How valuable is the Bible to you?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Psalm 19:7

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Speaking about the Bible, a saint once said, “I have no greater pleasure than to be in a nook with the Book.” Do you have that mindset?

The Bible is the book that the martyrs held onto as the flames crept closer and closer. It’s the book the saints put their head upon as they went from this world into the next. It’s the book for which John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and William Tyndale gave their life’s work—and in some cases, their lives—getting it into a language people could read. It’s the book that gives bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, life to the wayfarer, strength to the weak, and a weapon to the warrior. It is the living, breathing, dynamic Word of God.  

God’s book rejoices the heart. It is completely trustworthy. There are over 6,000 promises in the Bible, and not one has ever been broken.

ACTION POINT:

What would happen in the life of the church—and your life—if you spent as many minutes in your Bible as in the newspaper? The television? Your cell phone?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Five Digital Dangers

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13:14)

Christians do not just coast through life like jellyfish floating in the current of contemporary culture. We live by the power of the Spirit and find our course by the word of God. We swim. Like dolphins, not jellyfish. Part of that course setting and power is expressed in thoughtful engagement with the digital realities of our day. Dangers included. Here are five.

1) The hook of constant curiosity

Digital devices offer a never-ending possibility for discovery. Even the basic operating systems can consume hours of curious punching and experimenting. Then there are the endless apps consuming weeks of your time as they lure you into their intricacies.

All this is very deceptive, giving the illusion of power and effectiveness, but leaving you with a feeling of emptiness and nervousness at the end of the day.

Resolution: I will strictly limit my experimental time on the device and devote myself more to truth than to technique.

2) The empty world of virtual (un)reality

How sad to see brilliant, creative people pouring hours and days of their lives into creating cities and armies and adventures that have no connection with reality. We have one life to live. All our powers are given to us by the real God for the real world leading to a real heaven and real hell.

Resolution: I will spend my constructive, creative energy not in the unreality of “virtual reality” but in the reality of the real world.

3) “Personal” relations with a machine

Like no other invention, a computer comes closest to being like a person. You can play games with it. It will talk to you. It will always be there for you. The great danger here is that we really become comfortable with this manageable electronic “person,” and gradually drift away from the unpredictable, frustrating, sometimes painful dealings with real human persons.

Resolution: I will not replace the risk of personal relationships with impersonal electronic safety.

4) The risk of tryst

“Tryst \’trist\ noun: An agreement (as between lovers) to meet.” Sexual affairs begin in private time together, extended conversation, and the sharing of soul, which can now be done in absolute seclusion through digital devices. You can think that “it’s just nothing” — until she (or he) shows up in town.

Resolution: I will not cultivate a one-on-one relationship with a person of the opposite sex other than my spouse. If I am single, I will not cultivate such a relationship with another person’s spouse.

5) Porn

More insidious that X-rated videos, we can now not only watch but join the perversity in the privacy of our own den. Interactive porn will allow you to “do it” or make them “do it” virtually.

I have never seen it. Nor do I ever intend to. It kills the spirit. It drives God away. It depersonalizes women. It quenches prayer. It blanks out the Bible. It cheapens the soul. It destroys spiritual power. It defiles everything.

Resolution: I will never open any app or website for sexual stimulation, nor purchase or download anything pornographic.

John Piper 

How to stop feeling lonely

BIBLE MEDITATION:

O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in Thee. Psalm 25:20

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

You may be saved and yet feel incredibly lonely today. Here’s a practical pointer for overcoming your loneliness: Quit dwelling on it. Instead of dwelling on it—which would be the easy thing to do—reach out. Reach out to someone who’s lonely. You don’t have to look far to find them.

    Any nursing home, assisted-living, or retirement center would welcome your visit with open arms.

    A hospital with a neo-natal unit that allows volunteers would welcome you to come and rock some of these little ones when no one else can.

    Does your church have a food pantry? Does your city have a rescue mission?

It doesn’t even have to be that. On your street, in your neighborhood, are there elderly people living alone? How about a young person who needs a friend? What about in your Sunday School or Bible Fellowship class? 

Luke 6:38 promises that when we give, it shall be given to us, and you’ll find out how true that is. There is a locked-in likeness to what we give. It is the law of the harvest. If you want friendship, you must show yourself friendly (see Proverbs 18:24). If you want to feel useful, be available for use.

ACTION POINT:

Why not keep a stack of cards and a pen handy to write a little note of encouragement to a shut-in? Get a prayer list and intercede for others. Travel around the world by means of prayer. Jack Hyles, a great preacher, said, “There is no life so empty as a self-centered life, and there is no life so centered as a self-emptied life.” As you pour out yourself to others, the Holy Spirit will continually pour Himself into you.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

The Freest Love

Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.” (Deuteronomy 10:14–15)

God’s electing love — the love by which he chooses a people for himself — is absolutely free. It is the gracious overflow of his boundless happiness guided by his infinite wisdom.

Deuteronomy 10:14–15 describes the delight God had in choosing Israel from all the peoples of the earth. Notice two things.

First, notice the contrast between verses 14 and 15. Why does Moses describe the election of Israel against the backdrop of God’s ownership of the whole universe? Why does he say in verse 14, “To God belongs everything in heaven and on earth” and then say in verse 15, “Yet he chose you for his people”?

The reason seems to be to get rid of any notion that God was somehow boxed in to choose this people — that there were some limits to his choosing and he was somehow forced to choose them. The point is to explode the pagan idea that a god may have the right and authority to have his own people but no more.

The truth is that Yahweh is the only true God. He owns everything in the universe and has the right and authority to take any people he wants for his own special possession.

Thus the unspeakably wonderful truth for Israel is that he chose them. He did not have to. He had rights and privileges to choose absolutely any people on the face of the earth for his redeeming purposes. Or all of them. Or none of them.

Therefore, when he calls himself “their God” he does not mean that he is on a par with the gods of Egypt or the gods of Canaan. He owns those gods and their peoples. If it had pleased him, he could have chosen a totally different people to accomplish his purposes.

The point of putting verses 14 and 15 together in this way is to stress the freedom and the universal rights and authority of God.

The second thing to notice (in verse 15) is the way God exercises his sovereign freedom to “set his heart in love on your fathers.” “He delighted in your fathers to love them.” He freely chose to take pleasure in loving the fathers.

God’s love for the fathers of Israel was free and merciful and wasn’t constrained by anything that the fathers were in their Jewishness or in their virtue.

This is a lesson for us. For us who are believers in Christ, God has chosen us just as freely. Not because of anything in us, but because God simply delighted to do it.

John Piper 

Are you ready for a “Mission Impossible”?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Luke 10:19

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Have you ever thought about the Great Commission, when Jesus commanded His disciples to “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel” as being a “mission impossible”?  But it isn’t, because of what comes with the mission.

You see, Jesus said that all power, authority, and dominion is given unto Him in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18-20). Dominion was first given to man, but man gave it over to the devil in the Garden of Eden. Jesus received it back from the Father and gave that authority to each of us. He has given that commission and transferred that power to us as His ambassadors.

Does Jesus have authority over the devil? Yes. Then so do you. Does Jesus have the victory? Yes. Then you have the victory. Is Jesus Christ enthroned? (See Ephesians 1:20) Yes. Then you are enthroned. “We are seated with Him in heavenly places” (Ephesians 2:6). The victory is yours through Jesus Christ.

ACTION POINT:

How can you go through your day today, confident as an ambassador with a commission from your King, that He will give you the victory?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

What Is Meekness?

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5)

Meekness begins when we put our trust in God. Then, because we trust him, we commit our way to him. We roll onto him our anxieties, our frustrations, our plans, our relationships, our jobs, our health.

And then we wait patiently for the Lord. We trust his timing and his power and his grace to work things out in the best way for his glory and for our good.

The result of trusting God, and the rolling of our anxieties onto God, and waiting patiently for him is that we don’t give way to quick and fretful anger. But instead, we give place to wrath and hand our cause over to God and let him vindicate us if he chooses.

And then, as James says, in this quiet confidence we are slow to speak and quick to listen (James 1:19). We become reasonable and open to correction (James 3:17). James calls this “the meekness of wisdom” (James 3:13).

Meekness loves to learn. And it counts the corrective blows of a friend as precious (Proverbs 27:6). And when it must say a critical word to a person caught in sin or error, it speaks from the deep conviction of its own fallibility and its own susceptibility to sin and its utter dependence on the grace of God (Galatians 6:1).

The quietness and openness and vulnerability of meekness is very beautiful and very painful. It goes against all that we are by our sinful nature. It requires supernatural help.

If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ — if you trust him and commit your way to him and wait patiently for him — God has already begun to help you and will help you even more.

And the primary way that he will help you is to assure your heart that you are a fellow heir of Jesus Christ and that the world and everything in it is yours (1 Corinthians 3:21–23). The meek inherit the earth.

John Piper 

How far are you willing to go?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 2:3

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Many of us talk a good religion. We’re like the young man who called his girlfriend and said, “Sweetheart, you are so precious to me. I love you so much—I’d fight wild beasts to be by your side. I’d tread on broken glass to hold your hand….And if it doesn’t rain, I’ll come see you tomorrow night.”

Many believers are high on sentiment and low on sacrifice. We don’t know what it is to fight the good fight for the Lord Jesus Christ, to endure ridicule, hardness—even persecution. If you’re looking for an easy way to serve the Lord, you can forget it.

ACTION POINT:

We’re called upon to endure hardness as a good soldier of the cross. How much hardness would you endure?

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers