Christian Corrosion

Christian Corrosion

Tuesday morning, Jim and I got up early and went out to camp Ida to retrieve some flowers that had been planted for the summer camp season. While we were there, my battery decided that it didn’t want to work anymore. Since Jim had driven there separately, we hooked up my battery cables (that I always carry with me) and boosted the minivan. It started up and I got back to New Boston. The battery was under a five-year warranty and still had two years left on it, so I took it to be tested. The test came back “good.” Now, why did my battery die? The auto-store salesperson said, “Corrosion may be preventing it from getting a good connection.” So, I took the battery home, cleaned it up, and reconnected it. Things seemed to work just fine.corrosion christianity

Sometimes, like my battery, our Christianity can become “corroded.” When we allow the world to influence us to watch its video propaganda, listen to its music, act and dress like it does, then we will become corroded with its influence. This will drain us of true life, and we may find ourselves not “starting” very well one morning due to depression, stress, and apathy. What is the solution? We’ve got to clean out the corrosion, sharpen up our connections with others, and get the spark going again. How do we do that? We need to cut out the worldly activities and get more in touch with our brothers and sisters in Christ, attend more church events, and put spiritual talk into our family life. Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

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Living without Partiality

Living without Partiality

We sing the words, “O to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer…” but we all struggle to be godly, to be like God. One attribute of God is that He treats all men alike, there is no partiality in Him. Absolutely no partiality!

Read these words from both testaments that proclaim His impartiality. “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality” (Deut. 10:17). “For there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, no partiality” (2 Chron. 19:7). “Then Peter opened his mouth and said, ‘In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality’” (Acts 10:34). “For there is no partiality with God” (Rom. 2:11).

James describes the real-life situation where the early church struggled to be like God. He described what can so easily happen when two distinctly separate individuals came to worship. One entered wearing a gold ring and fine clothing. The other was wearing shabby clothes. How did the church respond? They told the first to sit in the good place, and then told the second one to “…stand over there or sit down at my feet” (Jas. 2:2-3).

James then reminded his brethren the truth by asking a pointed question. “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which He has promised to those who love Him” (Jas. 2:5)? His conclusion? “If you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (Jas. 2:9).

Hear these words from the Holy Spirit of God. “But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality” (Col. 3:25). Paul called the Father, the Lord, and the elect angels as witnesses to encourage Christians “…to observe these things without prejudice, doing nothing with partiality” (1 Tim. 5:21). Peter urged those who receive his epistle to live as pilgrims and sojourners and call upon God “…who without partiality judges according to each one’s works” (1 Pet. 1:17).

Think of how these words apply to evangelism and the growth of the kingdom. Our world honors those who are educated, who have careers, who are “nice” people. If we focus on these as we seek to reach out to the lost, we are not being like that blessed Redeemer we sing about. Jesus chose “uneducated and ignorant and untrained men” (Acts 4:13), common laborers who made their living by fishing, a despised tax collector, and one who was a terrorist, a Zealot (Acts 1:13); and they were the foundation on which the church was built. As we seek to take the gospel to the lost world, do we show partiality? Christ does not just invite “nice” people to come to Him but those whose lives are filled with trouble (Matt. 11:28). Think about this!

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The Faith of Abraham

The Faith of Abraham

The faith of Abraham is emphasized throughout the Bible. You cannot think of this great man without marveling how his faith impacted every decision of his life. We have faith because we read the Bible (Rom. 10:17), but Abraham did not have one! Yet look at how God had revealed Himself to this “father of the faithful” and given him the depth of understanding about God. We would be better people if we thought of God in this same way.

Abram Knew God As the Most High God

“Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have raised my hand to the Lord, God most High…’” (Gen. 14:22). The pagans had their gods, but the God of all gods was Jehovah. There is none higher and the Most High said we are to have no other gods!

Abraham Knew the God of All the Earth Would Do Right

When God revealed to Abraham about the judgment about to come on Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham had such a close relationship with Him that he confronted God. Not on the basis of how great Abraham was, but on the basis of the nature of the Most High God. “Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked… Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right” (Gen. 18:25). Lives are changed when we see the holiness of God.

Abram Knew God was Worthy of Our Worship

When he entered the Promised Land, “There he built an altar.” Then when he came to Bethel, “He built an altar to the Lord, and called on the name of the Lord.” He came back to Bethel, “And there Abram called on the name of the Lord.” When he went to Hebron, “Abram…built an altar to the Lord.” He took Isaac to the top of the mountain in Jerusalem, “And built an altar there” (Gen. 12:7, 8; 13:4; 13:18; 22:9). You could have followed Abraham by following the smoke which ascended from his altars!

When he met Melchizedek, a priest of God Most High, Abram gave tithes to him (Gen. 14:18-20). How blessed we would be if we too understood that God is worthy of our worship and seeks our gifts.

Abraham Knew That God Was Eternal

Abraham came to Beersheba, “…and there called on the Lord, the Everlasting God” (Gen. 21:33). God was not someone who was part of Abraham’s life when it fit into his lifestyle. God was eternal. He is the One who was, and is, and is to come (cf. Rev. 4:8). Abraham understood that He is I AM before this name was given at Mt. Sinai.

There is More

This is only the beginning. Read Genesis to know the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is your God!

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Treasures of Wickedness – Proverbs 10:2

Treasures of Wickedness – Proverbs 10:2

“Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: but righteousness delivereth from death.” (Proverbs 10:2) KJVtreasures of wickedness

Treasures gained by wickedness lead to no profit at all. In fact, whatever treasure is gained by wickedness is also stained by that wickedness. Someone has said, “Money doesn’t know where it came from.” However true that may be, you will know how you obtained it and so will God! If you were somehow to steal from or defraud someone of millions of dollars and get away with it–commit the “perfect” crime – (or win the lottery, which is simply theft or fraud by consent of the numerous victims) you could live a life of luxury and opulence, which the world would have you believe is the very definition of happiness. Even if you could do that, and get away with it, it still would not profit you. Why? Because money cannot buy the things that are most important in life. Yes, it could buy you a #5 Combo Meal with Jalapenos at Whataburger and that would make you happy – you’d just be hungry again later – but there is no spiritual profit from temporal happiness. Spiritual happiness or joy which the Bible refers to as blessedness is the only thing that matters.

Righteousness on the other hand, even if it comes with poverty, is of great profit! It will save you  from spiritual death! Salvation from spiritual death leads to the condition of blessedness. There’s the true spiritual profit!

Read Matthew 6:19-21; 1 Timothy 6:6-8

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Do You Know the Lord?

Do You Know the Lord?

A commonly used phrase in the religious world is, “Do you know the Lord as your personal Savior?” The concept of knowing the Lord is certainly Biblical, but phrases and concepts are sometimes redefined to describe a concept not found in the Bible. For example, the word “baptism” has spread around the world to describe the sprinkling of water on an infant, but this concept is never found in the Bible.

There is that which the Bible says we can absolutely know. There is no room for doubt because the Bible affirms this knowledge in such a precise manner.

We Know That the Son of God Has Come

John says, “We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true” (1 John 5:20). The evidence is so overwhelming that there can be no doubt. A baby was laid in a manger more than 2,000 years ago and lived among men. He is the central person in all of history. Time itself is dated using BC and AD to indicate how many years an event happened before or after that manger was used. Think about it. Hindus, Muslims, infidels, atheists and agnostics acknowledge that event every time they write the date. But there is far greater evidence. Consider His miracles (John 20:30-31). Consider His words so often used in our language (John 7:46). Consider the empty tomb—He died and was buried, and the tomb is empty! We know that Immanuel is reality.

We Know That We Know Him

“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3). Look at these words carefully. Not only is it possible for us to know the Lord, we can know that we know Him. The concept of knowing Him is not some vague, immeasurable idea. There is an absolutely certain way to check if we know Him. How do we know that we know Him? The Bible gives the evidence. It is not by some “born again” prayer that we remember saying years ago. It is not by some deep-seated feeling we have within us. Simply look at your response to what He has commanded, and if you are obeying them then you know Him and you can know that you know.

We Can Know Far More Than We Realize

The phrase “we know” is found more than fifty times in the Bible and the apostle John uses it twenty-eight of those times. Your life will be blessed by using a concordance to discover all that we can know. Aren’t you glad that we can know Him? Aren’t you glad that you can know that you know Him? And aren’t you glad that because of the Bible you can know that you can know that you know Him!

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