What I’ve Been Thinking About …
The Bible is always the final authority on what is true. ” … Your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
Just because a theologian soundly interpreted certain biblical doctrines in the past doesn’t mean we should blindly trust him to interpret every doctrine correctly in the future. No man is infallible or incapable of having bizarre reasons for getting a particular matter in Scripture wrong. Case in point: Augustine on the millennium. “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” (2 Tim. 2:15)
Along those lines: If you can “spiritualize” the Book of Revelation, what is to keep you from “spiritualizing” the Creation and Fall in Genesis? Or any other part of the Bible? Handle the Word of God with the utmost care, and insist on the same from your pastor-teachers.
There is comfort is knowing that the Lord isn’t the distant watchmaker who made the world and just left it to rot. There is great comfort in knowing He sent His only Son to enter this world, die for our sins and conquer sin and death with His resurrection from the dead. There is even greater comfort in knowing that He is neither remote nor detached from us. He, like His Word, is always living and active in our world and in our lives! ” … and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12)
Our times are dark and evil. There is no doubt about it. But God has told us not to fear anyone or anything but Him. It may not always be easy, but it really is that simple. “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” (Proverbs 29:25)
I find it odd that anyone would ever have a theological problem with death, as in, “How could God have let so-and-so die?” In fact, all of us earn our deaths. Sin is the work we do. Death is just the salary that God justly pays us for that work. Instead of wrongly implying that God is unjust (which He is not), concentrate on the sin problem. If you see your sin for what it actually is — high treason against a holy God — it’ll make you run to the Lamb of God for forgiveness. Eternal life awaits even the worst sinner who has saving faith in Christ! “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
The return of the Lord is imminent. Be ready at all times! “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.” (Mark 13: 32-33)
Don’t tolerate a pastor-coward. If he won’t even condemn the overwhelming sins and abominations of our day, why would you trust him to lead anyone in the way of everlasting life?
The church needs to weep over, pray for and reach out to lost souls with the gospel much more than we do now. Has there ever been a more opportune time to tell people the good news about Jesus? “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14)
It’s great to be able to look back on many years of answered prayers and kindnesses you received from the Lord. But it’s also great to look back on how those terrible times of trial He ordained in your life as you realize they actually were good for you — and yielded good fruit that couldn’t have been produced any other way! “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)
Finally, I offer up this Quote of the Day. J.C. Ryle pointed out some wonderful truths about how God leads every one of His children in essentially the same way, even though the details of our lives vary. It’s amazing to consider that God is simultaneously doing the same basic work in the life of every individual Christian, everywhere. And, of course, that’s why we often can find instant camaraderie and fellowship with one another, even with another Christian we’re meeting for the very first time. What a gift from heaven! I hope this excerpt from “Heirs of God” will encourage you.
The sons of God, for one thing, are all led by His Spirit. … They are all under the leading and teaching of a power which is Almighty, though unseen — even the power of the Holy Spirit. They no longer turn every man to his own way, and walk every man in the light of his own eyes, and follow every man his own natural heart’s desire. The Spirit leads them. The Spirit guides them. There is a movement in their hearts, lives, and affections, which they feel, though they may not be able to explain; and a movement which is always more or less in the same direction.
They are all led away from sin, away from self-righteousness, away from the world! … They are all led to Christ. They are all led to the Bible. They are all led to prayer. They are all led to holiness. … He makes sin very bitter to them. He makes holiness very sweet. It is the Spirit who leads them to Sinai, and first shows them the law — that their hearts may be broken. It is He who leads them to Calvary, and shows them the cross — that their hearts may be bound up and healed. It is He who leads them to Pisgah, and gives them distinct views of the promised land — that their hearts may be cheered. When they are taken into the wilderness, and taught to see their own emptiness — it is the leading of the Spirit. When they are carried up to Tabor or Hermon, and lifted up with glimpses of the glory to come, it is the leading of the Spirit. Each and all of God’s sons is the subject of these leadings. Each and every one is “willing in the day of the Spirit’s power,” and yields himself to it. And each and all is led by the right way, to bring him to a city of habitation (Psalm 110:3; 107:7).
Settle this down in your heart, and do not let it go. The sons of God are a people “led by the Spirit of God,” and always led more or less in the same way. Their experience will tally wonderfully when they compare notes in Heaven.