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Daily Bible thoughts 909: Thursday 25th June 2015: Jeremiah 9:3-9: The horizontal dimension.

Jeremiah 9:3-9: The horizontal dimension.(click here for passage)

‘’…any theology that minimizes personal holiness and excuses sinfulness is not biblical theology.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (Old Testament) p.1218. Jeremiah would not excuse the sins of his people. His message was one of repentance and judgment. The people he lived among were far gone.

These verses paint a grotesque picture of society torn apart by sin; a world in which people do well (in the short term) by lying (3b). And there is a degenerative aspect to sin – a downhill spiral. Things go from bad to worse. What kind of culture is it, when a prophet has to say: ‘’Don’t even trust your grandmother!’’? The Message. This is a world turned in on itself.

The truth is that sin separates. It separates people from one another. But in the first place it separates them from God. Twice in this passage, virtually the identical thing is said:

‘’…they do not acknowledge me…they refuse to acknowledge me…’’ (3b, 6b).

That lay at the heart of the problem. Something had gone wrong at the vertical level that was being worked out in the horizontal dimension of life. People estranged from God became more and more estranged from one another. Your relationship with God will inevitably be exposed in your treatment of others. (Consider Matthew 25:31-46 and Hebrews 6:10). It will splash over into your behaviour towards people. We cannot get away with saying that we love God when we are treating people badly. God is not deceived by such talk. (1 John 4:20, 21).

Our daily news is filled with stories of violence and cruelty; abuse and barbarism. In various ways we see people hurting each other. Wounds can be inflicted by lying words, gossip, slander and the like. It’s not always by bombs, bullets and sharp pointy instruments. Much of our entertainment industry is based around stories of people at odds with each other. There seems to be more and more ‘gutter’ television, featuring men and women being mean and nasty to others. This all points to a people disconnected from their God. Because they are separated from Him, in different ways they move away from each other.

There is much to weep over (1, 2).

‘’Never in history has there been more ribald hilarity with less to be funny about.’’ Vance Havner.

Prayer: Help me to live consciously in your presence, dear Lord; to be so close to you that I detest sin and treat others well.

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Daily Bible thoughts 908: Wednesday 24th June 2015: Proverbs 24:15-22: Resilience.

Proverbs 24:15-22: Resilience.(click here for passage)

‘’The destruction of evil men is sure (15, 16, 19, 20) but it is not to be received with vindictive delight by the righteous man.’’ A.E. Cundall.

As someone said, we should never speak of Hell except we have tears in our eyes.

The judgment to come on wicked people is a repeated theme in these verses. But at the heart of the passage there is a wonderful statement about the resilience of the righteous:

‘’…for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again.’’ (16a).

‘’No matter how many times you trip them up, God-loyal people don’t stay down long; Soon they’re up on their feet, while the wicked end up flat on their faces.’’ The Message.

It’s like God’s people are made of spiritual rubber. They bounce back. They persevere. They endure. They just keep going. This is a wonderful God-given quality. I am not saying that every believer proves to be equally resilient, but certainly everyone, in Christ, can be.

Recent scientific studies into resilience have shown the importance of having a core set of beliefs that help a person make sense of calamity. This is not the only factor, but it is vital. It’s not difficult to see how this point applies to ‘the righteous’. We believe in a sovereign God who overrules every detail of our lives for a higher purpose

In John Ortberg’s book, ‘Soul Keeping’, he writes about his high school friend’s mother called Betty:

‘’…she lived to be ninety years old. She never did anything extraordinary. She just raised four children. She just held her family together as her husband wrestled with manic- depressive disorder decade after decade, before there was medication, not knowing what she would come home to each day. She lived in the same small house in Rockford, Illinois, her whole life. She never travelled. She never bought an expensive dress or an upscale car. When she died, the chapel was packed. It was filled with lives that she had touched.’’ (p.60).

She could have felt sorry for herself. She could have hidden away under a shelter of self-pity. She could have retreated into depression. Instead she had an outward focus and was a blessing to many. She chose to serve and give. She followed the pathway of Jesus. She was resilient. (Hebrews 12:2-4)

Prayer: Lord Jesus you kept on going, even though it meant the way of the cross. Please give me your strength to glorify your Name by a life that endures.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 905: Friday 19th June 2015: Colossians 3:12-14: A Christian’s Wardrobe.

Colossians 3:12-14: A Christian’s Wardrobe.(please click here for todays passage)

Your clothes say a lot about you. What do your ‘clothes’ say about you?

This morning I looked in my wardrobe and I saw a couple of dirty shirts hanging there. One was called ‘’anger’’ and the other was labelled ‘’rage’’. I also clapped eyes on a pair of trousers bearing the label ‘’malice’’, and there was a suit hanging up that said ‘’slander’’. Then my eyes fastened on a familiar jumper – ‘’filthy language.’’ I confess that I was tempted to put on these old clothes. I’ve had them for so long, and have become comfortable with the feel of them. They are like old friends in a way. I have a kind of love-hate relationship with them. Even though I know they look terrible, and do nothing good for my appearance, they are just so easy to slip into.

But then I realised that there were other clothes hanging in the wardrobe, just waiting to be used. They carried lovely ‘Designer’ labels: ‘’compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.’’ And there were other garments saying, ‘Bear with other people’ and ‘forgive’. This was a brand new set of clothes, provided for me free of charge by a very dear friend. It cost Him so much to make them available. So although I felt a tug towards my old familiar clothes; even though I was drawn in the direction of putting the old, shabby stuff on once again, the awareness of His deep love for me helped me to reach for the new clothing. It was even like I could hear Him speaking to me; a voice that seemed to be inside me saying, ‘Go on and wear them. You know you want to. And always remember how very much I love you.’ In fact, I was aware of Him in the room with me, and I could sense how strongly He wanted me to choose correctly.

So I’ve decided that I’m done with the old gear. I was inclined to put them in the wash, but I’ve now decided to be radical. They’re going out. I’m getting rid. I choose not to wear them anymore!

As I walked down the street in my new set of clothes, many people seemed to notice. They smiled admiringly, and paid me lovely compliments. That never happened before. I get the impression that they prefer this new me, and I’m certainly happier with what I see in the mirror.

So I’m determined to keep the new look and not return to the old slovenly and scruffy ways. And with the assurance of my Friend’s love, and the encouragement of His companionship, I believe I will be able to stick with this resolve. But even if I do slip every now and then, and dig out an old cardigan or something still lurking in the back of the wardrobe, I know He will be there to gently but firmly get me back on track. So, with His constant Friendship I am always hopeful, and endlessly thankful.

Prayer: Thank you Jesus for my lovely new clothes. Thank you for the price you paid.

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Daily Bible thoughts 904: Thursday 18th June 2015: Colossians 3:5-11: Pursue Holiness.

 Colossians 3:5-11: Pursue Holiness.(click here for todays passage)

In the pagan religions of Paul’s day, little or nothing was said about personal morality. A worshipper could offer his/her gift on the altar and return home to live the same old way. But it is not like that in Christianity. A Christian is someone who will become more and more like Jesus.

You may quickly notice the paradox suggested by (3) and (5): ‘’For you died…Put to death…’’ It’s what commentators call the tension between the indicative and the imperative; between what has happened, and what must happen in the light of what has happened. We have ‘died’, therefore we must ‘put to death’.

Verse five speaks about definite action; decisive action. This is not something you drift into. These words agree with those of Jesus in Matthew 5:27-30, where He called for radical (you might even say ruthless) action to deal with temptation and sin. You can’t make a truce with these implacable enemies of your soul.

What do you know needs to change in your life? It may have to do with the sins listed in verses five and eight. But we do not have an exhaustive catalogue here. It’s just a sample. Your ‘’earthly nature’’ is capable of other wrongs. But wishing won’t change anything. Definite steps have to be taken against indwelling evil. It is important to realise how much God hates all sin (6). We have to hate it also, and declare war on it. There are things which belong to our old life and not to the new resurrected life in Christ. That previous life is now dead; it is in the past tense. We have to recognise this fact and not go back. There is a picture in this chapter of changing clothes; taking off dirty ones and putting on clean garments. As someone said, we must ‘’take off the grave clothes and put on the grace clothes.’’

As in (5), there is in (8) reference to decisive action. It is also urgent.(N.B. ‘’you must’’). We can’t afford to sit around waiting to change or be changed, but have to get on with making the necessary changes. It is important to see that if you are a Christian you can do this, because you are alive with Christ (1); you are dead to your old life (2), and you have a new godly nature (9, 10). Paul is asking for the possible (to those who are in Christ) and not the impossible. Once you trust Christ for salvation and the Holy Spirit comes to live in you, you have a new endless power supply to live differently. ‘Turbo-charged’ behaviour is now possible! You can pursue holiness because the HOLY Spirit lives inside you.

The church is a new community made up of new people who are enabled to live a new life. In the church all the old distinctions mean nothing (11). Jesus is ‘’in’’ everyone. He is ‘’all’’ we need. He is our ‘’life’’.

It’s been said that we were each formed in the image of God. We were deformed from that image through sin. But now we are being transformed into that image through Christ.

Prayer: Thank you Lord that remarkable change is possible because of your work in me.

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Daily Bible thoughts 903: Wednesday 17th June 2015: Colossians 3: 1-4: Intentionality.

Colossians 3: 1-4: Intentionality.(Please click here for todays passage)

Good news! We are new people in a new position (1, 3). So we can do everything we are told to do in this chapter.

‘’Having laid the doctrinal foundation, Paul now makes the personal application, for truth is something to live as well as to learn.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.784

‘’They now share in his resurrection life, so their lives are to be different. Their interests are to be focused on Christ; their minds, aims, ambitions, in fact their whole outlook, are to be centred on that heavenly realm where he rules, and where their lives truly belong. A continuous ongoing effort is required (lit.’keep on setting your minds/hearts’) for such a focus does not come automatically.’’ Peter T. O’Brien: ‘New Bible Commentary’, p.1272.

Our lives must be continually re-orientated towards our real home, for we regularly drift off course. But no one ever does anything significant without putting their mind to it and their heart into it. So there’s an intentionality here, expressed in the repeated word ‘’set’’ (1, 2; see Malachi 3:1). This is about ‘mind-set’ and focus. But such concentration will not happen without time. It’s easy to tell ourselves that we are far too busy to donate time to the cultivation of our spiritual lives. When John Ortberg was about to enter a very busy season of ministry, and he asked Dallas Willard what he needed to do to stay spiritually healthy, Dallas replied, ‘’You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life?’ When Ortberg came back asking, ‘’What else?’’ the reply was, ‘’There is nothing else. Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.’’

Today’s reading also raises the question, ‘To what extent is Jesus my true treasure?’ ‘’…set your hearts on things above, where Christ is…’’ (1). Surely my heart will follow my love; it will be where my love is. Our real life is now bound up with Jesus (3, 4; 1 John 5:12), so why would we keep our hearts and minds distanced from Him? If Christ is your life, keep your heart and mind in the place of life.

Verse 3 speaks of our security: ‘’So here we are in Christ, who is in God, and no burglar, not even Satan himself, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom.8:31-39).’’ Dr. A.T. Robertson.

Our real identity is not clear to the world at the moment, but one day it will be openly displayed (3, 4). ‘’Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life – even though invisible to spectators – is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too – the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.’’ The Message. C.S. Lewis said that if you could see your brother or sister today, looking how they will one day appear, you might well be tempted to bow down and worship them!

‘’…make the new life the focus of your attention. Set your mind on it; seek to experience all you have in Christ.’’ Warren W. Wiersbe.

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Daily Bible thoughts 902: Tuesday 16th June 2015: Jeremiah 8: 18 – 9:2

 Jeremiah 8: 18 – 9:2 please click here for todays passage

‘’Break my heart for what breaks yours.’’

When I was about to attend my first morning service at the ‘Elim’ church in Wigan, my parents tried to warn me that I might not like it. I didn’t!! I had never felt or heard such raw emotion in church before. I was used to sedate and orderly services, but here I witnessed loud expressions of joy and love and saw tears flowing liberally. It felt like loving chaos.

Jeremiah has been characterised as ‘the weeping prophet’ and today’s reading illustrates why. We see a window into his heart. He was so burdened for his people. (You also see conflicted emotions in 9:1, 2):

‘’For my dear broken people, I’m heartbroken. I weep, seized by grief. Are there no healing ointments in Gilead? Isn’t there a doctor in the house? So why can’t something be done to heal and save my dear, dear people?’’ The Message.

(18, 21, 9:1). What moves me? What makes me cry? Are our hearts somehow disconnected from the realities of sin and need all around us? Do we not care? Or perhaps we care all too little? I can’t help but feel that our prayer meetings would be more densely populated if we had more Jeremiah’s about the place. But Jeremiah’s seem to come in rather small numbers.

In (19a) Jeremiah sees his people in the land of bondage. This is where their sin and idolatry got them. They had their own way, and then found this was not what they wanted. Certainly, they didn’t want the full on consequences of their rebellion.

The people of Jeremiah’s day ‘missed the bus’ (20). They had the opportunity to turn back to God, but they didn’t seize it. They got so ‘sick’ that their situation was ‘terminal’ (22): ‘’Gilead was a part of the promised land that lay east of the Jordan River and was famous for a healing balm made from the resin of a certain kind of tree. Since this balm was readily available and there were physicians to apply it, why, Jeremiah asks, has the wound of the people not been healed? (verse 22).The reason is that the wound is spiritual, and it will take more than Gilead’s balm to heal it. Spiritual wounds can be healed only when people cast themselves on God and repent of their sins. Sadly, Judah’s people had rejected that remedy.’’ Tom Hale: ‘The applied Old Testament Commentary: p.1090.

Sin in the church can bring us to the sad place where it seems like our King, Jesus, is no longer with us (19). There is no sense or manifestation of His presence; there is no light shining out from among us. When we see anything like this we have reason to weep.

Prayer: ‘’Lord crucified give me a heart like yours.’’

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Daily Bible thoughts 901: Monday 15th June 2015: Jeremiah 8: 8-17: True wisdom.

Jeremiah 8: 8-17: True wisdom Please click here for passage

In the late 1970’s I visited St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and climbed up as high as you could go. Whilst at the top of the building, I met a robed verger, a young man, who cheerfully asked me what I was doing. At the time I was coming towards the end of my Bible College training. He too was going to train for the Anglican ministry. I think he may already have been in some form of preparation. Although initially pleasant, his tone quickly degenerated towards sarcasm. He questioned my belief in miracles, and suggested that if I believed what I did, I should throw myself off the building. He almost became menacing in his tone, and I proceeded to remove myself from him, and a conversation that wasn’t going anywhere. But if he ever did get into the ministry, what would he do with the Bible? I pray he had a change of heart!

You don’t need a ‘’pen’’ (8) to tweak the teaching of Scripture. You can make adjustments with your tongue. Satan still slithers into the ‘garden’ with a query: ‘’Did God really say..?’’ (Genesis 3:1), and many preachers are willing to stand up and say, ‘No, He really didn’t mean that at all.’ The Scribes were teaching that people could go on in their rebellious ways towards God and get away with it (11). They were very wrong, and everyone paid the price for their error filled messages (10a, 12b, 13; see Leviticus 26:31-33). God will especially punish teachers who lead people astray. They have been given greater privileges and carry greater responsibility (Luke 12:47, 48; 17:1,2; 2 Timothy 2:15; James 3:1).

A ministry that moves away from the Bible is inevitably superficial. It does not carry the radical answer to the bleeding need of the wounded heart (11): ‘’they put on band-aids…’’ The Message. I think every preacher should examine themselves in the light of this eleventh verse. ‘Is this in any way true of me?’ Preaching that does not take sin seriously cannot take the gospel remedy seriously.

Real wisdom is found in God’s Word (9). This is different to the accepted wisdom of the world (Proverbs 1:7; 2 Corinthians 2:6-14). It is ‘’the wisdom that comes from heaven’’ (James 3:17). It is the work of Christian leaders to help people see what the Bible says, and all it says. We cannot change the script because it is unpopular or difficult. This is not our prerogative.

People’s ultimate health and well-being is bound up with their acceptance or rejection of God’s truth. If we reject the written Word of God, we also reject Jesus the living Word who is its centre and substance. If we reject Jesus, what hope can we have?

Finally, here are three things that can bring a preacher down (but it’s not an exhaustive list):

  • Greed for money etc. (10);
  • Lack of personal integrity (10);
  • A seared conscience (12), no longer sensitive towards God or sin.

Prayer: Lord God, I recognise that people need your ‘medicine’, however unpalatable it may seem to some. Please help me to never ‘dilute’ what you have put in the gospel ‘bottle’.

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Daily Bible thoughts 900: Friday 12th June 2015: Jeremiah 8: 4-7: Warning Light.

 Jeremiah 8: 4-7(please click here for Bible Passage): Warning Light.

‘’Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle.’’ (6b).

I discovered that next to this passage I had written a note: ‘’How often do we cling to what, deep down we know to be wrong, but want to be right?’’

Many years ago, I was embarked on a particular course of action, when it felt like a huge warning light came on inside. I knew that something was wrong. But the urge to continue with what I was doing was greater than my very real sense of unease. So I did carry on. It did not take long to realise why that ‘light’ had appeared on the ‘dashboard’ of my soul. Although the decision I took did not destroy me, it did cause much heartache and aggravation for a time, and it was damaging.

The pursuit of our own ‘course’ tends to go hand in hand with clinging ‘’to deceit’’ (5b). We are quite happy to believe lies that permit us to carry on with our plans, and just close our eyes to what we do not want to see; and shut our ears to uncomfortable truth. The problem is that, as we have already seen in these readings, when we get what we want we don’t necessarily want it. We certainly don’t want all the bad stuff that comes with having our own way. There is One who loves us; a Father who knows better than we do. We should listen to Him instead of stomping off down the forbidden road. He wants to protect us from ourselves.

‘’They stubbornly hold on to their illusions, refuse to change direction…They just kept at it, blindly and stupidly banging their heads against a brick wall.’’ The Message.

God clearly wanted His people to return to Him. He was longing for their repentance (6). ‘’I listened carefully but heard not so much as a whisper. No one expressed one word of regret. Not a single ‘’I’m sorry’’ did I hear.’’ The Message.

His complaint was: ‘’Cranes know when its time to move south for winter. And robins, warblers, and bluebirds know when it’s time to come back again. But my people? My people know nothing, not the first thing of GOD and his rule.’’ The Message. It was the season for mass ‘’migration’’ (7) back towards God and Home. If ever there was a time to return, this was it. But the people of Judah did not seize the moment of opportunity.

Thankfully, although it is self-destructive to plot our own route through life, such self-will is not beyond forgiveness.

‘’We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’’ (Isaiah 53:6).

As the prophet Isaiah foresaw, hundreds of years in advance, when the Messiah came, He took the punishment for our reckless pursuit of our own agendas. We may not be protected from the consequences of all our self-centred choices, but we can be forgiven for them through faith in Christ, who died in our place. This is very good news indeed! The time to turn to Jesus is now. This is the ‘season ‘ for movement towards Him. But will we? Will you?

Prayer: Whenever I see your warning light come on, give me the courage to heed it.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 899: Thursday 11th June 2015: Jeremiah 8:1-3

Jeremiah 8:1-3

This is a continuation of the message begun in the previous chapter. ‘’At that time’’ (of the fall of Jerusalem) certain things will happen. It’s a terrible scene depicted. Imagine being told that one day your body, along with the bodies of many other people from your community, will lie unburied on the ground; that there will be a landscape littered with corpses.

Verse one shows the comprehensive nature of the judgment to fall. ‘’I’ll see to it that they dig up the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the princes and priests and prophets, and yes, even the bones of the common people.’’ The Message. The leaders had led the way in ungodly living, and they led their nation to destruction. The bad shepherds took their flock over the cliff edge with them.

The various words used in verse 2, such as ‘’loved and served and…followed and consulted and worshipped’’ point to what the people had lived for; what they had given themselves to. Someone said, ‘’Beware of what you set your heart on for it will surely be yours!’’ There will be a return on the investment of your life, and many people will find that they don’t get the return they desired. If you give your life over to any ‘god’ other than the Lord; if you devote yourself to any purpose other than the one your Maker intended, you will deeply regret it. We will reap what we sow and many ‘farmers’ will not like their harvest. ‘’They’ll dig them up and spread them out like a congregation at worship before sun, moon, and stars, all those sky gods they’ve been so infatuated with all these years, following their ‘lucky stars’ in dog-like devotion. Their bones will be left scattered and exposed, to reenter the soil as fertilizer, like manure.’’ The Message. The truth is that when we get what we want, we don’t necessarily want it. We have many experiences of this during our life time. How much of what we long for disappoints us. To lie unburied was considered a terrible disgrace. Their beloved ‘gods’ failed them when they needed them most They could not save their worshippers.

This short section comes to a terrible end. Even for those who survive this judgment, they will wish they were dead (3). ‘’Everyone left – all from this evil generation unlucky enough to still be alive in whatever godforsaken place I will have driven them to – will wish they were dead.’’ The Message. As I understand the Bible, there will come a day when even those who are dead will wish that they were truly dead (i.e extinct). The people who have lived for other gods will find themselves forsaken by the true God. They have rejected Him, and He will respect their choice. But death would be preferable to being without Him forever. Remember that Christ, upon the cross, experienced the God-forsakenness of Hell, so that we will never have to. We simply have to trust Him and what He has done for us.

(The word ‘’refuse’’ in (2) reminds me that a common word used in the New Testament for Hell, is the same one for the constantly burning rubbish heap just outside Jerusalem.)

Prayer: O God have mercy on me, and on all I love. Save us from self-destructive lifestyle choices that exclude you.

 

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