My Daily Pause

Carl Heinrich Bloch (1834–1890) – The Sermon On the Mount

Christ tells us in Matthew 7:21-23 that not everyone that says they are living as a follower of Jesus will make it into heaven.

We have to be doing his will.

The thought of that should scare more people. Really, the thought of that should concern everyone that believes God is righteous and just. Both the saved and the lost will have been held up to God’s standards, so it is important to make sure we know exactly what those standards are. To some of us he will have no choice but to say “…depart from me, I never knew you …” (Matthew 7:23)

Thankfully, Jesus goes on to tell us how to avoid that – he says to “hear these words of mine and do them!” He likens that act to building a rock solid foundation that will support us throughout this earthly lifetime. (Matthew 7:24-27)

Here are a few random ideas for building a rock solid godly lifestyle:

• Avoid screen time (T.V./Computer/Smartphone) that feeds you with “off-color” suggestive programming – they dull your senses to offensive material
• Spend more time with people also trying to get to heaven – It helps control temptation
• Challenge or research teachings that are different from what you are used to hearing – You will either learn from or correct someone what the Bible says

Obviously, I can’t leave off more Bible study. That alone should be the greatest portion of your foundation building activities. Knowing what the Bible actually says and not taking another’s word for it is critical to your salvation!

What are some things you can change to build a better foundation for you and your family?

“Again it is written …”

When Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness he gave us this phrase, which might be the most important phrase in the Bible. (Matthew 4:7) When responding to a question about the Scriptures, we should be using the Scriptures!

Temptation of Christ – 16th Century – Simon Bening (circa 1483/1484–1561)

The account of the temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11) is a short one, but it holds some very heavy lessons. What jumps out at me is how powerful Satan really is. When Satan was tempting Jesus, he gave us an example of how well he can misuse the Scriptures.

It still happens all the time – Satan helps God’s enemies misuse the Scriptures. Those who wish to defend God often cannot, because their knowledge is not strong enough to stand against the attack on their beliefs. We’ve all heard the common ones:

• Judge not lest ye be judged
• Take a little wine for your stomach’s sake
• Eat, drink, and be merry!
• Be not overly righteous

The pro-gay community is getting really good at deflecting the Bible’s prohibition against homosexuality.

It is important that a Christian is able to respond to such temptations (or tests of our knowledge) with “It is written … ”

He must also be able to do so in context, and in the spirit the text was written.

If you are a Christian and desire to respond the same way Jesus showed us when he was tempted, there are some easy steps you can take:

• Begin a daily devotional reading program.
• Take extra time to study on a regular basis
• Attend Bible classes at every opportunity
• Set a goal to become a Bible teacher

Doing these things over the years will make you good at using the Bible the way God intended for it to be used.

Three day old parrot being fed at the Prague zoo.

I read a blog post this morning about the content we choose to read. The masses tend to consume the easy to understand, non-threatening material while skipping the stuff that makes them think. They do not want a conflict in what they have already been taught. They want their beliefs affirmed.

Even worse, most people will quit reading when a post uses unfamiliar words or concepts. I’m not sure how we (the masses) expect to learn anything new when we are unwilling to learn new words or risk disturbing some deeply held belief.

An awful lot of people do that with their Bible study. Take the book of Romans – read all the way through, we see the full plan of Salvation laid out for us.

• We sin
• We need salvation
• Christ made it possible
• Through obedient faith we join his body
• Through our gratitude we serve him

The details of Romans are challenging and require lots of study and thought. All too often, Romans is cherry picked for specific words and sentences, leaving the context behind.

We should all be more like the noble Bereans. (Acts 17:11) Everything we read and hear about the Bible should be challenged, especially when it is a “new” idea to us. Without that we collectively become less knowledgeable about what God wanted for us. We risk only knowing what someone else wants us to think God wanted for us!

So to restate what got me thinking about this from a Bible perspective:

If we avoid Bible study that isn’t spoon fed to us, all we’ll end up doing is eating from a spoon.

When the Sadducees challenged Jesus about the resurrection, (Luke 20:27-40) they had the same characteristics of those who teach false doctrine and those who don’t even believe in God.

Jesus teaching in the Temple, from the book Standard Bible Story Readers, Book Five (1928) Authors O. A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland

• They made up a ridiculous situation (even if it was possible)
• They were setting out to trap the believer
• They were using Scripture out of context
• They had no response when they received an informed answer

So much of what those that believe in error and nonbelievers think can be attributed to a pure lack of study. No matter what category of wrong people fall into, they are all guilty of not giving honest effort to trying to find the truth.

In the parallel account of this event, (Mathew 22:22-33) Matthew records Jesus calling it like it is:

You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. – Matthew 22:29

As a whole, the Jews got caught up in all the lore and procedure and forgot to study their Scriptures. No wonder they didn’t understand everything the Lord came to teach!

When we decide not to give God’s word enough study, we lose our opportunity to save some of these folks from the same fate. So many people that claim to not believe justify it behind ridiculous scenarios like the Sadducees did.

Most importantly … Let’s study more so we don’t fall into the same trap!

Daily Bible reading for September 28

Psalm 58
2 Samuel 17:24-18:33
Ezekiel 19
Luke 19:47-20:44

If you find it challenging to get an audience for Bible study from among those closest to you, you are not alone.

In Mark 6:4-5, we see Jesus performing the only the most basic miracles in his home town because they didn’t have enough faith in his message. Human jealousy and competition closed their ears to the one among them that wanted to save them.

That was Jesus. He didn’t even have a bad reputation. He never committed a sin. If we were to list the reasons we need to be like Jesus, limiting our personal liabilities to the gospel message is a big one.

Five Ways to Make Others Receptive

To improve the chances of getting someone close to you to listen to the gospel here are some suggestions:

• Practice excellent behavior – make it priority never to use coarse language, shy away from off-color subjects and stay away from TV and radio programming that use these things for humor.
• Live well – When you look like you have it together, never complain, rarely worry, others will want to know why.
• Never criticize –be careful about how you bow out of activities you shouldn’t join. Remember that they aren’t in the same place as you and haven’t made the same commitments to God yet.
• Organically introduce the Bible – Wait for opportunities to teach so that the conversation feel natural to the discussion flow.
• Introduce someone new – A Christian friend is helpful when they do not have the same history as you do with your long-time friends and relatives.

Finding those open to the Gospel from among our peers is not impossible, it just takes a little more planning.

Daily Bible reading for August 10

Psalm 8
Judges 20
Jeremiah 36
Mark 6