loving God...

...is not a means to an end.

Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart,
and
with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the
first and great commandment.

I should not love God in order to. In order to serve Him more, in order to love others the right way, in order to behave a certain way, or in order to win a crown of righteousness. Of course these things will always following loving God,but they should never be our motive for loving God.

Loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and might should be our pursuit, it should be our one goal.

the value of the Psalms....

It's tempting to overlook the importance of the Psalms for personal Bible study. After all, the REALLY deep stuff is all in the New Testament....right??? I think that we all do ourselves a disservice when we ignore the deep truths and rich doctrine that we find within the Psalms. The New Testament is filled with important doctrine: the gospel of Jesus Christ, how the church should function, teachings on our daily walk with Christ, and much more. BUT the Psalms speak so much of the glory of God! Not that the NT ignores these things, but the tendency in my own Bible reading is to study "better" things than the person of God. How terrible! Recently, the Lord has convicted me of this and shown me the importance of the Psalms in my devotional life. Read Psalm 118 and tell me you don't have a greater appreciation for the Lord because of it!

for my name's sake...

Isa 48:9-12 For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have refined
thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of
affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it:
for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto
another. Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am
the first, I also am the last.

Matthew 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that
endureth to the end shall be saved.

Matthew 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill
you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

The Lord never promises that we will live lives that are devoid of trouble and free of affliction. In fact, He promises to bring both blessing and affliction to His people. This can be an unsettling concept to deal with. Why would the Lord want to allow His children to be oppressed? We know that it is in His power to remove all of our problems, to give us a life of ease. Then why doesn’t He?

Isaiah 48:11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for
how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto
another.

The Lord isn’t interested in your fame. The Lord isn’t interested in my fame. The Lord is only interested in glorifying His own holy name. Whatever He allows, whatever He brings to pass, whatever He chooses to bring about in our lives, it is only for His glory. He loves us more than we will ever understand, but His name is more important than our earthly comforts. When we begin to wonder why the Lord has allowed things in our lives that are less than we desire or different that we would have chosen, we must stop and think. Is this bringing glory to His name? We’ll never be able to understand God’s ways because they are so much higher than ours, but we can take heart in knowing that we have a purpose on this earth, glorifying the Almighty God!

think it not strange

I Peter 4:12 says:

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.

Peter is exhorting believers to take joy in the suffering and persecution they encounter for being Christians. Have you ever wondered why it is the Christian's "lot in life" to be maltreated? What does the world have against us anyway? Most Christians I know aren't trying to assert themselves or their beliefs on the lives of unbelievers. In fact, the greatest proselytes I know are the unregenerate people I work with. Believers are constantly invited, enticed, and compelled by the world to worship their gods their way. So the natural conclusion would be that while Christians might be pitied or looked down on by the world, they don't really have much reason to hate us the way they do. But then come these verses:

Matthew 10:34-36
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

Christ is using some pretty strong language here as He sends out His disciples. He tells them that He is sending them out as "sheep among wolves" and to expect hatred from those they encounter on their way. Christ warns them to:

Beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.

Jesus was not surprised by the reaction of the world to His message. He came to bring variance! But with the conflict He promises us, He also promises to care for us:

Matthew 10:29-31

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

So don't be surprised when the world hates you, when the world despises you. We should expect it, but not look at it as a matter of sorrow. Instead we should rejoice in the trials that we encounter as a Christian!

I Peter 4:13

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

in the beginning...

...God created the heaven and the earth. Sometime later, Matt created a blog to record his thoughts and share things with other believers.

III John was written to exhort believers to be fellowhelpers to the truth. This requires not only that we know the truth (III John 3), but that we have love (III John 6) with this truth. It seems most of us can't get a good grasp on both of these at once. I know many Christians that have all of the right doctrine, all of the right words, all of the right standards, but none of the right spirit. Sadly, I am all too often after the same sort.

I'd like this blog to be an ecouragement to my own soul as well as others. It will be a record of what I am reading, meditating on, struggling with, and striving to learn as a fellowhelper to the truth. Any encouragement, exhortation, and criticism you have, feel free to offer.

- m@