INTERFAITH PRAYER: SHOULD WE PARTICIPATE?

INTERFAITH PRAYER: SHOULD WE PARTICIPATE?

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Daniel Mann

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Seekers with Questions about Christianity

INTERFAITH PRAYER: SHOULD WE PARTICIPATE?

The interfaith prayer is attractive. Many want to bring the various faiths together to “discover common ground and feel connected.”

• What happens when people of different faiths pray together? According to Gandhi, prayer is a ‘longing of the soul.’ And when individual souls come together to pray—even when their languages or cultures or religions are different—they are longing for their God while also demonstrating peace, love, and unity with all of God’s children. New research has found that interfaith prayer can be a powerful, binding force that helps a diverse group of people discover common ground and feel connected. http://spiritualityhealth.com/…/power-interfaith-prayer-uni…

Those who resist this movement are regarded as narrow, divisive, and lacking in any concern for people of other religions. Consequently, world religious leaders are trying to form connections through prayer:

• In an effort to encourage peace in the Middle East, Pope Francis hosted the leaders of the Israeli and Palestinian worlds at the Vatican on Sunday, presenting an ecumenical gathering that joined professing Christians and Catholics together with Muslims, Jews and Druze.

About this, Cindy Wooden of the Catholic News wrote:

• “When leaders of different religions come together and pray for a common cause, they are not only appealing to God, they also are showing the world they believe that followers of different religions are still brothers and sisters before the one who created them,”.

Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen gave his blessings:

• “I love the fact that [the Pope has] made the Church more inclusive, not trying to make it smaller, but to try to make it larger—to take everybody in. So, that just resonates with me.” http://christiannews.net/…/pope-hosts-interfaith-peace-gat…/

Certainly, it is important that Christians join hands with others. I would be glad to join with Muslim and Hindu neighbors to get potholes filled or to press for better subways.

There are many ways to bond across religious lines, but, for the Christian, inter-faith prayer is not one of them. While I would be glad to bond with my Muslim neighbor by shoveling his snow, I would not want to bond by sharing my wife or children. Besides, as Paul warned, there are also other ways that we must not bind ourselves to others:

• Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." (2 Corinthians 6:14-16)

What does it mean to “not be yoked together with unbelievers?” Would this include interfaith worship and prayer? Evidently! The Bible gives us so many examples of God’s people justifiably refusing similar yoking.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon also wanted to unify his diverse kingdom. He had therefore commanded that all had to bow down before his statue and worship, warning:

• Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace." (Daniel 3:6)

However, three Hebrew young men refused to be grateful neighbors and to be yoked together through worship (Daniel 3:18) but were miraculously rescued from the furnace.

King Darius of the Persians and Medes had been coaxed into passing a law requiring all to pray to him. Perhaps he too conceived of this as a good way to unify his kingdom. However, Daniel would not submit and was found praying to the God of the Hebrews. Although he was thrown to the lions for his violation, he too was miraculously delivered (Daniel 6), thereby demonstrating God’s approval for his single-minded devotion.

With the Jewish Mordechai, the stakes were even higher. He refused to merely knell down before Haman, who subsequently decided to destroy the entire Jewish nation because of Mordechai refusal to honor him. Once again, God miraculously saved His people (Esther 3--).

Does this apply to interfaith prayer – a kneeling in endorsement of other religions? The Apostle Paul had warned:

• Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? (1 Corinthians 10:14-16)

While we must “flee from idolatry,” does this include any participation in or any positive acknowledgement of non-Christian prayer or worship? Evidently! Paul explained that whenever we participate in any form pagan worship, we participate with demons:

• No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he? (1 Corinthians 10:20-22)

Clearly, we are not allowed to acknowledge any other gods. When we participate in interfaith prayer, we acknowledge the worthiness of other gods and the prayers to them. This is a participation in something that arouses the “Lord’s jealousy.” To be a friend of the world is surely to be an enemy of God (James 4:4)

Those who participate in interfaith prayer might argue that this is okay with Christ, because they had their mind on Jesus the whole time. But would it be okay? Instead, it would be as if your wife caught you with a prostitute, and you responded, “I was thinking of you the entire time I was with her.” Surely, this would not satisfy your wife. Why should this thinking satisfy God!

When we participate in inter-faith prayer, we are likewise violating our relationship with our Savior. In a sense, our behavior is communicating the wrong message – that pagan prayers are just as valid as ours, even though they pray to false gods. It also says that Christ is not the only possible means of salvation. This represents a denial of the Gospel.

At this point, we need to make an important distinction. Praying with a non-Christian who is seeking or who is in need of a healing is entirely different. Such prayer does not represent an endorsement of another religion or a participation with other gods.

Interfaith prayer is an endorsement of other religions! However, prayer is unacceptable to our God if it is directed to other gods. Instead, prayer must be to the God of the Bible alone.

Even when we are praying to the right God our prayers might also be “detestable.” If we are not repentant, our prayers will not be acceptable:

• If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable. (Proverbs 28:9)

Why then should not pagan prayers also be detestable? When we fail to respond repentantly to the One true God, we should not expect our prayers to be answered:

• "But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry. "'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty. (Zechariah 7:11-13)

When we solicit and honor the prayers of someone who refuses to believe in Jesus, we indicate that Jesus is not necessary. However, Jesus would not even respect the prayers of the Pharisees. Instead, citing Isaiah, He claimed that their worship was worthless:

• You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'" (Matthew 15:7-9)

Would we call an unrepentant adulterer to the podium to pray? No! Why then would we call someone with a different god up to pray?

You might argue that interfaith prayer is okay as long as it is not brought into the church. This, of course, this is an unsustainable distinction. What will you say to your Imam friend who requests that you upon the doors of your church to an interfaith service after you have prayed with him? If you rejected such a request, you would be regarded as hypocritical.

The closest biblical example of interfaith prayer is found when Elijah called upon the priests of Baal to pray on Mt. Carmel with him, but this constituted a contest to see whose prayers mattered (1 Kings 18:16--). After the contest, the people concluded that only the God of Israel was worthy of worship and prayer!

Did the Israelites ever host an interfaith prayer session with the Canaanites? This would have been regarded as unthinkable and damnable!

Let’s now put aside the question of whether or not inter-faith prayer is acceptable to Jesus. There exists another problem. Many Christians will damage their faith if they participate in something that they think might be wrong. While Paul had argued that it was okay to eat food offered to idols, even at a pagan temple, he also warned:

• Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall. (1 Corinthians 8:13)

• But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)

It is inevitable that if church leaders participate in inter-faith prayer, they will lead others into sin.

Once this compromise is made, the door is opened to many more. Israel had been repeatedly warned to not partake with the surrounding people. However, they did. First, they simply learned their customs, but this only led to more:

• They mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves. Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. (Psalm 106:35-40)

Perhaps it started with inter-faith prayer. Once I take the first bite of the brownie, I can hardly stop. Once we begin to share prayer, it is inevitable we will also be invited to participate in ungodly services. How can we then say “no!”

Besides, how can we talk about the need for Christ once we engage in inter-faith prayer, thereby endorsing other religions? We can’t. We have already “preached” a different message. Once we have engaged in interfaith prayer, we have placed ourselves on the proverbial slippery-slope, where the only way to go is down.

WHAT ARE YOU WORTH?

What Are You Worth?

Read: 1 Peter 1:17–23
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 37–39; 2 Peter 2

It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed . . . but with the precious blood of Christ.—1 Peter 1:18–19

There is a story that in 75 bc a young Roman nobleman named Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates and held for ransom. When they demanded 20 talents of silver in ransom (about $600,000 today), Caesar laughed and said they obviously had no idea who he was. He insisted they raise the ransom to 50 talents! Why? Because he believed he was worth far more than 20 talents.

What a difference we see between Caesar’s arrogant measure of his own worth and the value God places on each of us. Our worth is not measured in terms of monetary value but by what our heavenly Father has done on our behalf.

What ransom did He pay to save us? Through the death of His only Son on the cross, the Father paid the price to rescue us from our sin. “It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

God loved us so much that He gave up His Son to die on the cross and rise from the dead to ransom and rescue us. That is what you are worth to Him. —Bill Crowder

Father, thank You for the love You have shown to me and for the price You paid for my forgiveness. Help my life to be an ongoing expression of gratitude, for You are the One whose worth is beyond measure.

Our worth is measured by what God paid to rescue us.

INSIGHT: In today’s reading Peter tells his readers that Christ has redeemed them from an empty way of life. In the original language, the word translated “redeemed” (v. 18) means “to set free.” It is often used when talking about slaves who have been liberated from their bondage. They had been set free from the bondage of a futile and useless way of life that has been handed down to them from their ancestors. And this redeeming love of Christ was present even before sin entered the equation (vv. 18-20). Have you ever thought about the fact that Christ loves you knowing everything about you, even your sin? How does it make you feel that you have been or can be set free from the slavery of sin and death? Dennis Moles

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I'M RICH!

I’m Rich!

Read: Psalm 119:9–16
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 35–36; 2 Peter 1

I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.—Psalm 119:14

Perhaps you’ve seen the TV ad in which a person answers the door and finds someone who hands over a check for an enormous amount of money. Then the amazed recipient begins shouting, dancing, jumping, and hugging everyone in sight. “I won! I’m rich! I can’t believe it! My problems are solved!” Striking it rich evokes a great emotional response.

In Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, we find this remarkable statement: “I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches” (v. 14). What a comparison! Obeying God’s instructions for living can be just as exhilarating as receiving a fortune! Verse 16 repeats this refrain as the psalmist expresses grateful gladness for the Lord’s commands. “I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.”

But what if we don’t feel that way? How can delighting in God’s instructions for living be just as exhilarating as receiving a fortune? It all begins with gratitude, which is both an attitude and a choice. We pay attention to what we value, so we begin by expressing our gratitude for those gifts of God that nourish our souls. We ask Him to open our eyes to see the storehouse of wisdom, knowledge, and peace He has given us in His Word.

As our love for Jesus grows each day, we indeed strike it rich! —David McCasland

Dear Father, open our eyes that we may see wonderful things in Your law. Thank You that Your instructions give wise advice.

Rich treasures of God’s truth are waiting to be discovered in His Word.

INSIGHT: Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the Bible. Although the author is not named, most scholars say David composed it because the psalm sounds Davidic in tone and expression and is consistent with David’s experiences. The focus of its 176 verses is God and His Word. God is mentioned in every verse, while the entire psalm celebrates the Scriptures and speaks of their priority and sufficiency in the daily life of the believer, using a wide variety of words to capture the different dimensions of God’s Word in our lives. Scripture is described as “law” (vv. 1, 7), “statutes” (vv. 2, 14), “ways” (vv. 3, 15), “precepts” (vv. 4, 15), “decrees” (vv. 5, 8, 12, 16), “commandments” (vv. 6, 10), and “word” (vv. 9, 11, 16). Sim Kay Tee

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BEAUTIFUL

Beautiful

Read: Luke 7:36–50
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 33–34; 1 Peter 5

She has done a beautiful thing to me.—Mark 14:6

Picture two teenage girls. The first girl is strong and healthy. The other girl has never known the freedom of getting around on her own. From her wheelchair she faces not only the emotional challenges common to life, but also a stream of physical pains and struggles.

But both girls are smiling cheerfully as they enjoy each other’s company. Two beautiful teenagers—each seeing in the other the treasure of friendship.

Jesus devoted much of His time and attention to people like the girl in the wheelchair. People with lifelong disabilities or physical deformities as well as those who were looked down on by others for various reasons. In fact, Jesus let one of “those people” anoint Him with oil, to the disdain of the religious leaders (Luke 7:39). On another occasion, when a woman demonstrated her love with a similar act, Jesus told her critics, “Leave her alone . . . . She has done a beautiful thing to me” (Mark 14:6).

God values everyone equally; there are no distinctions in His eyes. In reality, we are all in desperate need of Christ’s love and forgiveness. His love compelled Him to die on the cross for us.

May we see each person as Jesus did: made in God’s image and worthy of His love. Let’s treat everyone we meet with Christlike equality and learn to see beauty as He does. —Dave Branon

Dear Lord, help me to see people as You see them—not important because of what they can do or how they look, but because they are made in God’s image and You loved them enough to die for them.

Everyone we meet bears the image of God.

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THE RED HACKLE

The Red Hackle

Read: Psalm 92:12–15
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 30–32; 1 Peter 4

They will still bear fruit in old age.—Psalm 92:14

Several years ago I stumbled across a bit of fishing lore in a second-century ad work by the Greek writer Aelian. “Between Boroca and Thessalonica runs a river called the Astracus, and in it there are fish with spotted skins [trout].” He then describes a “snare for the fish, by which they get the better of them. They fastened crimson red wool round a hook and attached two feathers. Then they would throw their snare, and the fish, attracted by the color, comes up, thinking to get a mouthful” (On the Nature of Animals).

Fishermen still use this lure today. It is called the Red Hackle. First used over 2,200 years ago, it remains a snare for trout by which we “get the better of them.”

When I read that ancient work I thought: Not all old things are passé—especially people. If through contented and cheerful old age we show others the fullness and deepness of God, we’ll be useful to the end of our days. Old age does not have to focus on declining health, pining over what once was. It can also be full of tranquility and mirth and courage and kindness, the fruit of those who have grown old with God.

“Those who are planted in the house of the Lord . . . shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing” (Ps. 92:13-14 nkjv). —David Roper

Lord, thank You for Your faithfulness throughout our lives. Help us finish our lives well in service to You and to remember that old age does not mean uselessness.

As the years add up, God’s faithfulness keeps multiplying. 

INSIGHT: In today’s Scripture, Psalm 92, the psalmist proclaims in verse 12 that the righteous—the faithful—will flourish like a palm tree and grow like the cedars of Lebanon. The palm tree was associated with value—both ornamental and economic—and palm fronds were already being used in worship (Lev. 23:40). The cedars of Lebanon are almost always used in Scripture to illustrate strength, stability, and majesty. At the time this psalm was written, magnificent evergreen (cedar) forests graced the mountains of Lebanon. With low branches and expansive canopies, these trees can reach up to 100 feet tall. The psalmist’s prayer is for the righteous to increase like the cedar and blossom like the palm tree. Dennis Moles

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ARE THE WORDS OF THE APOSTLES AS INSPIRED AS THE WORDS OF JESUS?

ARE THE WORDS OF THE APOSTLES AS INSPIRED AS THE WORDS OF JESUS?

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

Are Paul’s writings just as infallible and authoritative as the Gospels containing the teachings of Jesus? Should we regard both sets of writings equally as Scripture? Some argue that we should not. They cite this passage to support their claim:

∑       To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife. To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. (1 Corinthians 7:10-12; ESV)

Some interpret Paul words, “I, not the Lord,” as an admission that he is not writing by divine inspiration but his own. If this is true, perhaps only where Paul has written “not I, but the Lord” should be regarded as fully inspired. This would mean that almost everything that Paul had written could possibly be regarded as simply his own judgments rather than Scripture. However, this clearly was not Paul’s intent. Instead, he regarded the entirety of his writings as Scripture:

∑       And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

Paul elsewhere claimed that “Christ is speaking in me” (2 Corinthians 13:3). In many other places, he declared his teachings as authoritative:

∑       Therefore whoever disregards this [what Paul had just written], disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. (1 Thessalonians 4:8)

He claimed that He was teaching the infallible Gospel, which he had received “through a revelation of Jesus Christ”:

∑       But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed…For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:8-12)

Nor should we regard the Gospel that Paul had been given supernaturally as just a minor aspect of everything Paul had taught. Instead, it seems that in Paul’s mind, everything, even judgment, was part of the Gospel:

∑       on that day [of judgment] when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. (Romans 2:16)

Because Paul realized that his Gospel came from God, he did not hesitate to proclaim to dismiss those who were teaching a different gospel:

∑       If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth... (1 Timothy 6:3-5)

Paul never gave any indication that any of his teachings could be set aside. He consistently claimed, even in the letter in question, that his teaching was of the Spirit:

∑       My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. (1 Corinthians 2:4)

∑       Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. (1 Corinthians 2:6-7)

Paul claimed that he taught a wisdom that could only come from God. Consequently, since his teachings were of God, he expected others to submit to it, presumably even to the passage in which he acknowledges that his teaching didn’t come directly from Jesus:

∑       If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 14:37)

He also claimed that, even in regards to the verses in question, his teaching was of the “Spirit of God”:

∑       Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 7:40)

We should not suppose that since Paul used “I think” rather than “I know” that this implied any uncertainty on his part, as we usually associate with “I think”. Instead, his teachings did not seem to leave any wiggle-room for anyone to conclude, “Well Paul, since it is just your opinion, this is not the Lord’s command, and I am free to do what I want.”

Even though Paul claimed that this teaching was a matter of “my judgment,” it was a judgment based upon the “Spirit of God” and therefore inspired:

∑       Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. (1 Corinthians 7:25)

His judgment is “trustworthy,” because “by the Lord’s mercy [it] is trustworthy.” Clearly, this doesn’t imply that Paul was making a judgment independent of divine inspiration.

Even though Peter had clashed with Paul, nevertheless, he too regarded Paul’s writings as “Scripture”:

∑       And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (2 Peter 3:15-16)

Peter equated Paul’s writings with Scripture. In the same way that people could twist Scripture to their destruction, they could also twist Paul’s writings to their destruction.

Based upon the above evidence, there is no biblical basis to regard Paul’s writings as less than authoritative. In fact, God even placed His seal-of-approval upon Paul’s ministry, as Paul often acknowledged:

∑       The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. (2 Corinthians 12:12)

Did the Other Apostles also Regard their Writings as Scripture?

Evidently! Peter equated the writings of the Apostles with the writings of the Hebrew Prophets:

∑       that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles. (2 Peter 3:2)

John had equated his writing with those of Moses in another way. He claimed that what he had written was just as inviolable as the writings of Moses:

∑       I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19)

This is the same warning that Moses had issued against tampering with what he had written (Deut. 4:2; 12:32). Clearly, John realized that he was writing the Word of God.

Jesus equated His own teachings with Scripture (Matthew 24:35; 28:19-20). He also reassured His Apostles that the Spirit was able to give them His words as they needed them (Matthew 10:20). It seems that they understood this. We should understand likewise.

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UNSEND

Unsend

Read: 1 Peter 3:8–12
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 27–29; 1 Peter 3

Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. —1 Peter 3:10

Have you ever sent an email and suddenly realized it went to the wrong person or it contained harmful, harsh words? If only you could press a key and stop it. Well, now you can. Several companies offer a feature that gives you a brief time after sending an email to stop it from leaving your computer. After that, the email is like a spoken word that cannot be unsaid. Rather than being seen as a cure-all, an “unsend” feature should remind us that it’s extremely important to guard what we say.

In the apostle Peter’s first letter, he told the followers of Jesus, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing. . . . For, ‘whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it’ ” (1 Peter 3:9-11).

The psalmist David wrote, “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Ps. 141:3). That’s a great prayer for the beginning of each day and in every situation when we want to strike back with words.

Lord, guard our words today so we may not harm others by what we say. —David McCasland

Father, teach us first to guard our hearts so that we may guard our tongues. And help us, when we do say things we regret, to humbly apologize and seek forgiveness.

The tongue has the power of life and death.  Proverbs 18:21

INSIGHT: The apostle Peter may be one of the last people from whom we would expect counsel on bridling our tongues. He was the one to chastise Jesus and claim fidelity even if all others failed, and yet he later disowned Christ (Matt. 26:33, 69-75). He was the only disciple to resort to violence (v. 51; John 18:10-11), and yet he encouraged the mistreated and displaced not to return like for like (see 1 Peter 3:9). Through the work of the Holy Spirit, Peter finally understood the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:38-44. Have you wished you could hit rewind and take back your words or actions? Is it comforting to know that just as Peter was changed, you too, through the Holy Spirit, can experience growth and change? J.R. Hudberg

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LONGING FOR HOME

Longing for Home

Read: Hebrews 11:8–16
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 18–19; James 4

They were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.—Hebrews 11:16

My wife walked into the room and found me poking my head inside the cabinet of our grandfather clock. “What are you doing?” she asked. “This clock smells just like my parents’ house,” I answered sheepishly, closing the door. “I guess you could say I was going home for a moment.”

The sense of smell can evoke powerful memories. We had moved the clock across the country from my parents’ house nearly twenty years ago, but the aroma of the wood inside it still takes me back to my childhood.

The writer of Hebrews tells of others who were longing for home in a different way. Instead of looking backward, they were looking ahead with faith to their home in heaven. Even though what they hoped for seemed a long way off, they trusted that God was faithful to keep His promise to bring them to a place where they would be with Him forever (Heb. 11:13-16).

Philippians 3:20 reminds us that “our citizenship is in heaven,” and we are to “eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Looking forward to seeing Jesus and receiving everything God has promised us through Him help us keep our focus. The past or the present can never compare with what’s ahead of us! —James Banks

Jesus, thank You that You are faithful to keep Your promises. Please help me to always look forward to You.

The best home of all is our home in heaven.

INSIGHT: Those listed in today’s text “were longing for a better country—a heavenly one.” We must repeatedly remind ourselves that “this world is not our home” but we are passing through. Ultimate satisfaction will never be realized in this life but must be anchored in God and the eternal home He has prepared us for. Dennis Fisher

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BEST DEAL EVER!

Best Deal Ever!

Read: Ecclesiastes 5:10–19
Bible in a Year: Ezekiel 24–26; 1 Peter 2

As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners?—Ecclesiastes 5:11

How much is enough? We might ask this simple question on a day that many developed countries increasingly devote to shopping. I speak of Black Friday, the day after the US Thanksgiving holiday, in which many stores open early and offer cut-price deals; a day that has spread from the States to other nations. Some shoppers have limited resources and are trying to purchase something at a price they can afford. But sadly, for others greed is the motivation, and violence erupts as they fight for bargains.

The wisdom of the Old Testament writer known as “the Teacher” (Eccl. 1:1) provides an antidote to the frenzy of consumerism we may face in the shops—and in our hearts. He points out that those who love money never will have enough and will be ruled by their possessions. And yet, they will die with nothing: “As everyone comes, so they depart” (5:15). The apostle Paul echoes the Teacher in his letter to Timothy, when he says that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and that we should strive for “godliness with contentment” (1 Tim. 6:6-10).

Whether we live in a place of plenty or not, we all can seek unhealthy ways of filling the God-shaped hole in our hearts. But when we look to the Lord for our sense of peace and well-being, He will fill us with His goodness and love. —Amy Boucher Pye

“You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You.” Augustine, ‘The Confessions’

True contentment does not depend on anything in this world.

INSIGHT: Without the living God being brought into the picture, Ecclesiastes is one of the most paradoxical books in the Old Testament. For much of this short reflective work, we see life portrayed without God as an active Person in our lives. As a result, much of the text, though inspired by the Spirit, describes secular beliefs. Nonetheless, today’s reading showcases wisdom in various aspects of life. Dennis Fisher

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MANY PATHS TO GOD?

MANY PATHS TO GOD?

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Are there many paths to God? It is common to hear people say:

∑       "I believe God taught that we can get to Him through a variety of paths, and the Buddha taught his followers one valid path."

Buddha's religion was very different. His goal was Nirvana not heaven. Here's what he said about it:

∑       “Nirvana is the area where there is no earth, water, fire and air. It is not the region of nothing at all, nor the border between distinguishing and not distinguishing, nor this world nor the other world; where there is neither sun nor moon. I will not call it coming or going, nor standing still, nor fading away nor beginning. It is without foundation, without continuation nor stopping. It is the end of suffering.” (Tripitaka)

In Buddha's Nirvana, we do not even retain the self. "We" are just one amorphous consciousness.

Besides, Buddha taught that we'd get there through mind-action control:

∑       "This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: it is the Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration."

All the religions of the world require us to be worthy of God or Nirvana. However, Christ became worthy for us, coming down to reach us where we are at, rather than expecting us to become worthy for Him, an impossibility:

∑       For our sake he made him [Jesus] to be sin [while He died on the Cross] who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Consequently, salvation – forgiveness and reconciliation with God – is an absolutely free gift:

∑       For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

To believe that we can attain to God is to embark upon a path of frustration, discouragement, and despair. If instead, we blind ourselves to our true lowly and broken status, we will become proud and arrogant and will look down on others who haven’t made it. Only in Christ can we experience that satisfaction of arriving without the arrogance of superiority.

One respondent wrote:

∑       “You can follow Jesus without falling into the trap of Christian exceptionalism.”

Not at all! If there are multiple ways of salvation, then Jesus died in vain. Jesus had even prayed:

∑       And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” (Matthew 26:39)

Clearly, had there been another way, the Father would have revealed it. Instead, this was the way prophesied in Hebrew Scriptures in many ways:

∑       Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:4-7)

The NT warns us in many ways that we cannot trust in another way or in another gospel:

∑       I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-9)

This might sound harsh. However, it is God’s truth. Therefore, we are not free to deny it. Instead, we have to come as little children, receiving what God has rather than what we want.

As a Jew, I had sought God for 12 years, but I wanted God my own way, according to what felt right for me. Consequently, I had found nothing. Instead, I had to pray for the truth.

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