Seeking

The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.” Or again in 1 Corinthians 11:28, “Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.” In both cases, Paul is making the case that we ought to be able to know for ourselves our standing with our God. We are encouraged to look critically at the life we live and choices we make to see if that aligns with the teachings of the New Testament. He tells us to compare our lives to the life of Christ to know if we are living by faith or living in sin.

But, this is not the only way we examined. Yes, how we live and what we do is very important. But, that life and those choices should be the result of a changed heart. According to 2 Corinthians 5:17 ("Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"), this transformed life should be the result of a resurrected inner self.

When we think about our spiritual health, it might be easy to focus on what we do: I pray throughout the day, multiple times even. I read the scriptures and study them diligently. I attend the worship services whenever they are available. I give honor to mother and father. I uphold the commandments.

Or maybe it’s what we don’t do: I don’t speed. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I don’t gamble. I don’t use bad words. I don’t _______.

However, our examination cannot begin and end with our behavior. We must get to the “why” of who we are. We must look at why we have become who we have become. We must think carefully and thoroughly about our motivations because, to use a modern turn of phrase: “it’s the thought that counts.”

Throughout the New Testament we see that many people wanted to work their way into salvation. They believed they could earn it by themselves rather than accepting the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Paul works to correct this way of thinking in Romans 3:20 when he says “By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight...” or again Galatians 2:16 when he says, “...a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ...”.

The churches in Galatia in particular struggled with this issue. To some, it became another Gospel. That is, it became another means of salvation. This other Gospel was one that said you were not saved by Jesus, but saved by the works you did. Some Christians even believed in this lie.

So Paul warned them and called them back to the truth that salvation only comes by the grace found in Christ Jesus when he says, “You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” (Gal. 5:4).

Notice this key phrase, “trying to be justified” – it wasn’t that they wanted to be justified, but it was the means by which they thought they would be justified.

When we are trying to save ourselves of ourselves by ourselves we find ourselves lost.

But, when we find Jesus and we know Him and we seek Him and we have a love for Him that changes us from the inside out, our lives will look like His and His blood will cleanse us from all our sin. (Acts 22:16).

Looking Ahead

“Lord willin’”! Maybe this is a phrase you’ve heard. Maybe it’s one you’ve used. Whatever the case, there’s a good thought behind it and it’s not something we should take lightly.

The phrase comes from James 4:13-15 where James tells the church the following: “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

James gives us a caution not only against how we speak, but the meaning and thoughts behind the words we use.

Firstly, we do need to be cautious when speaking of or for the Lord. The name of God is not a word to give emphasis, to stress a point, or to express excitement, frustration, or confusion. Yet so many today use the name of Jesus in a way that is profane. The name of Jesus, the name of God, and the Holy Spirit should be held in honor and treated with respect. Exodus 20:7 tells us in the 10 Commandments, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”

But James is not talking about those to use the name of God improperly. He’s talking about people that should be including God and they aren’t. So we don’t take the phrase lightly for two reasons. One, it has the name of God. But two, for the reason James provides: “you do not know what tomorrow will bring”.

Some people might take this to such an extreme to mean that the Bible teaches we can’t look ahead, think about next week or next year but that isn’t the point James is making. The point of this passage is that God needs to be a part of our plans. We do need to be diligent, and faithful, and good stewards, and deal responsibly, and focus on the mission, and do the will of God wherever He leads us. We don’t need to think that we’re the ones in charge, that we make the calls, that we’re in total control.

So then how do we plan ahead? How do we think about the future? How do we consider what God could have for us next? We have to pray. We have to look to God. We have to allow God to lead us. We have to look at our plans and ask ourselves if this will help in the mission to bring Jesus to the lost and the lost to Jesus.

James says it a few verses prior: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”

So then, as we look ahead for what’s next, let us pray. Let us get into the text. Let us find ways that God is giving us opportunities and resources to help overcome whatever it is that stands in the way of getting the message out of the book and into the hearts and minds of the people around us.

We don’t know what tomorrow holds. But we know what’s been asked of us today, and today we can obey.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving should be more than just a time of year, it should be a lifestyle. For many of the faithful people we read about in the Bible, that’s exactly what it was. We have pages filled with praises for God and His wonders. We have verse after verse that remind us of the great things He has done in the great “story” of salvation. The mere but amazing fact that we are here at all is something to be indescribably grateful for. God is praised for His creation, His works, His wonders, His glories, and the revelation of His word and His will in the Bible itself as well as the Word became flesh, the man Jesus Christ.

Praise should never be on the backburner, but life is not so simple. These very same people that praised God in all these good times are also the ones that Praised God when things got tough. These are the people that praised God in the exile after being removed from the Promised Land. These are the people that praised God despite experiencing losses like David did. These are people that praised God like Peter and Paul did from their prison cells after being beaten and ridiculed.

It is often hard to praise, but it’s important.

Praising God in worship helps us in many ways. In so many ways, the world is working against us. Let us never try to fight these battles alone, or at all. Deuteronomy 31:8 tells us that it’s not our place to do the fighting or our place to do the winning. Instead, we are encouraged to surrender – not to the enemy, but to the Lord. “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Therefore when we struggle to praise, the best thing we can do is pray.

The challenge with this approach is that we might have the wrong idea of prayer. If I could only think of the right words to say. If I could develop a really good argument. If I could make my case, make some valid points then I know my prayer would be answered the way I want it to be. This approach to prayer brings stress upon stress when we know we ought to pray but we don’t know what to say. But that’s exactly what’s wrong with this approach. We need to bring out broken hearts to God, not our fancy words and long-winded, empty prayers.

Therefore when we struggle to praise, the best thing we can do is pray anyway.

Paul has been through a lot. He gave up a lot. He changed his whole life because of Jesus and because of that his whole life was forever changed. Better still, his life was eternally changed. Paul had the faith and humility to praise God even when it was hard or he didn’t know what to say. Now that’s hard to believe! The person who God used through the Holy Spirit to write so many of the books of the New Testament might not know what to say? Well, Paul gives us this wisdom in the book of Romans and he may even be writing from experience:

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27).

Did you see that? When we do not know what we ought to pray for the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. So when you think you don't know what to say, pray anyway.

The best thing we can do, wherever we are in life, whatever is going on, is pray.