When it comes to stocks and bonds, the market continually makes the trader/investor an offer.
If you say no, it just comes right back with another offer.
If you say no again, it just comes right back with yet another one, and so on, and so on, ad infinitum.
And that’s EXACTLY how it is with temptation/trials for a Christian.
Our flesh (James 1:14) “offers” us a temptation, an opportunity to sin (i.e., to choose SIN and the Devil OVER Christ and the cross in that moment).
If we say no, it just comes back with another offer.
If we say no again, it just comes back with yet another one, and so on, and so on, ad infinitum – UNTIL we leave this world and are in heaven with Christ, “where neither moth nor rust destroys” (Matthew 6:19-20).
The key is to KEEP RESISTING (1 Peter 5:9), knowing – and being motivated by the fact – that “the one who ENDURES TO THE END, he shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)
To end where we began with an analogy to the stock market… that’s why an overall “chart” of DECREASING sin, INCREASING righteousness is indeed one of the biblical PROOFS of genuine salvation, that someone is truly saved and not only “knows” the Lord but (infinitely more importantly) IS KNOWN BY the Lord.
- “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to BE KNOWN BY God…” (Galatians 4:9)
- “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice [the key word here; note that He DOESN’T use the word “commit”] lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:22-23)
- “And by THIS we KNOW that we have come to know Him [i.e., be known by Him], if we KEEP [i.e., practice!] HIS COMMANDMENTS. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does NOT keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is NOT in him; BUT WHOEVER keeps [i.e., practices!] His word, in him the love of God has TRULY been perfected. By this we KNOW that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him out himself to walk [practice!] in the same manner as He walked.” (1 John 2:3-6)
- “EVERYONE who PRACTICES [there’s that word/concept again!] sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins [i.e., PRACTICES sin]; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices [there’s that word yet again!] righteousness IS righteous, JUST AS He is righteous [more on this in a minute]; the one who practices [there’s that word yet again!] sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God [i.e., Jesus] appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. NO ONE who is born of God PRACTICES sin [there’s that word yet again! He couldn’t have been and the Bible couldn’t be ANY CLEARER in the matter!], BECAUSE His seed abides in him; and he CANNOT [practice] sin, BECAUSE he is born of God. By this the children of God [i.e., saved] and the children of the devil [i.e., unsaved] are OBVIOUS: anyone who does not practice [told ya that’s the key word =] righteousness is not of God…” (1 John 3:4-10)
Yes, the KEY word is “practice”, but in “second place” would be “because” and praise the Lord He included that word, too. You see, it totally takes away any “pressure” to perform in the Christian life because THAT is and can ONLY be accomplished BY CHRIST, as clearly explained in one of my “life verse” couplets which I’ll leave you with for now: “Therefore, if ANY man [i.e., person] IS in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things [i.e., practices, habits, affections, perspectives] have come. He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, THAT we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:17,21) And THAT, my friends, perfectly explains 1 John 3:5-10.
What a blessing and help and comfort and confidence that God graciously gave us in the Bible, which serves as a MIRROR for us to look into and see our TRUE spiritual state (James 1:22-27) so that we needn’t go through life with ANY DOUBT about whether or not we are truly saved. We DON’T have to wait until the next life (eternity) to find out (good thing, because then it’s TOO LATE) – no, we can KNOW with TOTAL AND COMPLETE CONFIDENCE in THIS life exactly where we’ll be spending the next, where we’ll be spending all eternity. This is THE MOST IMPORTANT MATTER IN ALL OF LIFE, nothing else EVEN COMES CLOSE. Which is why the Bible urges us to REGULARLY LOOK into that mirror, to MAKE SURE.
- “TEST YOURSELVES to SEE if you are in the faith; EXAMINE YOURSELVES!” (2 Corinthians 13:5)
- “Therefore, brethren, be ALL THE MORE DILIGENT to MAKE CERTAIN about His calling and choosing you [i.e., your salvation]; for as long as you practice [there’s that word YET AGAIN, amazing!] these things, you will never stumble” (2 Peter 1:10)
God, via the Bible – and by extension, I – DON’T say that to cause anyone to doubt but JUST THE OPPOSITE, to REMOVE any and all doubt about it.
Eternity demands nothing less.
I have ZERO power or ability to save anyone (including myself). None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Because that’s ENTIRELY the work of the Holy Spirit through the Bible, the Gospel, the “message concerning Christ” as Romans 10:17 puts it. But you know what I CAN do? I can make as many people as possible AWARE of this pressing, most-crucial-of-them-all-by-far matter. While I’d personally LOVE for as many people as possible to join me and Christians throughout the ages in Heaven some day, to spend all eternity there with our precious and victorious Lord, the aforementioned Matthew 7:13-23 makes it crystal clear that the majority of people won’t, but I at least don’t want them to leave this life and slip into eternity without opening their eyes widely about this matter, and if they reject the truth then sobeit, that’s between them and God, that’s not just “above my pay grade” it’s out of my realm altogether, but making them AWARE of this truth is not, and indeed I’ve committed the rest of my earthly life to that very thing, under the umbrella and rubric of the work and ministry of the Bible in general and Bible memory in specific.
In other words, I’d prefer that every person accepted the truth and thus received all of the related and indescribable benefits and reward, but I at least want – and have the ability – to make them AWARE of that option. Because the saddest and scariest thought of them all is how many millions and indeed billions of people have indeed NOT REALIZED these things until it was too late, until they had already entered a fiery and tortuous eternity which will know no end or respite or reversal.
No, THIS LIFE is the time to resolve one’s eternal destiny. Or as 2 Corinthians 6:2 puts is, “NOW is ‘the acceptable time,’ behold, NOW is ‘the day of salvation.'”
May it be so.
It’s very true that I can’t save anyone, but I CAN and would be thrilled to provide whatever information you might seek in this matter, simply use the form below but instead of entering “not spam” in the filter box, please enter “salvation” and any questions or comments you might have then click that red button and it’ll be my honor to respond just as quickly as possible.
Because NOTHING in this life is so important as resolving one’s destiny vis-a-vis the life to come. And my goal is to help as many people as possible remove all doubt. For the rest of their lives.
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.
If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:
1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!
2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
3. Add your name to my Prayer List!
4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
5. Share this post on your social media by clicking on one or more of these platforms:
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Holes in Soles
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryI love to exercise. My mind (as you can probably tell right away when viewing the Videos page) and also my body – the temple He has handed out to house His Holy Spirit within me for now.
I look forward to those benefit-packed sweat sessions – especially the every-two-or-three-days extended, multi-hour ones – with great anticipation and enthusiasm. With two exceptions.
I’ll elaborate on the second soon in a separate post but the first such exception is when my shoes have developed holes in their soles.
Having sold my only vehicle a year or two ago mainly to finish building this website, that happens a lot. Since I walk so much now. Literally everywhere I go, it’s either by foot or bike, and I usually opt for the former so my shoes develop holes much more quickly than most people’s pair of a pedestrian’s best friend.
And that happens so quickly, those holes appear seemingly out of nowhere and without notice – i.e., the bottom of the shoes look just fine and then, wham, next thing I know, I feel a spike of pain when my foot lands squarely on a rock in the road or path and I look at the bottom of my shoes and surely enough, there’s suddenly a hole newly staring back at me.
Due to how much walking and jogging I do, this happens every few months, and when it does, I can honestly say that I definitely don’t look forward to the next walk to the store since I know it’ll likely involve some pain.
And that’s exactly how it is in the Christian life! In one’s walk with the Lord as it were: it’s much better when one doesn’t have holes in their souls.
One automatic, guaranteed result of Bible memory on a regular, systematic basis is that it opens one’s eyes to a lot of things (“enlightening the eyes”, Psalm 19:7-8) but perhaps none more so than just how righteous and holy God is… and humanity isn’t. Perhaps none more so than just how “prone to wander” into sin we are as the hymnist famously put it in that wonderful and much-beloved song, just how easily and naturally our flesh still sins – our fallen flesh which (unfortunately) still envelops our “new man” within, our new spirit, our new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17) such that even the most spiritually-mature person in non-deitic human history (i.e., not including Jesus), the Apostle Paul himself, concluded and confirmed that “nothing good dwells in” any of us humans, “that is, in [our fallen] flesh” and that “the good that [we] wish, [we far too often] do not do; but [we] practice the very evil that [we] do not wish” because of the “sin which [still] dwells in [us]”, because “of the law of sin which is [still] in [our] members”, in our bodies, “waging war” against our minds (Romans 7:14-25), all of which is why Hebrews 12:1 specifically and explicitly mentions “sin which so easily entangles us.”
“Prone to wander”, indeed.
But I have good news! God has graciously given us a (spiritual) “pill” as it were, a most-effective, miraculous “medicine” which is so powerful (but without any negative side effects!) that it can and does rid one even of something so dastardly and indeed default-status as sin! And that “pill”, that mighty “medicine” is, yep, the Bible. The Bible in general and Bible memory in specific.
What a wonderful weapon in our spiritual arsenal! And all we have to do is pick up that “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” – the Bible! (Ephesians 6:17)
One does so by ingesting it, by putting the Bible into one’s mind, “[from which] flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23).
Yes, my friend, it’s foolish for a frequent walker or jogger to have holes in their soles.
It’s infinitely worse for people to have holes in their souls.
Memorizing and reciting Scripture is like buying a new pair of shoes.
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Quick Thought: May It Never Be!
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryWe take air for granted. Or at least before the current pandemic occurred, a bit less so now but still in large part, e.g., when you’re in your home you don’t even think about air, about breathing, you just do it automatically so even now we continue to take air for granted. Why? Because it’s so common, so abundant, so aplenty.
We take water for granted. Why? Because it’s so common, so abundant, so aplenty.
And nothing pains my heart more than the fact that we take the Bible for granted. Because it’s so common, so abundant, so aplenty, so ubiquitous, so accessible like no book in the history of humanity.
Taking the Bible for granted… may it never be!
Rather, may we go forward from this day on with the active realization that the Bible is literally God’s Word, the very words of God Almighty Himself to us, the objects of His eternal, undying love and compassion and mercy and grace.
But let us purpose to not just maintain that day-to-day realization but to go a step further, to the next level.
It is horrific and egregious to take God’s Word, the Bible, for granted as far too many of us have done for far too long.
It is far better to maintain an active appreciation and indeed affection for God’s Word, the Bible.
It is best of all to respect it so utterly that our regular response to it is to tremble.
My heart’s prayer when it comes to the Bible: that we would increasingly and unrelentingly love it, learn it, live it.
Along with giving back to the Lord perhaps the most unique love/thank-You gift in human history for who He is and all He does – not only from me but from and on behalf of everyone who supports this effort in whatever ways they’re comfortably able – that’s the whole point and reason for BibleMemory.ORG and indeed my own life: to “Educate, Encourage, Empower” people all around the globe to realize and come to more and more fully understand the immeasurable treasure that is the Bible.
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If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:
1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!
2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
3. Add your name to my Prayer List!
4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
5. Share this post on your social media by clicking on one or more of these platforms:
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“Continue”
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryIt’s not how one starts, it’s how one finishes that counts.
Just ask ancient Israel, of whom Hebrews 8:9 testifies, “for they did not CONTINUE in My covenant, and I did not care for them, says the Lord.”
GREAT start. Leaving behind the bitter, brutal bonds of slavery in Egypt. Being rescued by literally watching the Red Sea part before them and passing through it as though on dry land (Hebrews 11:29; the entire account is found in Exodus 14-15). Literally being “fed and led” DIRECTLY BY GOD HIMSELF via manna from heaven, a water-providing rock to help wash it down, and a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night.
Great finish? NOT SO MUCH. As in tens of thousands being struck dead by God at one time (1 Corinthians 10:8). As in FORTY YEARS of wayward wandering in the wilderness.
Just ask Demas, who was among one of the Apostle Paul’s closest “fellow workers” and friends and confidants, in his inner circle (Philemon 1:24 and Colossians 4:14) but ended up desiring the world and deserting Paul (2 Timothy 4:10) (or as I often call that too-common phenomenon, “flirting then deserting”). From “hero” to “zero”… great start, bad finish (with an end result to match).
That’s why Colossians 1:22-23 says in such simple, straightforward, can’t-miss-it fashion, “yet He has now reconciled you in His [i.e., Jesus’s] fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach – if indeed you CONTINUE in the faith firmly established and steadfast…”
And the Lord Jesus Himself was every bit as blunt about the matter in Matthew 24:13 – “But he who endures [i.e., CONTINUES] to the end shall be saved.”
So don’t worry about or get emotionally “bogged down” by your past, by things you may have done at a previous point in time; rather, focus on the present and future.
Because… it’s not how you START your walk with Christ, it’s how you FINISH!
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Quick Thought: 100%
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryGod is 100% deserving for 100% of the population to be 100% focused on Him 100% of the time.
He literally deserves no less.
Yet He doesn’t demand that. In His grace and omniscience He is fully aware that such is impossible in the finite, fallen-flesh “suits” we wear throughout our entire life.
The sad part is that undoubtedly not even 10% of the population is even 10% focused on Him even 10% of the time.
Maybe not even 1%.
Let’s commit to actively focus on Him far more than we do. Not just every day but every hour. We won’t ever reach 100% on this side of eternity but we can certainly do much better than we currently are, we have so much room for improvement in this area.
I know I do.
He is worthy. 100%.
I find that just being reminded, just being aware of this is 90% of the battle.
Until the next time I forget, until the next time it slips my mind again.
Then when I come to realize it anew, I can only contritely cower in confession and cry out, “Wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:24)
And yet He persists in His grace and understanding and patience and kindness and love, and gladly receives even the crumbs of focus and worship and gratitude we give Him. To Him who gives us not just grace but “grace upon grace.” (John 1:16)
“Thanks be to God” indeed. (Romans 7:25)
I don’t know why He puts up with the mere morsels meagerly meted out to Him by man, but am so glad He does, am so glad He’s truly pleased with anything we give back to Him.
Yes, we can certainly do so much better in that regard. May it be so.
Starting with me.
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Quick Thought: My Perpetual Three-Pronged Prayer Request
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryLord Jesus, give me the dependence and trustfulness and humility of a child, the wisdom of a serpent, and the innocence of a dove.
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How to KNOW You’re Truly Saved and going to Heaven: It’s all about “PRACTICE”
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryWhen it comes to stocks and bonds, the market continually makes the trader/investor an offer.
If you say no, it just comes right back with another offer.
If you say no again, it just comes right back with yet another one, and so on, and so on, ad infinitum.
And that’s EXACTLY how it is with temptation/trials for a Christian.
Our flesh (James 1:14) “offers” us a temptation, an opportunity to sin (i.e., to choose SIN and the Devil OVER Christ and the cross in that moment).
If we say no, it just comes back with another offer.
If we say no again, it just comes back with yet another one, and so on, and so on, ad infinitum – UNTIL we leave this world and are in heaven with Christ, “where neither moth nor rust destroys” (Matthew 6:19-20).
The key is to KEEP RESISTING (1 Peter 5:9), knowing – and being motivated by the fact – that “the one who ENDURES TO THE END, he shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)
To end where we began with an analogy to the stock market… that’s why an overall “chart” of DECREASING sin, INCREASING righteousness is indeed one of the biblical PROOFS of genuine salvation, that someone is truly saved and not only “knows” the Lord but (infinitely more importantly) IS KNOWN BY the Lord.
Yes, the KEY word is “practice”, but in “second place” would be “because” and praise the Lord He included that word, too. You see, it totally takes away any “pressure” to perform in the Christian life because THAT is and can ONLY be accomplished BY CHRIST, as clearly explained in one of my “life verse” couplets which I’ll leave you with for now: “Therefore, if ANY man [i.e., person] IS in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things [i.e., practices, habits, affections, perspectives] have come. He [God the Father] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, THAT we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:17,21) And THAT, my friends, perfectly explains 1 John 3:5-10.
What a blessing and help and comfort and confidence that God graciously gave us in the Bible, which serves as a MIRROR for us to look into and see our TRUE spiritual state (James 1:22-27) so that we needn’t go through life with ANY DOUBT about whether or not we are truly saved. We DON’T have to wait until the next life (eternity) to find out (good thing, because then it’s TOO LATE) – no, we can KNOW with TOTAL AND COMPLETE CONFIDENCE in THIS life exactly where we’ll be spending the next, where we’ll be spending all eternity. This is THE MOST IMPORTANT MATTER IN ALL OF LIFE, nothing else EVEN COMES CLOSE. Which is why the Bible urges us to REGULARLY LOOK into that mirror, to MAKE SURE.
God, via the Bible – and by extension, I – DON’T say that to cause anyone to doubt but JUST THE OPPOSITE, to REMOVE any and all doubt about it.
Eternity demands nothing less.
I have ZERO power or ability to save anyone (including myself). None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Because that’s ENTIRELY the work of the Holy Spirit through the Bible, the Gospel, the “message concerning Christ” as Romans 10:17 puts it. But you know what I CAN do? I can make as many people as possible AWARE of this pressing, most-crucial-of-them-all-by-far matter. While I’d personally LOVE for as many people as possible to join me and Christians throughout the ages in Heaven some day, to spend all eternity there with our precious and victorious Lord, the aforementioned Matthew 7:13-23 makes it crystal clear that the majority of people won’t, but I at least don’t want them to leave this life and slip into eternity without opening their eyes widely about this matter, and if they reject the truth then sobeit, that’s between them and God, that’s not just “above my pay grade” it’s out of my realm altogether, but making them AWARE of this truth is not, and indeed I’ve committed the rest of my earthly life to that very thing, under the umbrella and rubric of the work and ministry of the Bible in general and Bible memory in specific.
In other words, I’d prefer that every person accepted the truth and thus received all of the related and indescribable benefits and reward, but I at least want – and have the ability – to make them AWARE of that option. Because the saddest and scariest thought of them all is how many millions and indeed billions of people have indeed NOT REALIZED these things until it was too late, until they had already entered a fiery and tortuous eternity which will know no end or respite or reversal.
No, THIS LIFE is the time to resolve one’s eternal destiny. Or as 2 Corinthians 6:2 puts is, “NOW is ‘the acceptable time,’ behold, NOW is ‘the day of salvation.'”
May it be so.
It’s very true that I can’t save anyone, but I CAN and would be thrilled to provide whatever information you might seek in this matter, simply use the form below but instead of entering “not spam” in the filter box, please enter “salvation” and any questions or comments you might have then click that red button and it’ll be my honor to respond just as quickly as possible.
Because NOTHING in this life is so important as resolving one’s destiny vis-a-vis the life to come. And my goal is to help as many people as possible remove all doubt. For the rest of their lives.
.
.
If you sense that the Lord might be leading YOU to support the historic event unfolding in real-time here at BibleMemory.ORG and thus become my fellow worker and thus share in all of the fruit and blessings (3 John 8) and literally MAKE HISTORY together, here are the best ways to do so:
1. Become a one-time or monthly partner by making a donation via PayPal’s fully-secure Bible Memory page!
2. Encourage as many people as you can to support this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/support (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches to the green box and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
3. Add your name to my Prayer List!
4. Encourage as many of our fellow Christians as you can to pray for this historic event by having them go to BibleMemory.ORG/pray (please make sure they understand that it’s .org, not .com) – doing so by word-of-mouth is great, and to do so with a single click on your social media simply click here then scroll down a few inches and select your platforms, it’s that quick and easy!
5. Share this post on your social media by clicking on one or more of these platforms:
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Quick Thought: To Honk or Not to Honk?
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryI live in the city. And thoroughly enjoy it. Not that I wouldn’t also enjoy living by the ocean (beach!) or in a suburb or near mountains, but for now, the Lord has placed me in the city.
And I live right by a major highway and hear the hum of vehicles driving by all the time. (Only when I open a window but that’s pretty much all the time since I love fresh air and the outdoors and, yes, that constant hum of vehicles, because I know that they’re being driven by people and I love people. All people. Men and women, old and young, rich and poor, red and yellow, black and white, I love them all. Along with my memory, many people say that a love for people and a joy for life are my most defining qualities.)
Literally just seconds after publishing the previous post and enjoying that hum of traffic just outside my window, one of those drivers felt the need to lay and stay on his or her horn, for what seemed like a minute but was probably more like twenty seconds but that’s a long time to be blowing one’s horn.
Maybe the driver in front of them did something really – to use a word very fresh in my mind thanks to that previous post – galling. But even then how much better it would’ve been for that driver NOT to have honked the horn for so long. It was obviously out of anger – justified anger perhaps, but why not “let it go”? Why not show mercy, knowing that you and I make mistakes regularly, too, and would appreciate not being called out or “punished” for every one of them, every time, so why not extend that courtesy to others?
No, far better than laying on our horn when someone wrongs us on the road – or any other part of life – is to show mercy.
Much easier said than done… but I find that this verse is a huge help in providing the perspective and patience and self-control essential to do just that:
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“That is so GALLING!”
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryI have to admit that 99.9% of Bible passages make me happy. No, thrilled. They literally breathe new life into me.
But there is a stark exception: Luke 17:11-19
Jesus healed ten lepers.
Leprosy is like no other disease. It was so bad that those stricken by it were forced to dwell outside of the city, on the outskirts of town, and had to depend on the merciful, pity-filled alms of others just to survive.
I won’t go into the medical specifics of that disease because, well, frankly, I just ate and don’t want to, um, exhume my dinner but trust me, it was a gross, hideous disease, and those who suffered from it had perhaps the worst ”quality of life” except for death itself… and I’m not sure even THAT was a step down, I think many lepers would deem death itself as a step up, as an improvement, and one of the few types of people who probably greeted “the Grim Reaper” with a hug and kiss.
Now imagine for a minute that you were born with no arms, no legs, no eyes, and no ears. And one day a doctor discovered a cure and freely gave it to you and, bam, you suddenly had all of your limbs and eyes and ears and were as good as new, what would you say to that doctor, how would you react?
Well, in Luke 17:11-19 the Bible tells us that Jesus came across ten lepers and healed them.
Good as new!
After living their entire life – which was really no life at all, no quality of life whatsoever – in such a horrific condition, you and I would think, would just assume that those ten lepers couldn’t thank Jesus enough for healing them and totally transforming their lives, right?
Yeah, but we’d be wrong. Can you believe that just ONE of those lepers took the time to THANK Jesus?
Man, that is so GALLING! It’s vexing even just thinking about those other nine lepers. Infuriating, really, that anyone could be THAT ungrateful! Grrrrr.
But no sooner did that thought hit me a few minutes ago that a second, quite different thought immediately followed:
How often do I thank the Lord for my spiritual salvation that permitted and produced the greatest transformation of all, one of literally infinite, eternal proportions?
How often do YOU?
Color me embarrassed. Color me convicted. Because even though I do thank Him for that every day or two, it’s not nearly, nearly, nearly, nearly, nearly, nearly enough. You better believe that if a human doctor cured me of leprosy or cancer or any other life-altering disease, I’d be showing up at his or her office at least three times a day for the first month or two and thereafter would do so via email for the rest of my life.
How much more, then, does God, the great Healer and Miracle-doer, deserve our constant gratitude for curing us of an eternal disease?
Let’s commit and strive to be like that one leper, not the nine.
How fitting that these two thoughts hit me on Thanksgiving Eve.
Happy Thanksgiving indeed!
But every day should be Thanksgiving for those of us who’ve been healed by the Lord every bit as tangibly and infinitely more consequentially than those lepers.
May it be so.
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Quick Thought: Predictive Indeed
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryI went for a walk yesterday. After a stretch of glorious autumn weather, the forecast was calling for the remnants of another hurricane from the Gulf Coast to make its way up to my neck of the woods, but I was hoping to get my errand in before that happened.
As I was walking, the (heinous) humidity here was as high as I’ve ever felt it. (The word “sauna” sprang squarely to mind.) And I was reminded of what many of us learned in grade school:
Humidity is predictive.
And a truth I learned in Sunday school also immediately hit me:
Humility is predictive.
But unlike the weather, this second truth entails 100% odds. Bank on it. Whichever path we choose, the Scripturally-stated subsequence is absolutely guaranteed to follow. Definitely eventually, usually immediately. While the unbreakable, never-veering verity averred in this verse serves as a warning, it is also a massive blessing: the determinative difference lies only in which path one walks along while in this world.
May we choose wisely. May we walk wisely. May we opt for humility in our daily lives. Like that Porsche TV ad tagline of yesteryear puts it: there is no substitute. It’s a no-brainer. Not necessarily easy for our fallen flesh to fathom much less fulfill, but let us find firsthand that the Bible unleashes the Holy Spirit to produce and grow this guaranteed-golden trait within us, such that it eventually becomes automatic, one’s default setting in life. And remains such as long as we don’t touch, as long as we keep our grubby hands off of the wheel and let the Bible and Holy Spirit drive us and do their thing, to perform the work as promised (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
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Quick Thought: If I ever write a hymn, this would be the title.
/in Uncategorized /by Bible MemoryI love the hymns of old in particular. So many are chock full of theological truths straight out of Scripture, both simple and profound.
I have far too many favorites to list them here but one of them is How Great Thou Art, made famous and a household humming fave by its pervasive use in the Billy Graham crusades.
But I often think that if I were to ever write a hymn I’d likely title it How Good Thou Art.
Was and is and will He forevermore be great? Ab-so-LUTE-ly!
Christ created everything. “Both in the heavens and on earth. visible and invisible [I’d say that covers it! =] … all things have been created by Him and for Him.” (Colossians 1:16)
Christ clearly and convincingly and completely conquered sin and death. Think about that for a second: He conquered death.
In His death, burial and resurrection, He made Satan like that famous fish which went after a worm on a hook and thought he was about to eat dinner when in fact he was about to be dinner. As Jesus bled and bled and bellowed out asking why the Father had forsaken Him and breathed His last breath before becoming sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) (think about THAT for a second… mind-blowing), Satan saw such and started to celebrate – a bit prematurely as it turns out. He put on a private party in Perdition but before it could barely begin, Jesus rained on his parade (Ephesians 4:8-9) and “disarmed” the devil and his demons but went even further and turned that private party into a “public display” of degrading defeat and definitive deliverance (Colossians 2:15). (Talk about crashing a party! Talk about making an entrance!)
Greatness doesn’t get any greater than that!
How great Thou art, indeed.
But just as often each day I find myself being overwhelmed with how wonderfully warm and loving and generous and giving and good He is to me, and to all of His children, and even to those who not only don’t yet know Him but who hate Him! (Matthew 5:45; Romans 5:8,10)
He clothes us and feeds us and shelters us. But He not only takes care of the physical and emotional needs of our human hearts and bodies but also our spiritual needs. Salvation. Eternal life. Forgiveness of our (unfortunately) ongoing but (fortunately) ever-decreasing sins. The ability to love and be loved by Him. To know and be known by and walk with Him every day, every hour, every minute.
Goodness doesn’t get any “gooder” than that!
So, yeah, I think that would be the title if I ever write a hymn to Him: How Good Thou Art.
Because both are absolutely essential for us. And essential to Him. His greatness and His goodness. His goodness and His greatness. For without the former, the latter wouldn’t do us any good as He’d be a tyrant, gushing with greatness and power and muscle but no heart. Yet without the latter, the former would give us a god who wants to grant us “every good thing” and “every perfect gift” (James 1:17) but lacks the power to actually do so. No, beloved, it’s the combination of His goodness and greatness which makes Him not “a god” but God.
So on second thought, I’d title that future hymn How Great and Good Thou Art!
Thank You, Lord, for Your goodness and greatness. For being so great but also being so good, and so good to us.
Indeed, that dual fact is exactly why I’m in the process of memorizing the entire Bible – every word of His Word, of His love letter to us – so I can demonstrate through this very unique love/thank-You gift the gratitude and affection I and countless others hold for all He does and who He is! For the fact that He not only defines greatness but goodness, too.
Yes, how great – and good – Thou art, indeed.
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