Roots by the River

  "But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy'" (1 Peter 1:15-16). “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). There are several common things in these two commands. First, they are not suggestions. Second, they are "be" commands, not "do" commands. Third, they are in each case related to the holiness and the perfectness of the Father. We can assume that God does not command us to be something that He will not provide the means to be. Therefore, we should not think that these commands are impossible. If we think that way, then we do not believe or obey God. We are following the suggestions of the enemy. We can start by believing and wanting to be holy.   Written February 1993.

"Then the Lord said to him, 'Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure’” (Genesis 15:13-16). This text was fulfilled in the time of Joshua. It also gives us a reason for the conquest of Canaan by Joshua. The sin of the Amorites had now reached its full measure. “After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of yo

“And He said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition’” (Mark 7:9). Rather than dwell on the specific instance mentioned by Jesus of evading the commandment, I would like to draw attention to His admiration of their abilities when He says, "You have a fine way." J.B. Phillips translates this, "It is wonderful to see how." Jesus may have been speaking in sarcasm, but regardless of how He spoke, He was pointing to the sophisticated effort the religious people made in order to disobey. Jesus quoted Isaiah: "This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me," teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. Non-religious people do not need sophisticated reasons in order to disobey. They deliberately disobey, or remain ignorant of the commandments, or do not care. Religious people not only come up with involved reasons to make their own wrong look right, but

“I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the Gospel that I may share in its blessings” (1 Cor. 9:22-23). St. Paul’s versatility was a versatility of choice, decision. He gives the reason for his decisions: “to win as many as possible” verse 19; “to win the Jews” v. 20; “to win those under the law” v. 20; “to win those not having the law” v. 20; “to win the weak” v. 22’ and finally, “that I might save some” v. 22. His decisions were made in order to identify with the people he sought to win. He identified with opposites, and he did it without compromise. This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading with us. Written August 1984.

A pure, clear conscience is a wonderful thing. A guilty conscience is an awful thing. We desire the one and do not want the other. However, there are guilty consciences that are filled with false guilt instead of true guilt. There are also seemingly clear consciences that are clear only because the conscience does not record; it has become seared. Even when a conscience is working well and is clear, that does not mean it is working perfectly according to God’s standards of right and wrong. The Apostle Paul said it this way: “My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God” (1 Corinthians 4:4-5). A person may say that his conscience does not hurt, as if that were proof that he was innocent. It does not hold. The conscience

"We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:3-7). "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:24-25). I selected these two very clear expressions from the writings of John and Peter because in a succinct way they tell us about God—w

"No man can redeem the life of another, or give to God a ransom for him. The ransom for a life is costly; no payment is ever enough, that he should live on forever and not see decay… But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself” (Psalm 49:7-9, 15). This is a wonderful expression in the Old Testament of God's redemption as opposed to man's inability to redeem. Please consider the following and become students of the Old Testament: "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (1 Cor. 10:11). "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Romans 15:4). "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every g

''T he gifts and sacrifices being offered w ere not able to clear the conscience” (Heb. 9:9). "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God" (Heb. 9:14). ''Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Heb. 9:22). "Just as a man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him" (Heb. 9:27-28). "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor 2: 2). The first verse tells us of the inadequacy of Old Testament sacrifices. They were a shadow, not the reality. They did not work. The next three verses tell us that the death of Christ i

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). “It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace” (Hebrews 13:9). “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). We know that we were saved, justified, by grace. That was an event in the past that started our Christian lives. Grace, however, did not cease at that time. The three verses above represent the continuance of grace in the life of the believer. James 4:6 tells us that “He gives us more grace .” Grace is what we need for any inadequacy, weakness, or sin. This grace increases according to the needs. We cannot overdraw on the bank of grace, for “where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” Grace is really like a clean, life-giving river that never runs dry. We just need to stand in the river. "From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another” (John 1:16).   Written December 1989.