Roots by the River

by W. Robert Smith, Th.D. Two young men who had fought side by side in the mud and blood of the Anzio Beachhead and were now enjoying life together on a college campus stopped at my desk one day after a class in logic. “Professor,” one of them said, “we are grateful for what you said today, only we wish you had said it about two weeks ago.”   This must be a rare day, I thought, as I asked, “What was so interesting about what was said today?”    “Well,” he explained, “you were saying how necessary it is to define terms. About two weeks ago we got into a bull session that turned into a hot debate. About three in the morning, when we were getting wild-eyed and desperate, we accidentally discovered that we were using different words to describe the same idea and actually we agreed. If we had thought to define our terms, we wouldn’t have lost that sleep.” These men illustrate the need for clear definition of terms. How often we use two different words for the s...

“Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near” (Revelation 1:3). Here is a promised blessing to those who read or hear it and take to heart what is written in it. Periodically, I take an informal poll that goes something like this: How long have you been a Christian, in years? How many times do you know that you have read the whole Bible? How many times do you know that you have read all of the New Testament? The last time was a few months ago in an evangelical church in another state. We collected all of the answers, added up the years and divided the total times into the total years. The results were, as I remember, for the New Testament once every four years; for the whole Bible once every eight years. At a men’s conference a few years ago, the results were New Testament once every 17 years, the whole Bible once every 27 years. If we have a conference of cons...

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). It was at a Bible conference in Japan in 1956 where I heard Bill Pape teach on faith. One of his statements stayed with me over these many years. It was, “ Faith requires ignorance .” Recently,* I received a letter from a man named Gary, a Young Life staffer in San Jose. Let me quote them both, starting with Gary. “It became quickly apparent that I had indeed relied very heavily on clarity and detail when it came to seeking God’s answers. Whether for myself or for those I work with, I was guilty of wanting clear answers and direction as the ultimate assurance of God’s will. “I began to consider people in the Bible that God directed. It seemed that in almost all cases He gave them only enough information to take the next step. ‘Leave your family and go to a far country that I will show you,’ ‘Stay in the city for three days until I send someone to you,’ ‘Stay in Jerusalem until I se...

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind ” (2 Timothy 1:7). God has given us His Holy Spirit. As we read the characteristics of the Spirit that He has given, we find… • Boldness (Acts 4:31, 4:8-13) • Faith (Acts 11:24) • Power (Acts 1:8) • Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) All of these are the opposite of fear. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18). If God did not give a spirit of fear and we have a spirit of fear, guess who gave it. • Fear comes from the Enemy. • Fear always has to do with the future. • Fear is always based on a lie. • Fear is contrary to those gifts and fruit the Holy Spirit gives. At present, we are seeing thousands of Christians giving in to fear. These thousands are generating more thousands. The...

“Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach , not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:23-26). “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation : that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors , as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God . God ...

“But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:57) “As I have already said, the first twenty-five years of my Christian life I lived in utter ignorance of this simple truth. I can never forget the 14 th of August, 1910, when the scales dropped from my eyes, and I saw that Christ was my life. Christ was my victory . I wasn’t bothering about the theological questions that have been discussed to the entanglement and defeating of so many Christians…. How God does things…is His business, not mine. But I do know that God does this thing; and I know it not because of any experiences of victory God has given me—blessed though some of them have been, and beyond anything I dreamed possible—but I know it because God says so . I don’t know it by looking at my own victories, or at the victories of others. I don’t know it because of any present experience or consciousness of Christ that I have. I know it because the Word of God says it. He says,...

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). We know that faith and love remain. We have had our doubts about hope . Perhaps it is because we have placed a 21st century definition on hope . For instance, we may say something like, “I hope so,” meaning, “I wish it would happen, but it probably won’t.” To us, hope is wishy and doubtful. That is why it doesn’t sound like it belongs with faith and love. In the Bible, hope is not wishy; it is a sure thing. “God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure ” (Hebrews 6:18-19). “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for...