Category Archives: Devotional

CUT THE BAIT

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Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; 1 Peter 1:13-15

The success of a fishing lure lies mainly in its ability to attract. The shiny spinners sparkle and move with the current of the water and as a result of the skillful fisherman’s hand. Once attracted the fish moves in for a closer look and ultimately makes the fatal decision to strike at what it believes to be an easy meal.  Too late does the unsuspecting fish feel the bite of the hook and the draw of the line that means the hunter has become the hunted.

My good friend Mike Reese, musician and songwriter as both a solo artist and member of the group Simon Peter, sings a song appropriately titled “Hooks” in which the following lyrics are haunting in their accuracy:

Some people say “It’s all in fun. Don’t get so serious if we get delirious, there’s no harm done.”

It may take years or just a day and what was once a game is now not quite the same.

It is a habit now that you find you can’t live without. And the deceitfulness of sin has got you again.

The chorus drives the point home:

Oh it’s so subtle, has such good looks.

It’s so wrapped up in the things we want,

We can’t see the hooks.

Christians often fall victim to the strategies of the enemy because they don’t see the hooks.  Sin is not something that the believer is to play around with thinking no one is being hurt and no one will ever know anyway. Those justifications are the “shiny spinners” the enemy uses to fish for believers who will take a second lingering look at the bait.

The Apostle Peter reminds us that believers are to prepare our minds to withstand temptations knowing that they will come packaged in ways that will attract our attention.  That is the meaning behind Peter’s admonition and warning that we must not “be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance.” The flesh will rear its ugly head and it is no accident that the temptation involves things from our life before Christ.

When the enemy flashes bait before your eyes remember that Christ set you free from every hook the enemy might send your way. Therefore, “be holy yourselves in all your behavior.”  In other words, cut the bait and move on to maturity in Jesus Christ.

 

GOD IS NEAR

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The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18

The theological word for God’s nearness is immanence. This is closely related to another theological word that describes a characteristic of God – omnipresence. Have you considered God in this light? What are the implications of these characteristics?

Our verse from Psalm 34 tells us that God is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are burdened to the point of desperation, what the Psalmist describes as those “who are crushed in spirit.” This is a very frank picture of the human condition that many people experience at some point. For the writer of this Psalm – King David – it was a time of exceeding frustration and ebbing hope that gave rise to the penning of these words.  As David expressed his thoughts and emotions there arose within him an awareness of the nearness of God and the promises God had made to him concerning his own future.

It is very easy to become burdened down with the cares of life.  Everyone has bills to pay, appointments to keep, and responsibilities to fulfill. Day by day we focus on completing our tasks but over time we can become exhausted if we lose sight of why God saved us in the first place. We were made for so much more than debt, full schedules, and tasks that need completed. God saved us so that we might enjoy a close, intimate, and personal relationship with Him.

What compassion is this that God our creator would still remind us even when we allow our lives to become an endless parade of frustrating struggles that He is present for us and with us? Our God is not “an I told you so” God, but is instead full of mercy and patience, ever reaching out to His children.

Have you allowed your relationship with God to suffer at the hands of your schedule or responsibilities? Do you find yourself troubled by your lack of closeness to God? Are you suffering under the weight of life?  Cry out to God who is near.  He has never left you and stands ready to lift the burdens that crush your spiritual life.

 

ARE YOU READY?

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“but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”

1 Peter 3:15 NAS

As you walk down the busy street of your town you notice a homeless person with a dirty coffee cup begging for money.  Do you pass him by?  Do you give him some change?  Or do you give him what will change him?

For the Christian everyday is an adventure in which we seek to hear and see God.  Have you considered that seeing and hearing God is a matter many times of seeing the opportunity to act in His name?

Are you ready when the chance comes to share the mercy and love that God has given you to share?  Peter and John were on their way to the temple one day when their thoughts were interrupted by the voice of a man begging for money.  What the two disciples shared with that lame man on that day changed his life.  “But Peter said, ‘I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene–walk!’ And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God” (Acts 3:6-8).

May we seize the opportunities God has provided for us everyday.

We Are Butlers Not Chefs

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“But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” 2 Peter 1:20-21

It has become fashionable today for preachers and teachers to construct their sermons based loosely on a passage of Scripture. I say loosely because the main ingredient is not normally sound exegesis of the text under consideration but rather is much more often an amalgam of hobby-horse theology and whatever the preacher wants to say to the congregation.  This trend is to be expected for a couple of reasons.

First of all, many pastors have abandoned any belief in the inspiration of the Scriptures. These individuals have succumbed to the siren song of biblical criticism run amok and have adopted a view of the Scriptures as a collection of not too accurate narrative histories of a deceived people.

Second, when inspiration is jettisoned the inerrancy of the Scriptures must follow. If the Bible is a collection of fanciful stories and not at all God’s message to mankind then it cannot possibly be without error.

Third, if the Scriptures are not inspired and thus not inerrant, then they cannot hold any degree of authority over a person’s life. People are thus justified in cherry-picking what they will accept and will not accept.  The end result is they really don’t accept any authority beyond themselves.

The Apostle Peter reminds us in the passage above that we are not the originators of the truths we preach. The Bible is God’s Word to His creation and as such we have the high honor and responsibility to accurately convey God’s message to all people.  In this sense we are butlers of the Word of God faithfully serving Him and not chefs who are free to concoct our own recipes based on what we think is true from the Bible.

Confession and Repentance? Yes!

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“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” 1 Corinthians 15:3

There is a spurious teaching today that appears to be gaining adherents.  It is the teaching that Christians don’t need to confess and repent of their sins because all a believer’s sins – past, present, future – are forgiven at the moment of salvation.  To confess sins after that point is an affront to God.  Is this what the Bible teaches?

Unfortunately for those who hold this view the answer is a resounding no. Salvation does not mean you receive a “get out of jail free” card when it comes to post-conversion sin. While it is true that God in Christ has forgiven us our sins in a judicial sense, it is not true that we no longer need to confess and repent of our sins.  Let’s unpack this issue.

It appears that supporters of the no confession, no repentance necessary post-conversion position confuse standing with relationship.  In other words they are guilty of misconstruing our justification and adoption as sons and daughters with our sanctification and fellowship in Christ.  “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) stands along side of admonitions to not “grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (Ephesians 4:30).  There is a visible tension in the Scriptures which holds that we are no longer slaves to sin or under sin’s power (Romans 6) while simultaneously acknowledging that Christians will sin and this causes God’s discipline (Hebrews 12).

Perhaps the most cited passage in this context is 1 John.  In this epistle John tells believers that they must confess and repent of their sins.  Note again that John wrote to believers telling them that they must not succumb to the belief that they were “children of the light” when their lives demonstrated sinful behavior.  “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” John’s first epistle is a clear statement against the no confession/no repentance necessary teaching.

Finally let us consider Jesus’ words that He offered as instruction to His disciples of every age: “Pray then (daily) in this way . . . give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors . . .” (Matthew 6:9, 11-12).

Brothers and sisters do not think that your daily thoughts, words, and actions do not matter to the Father.  Remember to take captive every thought, word, and deed to the obedience of Christ.