1st Thessalonians 4:7

"For God hath not called us unto uncleaness,
but unto holiness."

Well, as you probably guessed, I am reading through 1st Thessalonians. Last week's devotional and this weeks comes from it. It is quite an amazing epistle. Paul for the most part was encouraging believers at Thessalonica. Paul was real good at that. This verse jumped out at me and I chewed on it for a week. What does it mean to be called unto holiness? Well, the answer is in the text. The word used for uncleaness in the Greek is akatharsia. It can mean physical or morally unclean. In the text it's obvious that it defers to the later. The word for holiness is hagiasmos. It means purity or sanctification. The corresponding verb is hagiazo, to set apart. So the comparison is made here of being morally unclean or being purified. In the old testament to be unclean was to be excluded from normal activities or everyday life until the proper motions were made to be deemed ceremonially clean. The old testament law had provision for things like touching dead animals, leprosy, etc. There were sacrifices that needed to be made to remedy the situation. These were part of the old testament law from God. Now without going off into a whole other area let's get back on point. For us, what does it mean to be unclean? Well, for starters read Galatians 5:19-5:21 it's a list of the works of the flesh. When we are ruled by our flesh, we are working the works of uncleaness. When contrasted to the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, we can see what God is really trying to produce in our lives. God wants holiness because He knows the end product of it. I mean really. Before I was a Christian, I lived for me, I ruled my life, that was my focus. After I gave my life over to Him, the process of changing that to an others centered attitude began. I have news for you to, it's still going on! I have days where things go well and I walk after Him. Other days, I can't believe that so much of my old nature could remain. It will go on forever. The thing I try to remember daily is that I have been called, and set apart from the world. Just like anyone else who gives their life to Jesus Christ. My desire is for holiness. My heart wants to please God. Unfortunately I get in the way at times. That's where grace comes in. God and His abundant grace. I love the fact that when God looks at me, He See's the imputed righteousness of Christ draped over this body of sin and corruption. Covering me and making me clean. Without it, I, you, would be doomed. As a Christian, we are called to a higher standard of living. Not one on a pedestal looking down on others, but one that has outstretched hands pulling people up to Christ. To live. I mean to really live and enjoy life. Letting go of the junk that crowds and consumes us daily, and seeking Him. As always, I pray that you would take inventory this week and ask God to do an evaluation of how your living. Not to condemn you, but to set you free to follow Him more closely. Be blessed.

Bob.

1st Thessalonians 5:17

"Pray without ceasing."

Man if there has been an overwhelming tone in my life, time and time again, it has been pray. So many times I have asked the Lord for direction and the answer I get is pray. As you may have already guessed, I don't. Let me clarify. It's not that I don't pray, it's that I don't keep it consistent. I think that I probably speak for a majority of Christians out there when I say that. Am I proud of it? No way. To my shame I admit it. That's the topic of this weeks devotional. Paul in writing to the Thessalonians, is closing his first letter with some great to do's for the Christian. This one being the most important. What exactly does this mean though? Do I pray from the moment I get up to the moment I sleep? Of course not, that would be impossible. What it means is to not stop asking. The word for Prayer used here in the Greek is proseuchomai. It is a verb. It is used when praying to God or in worship or supplication. We can pray for thing and the like, but this one is directly to God for Him. Also ceasing meaning, not to stop. Here's the example. I have used it before but it works well and illustrates the point nicely I believe. If your on a football team, and you have games to play, you need a game plan. The coach has the game plan, and tells his players what he wants to do to win. The players execute it to the best of their ability and hopefully win. Well, let me ask you this. How far would the team get without consulting the coach routinely? Right. Not very far. This is what it means to pray without ceasing. God is our coach, and He has the ultimate game plan that is proven and always wins. If we are coming to Him regularly, we know the game plan and we can move forward towards the victory. Obviously, there are things to pray about as well that need constant prayer, and we should pray for those as well without ceasing. This though, is really to meet with God and be still so we can hear His voice instead of ours always. Prayer doesn't work, I've tried it you might say. Well, I've got news for ya. God's time table is way different than ours and we need to pray until an answer arrives. It may be yes, it may be no, it may be wait like my pastor says. Either way, until that happens we keep seeking Him. Make no mistake, it is hard to get a routine going. There is always something else to do and always will be. You know what I have found though? It never ends!!!! Plus it would be easier to handle if I had the Lord's instructions first. Also, the bible speaks about prayer in James 5:16 the last half of the verse says this. " The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, availeth much." Guys, I know we have all heard this a million times and maybe for some of us, this is the first time. But with all that is going on in the world now, and we see the day drawing near. How can we not be doing this? The darker it gets, the harder it will be to do this. Start now so we can be ahead of the curve. Be blessed this week. Spend time with your loving Father. He is so waiting to spend it with you.


Bob.

2nd Corinthians 6:14

" Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:
for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion hath light with darkness?"

Well this was last weeks verse but to much was going on and now it is this weeks. Paul here is speaking to the church at Corinth about relationships with unbelievers. The term for yoked used here in the Greek is, heterozugeo. It means to bear a different yoke. It is used when speaking in agriculture terms and trying to put two different animals together in a yoke. It just doesn't work. Try putting a donkey and an ox together and see how far you get. That's the implication here. In relationships whether it be marriage, business, friendships, etc. They will only go so far and never reach the potential that it would if both parties involved were believers. Now that may sound harsh but it really is for our protection. Paul asks to rhetorical questions here right after. One being the example of a righteous and unrighteous man. The other being light with darkness. I will use the light with darkness example because it is simpler and easier to understand. Light and dark. Polar opposites. There is an amazing principle here that maybe you don't normally think about too much. When there is light, darkness can't be seen and is not around. When it's dark, even the faintest of lights can be seen. That's the key. The light will always be seen no matter how dark it gets. Strike a match in a completely dark room. Illumination. What Paul is doing is trying to get people to realize that, when you are a believer with the spirit of God living in you, the dark things of this world should not have place in your life. It just can't be. Wait a minute Bob, are you saying we should shut off all communication and dealings with the world here? No. What I am saying is, if there is more dark then light in your life, maybe you need to take inventory. God knows what's best for us and He put these things in the word for our protection like I said earlier. We may not like hearing them at times, but that doesn't mean they are not true. Trust me, we all have areas that need attention. Seeing that we naturally gravitate towards the darkness due to the sin nature, this is the best advice we can receive. Have a great weekend and think about these things. Ask God to show you areas that need improvement or complete renovations. Be blessed.


Bob.

Ephesians 4:15

" But speaking the truth in love, may grow
up into him in all things, which is the head
even Christ."

It's a few days before Easter and I think this is appropriate. Man this is really what it is all about. Speaking the truth in love. How many times have we seen or have we ourselves, spoke with a motive other than love? More times than I can shake a stick at. How many times have we seen the fringe groups of so called Christians, with signs declaring your gonna bun if you don't turn? All to often. A lot of the times Christians even get involved in a discussion and speak without careful consideration of what they are saying! I have done that a few times too many. The two things to consider are these. First: Speaking the truth. Does what we are saying line up with the bible? Does scripture back it up? Is it sound doctrine? If it doesn't, then we are in a precarious position with God. Revelation 22:18-19 says in a nutshell, if you add or take away from this book, speaking of the prophecy contained in Revelation, you will have the plagues mentioned in the book and your name taken out of the book of life! Pretty serious stuff. Also for pastors who teach false doctrine, Jeremiah 23:1 " Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord." How are sheep scattered and destroyed? By preaching any other message than the salvation through Jesus Christ. Of course there are other points that are important too, but that is the main one. The truth. John 14:6 " Jesus saith unto him, I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." The truth is Jesus Christ. No more, no less. Consideration number two: In love. When we witness or share with someone, is it to win an argument or to get our point across? Or is it so that we can look intelligent and smart? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:1 " Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I have become as a sounding brass or clanging cymbal." The kind of love described in that great chapter on love, is the love that Christ has for us. The word in the Greek is agape. It means unconditional love. It means that when we move to speak, there is no selfish motivation involved. We speak to glorify the name of Christ. We are removed from the picture and people are to see Christ in us and working through us. I have heard a few pastors teach about plugging our name into chapter 13 of 1st Corinthians every time the word love appears and honestly see how far we get. I'm still working on that and probably will be for the rest of my life. As will the rest of us. I don't have all the answers and don't claim to. I don't always speak in love. My desire though is that I would. I hope that is yours as well. Have a great Resurrection day and take the time to evaluate, do we speak the truth in love? Jesus said in John's gospel 13:35 " By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." Be blessed.

Bob