Sunday, September 30, 2018

A NEGLECTED REMEDY

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

365 DEVOTIONS FROM OUR DAILY BREAD

A Neglected Remedy

Read:  1 Kings 19:1-18

He gives His beloved sleep.  Psalm 127:2

I am often asked to speak on the subject of stress.  I’m not an expert on stress, just an experienced sufferer!  I simply share counsel from God’s Word that helps me live less stressfully and more restfully.  Many listeners are desperate for any new insight I might offer.  What blank looks I sometimes get when I make this particular recommendation:  “Get more sleep!”  In their longing to deepen their experience of God’s peace they were hoping for something more spiritual than that.

But I’m not alone in linking spirituality to sleep.  A godly Bible teacher was asked to share the key ingredient in his own life for walking in the Spirit.  He studied the Bible and prayed regularly, but his surprising reply was this:  “Get eight hours of sleep each night”

This reply is less surprising in light of God’s initial remedy for Elijah’s stress and depression (1 Kings 19:1-18).  Twice God gave him food and undisturbed sleep before gently confronting him at Mount Horeb with his error.

Psalm 4:8 says, “I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”  Sleep is not the full remedy for stress, but other solutions can become clearer to people who get adequate rest.     JY

When life is so busy and hectic and humming,
You’re uptight and frazzled and stressed;
Slow down for a while and spend time with the savior,
And be sure to get adequate rest. -Fitzhugh

We can sleep in peace when we remember that God is awake.



UNLOCKING A MYSTERY

Unlocking a Mystery
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel.
Ephesians 3:6


pastedGraphic.pngLISTEN ONLINE

When I came home from work one day and saw a pair of lady’s high-heel shoes next to the driveway, I was sure I knew whose they were. So I put them in the garage to give to my daughter Lisa when she returned to the house to pick up her children. But when I checked with Lisa, I found they didn’t belong to her. In fact, no one in our family claimed them, so I put them back where I’d found them. The next day, they were gone. Mysterious.

Did you know that the apostle Paul wrote of a mystery in his letters? But the mystery he described was so much more than some kind of “whodunit.” In Ephesians 3, for example, Paul spoke of a mystery that “was not made known to people in other generations” (v. 5). This mystery is that, while in the past God revealed Himself through Israel, now, through Jesus, Gentiles—those outside of Israel—could be “heirs together with Israel” (v. 6).
Think about what this means: all who trust Jesus as Savior can love and serve God together. We can all equally “approach [Him] with freedom and confidence” (v. 12). 

And through the church’s unity the world will see God’s wisdom and goodness (v. 10).

Praise God for our salvation. It unlocks for us the mystery of unity as people of any and all backgrounds become one in Jesus.
By Dave Branon

REFLECT & PRAY

Unity in Christ breaks down barriers and builds the church.

Thank You, Jesus, for the unity all believers can enjoy in You. Help us to serve together as equal members of Your body.
Your support helps Our Daily Bread reach people around the world with the life-changing wisdom of the Bible.

     pastedGraphic_1.pngSUPPORT


SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Paul’s heart for both Jew and Gentile, like Jesus’s love for Samaritans and Roman soldiers, has deep roots in Scripture. The God who blessed His creation (Genesis 1:22-28) has always been far more than a God of a few preferred people.

Eve was promised a descendant who would one day defeat the enemy of every woman’s child (Genesis 3:15). Later the same God promised Abraham (12:1-3), Isaac (26:4), Jacob (28:14), David (Psalm 67:1-7) and prophets like Isaiah and Micah (Isaiah 2:1-3; Micah 4:1-3) that He had a mysteriously wonderful plan to bless His world through the salvation and witness of all who trust Him (John 3:16). Mart DeHaan


OUR PRAYER AND GOD'S POWER

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

365 DEVOTIONS FROM OUR DAILY BREAD

Our Prayer and God’s Power

Read:  James 5:13-20

Pray for one another, that you may be healed.  The effective,
fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.  James 5:16

When we pray for others, we become partners with God in His work of salvation, healing, comfort, and justice.  God can accomplish those things without us, but in His plan He gives us the privilege of being involved with Him through prayer.

When we intercede for a grandson in trouble, a mother having surgery, a neighbor who needs Christ, or a pastor who needs strength, we are asking God to  provide for that person what we can’t provide.  We are acting as go-betweens, asking God to direct His power in a specific direction.

In his classic book titled Prayer, Ole Hallesby described how it works:  “This power is so rich and so mobile that all we have to do when we pray is point to the person or thing to which we desire to have [God’s  ] power applied, and He, the Lord of this power, will direct the necessary power to the desired place.”

This assumes, of course, that we are praying “according to [God’s] will” (1 John 5:14)Prayer is not a magic wand for satisfying our own wishes, but it’s an opportunity to work with the Lord in accomplishing His purposes. 

James told us that “the effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16).  So let’s humbly and earnestly pray for one another.          DCE

As we attempt to live like Christ
In actions, words, and deeds,
We’ll follow His design for prayer
And pray for others’ needs. -DB 

The most powerful position on earth is kneeling before the 
Lord of the universe.



GLEANING THE FIELDS

Gleaning the Fields
Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”
Ruth 2:2


pastedGraphic.pngLISTEN ONLINE
A Tanzanian friend has a vision for redeeming a piece of desolate land in the capital city of Dodoma. Recognizing the needs of some local widows, Ruth wants to transform these dusty acres into a place to keep chickens and grow crops. Her vision to provide for those in need is rooted in her love for God, and was inspired by her biblical namesake, Ruth.

God’s laws allowed the poor or the foreigner to glean (harvest) from the edges of the fields (Leviticus 19:9-10). Ruth (in the Bible) was a foreigner, and was therefore allowed to work in the fields, gathering food for her and her mother-in-law. Gleaning in Boaz’s field, a close relative, led to Ruth and Naomi ultimately finding a home and protection. Ruth used her ingenuity and effort in the work of the day—gathering food from the edges of the field—and God blessed her.

The passion of my friend Ruth and the dedication of the biblical Ruth stir me to give thanks to God for how He cares for the poor and downtrodden. They inspire me to seek ways to help others in my community and more broadly as a means of expressing my thanks to our giving God. How might you worship God through extending His mercy to others?
By Amy Boucher Pye

REFLECT & PRAY

God cares for the vulnerable.

Jesus, You desire that no one would go hungry. Open our eyes to the ways we can help those in need. May we share Your love, for Your glory.

Your support helps Our Daily Bread reach people around the world with the life-changing wisdom of the Bible. 




Friday, September 28, 2018

WHY GOOD PEOPLE SUFFER

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

365 DEVOTIONS FROM OUR DAILY BREAD

Why Good People Suffer

Read:  Job 1:6-22

The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered
My servant Job?”  Job 1:8

My Sunday school class has been studying one book of the Bible each week.  Beginning with Genesis, we are looking at the theme, structure, and uniqueness of each book.  Little did I realize that two women in my class were eager to get to the book of Job.  They are nurses who daily confront the problem of human suffering, and they are often asked hard questions about God’s role in it.

All too often the explanation for suffering is similar to that expressed by Job’s three friends who came to sit with him.  One after another, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar told Job that he deserved the suffering because of his sin.  The young observer Elihu came along and told Job the same thing.

The real reason Job was suffering was that Satan, the leader of the fallen angels, was trying to get him to turn from God.  Because Satan cannot dethrone the Lord, he opposes Him by attacking His followers (1 Peter 5:8).  He strikes at God by tempting us to sin.

One reason for suffering, therefore, is that it’s part of a larger, cosmic struggle.  During hard times, we face the choice to trust God or to turn from Him.  If we endure suffering with our trust in the Lord unshaken, we will thwart Satan’s efforts and glorify our God.      DCE

How oft in the conflict, when pressed by the foe
I have fled to my Refuge and breathed out my woe;
How often, when trials like sea billow roll,
Have I hidden in Thee, O thou Rock of my soul. -Cushing

When your world is shaking, run to the Rock.


ASKING GOD FIRST

Asking God First

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4


pastedGraphic.pngLISTEN ONLINE

Early in our marriage, I struggled to figure out my wife’s preferences. Did she want a quiet dinner at home or a meal at a fancy restaurant? Was it okay for me to hang out with the guys, or did she expect me to keep the weekend free for her? Once, instead of guessing and deciding first, I asked her, “What do you want?”

“I’m fine with either,” she replied with a warm smile. “I’m just happy you thought of me.”

At times I’ve wanted desperately to know exactly what God wanted me to do—such as which job to take. Praying for guidance and reading the Bible didn’t reveal any specific answers. But one answer was clear: I was to trust in the Lord, take delight in Him, and commit my way to Him (Psalm 37:3-5).

That’s when I realized that God usually gives us the freedom of choice—if we first seek to put His ways before our own. That means dropping choices that are plainly wrong or would not please Him. It might be something immoral, ungodly, or unhelpful toward our relationship with Him. If the remaining options please God, then we’re free to choose from them. Our loving Father wants to give us the desires of our hearts—hearts that take delight in Him (v. 4).
By Leslie Koh

REFLECT & PRAY

Do your decisions please God?
Teach me, O God, to put You first in everything I do. Show me how to take delight in You, that my heart will be transformed to be like Yours.

Your support helps Our Daily Bread reach people around the world with the life-changing wisdom of the Bible.

     pastedGraphic_1.pngSUPPORT


SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
A prayerful reading of Psalm 37 yields increased joy, assurance, and confidence in the Lord. After an opening exhortation to not be upset by the short-lived vitality and success of those who ignore the Lord (vv. 1-2), a series of commands follow that call for faithful dependence on Him (vv. 3-8). The remainder of the psalm includes commentary about the conduct of two kinds of people (the righteous and the wicked), who follow two different paths and end up at two different places (vv. 9-11, 20). In various ways, the wicked harass and prey upon the righteous (vv. 12-15, 32). But the righteous are not alone. 

The Lord—in whom they trust and delight and upon whom they wait—protects them, making them safe and secure and stable (vv. 16-17, 23-26, 32-33). The conclusion of the psalm speaks powerfully to those who place their faith in God. “The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble. The Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him” (vv. 39-40). Arthur Jackson



THE THEIST AND SCIENCE

THE THEIST AND SCIENCE

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


Along with others, the German physicist Volker Braun has insisted that the theist cannot be open to the facts because he is already committed to his own beliefs:

       A scientist is a man who changes his beliefs according to reality; a theist is a man who changes reality to match his beliefs.

However, we all approach the data with our own particular perspective or lens. Even the scientist sees the data through their own paradigms or lens. In his highly regarded, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas S. Kuhn wrote:

       Max Planck, surveying his own career in his Scientific Autobiography, sadly remarked that “a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”

       Almost always the men who achieve these fundamental inventions of a new paradigm have been either very young or very new to the field whose paradigm they change. And perhaps that point need not have been made explicit, for obviously these are the men who, being little committed by prior practice to the traditional rules of normal science, are particularly likely to see that those rules no longer define a playable game and to conceive another set that can replace them.

This was also true for me. My “traditional rules” had been torn apart by decades of depression and panic attacks. However, I had an ecstatic encounter with God while bleeding to death because of a chainsaw injury. As a result, I committed myself to seek the truth about God and pledged to examine all paths until I found it. This brought me to Jesus

A series of miraculous events had led me to Jesus’ door – the last place that this Jew had ever dreamed of going. However, skepticism forbade me from truly entering for a number of years. However, gradually I became convinced as a comprehensive and evidentially-based paradigm was taking form to become my lens and guiding paradigm.

There is nothing illegitimate about approaching the data with a paradigm or lens. Whenever I ride my bicycle, I wear my eyeglasses. Even though they are artificial and come between me and the data of pedestrians crossing the street and taxi doors swinging open in my path, my eyeglasses enable me to see and interpret the data more accurately. A sound worldview can do the same thing. I used to break up the world into “quality people” and “losers.” Although I wanted to belong to the first category, in my heart I knew I was a “loser.” Subsequently, the Bible helped me to understand that we are all losers who need a Redeemer. This shift in worldview helped me to better understand others and, consequently, to predict their actions.

The important question is not whether or not to set a pair of glasses or paradigm between ourselves and the data, but whether our lens allows us to see reality more accurately. Many Christians testify that the truth of the Bible and God working within them has given them the freedom (John 8:31-32) to truly understand their lives and those of others.

Biographer Jana Tull Steele reports of Duke Ellington:

       He used to say that he had three educations: one from school, one at the pool hall, and one from the Bible. Without the latter, he said, you can’t understand what you learned from the other two places. (Duke Ellington)

Similarly, C.S. Lewis wrote:

       I believe in Christianity as I believe in the sun—not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.

This is then the essential question: “Does the Biblical lens promote sight or blindness?” Does Christ enable us to do science or does this faith impede science? The historical testimony in favor of the Christian role in the development of science is overwhelming. British scientist Robert Clark summed it up this way:

       However we may interpret the fact, scientific development has only occurred in Christian culture. The ancients had brains as good as ours. In all civilizations—Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, India, Rome, Persia, China and so on—science developed to a certain point and then stopped. It is easy to argue speculatively that, perhaps, science might have been able to develop in the absence of Christianity, but in fact, it never did. And no wonder. For the non-Christian world believed that there was something ethically wrong about science. In Greece, this conviction was enshrined in the legend of Prometheus, the fire-bearer and prototype scientist who stole fire from heaven, thus incurring the wrath of the gods. (Christian Belief and Science, quoted by Henry F. Schaefer, 14)

The Christian paradigm is a light that illuminates the landscape. Consequently, I do not stumble as I once had.


THE DALAI LAMA, SINCERITY, FORGIVENESS, AND COMPASSION


Are our beliefs irrelevant to the way we live our lives, or is belief and life intimately connected? The Dalai Lama had generously and popularly stated

       It does not matter whether you are a theist or atheist, what matters is sincerity, forgiveness, and compassion.

Certainly, “sincerity, forgiveness, and compassion” are key. However, it doesn’t seem that our beliefs can easily be detached from the way we live our lives. I have known numerous atheists, some intimately. One in particular had been so compassionate that he would do anything for anyone. When we thought of virtue, we thought of him. However, with the passage of the years, he became quite jaded and anti-social. I suspect that he still likes to give to others. However, his beliefs now take him in another direction.

Time is the final judge. Time shows us that our beliefs and experiences will eventually overcome our natural compassionate endowment. College students march with banners reading, “Make Peace not War.” They want to open the boarders and embrace refugees and the oppressed. However, time often reveals that compassion turns into bitterness, in the same way that love often screams for divorce after just a few years.

The atheist Bertrand Russell had been convinced that his atheistic worldview provided the tools he needed to live a fulfilling life. However, years later he confessed:
       I wrote with passion and force because I really thought I had a gospel. Now I am cynical about the gospel because it won’t stand the test of life.

Cynicism will not help us live a life of “sincerity, forgiveness, and compassion.” Instead, it will sound a retreat from all of our ideals. However, there are other beliefs that enable us continue the battle. When we know that we are loved by God, His marching orders become a welcome battle cry:
       Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:4-8)


This is a hope that will carry us beyond death, a hope worth any sacrifice.

HE ALWAYS ANSWERS

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

365 DEVOTIONS FROM OUR DAILY BREAD

He Always Answers

Read:  Daniel 9:3-23

While I was speaking in prayer, the man
Gabriel…reached me.  Daniel 9:21

Daniel was determined to pray regularly, and it got him thrown into the lions’ den (Daniel 6).  But have you ever noticed how God answered his prayers?

In Daniel 9, we learn that Daniel had been reading Jeremiah’s prophecy that the exile of the Israelites was supposed to end after seventy years.  So Daniel prayed that God would not delay the end of the captivity.  He confessed Israel’s sin and asked for God’s intervention.

Then, while Daniel was still praying, God not only sent an answer but He also sent His angel Gabriel to deliver it.  Daniel said “While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel,…being caused to fly swiftly, reached me” (v.21).  In other words, before Daniel had even finished his prayer, God heard it and immediately sent Gabriel with the answer (vv. 22-23).

Yet, on another occasion when Daniel prayed, Scripture tells us that the messenger God sent with the answer took three weeks to arrive (10:12-13).

We can learn important lessons from Daniel about how God answers our prayers today.  Sometimes God sends the answer immediately.  Sometimes the answer is delayed.  Either way, He always answers.  DB

It matters not what tongue we speak,
Nor where life’s pathway leads;
God hears the cries His child raise
And always meets our needs. -DJD

There are three possible answers to prayer:  Yes, No, or Wait.



WHEN WE'RE WEARY

When We’re Weary
Let us not become weary in doing good.
Galatians 6:9

pastedGraphic.pngLISTEN ONLINE

Sometimes trying to do the right thing can be exhausting. We may wonder, Do my well-intentioned words and actions make any difference at all? I wondered this recently when I sent a prayerfully thought-out email meant to encourage a friend, only to have it met with an angry response. My immediate reaction was a mixture of hurt and anger. How could I be so misunderstood?

Before I responded out of anger, I remembered that we won’t always see the results (or the results we desire) when we tell someone about how Jesus loves them. When we do good things for others hoping to draw them to Him, they may spurn us. Our gentle efforts to prompt someone to right action may be ignored.

Galatians 6 is a good place to turn when we’re discouraged by someone’s response to our sincere efforts. Here the apostle Paul encourages us to consider our motives—to “test our actions”—for what we say and do (vv. 1-4). When we have done so, he encourages us to persevere: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people” (vv. 9-10).
God wants us to continue living for Him, which includes praying for and telling others about Him—“doing good.” He will see to the results.
By Alyson Kieda

REFLECT & PRAY
We can leave the results of our lives in God’s hands.
Dear God, thank You for the encouragement we receive from Your Word. Help us to persevere in doing good.

Your support helps Our Daily Bread reach people around the world with the life-changing wisdom of the Bible.

     pastedGraphic_1.pngSUPPORT


SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Sometimes we can be tempted to take pride in our own good deeds. Unfortunately, this attitude may result in our looking down on the shortcomings of others. Instead, Paul says that believers empowered by the Spirit are to restore those caught up in a sin gently. By helping people deal with their sins, we’re fulfilling the law of Christ.

This helps us understand what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). Helping others grow in godliness is the essence of loving them.


How can you love your neighbor today? J.R. Hudberg

PERSISTENT PRAYER

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

365 DEVOTIONS FROM OUR DAILY BREAD

Persistent Prayer

Read:  Luke 18:1-8

Men always ought to pray and
not lose heart.  Luke 18:1

A friend of mine has been a woman of prayer for many years.  She has received countless answers from God, but sometimes she is disheartened because certain prayers for love ones remain unanswered.  Yet she keeps on praying, encouraged by the parable in Luke 18.  This story features a widow who badgered a heartless judge for help and finally got it.

Jesus ended His parable with a question:  If an unrighteous and disrespectful judge finally answers a pestering widow’s pleas for help, shall not God answer His own children who cry to Him day and night?  (vv.7-8).  The expected answer:  “Of course He will!”

George Muller (1805-1898), pastor and orphanage director, was known for his faith and persistent prayer.  Whenever he prayed for specific needs for his orphanage, God sent exactly what was required.  Yet for more than forty years he also prayed for the conversion of a friend and his friend’s son.  When Muller died, these men were still unconverted.  God answered those prayers, however, in His own time.  The friend was converted while attending Muller’s funeral, and the son a week later!

Do you have a special burden or request?  Keep on praying!  Trust your loving heavenly Father to answer according to His wisdom and timing.  God honors persistent prayer!       JY

Don’t think that you are finished, 
Just trust God’s love and care;
Delays are not denials;
Persist in faith and prayer. -Jarvis

Failure to pray is the time line of least persistence.



IT'S NOT ABOUT THE FISH

It’s Not About the Fish
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented.
Jonah 3:10


pastedGraphic.pngLISTEN ONLINE

Sighted numerous times off the coast of Australia’s South Queensland, Migaloo is the first albino humpback whale ever documented. The splendid creature, estimated at more than forty feet long, is so rare that Australia passed a law specifically to protect him.

The Bible tells us about a “huge fish” so rare that God had provided it especially to swallow a runaway prophet (Jonah 1:17). Most know the story. God told Jonah to take a message of judgment to Nineveh. But Jonah wanted nothing to do with the Ninevites, who had a reputation for cruelty to just about everyone—including the Hebrews. So he fled. Things went badly. From inside the fish, Jonah repented. Eventually he preached to the Ninevites, and they repented too (3:5-10).

Great story, right? Except it doesn’t end there. While Nineveh repented, Jonah pouted. “Isn’t this what I said, Lord?” he prayed. “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love” (4:2). Having been rescued from certain death, Jonah’s sinful anger grew until even his prayer became suicidal (v. 3).

The story of Jonah isn’t about the fish. It’s about our human nature and the nature of the God who pursues us. “The Lord is patient with you,” wrote the apostle Peter, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God offers His love to brutal Ninevites, pouting prophets, and you and me.
By Tim Gustafson

REFLECT & PRAY

Our love has limits; God’s love is limitless.
Father, we tend to look at what others “deserve” and forget we need Your love just as much. Help us live in Your love and tell others about it.
Your support helps Our Daily Bread reach people around the world with the life-changing wisdom of the Bible.

     pastedGraphic_1.pngSUPPORT


SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
What a difference a couple of chapters can make in the tone of Jonah’s prayers! In Jonah 2:2, the desperate prophet prayed, “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me.” But in Jonah 4:3, he asks God to kill him. God answered the first prayer miraculously, delivering Jonah from death. But with the second prayer, God simply asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?” (4:4). 

Then Jonah actually repeats his death wish. “I’m so angry I wish I were dead” (v. 9). Even then, God appealed to Jonah by sharing His heart for all of humanity. “Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh?” God even extends His concern to the animals that would have been destroyed in Nineveh (v. 11). The book of Jonah provides a fascinating contrast between human nature, which is self-serving, and the profoundly loving and patient character of God.

How do we respond to God’s grace to us? Do we resent it when He extends that grace to others we may perceive as “worse” than we are? Do we resemble Jonah when things don’t go the way we’d like them to? Tim Gustafson


HOW TO REGARD VIRTUOUS NON-CHRISTIANS?

HOW TO REGARD VIRTUOUS NON-CHRISTIANS?

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


I go to many conversation groups (MeetUps). Some are hostile to my testimony and presentation of the Gospel. Others tolerate it, while another group even seems to encourage it and thank me for it.

The Baha’is seem to lack a comprehensive set of divine promises and teachings about the identity of their God. However, they do believe that their God is just and loving and seeks the unity of all people and believe that each is endowed with a divine dignity. Consequently, the Baha’is I’ve met follow peace and love out of a devotion to their relatively unknown God.

I have little dispute with their moral teachings. They resemble those of the Bible. Consequently, I have been merely trying to add to their understanding of their unknown God, and, amazingly, they seem to be appreciative.

Often, among those who practice virtue, especially those who reject the existence of a God, I feel that I can detect a whiff of self-righteousness. However, I have not been able to detect this among my Baha’i friends.

They seek unity among all people. This fact has made me suspect that it is this quest that has led them to express appreciation for what I had been sharing about the Christian faith. But they seem to be humble and willing to admit that they are far from their ideal. They also have a hope that their God forgives them. Sound familiar? However, they have little understanding of the Gospel. For them, it seems that God could and does forgive without Jesus’ death.

Two questions emerge:

       Will this form of spirituality continue to motivate them, and more importantly,
       Will God honor it?

Fruit production only occurs in certain seasons and times. I love to sniff fragrant flowers. However, their scent will only last temporarily. After a few seconds, I can no longer enjoy it. The scent simply disappears.

The same phenomenon also pertains to doing good deeds. At first, they are very satisfying and even elevating. Then they become tiring. This is why the Bible warns us:

       And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)

I see the same phenomenon at play in liberal churches, which have denied basic tenants of the faith. Consequently, although they still believe in doing good, they do so with little confidence that it serves God’s truth. Consequently, their zeal fades.
When they rejected God’s Word, they also rejected God. Consequently, they lack the guiding and validating testimony of the Holy Spirit which accompanies His Word. Therefore, they are languishing.

My Baha’i friends haven’t explicitly rejected the Scriptures, but they too lack the conviction of the Spirit. Consequently, I sense a lack of confidence in their beliefs.

The second question is more important. Will God honor or validate the Baha’i faith? On the one hand, Biblically faithful Christians believe that we all face the condemnation of God (Romans 6:23; 3:10-20, 23) and that the only salvation available is through faith in Jesus (John 3:16; 5:24; 14:6).  Does this two-sided fact eliminate the Baha’is? Well, yes, but…

There are those who are on the road to salvation. Jesus had been asked by a scribe about the greatest commandments. Jesus answered, and the scribe praised His answer:

       And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions. (Mark 12:34)

Jesus’ answer is somewhat uncomfortable. Instead of a world where there are only the saved and unsaved, Jesus indicated that there is also a third category of people – those “who are not far from the kingdom of God.” I would like to believe that some of the Baha’i I’ve met fall into this category. This doesn’t mean that they have arrived. They might even turn aside as Jesus’ parable of the Seed and the Soil indicates. However, their devotion to God suggests that they might be heading in the right direction.

Jesus also gave another indication of the existence of this third category:

       “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:19-21)

Notice that Jesus’ final sentence also gives evidence of this third group, “who does what is true” and will eventually “come to the light.” This demonstrates that their “works have been carried out in God.” (Their works are only the evidence – the fruits – of God’s work in their lives and not the cause of salvation, which is faith in the mercy of God.)

What are we to think about King Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4) and the Ninevites who had repented at the preaching of Jonah? Were they saved? Did they simply receive a temporary reprieve? The Bible doesn’t explicitly tell us.

What then do I communicate to my Baha’i friends? Nothing beyond the hope extended us through God’s Word! Please pray!