Throughout the world, and even within the church, we can find a wide variety of beliefs about the Lord. To avoid confusion and deception, we need to recognize that His Word is without error and that it reveals the truth we need to understand about our amazing triune God.
The inerrancy of the Bible. Unless a person has a firm belief in this doctrine, all of his or her ideas about the Lord will be subjective. Scripture is God’s thoughts written without error by men who were governed by the Holy Spirit. Fulfilled prophecy is proof that this book is never wrong (Isa. 48:3).
An accurate understanding of God. The Lord is one divine being expressed in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are equal in every way, but their jobs differ. Think of the Father as the initiator, the Son as the implementer, and the Spirit as the energizer. All three were involved in creation as well as the plan of salvation.
The Son, who existed in eternity past, came to earth by being born of a virgin. He is the God-man, having added humanity to His deity. He lived a perfect life, died a sacrificial death for our sins, rose bodily from the grave, and ascended to the Father in heaven.
The Holy Spirit is our power source. He indwells every believer in Christ, transforming character, revealing truth, and enabling obedience to God.
Our Creator wants us to know Him. Isn’t that amazing? He invites us to enjoy an intimate relationship with Him. Every day we have the privilege of opening His Word and speaking with our loving God. He’s waiting for you . . .
What would it take for you to consider yourself rich? Would it require a healthy bank account? A fancy new car in the garage? The freedom to go online, click a few buttons, and have anything you want delivered right to your door?
You may not be so bold as to answer yes to the above questions, but does your life reflect this kind of attitude? Sadly, many believers are completely overtaken by the world’s standard of riches and define wealth by how much they possess.
This happens whether one is wealthy or not. For the well-off, the temptation is to see money as the defining characteristic of their lives; for the poor, money becomes the be-all-end-all goal of comfort and satisfaction. You see, greed is no respecter of persons. It attacks rich and poor alike.
What many believers fail to realize is that in Jesus Christ we are all rich. Sure, you may have a mortgage or rent due each month, a car payment, and credit card bills; however, if you have placed your faith in Jesus, you can boldly acknowledge that almighty God has already poured His richest blessings upon you. Hallelujah!
Ephesians 1:3 says that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Did you notice the tense of the verb there? The past tense—“has blessed”—is used, meaning it’s already happened. And He does not give just a little bit here and there; rather, He lavishly pours out His blessings on us.
Look beyond your finances today, and prayerfully list all of the blessings in your life. Tomorrow, we will take a closer look at some of God’s choicest gifts.
One of the earliest truths a child learns in Sunday school is that God is good. The simplicity of these three words masks the depth of such a remarkable attribute of the Lord. He is absolutely perfect and holy, which means that He alone is the standard of all righteousness. And since the expression of the Father’s goodness is revealed in His actions, all that He does is just and right, because He cannot violate His own nature.
Also, God does not change. Therefore, it is His character, not our behavior, that determines how He deals with us. This means He is good to us even when we are living in rebellion. As a loving heavenly Father, He responds to our disobedience with discipline, which is designed to restore the broken relationship rather than crush the wayward child.
The Lord’s goodness is expressed in a multitude of ways. He is our Creator, and we are His people. Every breath we breathe is given to us by God. As our loving Shepherd, He watches over us and provides for all our needs. But the greatest expression of divine goodness is the cross of Jesus Christ. What humanly appeared to be the ultimate in cruelty and unfairness was the only way to rescue mankind and prevent eternal separation from the Lord.
Believing in God’s goodness is one of the pillars of our faith. This truth fills us with joy in happy times and grounds us with confidence during periods that feel hard, unfair, or painful. When we don’t understand what the Lord is doing, we can trust His heart and know that He cares for us.
At times people are bound by guilt long after the feeling should have been resolved. For some, this is appropriate because they refuse to give up the sin that brought it on. Others suffer the weight of false guilt because they harbor shame that doesn’t belong to them. Whatever the root cause of your self-condemnation, the battle plan remains the same.
Victory over guilt begins with understanding that the Savior took our shame to the cross and paid our penalty. Without Jesus, this would have been impossible because there is no way that we could pay for our own sin. But we do need to honestly identify the source of our guilt and confess before God. That means we agree with His perspective on what we’ve done—in other words, we admit when we are wrong. Repentance goes a step further: We turn away from wrong and choose to do right.
Confronting guilt in this way replaces our burden of shame with peace and joy, which are far lighter and more freeing. And an amazing side effect is that we have wisdom to share. Openness about our past mistakes, consequences, guilt, burdens, and forgiveness can reveal the Lord to those in our sphere of influence. Through our witness, God may reach others who need their chains of guilt broken.
The battle to overcome guilt is one that should not be delayed. The feeling won’t just go away. Whether your condemnation is true or false, it needs to be dealt with quickly. Stop running, and face the source of your guilt. It’s time to end your captivity and start walking in the joy of God’s blessing.
The gospel’s effectiveness is greatly hindered by Christians who act differently at church than they do elsewhere. The way we live for God should permeate all areas of life. The workplace is no exception.
Our behavior reflects our faith. So if we claim to be Christians, then our coworkers will equate our attitudes and actions with Jesus. Do those around you at the office see a positive reflection of God in your work ethic?
Let’s look at a scriptural model for the believer to follow. For one thing, as we read in today’s passage, we should view ourselves as servants and be willing to put the needs of others before our own. Next, our true boss is Christ; therefore, we work diligently and with integrity, knowing that our reward is from Him (Col. 3:23). Then, since all authority on earth is God-given (Rom. 13:1), we should obey our superiors gladly—unless, of course, our human bosses tell us to do something that goes against Scripture. And finally, all those we work with and for have worth from the Creator, so we should treat them with respect (1 John 4:7-8).
Think about the Golden Rule—Do unto others as you’d have others do unto you—and how it applies here. Putting it a different way, imagine yourself as the boss and ask, How would I like my employees to work, whether I was watching or not?
We are to work as though God is our boss. That means doing tasks with joy, a servant attitude, respect for others, diligence, and obedience. Imagine what the workplace could be if all believers approached their jobs this way.
