My Daily Pause

Christ before Caiaphas – ca. 1630 – Matthias Stom (fl. 1615–1649)

After an entire night of searching, they finally found a witness willing to make one lame statement.

“This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.'” – Matthew 26:61

Those who wish to discredit God’s word have been working tirelessly since that day to finish the job the Jews started. The witnesses who came forward with this distorted version of Jesus’ words were just the beginning.

Century after century, God’s word still stands even after continuous attacks by those who desired to either control it or destroy it. Attacks like the witnesses made against Jesus require some basic ingredients to succeed:

• Someone willing to lie
• Someone willing to believe a lie
• No one willing or able to challenge the lie

This is how social issues that are outside of Christian moral standards are becoming commonplace. Some are even making their way into the church!

It is easy to find people on any given day who are distorting God’s word to serve their agenda. As Bible scholars, we not only need to know the word well, we have to be willing to stand up for it.

Previously, I made a big deal over Matthew 24:4 and Jesus’ warning not us to be led astray.

Matthew 24:36-44 is a great passage to completely make my point. Many are teaching that we will know through some apocalyptic signs that Christ is on his way back. In this passage, Jesus sets a few things straight about the judgment:

• Only God himself knows the day it will happen (Matthew 24:36)
• We will carry on in our lives until the instant it happens (Matthew 24:39)
• We are warned to be ever watchful (or awake) (Matthew 24:42)
• It’s as unreasonable to think we can guess the day as it is to expect a thief in our house tonight (Matthew 24:43)

One of Satan’s best tools to trick Christians out of their salvation is to allow them to think they have plenty of time. People have a tendency to believe this lie of having all the time we need, until suddenly, they don’t.

Each additional day we have is a gift. What is one way you can use today a little better?

During Paul’s last meeting with the Ephesians, he told them he had taught them everything they needed to know and he was therefore “Innocent of the blood of all.” (Acts 20:26)

Paul’s example was to teach the full counsel of God. He never let his students continue in sin without a warning. He taught everything:

Not just the popular parts.

Not just the easy parts.

Not just the fun parts.

Would it break your heart on the last day to have your best friend ask, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

So there Paul was in Ephesus – teaching and converting people to Christianity like a pro. The problem was the little statues of the Greek gods were becoming obsolete because people began worshiping the one true God. They created a stir so loud and large that some people didn’t even know why they were rioting. (Acts 19:21-41)

I just today saw in the local TV news that an outspoken evangelist is being accused of hate speech. While there are no actual witnesses to these things, the rumor is that he leads vicious rallies targeted at homosexuals. His contention is that homosexuality a sin – along with premarital sex and adultery. He says that he doesn’t hate gay people, but the New Testament clearly makes that lifestyle a sin. He has created a lot of enemies by teaching the truth and they are talking about protesting the church where he works.

Some things never change.

⁴ Spoken words can be like deep water,
but wisdom is like a flowing stream. – Proverbs 18:4 NCV

(Note: The NCV is a little weak here – most other versions render this similar to “man’s words” instead of “spoken words”.)

No answers today, but something we can work on.

Do non-believers see through the innovative teachings of man designed to attract followers? Solomon compares those things to the mysteriousness and darkness of deep water. Do they really not believe or are they simply turned off?

The Lord’s words have the strength and refreshing qualities of the cool babbling brook. Simple. Pure. Calming.

Was this the passage Jesus referred to on the last day of the feast? (John 7:37-38)