dwell on, Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.” Capture the bad and throw it out! Meditate on the good! If we follow Philippians 4:8 in our thinking, then those are the types of words that will roll off of our tongue, and that will be a victory for God, Christ, His church and for us. 

Thank you for your support of my blog!! Hope everyone has a wonderful Lord’s day tomorrow and a blessed week ahead!!

Friends, here is God’s plan of salvation for anyone who needs to hear it:

• We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 
• Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 
• Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 
• Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 
• Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)
• Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)

Colossians 3

Key Verse of Focus- Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

This is one of the verses that has caught my attention just in the last few months. This verse is more than just a verse. If I dig in and really study this verse, THIS VERSE IS THE CHRISTIAN LIFE!!! The more that I am in God’s word, the more that I take notice of verses and what they mean to my life. I keep reiterating this in my posts, because I used to struggle so much with Bible study. I could not stay consistent. Some days I still struggle. So if you struggle with staying consistent in Bible study, you are not alone. I think it requires each person to figure out what works for her/him as far as studying goes. Writing helps me study. I love connecting verses with other verses and ideas with other ideas. Writing about Bible verses and what they mean to my life, helps me to work through them, research them, and understand them. I can look at my life and see if I’m putting into practice what I am reading and then write about ways to better myself. And I figure if I’m struggling with something, then chances are, some of you are struggling with it as well. It really doesn’t matter how you study as long as you set aside time for it. And it really isn’t about quantity. It is about quality. One person might read the Bible for an hour and not be able to tell anything about what they have read and get nothing out of it. Another person might focus for 15 minutes on one verse and glean so much more. I started this post out by talking about personal Bible study, because as you will see as we go forward, we cannot do what Colossians 3:17 says for us to do without personal Bible study. So with all that being said, I have some questions for myself and for you, my friends.

Do I do what the verse above says? Is everything I say and do, said and done in the name of the Lord Jesus? And what does this actually mean? Also, can I live out this verse if I am not in God’s word on a regular basis?

To understand our key verse of focus we will need to look back at Colossians 3 as a whole. First of all, just a reminder, Paul is writing to the “saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse”. (Colossians 1:2) He is writing to all Christians, past and present. I am writing about these verses as if they are written to us today, because they absolutely are written to us today!! The first nine verses of Colossians 3 are focusing on putting off the old man of sin after we are raised with Christ. Paul starts this chapter by saying, “if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above”. This is a direct correlation to baptism, because we are raised with Christ when we come up out of that watery grave of baptism. So if we are truly Christians, raised with Christ from the watery grave of baptism, then we have to put off our old person and put on the new person, that being the image of Christ. In Colossians 3:2, Paul encourages Christians to “set your minds on things above, not on things of the earth”. We are to be spiritually minded, not worldly minded. And then in Colossians 3:3, Paul really gets my attention. He says, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God”. We died to our old life of sin when we were baptized into Christ and we rose to walk in “newness of life”. (Romans 6:4) This verse explains this beautifully, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life.” We left our old sinful self in the watery grave. Just thinking about how we are “hidden with Christ in God” makes me feel completely safe and secure. John 1:18 says that Christ is in “the bosom of the Father”. So that means we are with Christ in the bosom of the Father in complete security. This is so comforting!! However, Paul doesn’t sugarcoat things for the Christians at Colosse or for us today!! He makes it plain that in order for us to set our minds on things above, like verse 2 tells us, we have to put away a whole list of sinful practices found in verses 5, 8 and 9. These include, fornication, uncleanness, evil desires, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language and dishonesty. These Christians at Colosse had “once walked” in these ways before putting them off. (Colossians 3:6) Some people were probably still hanging on to some of these sinful practices after baptism, and this may be why Paul was addressing this. We have to leave those worldly sinful practices behind after we become Christians. And we all struggle sometimes to keep our old sinful ways out of our lives. Sometimes they want to creep back into our lives. I know I have struggled with my own temptations. We all do in one way or another. But God made a way for us to be forgiven. He sent Jesus, His own Son. I’m so thankful every day to Him for loving all of us so much. If we are in Christ, we need only ask for forgiveness and His blood cleanses us immediately. Then of course, we try our best not to get caught up in sin again. However, when we stumble, God will take us back an infinite number of times. What an awesome God we serve!! So my Christian friends, according to the first eleven verses of Colossians 3, in order to do what verse 17, our key verse, tells us to do, we must put off the sinful man with all those sinful practices, and set our minds on things above “where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God”. (Colossians 3:1)

So what do we replace our old man with? What practices do we put in place after we are risen with Christ? What does Colossians 3:17 mean? Christian friends, it is only logical that we are to put off a whole list of sinful practices when we put off our sinful self. But……it is also logical that we should put on some new practices when we put on our new self, that being the image of Christ. After all, we are to be Christ-like now that we are Christians. We exchange the bad for the good. In Colossians 3:12, Paul calls us “the elect of God, holy and beloved”. This means we are chosen by God, set apart and dearly loved. When did we become the elect of God? We became the elect of God when God added us to His church after we chose to be baptized for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:47) Wow! Shouldn’t we be so honored that the Creator of the universe has chosen us? We should never take this for granted, my friends. Because we are the elect of God we are to “put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, and longsuffering”. (Colossians 3:12) These take the place of all the sinful practices we put off. But that is not all. We as a Christian family are to bear with one another and forgive one another as Christ forgave us. (Colossians 3:13) Forgiving others is not an option. The words Paul uses are strong. He says, “so you also MUST do”. (vs 13) This can be tough sometimes when someone does us wrong, but God does not expect us to do things that we are not capable of doing. He does not give us more than we can handle. (1 Corinthians 10:13) Therefore we can do it, even if it is hard.  Especially….. since we have the mind of Christ, which we do if we are in Him. (1 Corinthians 2:16) This brings up questions for us. Can we lose the mind of Christ? How do we lose it? How do we keep the mind of Christ? To answer these questions, yes we can lose the mind of Christ when we become unfaithful and when we become more a part of the world than of Christ, when we set our minds on things of the world instead of things above. We keep the mind of Christ by remaining faithful to Him and not forsaking the assembly for worship and bible study. (Hebrews 10:25) This is a command for all Christians. But that’s not all. Let’s go back to what I started this post with, we have to be in God’s word daily if we want to have the mind of Christ. Personal bible study is so important to our spiritual growth. It is also a command. Without it, we will be stagnant. (2 Timothy 2:15)  Studying God’s word will help us have the mind of Christ and then, in turn, help us to fulfill Colossians 3:17. 

So what is the one thing that Paul mentions that we have to “put on” that is above all of the others? It is love. Why is love above everything else? Because without love, none of the other words mean anything. Without love, there is no mercy, no kindness, no longsuffering, no forgiveness, or any other fruit of the spirit. This is probably why love is mentioned first among the fruits of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. Nothing we do matters without love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 makes this idea very plain, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” Love is everything when it comes to being a Christian. We have to speak the truth to others in love. We have to love other people, the saved and the lost, so much that we are willing to tell them the truth even when it hurts. Would I rather them get mad at me for not just agreeing with them or them be lost for eternity? You’ve heard the term tough love? Paul says, “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” (Colossians 3:14) Love is the foundation for everything in the bible and do you know why? Because God is love. 1 John 4:8 says, “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Also 1 John 4:16, “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” If God wasn’t pure love, we wouldn’t have Jesus. Love is the reason Jesus came to earth and died so that we can be saved if we choose to obey Him and live our life for Him. Paul calls love the “bond of perfection”. (vs 14) Love is what bonds we who are in the body of Christ, the church, together in perfection. Love makes it all complete. Love is the glue that holds everything else together. If God is love and Christ is love, then shouldn’t the church be love? No matter what good deeds we do in our congregation or personally in our own lives, they have to be done in love and humility. Not to be seen by men or to look better than someone else. This is not love. We are concerned with saving souls if we are doing things in love. This is our purpose and the reason we are the “elect of God”. (vs 12) Therefore, because we are truly in Christ, we can have peace from God. (Colossians 3:15) If we have put on Christ in baptism and we have put on love, we have nothing to worry about. Everything will fall into place in our Christian walk. Think about it. If we truly love others, then we will do all those things in verses 12 and 13. Love brings peace to our lives. It is the greatest feeling of peace to know that I am a child of God, that I am chosen by God, and that God wants me with Him. 

Verse 15 also says we are called in one body, which means one church, and for us to be thankful for that. I am so thankful that I am in that one body, the body of Christ, the church. This leads into Colossians 3:16 which is a super important verse concerning the church and worship. Because we are members of Christ’s body, the church, we are to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom. I need to know the Bible so well that it is in me and in everything I do. The word of God should “dwell in me” continually and “richly” or abundantly. How can this happen if I don’t dig into the Bible? The phrase “in all wisdom” means unto all wisdom. To have true wisdom, I have to dwell in God’s word. Since Colossians 3:16 may be a verse that I write more about in another post, I will be straightforward. It says we are to teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and to sing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16) Where would the teaching and admonishing one another through singing be happening? Obviously, this would be in the assembly of the Lord’s church. We are, of course, singing praises to God, but we are also singing to teach and admonish one another. I love the word admonish. It means to put in mind, to caution, to reprove gently, or to warn. Isn’t this what the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs do for us if we are truly focusing on them?

So how does this chapter lead into our focus verse, Colossians 3:17? Everything that we do in our Christian lives from how we are saved to how we formally worship and even to how we go about our daily lives should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, with God in mind. Our repentance and baptism has to be in the name of the Lord. Acts 2:38 says, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” And repentance and baptism are only the beginning of our commitment. When we pray, we pray in Jesus’ name because He is our Savior and mediator. Everything we do in our worship to God has to be done in the name of the Lord Jesus. The prayers, the preaching of the Word, the Lord’s Supper, the singing of praises, and the giving of our means is to be done according to God’s word if it is to be done “in the name of the Lord”. If something we are doing in worship is not authorized in the Bible, then it can’t be “in the name of the Lord Jesus”. 

In our daily lives, we need to make decisions about what we get ourselves involved in and base those decisions on the name of Jesus Christ. Is this pleasing to God? Is this what God wants from me? Am I glorifying God? While we are here on earth, we have recreational/secular things that we enjoy, such as sports, music, vacations, concerts, exercising, art, cooking, movies, etc. We also have secular jobs in the world. It is perfectly fine to enjoy these activities, as long as they don’t become idols and interfere with our Christian walk. We have to guard against that at all times. If we are making good choices, then we can glorify God in whatever we are doing simply by how we conduct ourselves in every situation we are in and by how we treat other people. Of course, we need to make wise choices in our Christian walk about where we go. But we don’t have to completely hide ourselves away. The world needs to see us making the right choices wherever we go. The world needs to see us showing love to others and putting God first. The world needs to see Christ in us. We need to let our light shine!! We separate ourselves from sin, but let our light shine for the world. (Matthew 5:16) We are also to be thankful to God in everything we do and know that everything good in our lives, including all of our favorite places, our favorite activities, our hobbies, our talents……all of it comes from God. Everything fun that we enjoy has come about because God has given someone the ability to form the idea and create it. On a personal note, God allowed someone to come up with the sports of basketball and tennis and I am so thankful for that because I enjoy them so much!! I love certain genres of secular music that God gave man the talent to create!! God also created the beach, my favorite place to vacation!! God wants us to enjoy our lives in front of the world, so that they will want what we have……which is peace in Jesus. 

So, back to the questions we started out with:

Do I do what the verse above says? Is everything I say and do, said and done in the name of the Lord Jesus? And what does this actually mean? Also, can I live out this verse if I am not in God’s word on a regular basis?

Hopefully we can answer these questions with honesty and sincerity in our hearts. I soooo needed this study. Let’s look at Colossians 3:17 in a new way, my Christian friends, and let our words and actions be done in Jesus’ name for the world to see. Let’s show everyone how blessed we are!!

Hope everyone has an awesome Saturday, a wonderful Lord’s day and a great week ahead!! Thanks to everyone for reading my blog!! 

Friends, here is God’s plan of salvation for anyone who needs to hear it:

• We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 
• Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 
• Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 
• Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 
• Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) 
• God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)
• Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)