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 perfection of the Father. We can assume that God does not command us to be something that He will not provide the means for us to be. Therefore, we should not think that these commands are impossible. If we think that way, then we are not believing or obeying God. We are following the suggestions of the Enemy. We can start obeying these commands by believing that it is possible to be holy and by wanting to be holy. 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

“Big words” normally mean lots of letters and a surplus of syllables. Here, I will use “big” to mean a word’s frequency of use and its influence on society. There are many wonderful words in the languages of the world. Some of these words have precise definitions like the word kind . Because of this preciseness, the word is not a “wide” word. There are other words that are “big,” “wide” and are not wonderful. Sin is one of those words. However, there is a word whose definition is “big,” “wide,” and it is still wonderful. That word is GRACE. Before I tell you about this word, let’s look at the various definitions of the word “definition.” The dictionary defines “definition” as: Definition #1: A statement of the meaning of a word or word group or a sign or symbol. Definition #2: The meaning of a word from the context of a paragraph or a story or a lecture. There are many such examples from the books of L.M. Montgomery. Here is one: “But an August afternoon, with blue hazes

You may have experienced or witnessed Christians or pseudo-Christians who have divided the body of Christ. The Bible speaks to us about them in several places. “They said to you, ‘In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.’ These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit” (Jude 18-19). “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned” (Titus 3:10-11). “I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people” (Romans 16:17-18). “I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree wi

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Gal. 1:6-9). This is a good measuring stick against which we can measure anything that is declared to be true. It is the Gospel that saved us. This Gospel is succinctly expressed in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5: “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was burie

Jesus had just finished saying to the twelve that after His resurrection they should no longer ask Him anything. They should ask the Father in Jesus’ name, because the Father Himself loved them. “Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God” (John 16:30). Normally, we would come to two conclusions concerning John 16:30. Either a person who knew all things would not need to ask anyone any questions, or a person who knew all things would want others to ask him questions in order to display his knowledge. Because Jesus spoke clearly and without figures of speech, the twelve first could see that He knew all things, and second that He did not need to have anyone ask Him questions. These two conclusions made them believe that he came from God. "Knowing all things" would make any person believe that Jesus came from God. However, that was not convincing enough for the twelv

"I have said this to you in figures; the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures but tell you plainly of the Father. In that day you will ask in my name; and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father . I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father" (John 16:25-28). This is a wonderful statement! The Father Himself loves you . Many Christians do not believe that, even though they know John 3:16 and Romans 5:8. They read those verses in such a way as to read, "For Jesus so loved the world," and, “Jesus commends His love for us.” The Father loves us. We should dwell on that fact. It influences all of our actions.   Written August 1986. This post coordinates with tomorrow's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge . If you are not in a daily readi

  Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains” (John 9:41). We all know people who claim they can see but who are, in fact, blind. Their guilt remains. You may not know this but here in the United States there is a geographical area in which the entire culture (social, religious, political, and business) claims to see. It is the Mormon culture that controls Utah and the contiguous areas of Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada. Backslidden Mormons are more willing to admit that they cannot see. We have one mission station in this area: Oasis Books in Logan, Utah, the location of Utah State University. Please pray for our staff as they work with people who do not know that they are guilty of Romans 1:22-23: “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man…” Their idea of God is one that is physical and looks l

“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—who He is,