Thursday, March 31, 2016

FOLLOW ME

FOLLOW ME

READ:  Mark 2:13-17

It is not the healthy who
need a doctor, but the
sick.  Mark 2:17

Health clubs offer many different programs for those who want to lose weight and stay healthy.  One fitness center caters only to those who want to lose at least 50 pounds and develop a healthy lifestyle.  One member says that she quit her previous fitness club because she felt the slim and fit people were staring at her and judging her out-of-shape body.  She now works out 5 days a week and is achieving healthy weight loss in a positive and welcoming environment.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to call the spiritually unfit to follow Him.  Levi was one such person.  Jesus saw him sitting in his tax collector’s booth and said, “Follow me” (Mark 2:14).  His words captured Levi’s heart, and he followed Jesus.  Tax collectors were often greedy and dishonest in their dealings and were considered religiously unclean.  When the religious leaders saw Jesus having dinner at Levi’s house with other tax collectors, they asked, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (2:16).  Jesus replied, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (2:17).

Jesus came to save sinners, which includes all of us.  He loves us, welcomes us into His presence, and calls us to follow Him.  As we walk with Him, we grow more and more spiritually fit.      MARVIN WILLIAMS

Read Acts 9:10-19 and see how one man obeyed God and welcomed someone who was considered spiritually unfit.  What were the results?  How can you reach out to those who need the Savior?  How can you help your church become a more welcoming place for the spiritually unfit?

Jesus’ arms of welcome are always open.

INSIGHT
Mark 2:13-17 and Luke 5:27-32 both tell the story of Jesus calling a man named Levi to be His disciple.  It appears that Levi was employed by Herod Antipas to collect tolls (travel taxes) from those outside of his territory who passed through Capernaum.  There is almost universal agreement that the Levi in Mark 2 and Luke 5 is the apostle Matthew, since Matthew is identified as a tax collector and his own calling mirrors the calling of Levi (Matthew 9:9-12).  After Levi started his new life as an apostle, he was called by his Greek name-Matthew-which means “gift of God.”     DENNIS MOLES


Have a blessed night.

SURPRISED BY GRACE

SURPRISED BY GRACE

READ:  ACTS 9:1-19

I became a servant of this
gospel by the gift of God’s 
grace.  -  Ephesians 3:7

A woman from Grand Rapids, Michigan, fell asleep on the couch after her husband had gone to bed.  An intruder sneaked in through the sliding door, which the couple had forgotten to lock, and crept through the house.  He entered the bedroom where the husband was sleeping and picked up the television set.  The sleeping man woke up, saw a figure standing there, and whispered, “Honey, come to bed.”  The burglar panicked, put down the TV, grabbed a stack of money from the dresser, and ran out.

The thief was in for a big surprise!  The money turned out to be a stack of Christian pamphlets with a likeness of a $20 bill on one side and an explanation of the love and forgiveness God offers to people on the other side.  Instead of the cash he expected, the intruder got the story of God’s love for him.

I wonder what Saul expected when he realized it was Jesus appearing to him on the road to Damascus, since he had been persecuting and even killing Jesus’ followers? (Acts 9:1-9).  Saul, later called Paul, must have been surprised by God’s grace toward him, which he called “a gift” “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power” (Ephesians 3:7).

Have you been surprised by God’s gift of grace in your life as He shows you His love and forgiveness!  ANNE CETAS

Lord, Your grace is amazing to me.  I’m grateful that in spite of my sinfulness, You offer Your love to me.

Never measure God’s unlimited power by your limited expectations.

Have a blessed night.
God Our Creator’s Love Always.
Unity & Peace



Tuesday, March 29, 2016

GOD OF MY STRENGTH

GOD OF MY STRENGTH

READ:  Judges 7:1-8

I will strengthen you and
help you.  Isaiah 41:10

No one could have mistaken the ancient Babylonian soldiers for gentlemen.  They were ruthless, resilient, and vicious, and they attacked other nations the way an eagle overtakes its prey.  Not only were they powerful, they were prideful as well.  They practically worshiped their own combat abilities.  In fact, the Bible says that their “strength [was] their god” (Hab. 1:11).

God did not want this kind of self-reliance to infect Israel’s forces as they prepared to battle the Midianites.  So He told Gideon, Israel’s army commander, “You have too many men.  I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me’” (Judges 7:2).  As a result, Gideon discharged anyone who was fearful.  Twenty-two thousand men hightailed it home, while 10,000 fighters stayed.  God continued to downsize the army until only 300 men remained (vv. 3-7).

Having fewer troops meant that Israel was dramatically outnumbered-their enemies, who populated a nearby valley, were as “thick as locusts” (v.12).  Despite this, God gave Gideon’s forces victory.

At times, God may allow our resources to dwindle so that we rely on His strength to keep going.  Our needs showcase His power, but He is the One who says, “I will strengthen you and help  you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). 

 JENNIFER BENSON SCHULDT

Dear God, I am thankful for Your strength.  You carry me when I am weak.  Help me to give You the credit for every victory in life.

God wants us to depend on His strength, not our own.

INSIGHT

Gideon’s life clearly illustrates God’s strength and man’s frailty.  God used Gideon to accomplish a great military victory and through him brought 40 years of peace to Israel (Judges 6-7).  But this story also teaches us about the danger of pride.  The circumstances surrounding Israel’s victory over Midian clearly show that God, not Gideon, was responsible for Israel’s success.  Yet Gideon’s pride led him to accept gold and to erect a monument in his own honor that would later become an object of worships and a snare to him and his family (8:22-27)DENNIS MOLES

Monday, March 28, 2016

SURPRISED!

SURPRISED!

READ:  Luke 24:13-35

Then their eyes were opened
and they recognized him.
Luke 24:31

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610), an Italian artist, was known for his fiery temperament and unconventional technique.  He used ordinary working people as models for his saints and was able to make viewers of his paintings feel they were a part of the scene.  The Supper at Emmaus shows an innkeeper standing while Jesus and two of His followers are seated at a table when they recognize Him as the risen Lord (Luke 24:31).  One disciple is pushing himself to a standing position while the other’s arms are outstretched and his hands open in astonishment.

Luke, who records these events in his gospel, tells us that the two men immediately returned to Jerusalem where they found the eleven disciples and others assembled together and saying, “‘It is true!  The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’  Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread” (vv.33-35).

Oswald Chambers said, “Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical connections.  The only way a worker can keep true to God is by being ready for the Lord’s surprise visits.”

Whatever road we are on today, may we be ready for Jesus to make Himself known to us in new and surprising ways.        DAVID MCCASLAND

Lord, Jesus, open our eyes to see You, the risen Christ, alongside us and at work in the circumstances of our lives today.

To find the Lord Jesus Christ we must be willing to seek Him.

INSIGHT
Jesus’s actions in today’s reading opened eyes to the truth of who He is.  The road-to-Emmaus encounter in Luke 24 points back to the Last Supper and forward to the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:24-26.  “‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me….This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me’.  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”        DENNIS MOLES


Have a blessed evening.

NEVER FORSAKEN

NEVER FORSAKEN

READ:  Psalm 22:1-10

Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
…”My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?”  Matthew 27:46

Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky said, “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”  With that in mind, I read an online article describing “The Top 8 Deadliest Prisons in the World.”  In one of these prisons every prisoner is held in solitary confinement.

We are intended to live and relate in relationships and community, not in isolation.  This is what makes solitary confinement such a harsh punishment.  

Isolation is the agony Christ suffered when His eternal relationship with the Father was broken on the cross.  We hear this in his cry captured in Matthew 27:46:  “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ (which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).  As he suffered and died under the burden of our sins, Christ was suddenly alone, forsaken, isolated, cut off from his relationship with the Father.  Yet his suffering in isolation secured for us the promised of the Father:  “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

Christ endured the agony and abandonment of the cross for us so that we would never be alone or abandoned by our God.  Ever.          BILL CROWDER

Father, thank You for making it possible for me to be Your child.  I will be eternally grateful for the price Jesus paid to make that relationship possible.  Thank You for the promise that You will never abandon me.

Those who know Jesus are never alone.

INSIGHT
Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God affected their relationship with Him, with each other, and with the good world God had created for them to live in and tend (Genesis 3:8-19).  Too often we think of Jesus’s work-His life, death, and resurrection-solely in terms of what it means for our relationships with God.  But the redemptive work of Christ extends beyond reconciling us to God.  Jesus inaugurated a kingdom that is about restoring what was broken at the fall.        DENNIS MOLES

Have a blessed evening.
God Our Creator’s Love Always.
Unity & Peace


THE OLIVE PRESS

THE OLIVE PRESS

READ:  Mark 14:32-39

They went to a place called
Gethsemane.  Mark 14:32

If you visit the village of Capernaum beside the Sea of Galilee, you will find an exhibit of ancient olive presses.  Formed from basalt rock, the olive press consists of two parts:  a base and a grinding wheel.  The base is large, round, and has a trough carved out of it.  The olives were placed in this trough, and then the wheel, also made from heavy stone, was rolled over the olives to extract the oil.

On the night before his death, Jesus went to the Mount of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem.  There, in the garden called Gethsemane, He prayed to the Father, knowing what lay ahead of Him.

The word Gethsemane means “place of the olive press”-and that perfectly describes those first crushing hours of Christ’s suffering on our behalf.  There, “in anguish, he prayer…and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44).

Jesus the Son suffered and died to take away “the sin of the world” (John 1:29) and restore our broken relationship with God the Father.  “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering….He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5).

Our hearts cry out in worship and gratitude.  BILL CROWDER

Father, help me understand what Your Son endured for me.  Help me appreciate the depths of love that would allow my Lord and Christ to be crushed for my wrongs and my rescue.

Gone my transgressions, and now I am free-all because Jesus was wounded for me.  W.G. OVENS

INSIGHT
On the night Jesus was betrayed, He took His disciples to a familiar quiet place to pray.  Gethsemane was just east of Jerusalem beyond the Kidron Valley near the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:36; Mark 14:32; John 18:1).  One of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, was conspiring to have Jesus killed.  It’s in this context that the prayer in today’s reading was uttered.  But these words aren’t the sum total of Jesus’s prayer that night.  John’s gospel tells us that he also prayed for His disciples and for those of us who will believe in Him through their message (John 17:16-25).  


DENNIS MOLES

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

STORIES IN A CABIN

STORIES IN A CABIN

READ:  Hebrews 9:11-15

[Christ] went through the greater 
and more perfect tabernacle that
is not made with human hands.
Hebrews 9:11

The vintage cabin, expertly constructed from hand-hewn logs, was worthy of a magazine cover.  But the structure itself was only half the treasure.  Inside, family heirlooms clung to the walls, infusing the home with memories.  On the table sat a hand-woven egg basket, an ancient biscuit board, and an oil lamp.  A weathered pork pie hat perched over the front door.  “There’s a story behind everything,” the proud owner said.

When God gave Moses instructions for constructing the tabernacle, there was a “story” behind everything (Exodus 25-27).  The tabernacle had only one entrance, just as we have only one way to God (SEE Acts 4:12).  The thick inner curtain separated the people from the Most Holy Place where God’s presence dwelt:  Our sin separates us from God.  Inside the Most Holy Place was the ark of the covenant, which symbolized God’s presence.  The high priest was a forerunner of the greater Priest to come-Jesus Himself.  The blood of the sacrifices foreshadowed Christ’s perfect sacrifice:  “He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption” (Hebrews 9:12).

All these things told the story of Christ and the work He would accomplish on our behalf.  He did it so that “those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance” (v.15).  Jesus invites us to be a part of His story.      TIM GUSTAFSON

What items have special meaning for me and why? 
 What stories do I tell about them? 
 How can they hep point people to Jesus?

Jesus took our sin that we might have salvation.

INSIGHT
In the Old Testament, covenants were binding agreements between humans or between humans and God.  Covenants between God and man were important markers for the Jewish people.  For example, the people of Israel were brought into a special relationship with God through His covenant with Abraham (Genesis 17).  The tribes of Israel became a people of God in the covenant reached at Mount Sinai (Exodus 34).  David had a special covenant with God that ensured the throne to David’s offspring (2 Samuel 7).  The idea of covenant would resonate with the Jewish recipients of Hebrews-for Jesus has established His new covenant with us through His sacrifice.  By accepting the gift of this covenant, we receive eternal life (9:15).  BILL CROWDER

Have a blessed night.
God Our Creator’s Love Always.
Unity & Peace


THE BEST IS YET TO COME

THE BEST IS YET TO COME

READ: Colossians 3:1-11

Set your minds on things
above, not on earthly 
things.  -  Colossians 3:2

In our family, March means more than the end of winter.  It means that the college basketball extravaganza called “March Madness” has arrived.  As avid fans, we watch the tournament and enthusiastically root for our favorite teams.  If we tune in early we get a chance to listen to the broadcasters talk about the upcoming game and to enjoy some of the pre-game drills where players shoot practice shots and warm up with teammates.

Our life on earth is like the pre-game in basketball.  Life is interesting and full of promise, but it doesn’t compare to what lies ahead.  Just think of the pleasure of knowing that even when life is good, the best is yet to come!  Or that when we give cheerfully to those in need, it’s an investment in heavenly treasure.  In times of suffering and sorrow, we can find hope as we reflect on the truth that a pain-free, tearless eternity awaits us.  It’s no wonder that Paul exhorts:  “Set your minds on things above” (Colossians 3:2).

The future God has promised us enables us to see all of life in new dimensions.  While this may be a great life, the best life is still to come  It is a wonderful privilege to live here in the light of there.    JOE STOWELL.

Let us then be true and faithful, trusting, serving every day; just one glimpse of Him in glory will the toils of life repay.  When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!    ELIZA E. HEWITT

For more information on our hope for heaven, read Life to Come at discoveryseries.org/q1205


Living for the future puts today in perspective.

INSIGHT
When a person believes in Christ, he is joined to Him in His death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-8; Colossians 2:12-13; 3:1).  Paul reminds the Colossian believers that their priority-their whole outlook on life-is to consistently focus on the resurrected, ascended, and exalted Christ (3:1); to diligently strive and pursue things that are eternal (v.2); and to continuously put to death whatever belongs to their earthly nature (vv.3-4).  Paul not only lists the practices that should no longer characterize the life of the believer but he asks followers of Christ to embrace the virtues that should clothe Gods chosen people (vv.12-17).  

SIM KAY TEE


WHEN THE WATER BLUSHED

WHEN THE WATER BLUSHED

READ:  John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word
….Through Him all things were
made.  -  John 1:1,3

Why did Jesus come to Earth before the invention of photography and video?  Couldn’t He have reached more people if everyone could see Him?  After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

“No,” says Ravi Zacharias, who asserts that a word can be worth “a thousand pictures.”  As evidence, he quotes poet Richard Crashaw’s magnificent line, “The conscious water saw its Master and blushed.”  In one simple line, Crashaw captures the essence of Jesus’ first miracle (John 2:1-11).  Creation itself recognizes Jesus as the Creator.  No mere carpenter could turn water to wine.

Another time, when Christ calmed a storm with the words, “Quiet! Be still,” His stunned disciples asked, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:39, 41).  Later, Jesus told the Pharisees that if the crowd did not praise Him, “the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40) Even the rocks know who He is.

John tells us, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen His glory” (John 1:14).  Out of that eyewitness experience John also wrote, “We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen….He is the Word of life” (1 John 1:1 NLT).  Like John, we can use our words to introduce others to Jesus whom wind and water obey.  

TIM GUSTAFSON

Jesus, we acknowledge You as the Creator who knows and loves His creation.  Yet You wait for us to invite You into every aspect of our lives.  Forgive us for those times we keep You as a safe distance.  Today we choose to risk knowing You more completely.

The written Word reveals the living Word.

INSIGHT
Andrew (Simon Peter’s brother) and an unnamed disciple-who most scholars believe to be John, the son of Zebedee and the author of the fourth gospel-were already followers of John the Baptist when Jesus arrived in Bethany (John 1:28, 35).  After John the Baptist declared Christ to be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (v.29), he nudged his two young followers to instead take their place as followers of Jesus (v.37).  A consistent feature in John’s gospel record is that he doesn’t name himself.  This is one of the reasons many believe he was the disciple who joined Andrew in following Christ.  BILL CROWDER

Have a blessed night.
God Our Creator’s Love Always.

Unity & Peace

Monday, March 21, 2016

FULL SUN

FULL SUN

READ:  Ephesians 5:1-16

Live as children of light.
Ephesians 5:8

I know better, but I still keep trying.  The instructions on the label are clear:  “Needs full sun.”  Our yard has mostly shade.  It is not suitable for plants that need full sun.  But I like the plant.  I like its color, the shape of the leaves, the size, the scent.  So I buy it, bring it home, plant it and take really good care of it.  But the plant is not happy at my house.  My care and attention are not enough.  It needs sunlight, which I cannot provide.  I thought I could make up for lack of light by giving the plant some other kind of attention.  But it doesn’t work that way.  Plants need what they need.

And so do people.  Although we can survive for a while in less-than-ideal conditions, we can’t thrive.  In addition to our basic physical needs, we also have spiritual needs that can’t be met by any substitute.

Scripture says that believers are children of light.  This means that we need to live in the full light of God’s presence to thrive (Psalm 89:15).  If we try to live in darkness, we will produce nothing but “fruitless deeds” (SEE Ephesians 5:3-4, 11).  But if we are living in the light of Jesus, the Light of the world, we will produce the fruits of His light, which is good, faithful, and true.  

JULIE ACKERMAN LINK

Dear Lord, thank You for redeeming me and giving me new life.  Help me to live as a child of the Light.

Children of the Light walk in His light.

INSIGHT
One of the great things about light is that it allows us to see where we are going.  As believers in Christ, we are “children of light,” and we can clearly see the way we are to walk.  Those in spiritual darkness stumble and fall.  It is no simple turn of phrase that following Jesus is called “walking in the light.”  

J.R. HUDBERG

Have a blessed night.
God Our Creator’s Love Always.

Unity & Peace

SHOULD YOU LOVE YOURSELF?


SHOULD YOU LOVE YOURSELF?

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:

Well, that depends on what it means to “love yourself.” Does it mean that we should be feeding ourselves on messages about our goodness and worthiness? What did Jesus mean when He said, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 23:39)?

This is the one verse that suggests that we should love ourselves, or does it. Certainly, it doesn’t mean that we should be feeding our neighbors with a continuous diet of positive affirmations. If not, what does it mean? More likely, Jesus merely observed that we love ourselves by what we do. When we are cold, we dress ourselves warmly. When we are tired, we go to sleep. When we are hungry, we eat, and this is how we should love our neighbor – by being equally concerned about their needs.

This is an important distinction. My wife and I went to a talk tonight at the progressive Union Theological Seminary, where several professors urged that people of color need to find ways to love themselves, especially after having been degraded for so long. They weren’t talking about eating when hungry or sleeping when tired. Instead, they were talking about ways to boast self-esteem, either through positive affirmations or through the positive portrayals of Black people.

When I questioned this strategy, my wife was troubled and responded:

       I can’t understand why you questioned that. You are so familiar with self-loathing, and yet you dismiss their need for positive messages and to see positive role models.

Well, she is correct about my long struggle with self-contempt and all of the resulting depression. She therefore continued:

       We all need to know that we are precious and created in the very image of God. And you know that. Why are you denying it?

I wasn’t denying it. Actually, I was affirming what she said:

       When we remind ourselves that we are created in the image of God and that Christ loved us so much that He died for us, we are not affirming ourselves but are receiving the love that God is giving us. But when we tell ourselves, “I am intelligent; I am beautiful; I can be a success at anything I attempt,” we are building up ourselves with our own affirmations, which are often deluded and always counter-productive.

I had been a master at giving myself positive affirmations, and they became more exaggerated with the passage of time. At first, I convinced myself that the girls really loved me. In a short time, I had advanced to believing that I was God’s gift to women. However, even these grandiose beliefs failed me. I was still the loner I had always been, but now I had become very self-deluded and out-of-touch with both myself and with others.

I also had other strategies of self-aggrandizement. I would remind myself that I belonged to a people that had produced the Einsteins and 30% of the Nobel Prize winners. Although this gave me a minimal boost, it seemed that my depression of as thick as ever, perhaps even worse. These affirmations were no better than drugs, which never really touched the real problem. Could I kick the drug? Not a chance! Instead, I needed ever-increasing doses to barely make it through the day.

Even after Christ got ahold of me, I resorted to exalting myself with my positive affirmations. I convinced myself that I was deserving of God’s love, because I was more spiritual than others. It didn’t matter that there was absolutely no truth at all in my affirmations. I just had to believe them, and, to some extent, I did.

I required years for my Savior to break me of this horrid addiction. I suffered the most excruciating trials. I hadn’t imagined, even after decades of serious depression, that such suffering was possible.

Now, I can look back and say, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes” (Psalm 119:71). And I did learn them. I had to! I was sinking, and there was nothing else on which to cling.

What did I learn? That those who exalt themselves with their self-affirmations will be humbled, as Jesus had repeatedly taught:
       “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11)

I had been exalting myself, and didn’t understand it until many years after having received Christ. Meanwhile, He was in the process of humbling me so that He’d be able to exalt me:

       “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)

       “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Luke 17:10)

In contrast to these teachings, I had been telling myself for years how much more worthy I was than others, as a dug my own psychological grave.

I explained to my wife, that I couldn’t be silent and watch my Black brethren pursuing destruction’s course. Yes, some might think that I was questioning this “logic” of self-love because I wanted to keep my brethren in a “degraded,” self-loathing condition. Although this possibility was troubling to me, I decided to risk it, knowing that I had to honor God’s Words.

I have sworn myself off all forms of this kind of self-love. Yes, I’d love to be exalted, but that is entirely in God’s hands. Instead, I will satisfy myself on His daily bread – the love and approval He has given me – and the challenge at hand.


New York School of the Bible: http://www.nysb.nyc/


IGNORE NO MORE

IGNORE NO MORE

READ:  Philippians 1:27-30

The commands of the LORD
are radiant, giving light to the
eyes.  -  Psalm 19:8

I don’t know how these people find me, but I keep getting more and more flyers in the mail from folks asking me to show up at their events so they can teach me about retirement benefits.  It started several years ago when I began getting invitations to join an organization that works on behalf of retirees.  These reminders all serve to say:  “You’re getting older.  Get ready!”

I have ignored them all along, but soon enough I’m going to have to break down and go to one of their meetings.  I really should be taking action on their suggestions.

Sometimes I hear a similar reminder in the wisdom of Scripture.  We know that what the passage says is true about us, but we are just not ready to respond.  Maybe it’s a passage like Romans 14:13 that says, “Let us stop passing judgment on one another.”  Or the reminder in 2 Corinthians 9:6, which tells us, “Whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”  Or this reminder in Philippians 1:  “Stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened” (vv.27-28).

As we read God’s Word, we get vital reminders.  Let’s take these seriously as from the heart of the Father who knows what honors Him and is best for us.  DAVE BRANON

Thank You, Lord, for Your gentle reminders.  We know that the things You tell us to do in Your Word are for our good and for Your glory.  Help us to step up and do the things that bring honor to Your name.

Holiness is simply Christ in us fulfilling the will and commands of the Father.

INSIGHT
The apostle Paul was concerned that believers in the Roman colony of Philippi live exemplary and holy lives.  He prayed for their spiritual growth and maturity (Philippians 1:9-11) and exhorted them to “conduct [themselves] in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (v.27).  This was a constant reminder and refrain in Paul’s letters (Ephesians 4:1; Colossians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:112).  The life “worthy of the gospel of Christ” is characterized by steadfastness, unity, harmony, humility, and willingness to suffer.  Suffering for Christ is a gift and a privilege for the believer (Acts 5:41; Philippians 1:29; 1 Peter 2:21; 3:14, 4:16).  

SIM KAY TEE

Friday, March 18, 2016

DEALING WITH MILITANT ATHEISTS

DEALING WITH MILITANT ATHEISTS

For more great blogs as this one go to Daniel’s blog site at:  www.Mannsword.blogspot.com

Dealing with Militant Atheists

Many atheists challenge me, “Prove your god exists!” I’ve been through this so often! No proof or evidence is ever enough. This coincides with the Bible’s teaching that they already have the evidence but reject it:

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The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,  since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

The evidence is right under their nose and in their eyes. Whatever they see points back to its Creator! Therefore, the battle for men’s hearts is primarily spiritual not evidential. Nevertheless, I continue to ask God to use our presentations of evidence and reason, and sometimes He does, as reflected in many testimonies.

One militant atheist kept pressing me for proof. I responded:

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I’ll prove that God exists after you prove that you exist. After all, I do not talk to mere machines.

There is absolutely no way that he can prove that he exists and isn’t just a machine. If this is so, how can the atheist demand that I prove there is a God! However, he accused me of obfuscating and playing with words. I responded that this isn’t a word game but an illustration that absolute proofs do not exist and that it is pointless to try to prove something to someone who has no ears (or willingness) to hear. It’s like trying to prove to the color-blind that the color red exists. However, the problem is more acute with the atheist. While the color-blind can’t see red, the atheist refuses to see red.

However, if you want to go with evidence and proof, there is a better way. Let me lay it out in dialogue form:

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Christian: Okay, let me attempt to give you just a bit of proof, but first tell me – How do you intend to evaluate my proof?

Atheist: With reason and logic, of course!

Christian: Evidently, you believe that reason and logic provide you with reliable tools to evaluate. Do you believe that they have to be unchanging and universal – that they work reliably in Shanghai as well as in NYC, today as well as next year?

Atheist: Well, in order to be reliable and useful tools, they must be universal and unchanging!

Christian: True, but how then do you account for the fact that these tools are universal and unchanging? What makes them this way in our universe of change and expansion – molecules-in-motion?

Atheist: Our laws of nature are also universal and unchanging. There’s nothing unusual about reason and logic being this way!

Christian: True, but this just magnifies your problem. How can you account for any of these laws being universal and unchanging?

Atheist: I don’t have to account for these qualities. It’s enough that they are useful.

Christian: I think that you do have to account for them. The viability of your naturalistic worldview depends on this accounting, and I don’t think you can. Meanwhile, I can!

Atheist: Ha, you mean with your imaginary sky friend!

Christian: Your worldview can only account for molecules-in-motion; God can account for the stability, operation, and origin of the laws. Meanwhile, you cannot account for how natural laws were created before there was even a “natural” to create them. Nor can you account for their elegance or usefulness. Only a Transcendent and intelligent Creator can!

Perhaps we can call this a “contextualized proof!”