How to move head knowledge to the heart – 1 Thessalonians 2:13

Published on by DaveLeave a comment

Follow this blog for daily bible commentary.

1 Thessalonians 2:13

And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

My core struggle in life is searching for comfort. My head knowledge knows that the only source of true comfort is God, as everything else on this earth is fleeting and could be taken at any moment. Replace ‘comfort’ in those two sentences with ‘identity’, and that might be your story. Replace ‘comfort’ with ‘joy’ or ‘satisfaction’ and that might be your story.

Although we are all searching for different things in our lives, the answer, I believe, is always Jesus. It’s unfortunate, I think, for kids that have grown up in the church (like myself), that we have so much head knowledge about where to find what we are looking for to fill the deep, dark recesses of our heart, but we are unable to shift that head knowledge to our hearts. I have seen it time and time again; friends and family with incredible head knowledge about Jesus and God, but they fall away because they do nothing to move their head knowledge to their heart. So how do we move our head knowledge to our hearts?

I think the only way we can do it is through putting our complete reliance in God for everything. As in: My core struggle is searching for comfort. To rely on God for my comfort means that I should be willing to throw every other piece of comfort on Earth away and still feel comfort because I find my comfort in him who is not of this Earth. People with head knowledge often fall away because they see people around them with the same head knowledge, but without actions that show they have their reliance in God.

Putting our reliance in God for everything is a risk for us humans, but I think it is ultimately the most rewarding way to live life: If you find your joy, comfort, identity and satisfaction in God and rely on him for everything, what on Earth could possibly bring you down?

ASK YOURSELF: What am I searching for in life? How is that search visible in my day-to-day actions and activities?

Dear God, I need your help. I need you to be the center of my life for which everything else revolves around. Help me stay aware of your presence around me and you promptings to put my reliance on you. Amen.

The Wrath of God – Romans 1:18

Published on by DaveLeave a comment

Follow this blog for daily bible commentary.

Romans 1:18

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness

The first reading of this verse raises two questions in my mind: What is the wrath of God? When is the wrath of God coming?

The wrath of God can’t sound pleasant to anyone who is an enemy of God. God is an all powerful deity, and the definition of ‘wrath’ is extreme anger. An extremely angry, all powerful deity is intense, and it certainly is intense when it comes to God. But the difference between the definition of wrath and God’s wrath is that God isn’t reacting out of a loss of emotional control. Instead, God has set up laws that guide us fallible humans into a stronger relationship with him. It is seen in the Old Testament that when the Mosaic laws weren’t followed, God would inflict his wrath upon people. At a few times in history, like at the city of Sodom (Genesis 19) or the threat to the city of Nineveh (Jonah), God’s wrath was supernatural and immediate. Paul believes that God’s wrath will once again come at the end of time at the ultimate judgement.

There are arguments made, however, that God’s wrath can be seen in the events that have taken place in history (even modern history), and events that are taking place now; that all the bad things that happen now are a result of God showing us a minuscule portion of his wrath that is to come on the day of judgement.

That’s a pretty sobering thought for almost everyone; the bad things and situations that happen to us on earth as a result of sin are but a blip of the suffering to come. But it also offer us hope that because of the Gospel, we have the opportunity to experience God’s grace and avoid his wrath and have an ever lasting relationship with him!

ASK YOURSELF: What difficulties do you have in your life? What difficulties do your friends and family have in their lives? What are you willing to do to help them see that a relationship with the one, true God will change their lives forever?

Dear God, I pray for the people in the world that are struggling to recognize you as a just God; capable of wrath but also of grace. Bring Christians across their path and open their eyes to see your love for them. Amen.

The Revelation – Romans 1:17

Published on by DaveLeave a comment

Follow this blog for daily bible commentary.

Romans 1:17

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

This verse is a daunting one to study, as it contains a lot of theological concepts that are difficult to summarize in a 300-500 word blog post. As you may have noticed in the time jump between the blog post on v.16 and the blog post here, writing and finishing my exploration of v.17 has taken quite some time.

The ‘righteousness of God’ is spoken of in this verse. This term is found infrequently in the letter to the Romans but, according to Moo (1990) its importance outweighs its frequency, as it is a term that was only written by Paul in this letter. The real difficulty in this verse is interpreting what Paul means when he writes ‘the righteousness of God’. There seems to be many diverse interpretations for what ‘the righteousness of God’ is referring to, and each commentary and literature takes slightly different views on the topic. Once again, I refer to Moo, who concludes that ‘righteousness of God’ refers to the activity of God saving his people.

With this in mind, the verse could be paraphrased:
‘For in the gospel, God’s act of saving his people is revealed-a justification that by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

The quote at the end of the verse is from Habakkuk:

Habakkuk 2:4

“See, the enemy is puffed up;
    his desires are not upright—
    but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness—

To put this verse into context, Habakkuk has been complaining to God about how Israel is going astray, and that the Babylonians are coming and they’re even worse. Habakkuk 2:4 is part of the Lord’s response to the author’s complaint about Babylon, and God is saying that those that are righteous can have faith that God will eventually overcome all the difficulties the righteous person is facing. Paul, however, uses the verse in Romans to say that in order to become righteous, you need to have faith. The connection between the meaning behind the source and the quote is that having faith in God means putting our sole trust in him, not our own abilities.

ASK YOURSELF: Do I have faith that God holds my life in my hands? Is my faith one that would be willing to drop everything I hold dear to follow the will of God?

Dear God, please strengthen my faith. Open my eyes to see that you have been faithful to me in my life. I pray for my family and friends that they will see in my a life that is been lived in faith. Amen.

The Distractions – Romans 8:5

Published on by DaveLeave a comment

Romans 8:5

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

Procrastination and distraction made me take a good dozen hours longer to finish and assignment than what was required. The easy appeal of watching a movie, reading a book, playing a game or anything that required less brain power than researching and writing down words into the report. I’ve seen studies that show genetic influences on the propensity to procrastinate, so I could just blame my ancestors. But whether genetics plays a part or not, I know I am highly prone to distractions.

The reason I haven’t written a blog article in over a month is because of distraction. The reason I haven’t done any solid bible reading or meditating in God’s word it because of distraction. I can assure you that I have been praying; not as regularly and only for my own salvation with just a peppering of prayers for others. Everyday I am aware of my distraction when I dismiss the ‘Bible Study’ reminder in my calendar.

I just wrote and deleted ‘My distraction was a genuine distraction’, but that possibly shows how far I’ve gone from knowing that nothing is a worthy distraction from God. Being in constant contact with God through bible reading, prayer and loving others is not just good to do because God alone is worthy of our time and energy, but it is also good for us. Focusing on God will help us when we are faced with tough decisions; God can bring us everlasting comfort when those tough decision and/or circumstances around us cause us distress.

Romans 8:5 is an oft mentioned verse, probably because it is so readily applicable to our fleshy, human minds. The context is Paul is trying to teach the Jews in Rome that just walking and living according to the old laws isn’t going to be helpful anymore for their salvation; they need to ‘walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit’ (Rom. 8:4). I feel, as a Christian, I often times see salvation as a law, not a personal relationship; ‘I’ve been saved. I’m all good now. I can focus on my worldly things, and I’ll get back to God when it’s convenient to me’. And being saved does mean I’m ‘all good now’. I know I’m saved no matter what I do, but the whole point of being saved is to be in a relationship with God.

ASK YOURSELF: What are your distractions? What’s keeping you from relaxing into the knowledge that you are a child of God? What can you do to your day’s schedule to allow you to have time along in the scripture and in prayer.

Dear God, please give me strength. Give me a soft heart and open eyes to see where my life is pursuing worldly comforts and achievements rather than looking to serve you through loving others. You are a gracious God.