Change

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." ~ Romans 12:2

One of the most important passages in the Bible (in my opinion) is found near the middle of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Romans wasn’t the first epistle Paul wrote, but it is definitely regarded as one of the most profound and probably the most referenced. One of the vital things we gain from reading it is to see how Paul says we are to model Jesus Christ in our lives.

The truth is that we all have things we don’t understand about what it means to live for Christ. Even Paul and the other Apostles struggled with understanding and doing what the Good News reveals about God’s will for us and what that means in everyday life.

The Jewish theologians and leaders of that time thought they understood God’s will. In fact, they were proud of their understanding of God. But, after Jesus arrived, those who were seeking to worship the Father in spirit and in truth realized they would have to change the way they thought about everything to do the will of the Father.

God established an important ritual for those living before Christ’s arrival: The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16). Atonement means ‘reparation for a wrong or injury,’ which in humanity’s case is sin. It was a day that involved many prayers of thanksgiving and sacrifices to demonstrate their obedience to God. However, they practiced the rituals and ceremonies without understanding the importance and meaning.

It took Jesus coming to the earth to model for us how to live. He was willing to be the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb who would take away the sins of the world. Once He lived and was sacrificed for us, this could finally make sense. The challenge still remains, though, that we must change how we think about life and how we live life.

Romans 12:9-13 highlights many amazing practices that will help us model Christ: “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality…”

By applying these practices, we can show the world what the Good News really means in the lives of Christians and help them to claim the atonement offered by Christ’s sacrifice. I pray that we all do.

Seeking Joy

Salvation is a gift that can only be enjoyed if we take it. God won’t force us to accept His tremendous mercy and kindness, but why wouldn’t we want it? Why wouldn’t someone want to go to Heaven? Yet, Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

The Bible is filled with passages that help us see just how wonderful Heaven will be, and how our loving God made the way there possible for us. One of the most quoted passages in Scripture speaks to this; in John 3:16, “For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

How awful it will be for those who reject the wonderful offer of salvation made possible through what Christ gave on the cross. But what about the Christian who refuses to receive the gifts given to the believer?

We’re told that when we accept salvation, we receive a powerful gift. Acts 2:38-39, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

At our conversion, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Most of the New Testament is helping Christians understand how to live by the guidance of the Spirit rather than the guidance of the flesh. And Paul says in Galatians 5:22 that among the Fruits of the Spirit is joy.

Once the church began on the Day of Pentecost, a new, exciting attitude swept over the believers. People eagerly sold property to help others; they met together every day studying scripture and praying together. Acts 2:46-47 says, “They were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” They really enjoyed the fellowship of other Christians.

Joy is produced by living according to the Spirit, but is it something that many Christians experience and display? It seems so common to meet Christians who look and act like they’re miserable. Is this what the Spirit produces within us?

Ephesians 4:30-32 says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

It saddens God to see us live contrary to what the Spirit guides us towards. Perhaps Christians should consider what it means when we display lives of constant negativity, complaining, bitterness, anger, or any other attribute that diminishes the Spirit of God. Why would we close our hearts so that joy can’t be seen in our lives? How does that impact the message Christ gave us to spread to people of the world?

My prayer is that we completely accept the gifts of God, that we give our worries over to God, and that we experience the joy that comes from doing that. Let’s encourage one another and do it with joy.

Inspiration

One of the fundamentals of Christianity is believing the Good News about Jesus, the Messiah, and His sacrifice for our sins. “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The Gospel (Good News) is revealed to us through the Bible. If we didn’t have anything written about the events that led up to Jesus fulfilling the promises of God, we wouldn’t have a reliable understanding of what defines the good news. We have been given the written accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry to help give us confidence in His claims to be the savior of the world, the only way to achieve eternal life.

2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Yet, despite the fundamental fact that God’s words outline His will for us, we see misunderstanding or complete ignorance about how to use the teaching and can see how that has impacted our culture. Therefore, an important question we must ask is, “Do I believe ALL of these words are from the Creator?”

The word inspiration (God-breathed) becomes the focus of this dilemma. One definition of the word is, “the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.” Others might focus on this influencing and motivating power being based on God—divinely imparting His will so we can know what to do.

Peter says in 2 Peter 1:20-21, “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Many people have difficulty understanding how the Bible helps them with personal problems now, which brings inspiration into question. While many believe in the idea of the Bible being inspired, they live as if they have to still search elsewhere to find solutions to their problems. The Bible is filled with hundreds of examples of people rejecting or accepting God’s teaching (through prophets, priests, or kings), His rebukes (2 Samuel 12), His correcting (Hebrews 12:9-11), or His training towards righteousness (John 13:13-15; 1 Peter 2:21). But, we have to seek discernment to understand the essence of the Biblical examples and teachings we read. This takes maturity; as Hebrews 5:14 says, “Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” And the way to do this is by reading the Bible, carefully considering what we’re reading and how it applies to our lives, and constantly praying for illumination.

I pray that we all seek discernment and maturity to best reach the world with the Good News of salvation and joy.

A Father's Discipline

How do you define God? The dictionary defines Him as the Creator and ruler of the universe and source of all power and moral authority; the supreme being. One concept that Jesus often promoted in His teaching about God is our Heavenly Father.

A father has many roles: teacher, provider, and disciplinarian, to name a few. It’s the discipline part that can be one of the hardest aspects of God to accept. However, when we consider the words in Hebrews 12:5-7, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastens everyone He accepts as His son. So, endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as His children. For what children are not disciplined by their fathers? … (9) How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! … “God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in His holiness.”

God’s goal is that we would emulate His character; but how could we ever match up? Consider Genesis 22:1-14 when Abraham was called to offer up his one and only son as a sin-sacrifice. The amazing thing is that Abraham was willing to do whatever it took to be faithful to God; He trusted the promises of God. How does our faith match up? He was willing to go through the discipline (the action of conforming to God’s character). Or as Hebrews 12:11 continues, “[Discipline] produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Our Heavenly Father wants us to enjoy the peace that makes up His nature and that He is earnestly helping us embrace. As our children grow older, we will see if our loving instruction worked in their lives or not. Our children’s actions can become a great source of pride or a painful regret.

Proverbs 19:18, “Discipline your children while there is hope. If you don't, you will ruin their lives.” (NLT) It’s important that children learn self-control from someone who loves them and only wants the best for them. And we can see how God disciplined us so that we can be like Him.

Consider the great lengths that God has gone to show loving discipline to His followers. Jesus came to offer us a better life—an abundant life (John 10:10), a life with a peace-filled purpose (Ephesians 2:10), and an eternal life (John 17:3, John 3:16)!

Think about the sacrifices your father made. He might not have been perfect since no earthly father is, but did he try to do what was best for you? Sadly, not everyone can say that about their earthly father, but we have a Heavenly Father who is willing and able to offer a wonderful life to those who will accept His loving discipline and instruction.

Why Love?

What is the soul? Or maybe, who is the soul? Perhaps it's helpful to determine how the word has been defined by mankind. In the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary, the word for soul is defined as life, person, breath. The Hebrew word Nephesh is further described as the man himself, or we might say individual (as was a common old English usage of the word).

Although the usage of a word can drastically alter how we might describe it; however, there are some words we don’t need to look up to understand—even if we don’t fully understand them
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When it comes to things we feel, we may not always understand how to describe the feeling, but we recognize it as something. Similarly, there is something within us that recognizes what our soul is regardless of how someone defines it. We just know it deep within our souls.

If Nephesh, soul, simply means life, then all living things have a soul. Is that important? Going back to Jesus’ summation of the scriptures in the iconic passage found in Matthew 22:37-39, we can see the importance of our soul’s engagement with the things of God and the things He created. He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

We are therefore commanded to love. 1 Peter 3:8-12 describes how love should be part of our nature. “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Hopefully, we can see why loving God with our whole soul is the key to showing love toward others. As an introduction into the nature of our soul, perhaps focusing on how my love for all life will be what helps my soul to thrive and be the part of me that God delights in.