Abed_nego2
Servant of the Lord
John 17:17, Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
Colossians 2:6-7, “As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding with thanksgiving”
__________
I believe the fundamental Bible truths contained in God's Eternal and Precious Word are universal and without limitation as to time, culture, or continent. The psalmist said “Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven Thy faithfulness is unto all generations; thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. Jesus Christ affirmed this in Matthew 24:35, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away". While writing this devotional the Spirit led me to 3 John. In this one-chapter epistle of 3 John, the important word “truth” is a key word in the apostle John’s vocabulary, occurring more in his writing than in those of any other New Testament author.
So, my beloved; what is truth? John’s very first mention of truth was in relation to Jesus Christ, whose glory he had beheld in His incarnation as “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14) In fact, Christ himself claimed, “I am … the truth” (John 14:6). Then He also said, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth” (1 John 5:6). So, how would you answer the following questions?
(1) Did Jesus ever sin?
(2) Was Jesus resurrected?
(3) Do all religions teach the same basic ideas?
According to George Barna and Mark Hatch in their book Boiling Point (November 26, 2002), many people who call themselves Christians have a hard time with questions like the ones listed above? When Barna and Hatch surveyed professing believers, one-fourth said Jesus committed sins, one-third said He did not rise from the dead, and one-third said all religions are basically the same. According to a recent poll by Barna 1 in 3 Christians says Jesus sinned (extremely very disturbing). The poll also indicated that Americans who call themselves Christian” don’t believe Satan exists (also very disturbing). The poll indicated that Americans are increasingly comfortable picking and choosing what they deem to be helpful and accurate theological views and have become comfortable discarding the rest of the teachings in the Bible (extremely very disturbing).
My beloved, these are very troubling statistics, for they truly reveal a serious lack of Biblical understanding in our world. The answers to the three questions listed above are concepts that are clearly defined in Scripture and are foundational to the truth of the gospel message. So, what can we do to make sure that we are “established in the faith”? (Colossians 2:7): First, we must dedicate ourselves to reading, studying and above all guarding God’s Eternal Word; secondly, we should seek the help of godly pastors who have been born-again, teachers and dependable resources. And thirdly, we must ask God to lead us to truth and to keep us from error. As God’s people, we must love the truth, look for the truth, and live by the truth. We must be like the Bereans who searched the Scriptures to see if what was being taught is found in God’s Eternal Word, to be the truth and not that of man.
__________
Further reflection::
The story has been told of a New York City couple who received through the mail two tickets to a Broadway musical. Oddly, the gift arrived without a note, and they wondered who had sent it. But they attended the show and enjoyed it immensely. However, returning to their apartment, they discovered that the bedroom had been ransacked. Valuable furs and jewels were missing. On the pillow was this simple note, “Now you know.”
Like that nameless thief, a false teacher knows what people want and appeals to their desires (2 Peter 2). He doesn’t wear a lapel pin to warn of his lies, but he comes disguised as a representative of the truth. He claims he will enrich lives, but those who follow him often learn at a high cost that they have been deceived. However, Jesus Christ is a teacher we can trust completely. He offers us the gift of eternal life because He truly loves us. Accepting His gift of salvation is the first step in protecting ourselves from the deceptive gifts that false teachers offer and satan’s deceptions. Satan will do anything to prevent us from fully experiencing the blessings we inherit as God's dearly loved children. He will try to convince us that the treasures He has for us in heaven is worthless. Or, he will sow seeds of insecurity, doubt and guilt so we feel undeserving. But we must not believe his lies! That’s why God’s Word exhorts us to:
(1) Study the Scriptures (1 Peter 2:2),
(2) Test what we hear (1 John 4:1),
(3) Grow in the faith (2 Peter 1:5-9), and
(4) Knowing from the Bible what the true gospel is.
God doesn’t ask us to believe the absurd, but He does demand that we believe what He says in the Bible. Even when we don’t fully comprehend God’s ways, we can rely on the truth of His Eternal Word wherein He promises to change our lives when we put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ, the Risen and resurrected Savior. Remember that God’s Word is Truth because as born-again-believers in Christ we know that Jesus is the Word of God and that He has been with God since the very beginning. We know that Jesus is the Truth, and that through our faith and trust in Him (John 3:16-17) we are saved. God’s Word is eternal (Psalm 119:89) , and is just as relevant today as it has ever been. All of God’s commandments are sure, we can trust and follow them today because we love Him. And we know that God is not a liar and has never been. We can put our trust in God because we know that God’s Word is Truth.
So, my beloved are you grounded in the truth of God’s precious Word?
__________
Knowing the truth, you can distinguish what’s false because God’s truth uncovers Satan’s lies.
Colossians 2:6-7, “As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding with thanksgiving”
__________
I believe the fundamental Bible truths contained in God's Eternal and Precious Word are universal and without limitation as to time, culture, or continent. The psalmist said “Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven Thy faithfulness is unto all generations; thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. Jesus Christ affirmed this in Matthew 24:35, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away". While writing this devotional the Spirit led me to 3 John. In this one-chapter epistle of 3 John, the important word “truth” is a key word in the apostle John’s vocabulary, occurring more in his writing than in those of any other New Testament author.
So, my beloved; what is truth? John’s very first mention of truth was in relation to Jesus Christ, whose glory he had beheld in His incarnation as “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14) In fact, Christ himself claimed, “I am … the truth” (John 14:6). Then He also said, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth” (1 John 5:6). So, how would you answer the following questions?
(1) Did Jesus ever sin?
(2) Was Jesus resurrected?
(3) Do all religions teach the same basic ideas?
According to George Barna and Mark Hatch in their book Boiling Point (November 26, 2002), many people who call themselves Christians have a hard time with questions like the ones listed above? When Barna and Hatch surveyed professing believers, one-fourth said Jesus committed sins, one-third said He did not rise from the dead, and one-third said all religions are basically the same. According to a recent poll by Barna 1 in 3 Christians says Jesus sinned (extremely very disturbing). The poll also indicated that Americans who call themselves Christian” don’t believe Satan exists (also very disturbing). The poll indicated that Americans are increasingly comfortable picking and choosing what they deem to be helpful and accurate theological views and have become comfortable discarding the rest of the teachings in the Bible (extremely very disturbing).
My beloved, these are very troubling statistics, for they truly reveal a serious lack of Biblical understanding in our world. The answers to the three questions listed above are concepts that are clearly defined in Scripture and are foundational to the truth of the gospel message. So, what can we do to make sure that we are “established in the faith”? (Colossians 2:7): First, we must dedicate ourselves to reading, studying and above all guarding God’s Eternal Word; secondly, we should seek the help of godly pastors who have been born-again, teachers and dependable resources. And thirdly, we must ask God to lead us to truth and to keep us from error. As God’s people, we must love the truth, look for the truth, and live by the truth. We must be like the Bereans who searched the Scriptures to see if what was being taught is found in God’s Eternal Word, to be the truth and not that of man.
__________
Further reflection::
The story has been told of a New York City couple who received through the mail two tickets to a Broadway musical. Oddly, the gift arrived without a note, and they wondered who had sent it. But they attended the show and enjoyed it immensely. However, returning to their apartment, they discovered that the bedroom had been ransacked. Valuable furs and jewels were missing. On the pillow was this simple note, “Now you know.”
Like that nameless thief, a false teacher knows what people want and appeals to their desires (2 Peter 2). He doesn’t wear a lapel pin to warn of his lies, but he comes disguised as a representative of the truth. He claims he will enrich lives, but those who follow him often learn at a high cost that they have been deceived. However, Jesus Christ is a teacher we can trust completely. He offers us the gift of eternal life because He truly loves us. Accepting His gift of salvation is the first step in protecting ourselves from the deceptive gifts that false teachers offer and satan’s deceptions. Satan will do anything to prevent us from fully experiencing the blessings we inherit as God's dearly loved children. He will try to convince us that the treasures He has for us in heaven is worthless. Or, he will sow seeds of insecurity, doubt and guilt so we feel undeserving. But we must not believe his lies! That’s why God’s Word exhorts us to:
(1) Study the Scriptures (1 Peter 2:2),
(2) Test what we hear (1 John 4:1),
(3) Grow in the faith (2 Peter 1:5-9), and
(4) Knowing from the Bible what the true gospel is.
God doesn’t ask us to believe the absurd, but He does demand that we believe what He says in the Bible. Even when we don’t fully comprehend God’s ways, we can rely on the truth of His Eternal Word wherein He promises to change our lives when we put our trust and faith in Jesus Christ, the Risen and resurrected Savior. Remember that God’s Word is Truth because as born-again-believers in Christ we know that Jesus is the Word of God and that He has been with God since the very beginning. We know that Jesus is the Truth, and that through our faith and trust in Him (John 3:16-17) we are saved. God’s Word is eternal (Psalm 119:89) , and is just as relevant today as it has ever been. All of God’s commandments are sure, we can trust and follow them today because we love Him. And we know that God is not a liar and has never been. We can put our trust in God because we know that God’s Word is Truth.
So, my beloved are you grounded in the truth of God’s precious Word?
__________
Knowing the truth, you can distinguish what’s false because God’s truth uncovers Satan’s lies.
