The Lord is on my side...what can man do to me?

“I called on the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” ~Ps. 118:5-6

Nick,

Many times in our lives we will encounter temptations, depression, stress, and trials. One of the questions most, if not all, people ask is, “If there is a God who is all-powerful, all-wise, and all-good, why is there sin in the world?” Obviously God could get rid of it because He is all-powerful. He is all-wise, however, so there must be a reason He allows it. Yet if He is all-good, why does it exist? Realize that this is not a theological paper or a heavily-researched project, merely my thoughts on the issue. I believe that God allows sin to remain in the world because: 1) That is what will bring Him the most glory; 2) To show us our dependence upon Him. Ultimately, we can’t know, or even guess at God’s plan. We are human beings who try to fit explanations in with our flawed human knowledge. However, I think these may be two reasons why. The first one is obvious: God is always seeking to glorify Himself. Not in our form of glorifying: doing great deeds or saying great things, though He does do both of these. This is the glory of the Creator of the Universe. His glory puts joy and fear in the hearts of those who love Him and horror and fear in those who hate Him. His glory is made up of holiness, majesty, perfection, wisdom, and any good thing you van think of. His glory is not composed of one or a few good or heroic deeds, but of all good things. We do not know the full extent of His glory, for if He revealed it in its fullness to us, we would be overcome. The second reason requires more explanation. We are born sinful, live sinful lives, and say sinful things. The Bible tells us that we are dependent upon the Lord, but we often leave it at that. We do not want to think more about it. As a question within a question, why does it always say in the Bible, and why do we always say, “God tested so-and-so?” Is it to find out who loves Him and who doesn’t? Of course not! Our names have been written in the Book of Life before the world was created. He knows who will go to Heaven and who will go to Hell. So why does He test us? My thought is that it is to point us to Him. God never sends us trials without giving us the strength to overcome them. But it often seems to us that we can’t defeat temptations of trials. It’s true; we can’t conquer sin on our own. But when temptations come, we are sent running to God for help. God could have kept sin out of the world from the beginning, but I think He allowed it to show His great love for us. Sin entered the world through one man and sin was conquered by one Man. God gave the ultimate gift of sacrifice and love.

I often imagine our lives as if we’re walking along a road, when we are faced with evil. When we turn to flee, we run rights into the arms of the Lord who has been keeping us from stumbling or turning aside the whole time. God does not allow sin to remain because He can’t do anything about it. On the contrary, at one word from the Almighty, the heavens quake and the earth trembles. We do not serve a weak God; We serve the Maker and Ruler of the Universe!

Your brother in Christ,

Corey

Love One Another

Corey,

One of most important things that we need to have is love. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13:1, says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”

Paul, in the same chapter, lists all of the different qualities of love: Love is patient, love doesn’t envy, love isn’t proud, is not rude, is not selfish, not provoked, thinks no evil, doesn’t rejoice in evil, but in truth; love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things and never fails (paraphrased list).

We need to love as Christ loves us. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

We need to love one another. Remember that all have sinned and Christ loves us even though we are sinners.

Your BIC,

Nick

The Importance of Geneologies

“Adam, Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” ~1 Chron. 1:1-4

Nick,

What is the importance of genealogies? Biblical authors obviously thought they were important. But what function do they serve? The first several chapters of 1 Chronicles list the line of descent from Adam to David. More importantly, they show the covenant line. In ancient times, the Israelites knew their forefathers to several generations. To them it was important to know what their great-great-grandfather did because it was important for them to know how God was working in his life. We have lost that desire. Today, no one cares about genealogies. They are viewed as boring and purposeless. This is often revealed by the way we read 1 Chronicles and the first chapter of Matthew. We tend to skip over them or skim read. We no longer care where we came from. We don’t care if we are descendents of Shem or of Japheth. We have lost our multi-generational vision. Let me ask you a question: Do you care if your great-grandchildren remember you? Also, do you want to have an impact on their lives? By training up your children to be godly men and women, we are teaching them to raise up their children to be godly men and women. Since none of us have children, we should be mentoring and encouraging those younger than us, while ourselves learning from those older than us. One way to be mentors is to talk about the things of the Lord. This should be true of all of your conversations, but as sinners, we often prefer and seek the things of the flesh. Another way of encouragement is by your actions. However, this is most effective if you first encourage them to do something and then soon after, they may see you doing it. Let all your words and actions be rooted in the Word, for it is both the beginning and the end of wisdom, because it leads us to the Lord who is wisdom. Another way of encouragement is by writing letters. If you ask most people, they would call me quiet, but as the saying goes, “my pen is more potent than prattle.” Letters often express things if fewer words and more clearly than a conversation could. I’m encouraging you to start your own group and write letters of your own, either to boys your own age or those younger than you. Encourage your sisters to start groups for the girls. It is never too soon to start doing the work of the Lord. May God bless you this week.

Your brother in Christ,

Corey