by emily on September 3, 2010
Forgiveness comes from the Greek word, “Aphiemi”, which means “to let go, give up a debt, forgive to remit, keep no longer.” The Webster dictionary defines the world “forgive” as “to grant relief from payment of.” Forgiveness is excusing a debt that someone owes you. For example, if a criminal goes to court and the judge wipes clean his record of wrongdoing, that criminal has been forgiven. Christ did this for believers, he forgave them by wiping away their sins or “debts” with His blood.
Corrie Ten Boom, a survivor of the Holocaust, gave the illustration that God’s forgiveness of our sins was like He was throwing the record of our transgressions into the deepest sea and putting out a “No Fishing” sign. That meant He won’t hold those sins against believers.
Because we are all sinners, no one deserves the gift of salvation. The Bible says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God; not as results of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Because of God’s immeasurable love for us, He sent His only begotten Son to pay off our debt of sin. We will talk about this more in depth next week, but it’s important to know who has wiped away our stained record and made us clean.
God’s act of forgiveness is an example to us for how we are to treat others. God commands believers in Mark 11:25-26 to forgive others lest their heavenly Father not forgive them. It is simple: because God has forgiven us much, we ought to forgive others when they offend us. We are never more like our Father in Heaven then when we demonstrate to others the grace of forgiveness. Forgiveness can be one of the best witnessing tools because it points people to what Christ did for us on the cross.
by emily on August 27, 2010
When people think of obedience they might think of children needing to obey their parents. In fact, Deuteronomy 5:16 may be one of the most quoted verses among parents. “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” However, everyone, regardless of age or status, needs to understand the godly principles of biblical obedience.
One of the best examples of obedience to authority in the life of an adult is found in the book of Daniel. Daniel and his friends were Israelites taken from their home land to be trained for service to the king of Babylon himself. The Bible describes these four men in Daniel 1:4, “..young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace.”
The king instructed the officials in charge of their training to give them food from the king’s table and teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. However, Daniel was a man of God. Although he was miles away from his own parents and religious leaders, he made a promise to himself. Daniel 1:8 says, “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.”
Right from the beginning, Daniel was resolved to not only obey God but also respect the foreign and rather pagan authority placed over him. God rewarded Daniel’s resolve by granting him favor from those in charge of him. God also gave him knowledge and understanding of everything that was taught and He even gave him the ability to interpret dreams.
During Daniel’s service to the king (Nebuchadnezzar at the time) the king had a dream. None of the king’s wisest advisors or “magicians” could interpret the dream, but Daniel was able to, thanks to the abilities God had given him. He immediately gave glory to God, “During the night the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision. Then Daniel praised the God of heaven.” (Daniel 2:19)
Later, in chapter three, the friends of Daniel were put to the ultimate “obedience test.” Nebuchadnezzar had built a statue of himself and had wanted everyone to bow down and worship it. He instructed that if anyone refused to worship, they would be thrown into a furnace. However, Daniel’s friends told the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)
It turned out that they were thrown into the furnace, and God did rescue them. While most situations will not have consequences of fiery furnaces, the principle of obeying God’s laws remains. Adults need to obey God, regardless of the cost or hardship. Parents especially need to model this kind of respectful obedience in their lives for their children to observe and imitate because they are training the next generation of God followers.
by emily on August 20, 2010
Charles Spurgeon once said, “We may be certain that whatever God has made prominent in His word, He intended to be conspicuous in our lives.” The way Christians demonstrate their love for their Savior can be summed up in John 14:15, ‘If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” To a Christian, God’s Word should be more than just a book cracked open on Sunday mornings. The Bible is an action plan that if carried out can transform a person’s life and it is meant to be obeyed.
There are many stories of obedience in the Bible. However, one in particular, as unusual as it is, stands out as one that illustrates the need to obey God – Jonah and the “great fish.”
Jonah got his own book in the Bible, which should prove to the reader how much God values obedience. He lived during the time of Israel’s history when God was using prophets to preach His word to the Israelites. Jonah was unique in that God wanted to send him to the city of Nineveh, which belonged to the great nation of Assyria. Assyria was one of Israel’s worst enemies and were known for their particularly cruel treatment of war prisoners.
God gave Jonah a direct command in Jonah 1:2, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” However, because Jonah didn’t want God to spare the lives of his enemies, he fled on a boat in the opposite direction to Tarshish. God intercepted Jonah, had a fish swallow him in the water (Jonah 1:17), and had the fish spit him back on dry land. God once again gave him the direct command in Jonah 3:2, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.”
Jonah obeyed the second time and issued God’s proclamation. He told the people of Nineveh that God was going to overthrow them in 40 days. When the king of Nineveh heard this, he instructed the people to fast and repent. The king says in Jonah 3:9, “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.” God did have mercy on the Ninevite people and he did not destroy them.
The story goes on to explain how Jonah did not like God’s decision, and how he sat outside the city and begged God to kill him. God explained to Jonah that He had compassion on Nineveh just like he had compassion on Jonah.
The moral of the story is that God expects us to obey. Period. When Christians obey, they are telling God that they trust and love Him enough to follow His commandments, even when they don’t understand it. 1 John 2:3-5 says, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the ruth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him…”
