Roots by the River

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (Jeremiah 17:5-8). “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicke...

“Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns” (Jeremiah 4:3). The Lord’s instruction to Judah through Jeremiah was spiritual instruction. He wasn’t speaking about farming. The Bible is wonderful in its clarity, and we can be awfully obtuse in our understanding. We do not operate like good farmers. We are like a three-year-old child who plants a bean and digs it up every day to see if it is growing. We have a Jack-and-the-Beanstalk view of sowing. We expect a giant plant the next morning. We are impatient for the harvest, so we are impatient in our sowing. We sow in unplowed, undisced, and unharrowed ground. We sow in weeds. We sow in the rocks and on hard ground. We wonder why no harvest. The harvest is dependent on sowing, which is dependent on us. It is also dependent upon the ground. The kind of ground is, in a sense, dependent on us. “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among the thorns” speaks of the need for cultivation. Good, soft ground with no rocks and no...

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:1-4). It looks as if the time has come. The sound doctrine that cannot be endured is simple, basic, true, and shows up in verses like the following: “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:...

1 Timothy 1:15:          “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.” That means pay attention . “Christ Jesus…” Who He is!       “…came into this world to save sinners…” The only reason for His birth in Bethlehem. “…of whom I am the worst.” This is not false humility. This is an inspired statement.     “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life.” One of the specific reasons why God saved Paul is given here: Paul was the worst of sinners. When you are witnessing to someone who wants to believe, he may say that he is too bad and that Christ will not have patience with him. That is not true because Christ had already exercised unlimited patience for the worst of sinners. Christ’s unlimited patience for Paul is an example for those who would be...

“It is better to heed a wise man’s rebuke than to listen to a song of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:5). It may have been always so, but at present we seem to have plenty of songs from many fools. We also seem to be short on wise men. The greatest shortage, however, is in heeders . A heeder is one who listens (pays attention) and obeys what he has heard. James said it this way: “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22). In my early Christian life, I memorized many verses of Scripture. I succeeded in deceiving myself . I was not obeying; I was not heeding. I thought I was spiritual. Being a listener is a dangerous position to be in. There are many good teachers of the Word. There are many more listeners. They flock to good teachers. The teacher should not be pleased that he has many listeners, unless he is going to teach them how to be heeders . This is one of the clear requirements in the Great Commission: “…teaching them to obey every...

Some time ago, I received this question: “Someone told me that I am emotionally dependent. Is that like being addicted to someone? What is the cure for emotional dependency?” You may be emotionally dependent, obsessive, or “addicted” to someone, but you should not think in these terms. As soon as you define yourself that way, you have hindered the cure. You end up focusing on the problem. Here is the solution. It requires some homework. ·        Think of yourself as a child of God. ·        “ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness” (2 Peter 1:3). Believe it. ·        Realize where you are in Jesus Christ. Read Ephesians 1:13 through chapter 3 and Colossians 1 and 2. Do not think about doing . Think about being . Look at what these passages say you are in Christ. ·     ...

“Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up” (Romans 15:2). I want. I need. I desire. I deserve. These are much different expressions than he needs or she needs . We think in terms of another person’s needs if they are negative, as in, “He needs a spanking,” or “He deserves to go to Hell.” Both of these may be true, but the text is speaking about what pleases and builds up the other person , rather than what pleases us . We see the same in a different way in Ephesians 4:29: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” What we do and what we speak should be only for the other person’s benefit, not for our own. 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.

“I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness” (Romans 6:19). Notice that righteousness leads to holiness . “To rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days” (Luke 1:74-75). Jesus is our “enabler.” He does not enable us to continue in sin, but the opposite, holiness and righteousness. He does this all our days. Righteousness is purity that comes from God when we receive Jesus Christ. We are cleansed from our sin. Holiness is also pure. However, it does not cleanse us. It does not take place until after we are clean. Holiness is not getting dirty. Holiness starts out being clean by the righteousness that comes from God. Most of my life has been spent getting people righteous with the gospel a...

  “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2). Notice the word “completely.” Apparently, it is possible to be completely humble and gentle. We see it Philippians 2:5-7 as well: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” ·        Made Himself nothing. ·        Humbled himself and became obedient to death. ·        Even death on the cross. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” We are to be humble, completely humble, just like Jesus. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29). Get into the humility harness with Jesus. Thi...

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business. Blessed is ...