Jesus is patient and kind; Jesus does not envy or boast; Jesus is not arrogant or rude. Jesus does not insist on His own way; He is not irritable or resentful; He does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Knowing the love Jesus has for us is an encouraging thought. This paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 was suggested in a devotional I read in 2021 [1] for John 13:34 – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” James Boice said that we are not to “love” in any way we see fit, but as Jesus loved, which the above describes.
Based on John 13:34, Boice says we should also be able to substitute “I” in place of “Jesus” in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and see what He commands us to be. When I re-read the first paragraph with myself in mind, I see how much I fall short, but His love for me remains an encouragement. He will be patient and kind with me.
Pray that we may get ever closer to living the love of Jesus.
[1] From “August 30.” James Montgomery Boice and Marion Clark. Come to the Waters: Daily Bible Devotions for Spiritual Refreshment. (2017).
The Old Testament book of Numbers has a story about Balak, the king of Moab. Scared of Israel after seeing their military success, he was desperate to find a way to avoid defeat himself. Balak sought out Balaam, known as a prophet who spoke oracles, to curse Israel for him. After repeatedly paying Balaam and making many sacrifices, Balaam refused to curse Israel because God told him to bless Israel, not curse them. Balak would not give up, and before a third try, “Balak said to Balaam, ‘Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.’” (Numbers 23:27)
Where did Balak get the idea that changing location would get God on his side? That changing location would change God’s mind or bring God’s blessing to Balak (in the form of a curse on Israel)? Doesn’t it seem naïve? God’s character doesn’t change with location, or any other circumstances.
However, how often do we think a change in circumstances will bring God’s blessing? How often do we pray that God change our situation because we think the grass is greener somewhere else? Maybe if I lived in a different place, God would bless me. Maybe if I got a better job, would it be a blessing? Maybe if I went to a different church? Maybe if I was in a different relationship? Maybe if God would put us where we want to be, that He will bless us then? Are we saying “come with us God to another place, and perhaps it will please You to bless us there” in another way?
Warren Wiersbe wrote that “We are prone to think that a change in circumstances is always the answer to a problem. But the problem is usually within us and not around us. The heart of every problem is the problem in the heart.”[1]
God calls each of us for specific reasons, and the circumstances may be part of the reason. Referencing whether it is better to be married or single, circumcised or uncircumcised, slave or free, the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7:24, “So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.” In other words, God wants to bless you in, or even through, your present circumstances. He may change them, but He may not.
In God’s plan, the grass is usually greenest right where we already are. If we can faithfully be the blessing needed in our circumstances, God will be faithful in His time and place. He will bless His people, only sometimes with better circumstances, but always with spiritual fruit.
God always says: “Come now, I will be with you where you are. It pleases me to bless you in all situations and circumstances.”
The grass is greenest where He is.
[1] Wiersbe, Warren. Be Wise (1 Corinthians) (1982).
Reliable knowledge of good and evil is hard to come by, and the wisdom to follow it even harder. A well-known and oft-quoted Proverb is 1:7, which says:
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
This Proverb tells us that we only gain useful knowledge, wisdom and instruction when we have an attitude of reverent respect for God, and that we are fools if we do otherwise. Fear of the Lord should be the rudder that guides us through the waves and storms that buffet us in this world. Every decision we make should have as its foundation: does this honor God? No other foundation is good enough for our lives to rest upon.
What’s left unsaid here in Proverbs is that we can’t expect this to come easy. We are constantly tempted to not fear the Lord in our minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, and day-by-day decisions. It’s hard, and not just because we aren’t perfect.
In the account of the serpent’s confrontation with Eve in the garden in Genesis 3, the serpent’s whole objective was to get Eve to make one decision that wasn’t based on fear of the Lord. “He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?””[1] “The serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die.’”[2] Eventually he wore her down and she ate from the tree God told her not to eat from, all because her reverence for God had been worn down by constant criticism of God by the serpent. He wanted her to decide for any reason other than the fear of the Lord, to become a fool, and thus bring down humanity.
When we make decisions, are we always being guided by the fear of the Lord, or do we sometimes think “He didn’t really mean that”? If you’re like me, you find yourself constantly confronted by influences that oppose God. Are we foolish when we follow these influences? Yes. Do we do it anyway? Yes. Could there be a hostile spiritual influence pulling us in that direction? Sure, but it could also just be our own broken wills, prone to go our own way.
However, in 1 Corinthians 10:13, Paul assures us that “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” And if we fear the Lord, we will believe it.
If we fear the Lord, when we’re tempted, we will know that “he will also provide the way of escape.” We need to look for it and pray for it until we find it. When we do, God will remain in the driving seat of our decisions and knowledge and wisdom will be ours. He can overcome any of our temptations if we let Him and we fear Him.
Let the fear of the Lord be your guide. There is always a “way of escape.”
We all know the phrase “practice what you preach.” It’s a way to call someone a hypocrite, and at the same time tear down what the other person claims to believe in. These beliefs may be political or moral philosophies, but they may also be religious beliefs like denominations or theological systems. For this post, I’ll call all of these “isms.”
The history of Christianity has been a constant conflict between and competition among different “isms.” Catholicism, Lutheranism, Calvinism, Methodism, and others. Even the ones that don’t use the actual letters “ism” at the end are still “isms.” So much of being a Christian involves figuring out which “ism” we belong to, and also figuring out what’s wrong with the other “isms.” I see this no more clearly than on social media, where the competing camps are so clearly identified, and people write others off for being in the wrong camp.
We put a lot of time and effort into being as good at our chosen “ism” as we can. If we can go with the flow according to that “ism,” we can feel like we are pretty good Christians. We may be able to do a decent job at following the “ism” that we preach, and in many cases following our “isms” isn’t a bad thing. All denominations have their pros and cons, and they often attract people with similar strengths and weaknesses.
In God’s eyes there aren’t different types of Christianity.
But as we seek to be the best at our “ism” that we can be, are we practicing Christianity? Jesus confronts us with this in Matthew 19:17 – “And he said to him, ‘Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.’”
We may think of our “isms” as varieties or types of Christianity, and in a cultural way they are. However, in God’s eyes there aren’t different types of Christianity. There is only one Christianity – the life that Christ lived is the only practice of Christianity that will ever be good enough. Even if I perfectly practice what I preach as a Presbyterian or Baptist, for instance, I’ll still fall far short of God’s standard for “good.”
“Isms” are unavoidable in this world, and they often point us in the right direction, but they don’t get us all of the way there. We seek to please God as we best know how, but none of our “isms” are enough. They aren’t enough to save us, and they’re also too much for us to perfectly practice what we preach. We can’t meet our own, lowered, standards.
This is why the apostle Paul wrote “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” in 1 Corinthians 2:2.
Preaching Christ crucified is the only thing we can preach that was ever practiced perfectly, because it wasn’t practiced by us. It was practiced by the only One who was ever perfect, and it’s better than all of our “isms.”
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” – 1 Corinthians 13:12
Christians rightly focus on the historical fact of the life, death, and resurrection as the foundation of their faith. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:14 – “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” For Christianity to matter, these things must have actually happened. Therefore, a lot has been written providing evidence that these events happened, and that Christian faith is not based on speculation, but on solid history.
Today I’m going to take a different angle on the significance of the “historical” part of “historical fact.” This post is about the more straight-forward meaning that these events happened in the past.
Why This Matters Because Christ livedin the past, the life of righteousness He lived for us, and that we inherit through faith, is unchangeable. There is no other life that could be lived, or will be lived, that could be better or achieve more than what God intended it to achieve. Perfection is assured because it already happened. He has not fallen short.
Because Christ died on the cross in the past, He did it in consideration of every past, present, and future sin of His people. Nothing you, or I, or any of His people have done, are doing now, or will do in the future, can undo the cross, because it has already happened. He will not change His mind, and He will stand by those who have faith in Him.
Because Christ was resurrectedin the past, He has proven that death cannot hold Him and that He will raise His people to new life as well. He is alive now, and aware of everything happening not only in the global 24/7 news cycle, but also in the hearts and minds of every man. The same power that raised Him works in His people, telling them through His Spirit that there is no better plan than the cross to create a world where man perfectly loves God and loves his fellow man.
“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” – Romans 6:5-11
In a world full of pain and despair, “Preach the gospel at all times. And if necessary, use words.” – St. Francis of Assisi
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 