Tag Archives: Teachings of Paul

Spirit of Christmas: Keeping it all year (Pt 2)

Posted on January 22, 2016 by | Comments Off on Spirit of Christmas: Keeping it all year (Pt 2)

Spirit of Christmas

Earlier this month, we shared the most important part of keeping the spirit of Christmas throughout the year – a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way to strengthen the spirit of Christmas within our lives. Jesus must be the foundation upon which everything in our life is built. But this is not where the maintaining of the spirit of Christmas ends, but it is the beginning. The next thing that as Christians, we must do, is to be diligent in seeking Him and His will for each day of our lives. We do this each time we fellowship with the Lord through our personal devotional time. Our personal devotional time is where we spend time reading the Bible, praying to our Lord, and in singing of songs and praises. We cannot completely serve Him or diligently seek after Him if we do not spend this personal time in fellowship with the Lord.

Spirit of Christmas: a time of personal devotion

The apostle Paul understood the importance of seeking the Lord’s will in all that he did and through his writings, urges Christians today the same as he did during his time on Earth. He wrote to the Christians in Ephesus:  I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1-3). Paul is calling for us to walk worthily in our vocation – and as Christians our vocation is what the Lord has called us to do beginning with sharing the gospel with all those we meet. And just as we all try to learn all we can and seek to improve our performance at our jobs, we should seek to learn all we can about the vocation the Lord has called us to serve. Just as we expect our doctors, mechanics, and plumbers to know what we are doing, we should equally strive to know, to master the callings of our faith.

This is exactly the sentiment Paul wrote in a letter to Timothy: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). As I have shared in previous blogs, it wasn’t until 2006 that I came to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior; it was the result of me making studying the Bible intensely and purposefully. I set out to study the Bible just as I was studying the materials for graduate school. As we begin to seek God’s will in our life, as we begin to study the scriptures, and as we begin to accept the Lordship of Jesus in our life, the Holy Spirit will begin to teach us and to mold us into what we need to be.

Spirit of Christmas: bearing fruit for Jesus

As we seek after the Lord and truly begin to commune with Him on a more personal level each day, we will begin to see the Holy Spirit work in our lives. We will become more familiar with the things of the Lord and we will be able to understand the spiritual need of others, just as others have prayed for ours. The Lord finds our spiritual growth pleasing as our lives begin to reflect the love of Christ and become more fruitful. Jesus even told us that He wants our faith in Him to bear fruit; that the fruit we produce will be meaningful and lasting. Jesus taught this very thing to those around Him that day as He said: Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you (John 15:15-16).

Again, Paul reaffirms the teachings of Christ, urging those early Christians in Colossus: For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 0 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:9-10). Not only are we to seek out what the Lord would have us do, to do it to the best of our abilities, but we are to pray, according to Paul’s example here, that others may also be “filled with knowledge” – or to be taught and led by the Holy Spirit. It is through our daily fellowship with the Lord where we truly are taught by the Holy Spirit and where we will begin to bear fruit for our Lord and Savior.

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Having compassion that makes a difference

Posted on December 28, 2015 by | Comments Off on Having compassion that makes a difference

bible1Having compassion is an important part of our daily walk with Jesus. All it takes is a look around our society to notice the lack of genuine compassion. But what is compassion? How can we be a compassionate people when we do not even know the real meaning of the word? Compassion, according to the Miriam Webster’s Dictionary is a  sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it. In the book of Jude, the Holy Spirit led the author to write, And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh (Jude 22-23). There is nothing more compassionate within the Christian faith than sharing the gospel of Jesus with those who are lost.

Having compassion without notice of men

True biblical compassion is not driven by a wish to be recognized or rewarded by others. Even in Jesus’ day there were those who were willing to show great compassion on others as long as they believed someone would notice their efforts. Jesus spoke openly to his disciples and all who were around listening:  Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward (Matthew 6:1-2). Just what is the reward of those whose compassion is solely driven by their love of the Lord? Jesus taught on this very topic and used this example: Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just (Luke 14:12-14).

What Jesus is teaching here is that our compassion should not be limited to those who could do something for us in return. This is not true compassion as in the biblical sense. Jesus tells us to focus our compassion on those who don’t have the ability to do anything for us. Jesus tells us that our rewards will not come now, but will happen when we arrive in Heaven. If our having compassion was driven by our love for Jesus and for our fellow-man as a creation of God, then our reward will be reflective of the pureness of our hearts: For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works (Matthew 16:27) and I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings (Jeremiah 17:10). No matter what we may say to others what our motivation for demonstrating compassion may be, the Lord knows the real intent of our efforts.

Having compassion that will be acceptable to the Lord

Modern society has a dangerous, unhealthy, and unbiblical understanding of what compassion is. Biblical compassion is simply not writing a check and sending money to whatever charity is being promoted at the time. Television and the Internet are full of promotions by various stars and other famous people asking for financial contributions ranging from animal care to orphaned children in faraway lands. While it is noble to want to help, the scriptures are very clear where the demonstration of our having compassion must start: But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel (1 Timothy 5:8) and As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10). Additionally, if we include the order specified for the sharing and spreading of the gospel, Jesus told the crowd of believers: And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:7-8).

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Night is approaching; Christ’s light shines brighter

Posted on December 21, 2015 by | Comments Off on Night is approaching; Christ’s light shines brighter

Night is approachingNight is approaching but many Christians remain confused about what the night actually is. Some will try to equate darkness and night with the trials, tribulations, and temptations we endure as Christians. While it can certainly be said that these are real spiritual storms, in no means are they the same as when Jesus told the disciples, I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work (John 9:4). Later, He would expand on this earlier teaching and as recorded in scripture, Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them (John 12:35-36).

A storm may bring darkened skies but storms never last

Night is approaching but it is important to understand it is not the same as a spiritual storm. Spiritual storms are nothing more than a crisis of our faith where we are faced with a temptation, a trial, or maybe even the Lord’s chastisement. I think of the verse in Genesis where God, after delivering Noah and his family through a mighty storm, made this promise: And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud (Genesis 9:14). God had made a few promises to Noah that included the storm would pass, He would be there to help them through, and when it was over, He would be there at the end of the flood to welcome them with the promise of the rainbow. As Christians, we are given the same offer when the storms of life come. He offers to see us through the storm, He offers to be there with us in the midst of the storm, and He promises that we have a home in Heaven with Him when our life’s journey is done. Storms always end and the results are we can be closer to the Lord, our faith can be strengthened, and we can rejoice knowing He has given us the victory!

Night is approaching: Encroaching spiritual wickedness

The apostle Paul understood the approaching darkness and wickedness even during his lifetime as he warned the early Christians in Ephesus: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12). The phrase, rulers of darkness, really stands out and defines exactly what the darkness is. Within the Old Testament, there are several verses that explain what the darkness is: A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness (Job 10:22), Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it (Job 3:4), He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail (1 Samuel 2:9), and They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course (Psalms 82:5). 

Even Jesus spoke of the darkness: When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness (Luke 22:53). Within the gospel of John, the first paragraph explains the reason that Jesus came to dwell among men. The fifth verse is still applicable today:  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not (John 1:5). John, as led by the Holy Spirit, would later write, This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). The darkness is not the storms we know as trials, temptations, and other testings of our faith, but of the world lost in its sins and rejection of God. It was the wickedness of mankind that gave room to Satan which influenced the religious leaders of the day to desire to put Jesus to death. It was the darkness of the times and the wickedness in high places that led to the beheading of John the Baptist. The darkness and wickedness continued after the death of Jesus to assure the apostles died remarkably horrible deaths in trying to extinguish the presence of Jesus from the memory of man.  Where a storm is there to increase our faith; darkness creeps in to extinguish all influence of the Lord.

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