“Why do we take a railway guide and arrange for a particular journey? … Well, one has confidence in the reliability of these official publications. As a rule we are not put to shame! Now, just as we use a railway guide we must use our Bible. We must depend on God’s Word just as we depend on man’s word, only remembering that though man may not be able to carry out his promise, God will always fulfill what He has said.” —Hudson Taylor
“Distractions must be conquered or they will conquer us. So let us cultivate simplicity; let us want fewer things; let us walk in the Spirit; let us fill our minds with the Word of God and our hearts with praise. In that way we can live in peace even in such a distraught world as this.” —A.W. Tozer
“If indeed the name of the eternal God is named upon us, we are secure; for, as of old, a Roman had but to say Romanus sum, I am a Roman, and he could claim the protection of all the legions of the vast empire; so everyone who is a man of God has omnipotence as his guardian, and God will sooner empty heaven of angels then leave a saint without defense. Be braver than lions for the right, for God is with you.” —Charles Spurgeon
“How one learns to be thankful for each day on which one can still do something.” —Karl Barth
“Better have God and no other friend then all the patrons on the earth and no God.” —Charles Spurgeon
Thought-provoking questions: “Dear Christian, are you still on fire for Jesus? Are you in love with Him as passionately as when you first got saved? Or have you lost interest in His concerns, forsaking all ministry? Do you have too much else going on in your life? If so, the Lord says to you, ‘I have something against you—you have left your first love!’” —David Wilkerson
I don’t think anyone would mind having his or her name inserted in any of the following compliments:
___________ is a righteous person.
___________ is blameless before God.
God looks favorably on ___________.
___________ walks with God.
Pretty nice pedigree, huh?
This is the description of Noah in the Bible. I especially love the phrase “walks with God.” It’s only used of two people in the Bible: Noah and Enoch. But it’s even more encouraging to me when I read it about Noah’s life.
Noah is the first in Adam’s family line to be born after Adam died. That’s significant because all of his ancestors (including Enoch) would have been able to get a first-hand account from Adam himself about what it was like to be in the Garden of Eden. All of Noah’s ancestors could have heard right from Adam’s mouth what it was like to visit with God personally each evening, to talk to Him face-to-face. And they could have heard firsthand how devastatingly painful it was to lose that intimate fellowship because of sin.
Since Noah was the first person in this family tree to hear about this secondhand, he’sthe first person to walk with Godby faith. Which is the exact same way we walk with God today:
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what wedo not see (Hebrews 11:1).
You too can insert your name in this blank: “___________ walks with God.”
How do you do this? Pray this:
“God, I want to walk with You. I knowit’s impossible to please You except by faith. I want to get closer to You. So I believe that You exist and that You care enough to respond to me when I seek You and love You with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength.”
Let’s enourage one another to walk in this way every single day.
How in the world am I going to link these three thoughts? I think I can do it, but first, a little historical background…
Have you ever noticed in the Bible how much the Jews disliked the Samaritans? In fact, it was said that if a Jew had to even say the word Samaritan he would immediately spit to get that vile word out of his mouth. Where did this come from?
After King Solomon’s death, the nation of Israel was split in two. Judah and Benjamin in the southern half of the country went by the name “Judah” and had their capital in Jerusalem. The northern ten tribes went by the name “Israel” and had Samaria as their capital. The northern kingdom—the Samaritans—became more and more godless, turning to false idol worship.
The Samaritans would make deals and alliances with any surrounding country and their false deities to save their necks from other invaders. In effect, they made a deal with the devil.
Pat Robertson made a foolish comment that the earthquake in Haiti was because the Haitian people had “made a deal with the devil” to kick the French out of their country.
Did the Haitians make such a deal? Did the Samaritans? It’s very likely.
Yet when Jesus was asked to explain what it meant to love one’s neighbor, whom did He use as an example? A Samaritan!
Demonic deal or not, God desperately loves the Haitian people. Jesus died to bring Haitians into a personal relationship with Himself. God grieves over the devastation in that country.
Mr. Robertson, now is not the time for judgmental statements. You are not the one who should be making such statements. Now is the time for compassion. Can you imagine Jesus saying to the woman at the well, “Since you live in a country where your ancestors made a deal with the devil, you’re disqualified. I have living water to give, but you’re not getting any of it because you are under a curse”? I can’t imagine that.
If you’d like to show compassion to these precious people, can I recommend making a donation to a wonderful organization called Convoy of Hope? Please keep praying for the Haitians.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Disclaimer: My aggregate soap opera viewing time for my entire life is about 52 minutes, but I still think I know what I’m talking about <grin!>.
Soap operas are usually pretty predictable. If you’ve watched them for even a short time it’s not hard to figure out who’s who and what’s what. In fact, the plot lines are typically so predictable that you can stop watching a particular soap opera for months—or even years—and when you tune in again it will only take a day or so to once again know who’s who and what’s what.
One of the main reasons for this is the simplicity of the plot lines. There are three types of characters: good guys, bad guys, and wishy-washyguys that are swayed by the good guys or bad guys.
We applaud when the good guys win and the bad guys get what’s coming to them. We groan when the good guys get unfairly treated and the bad guys seem to get away with their badness. If we could give advice to the soap opera characters it would be pretty straightforward: “If you’re a good guy, we’ll cheer for you!”
But here’s the problem: it’s becoming harder and harder to tell the difference between the good guys and bad guys. It seems like more of them fall into the wishy-washy category. Over time, the characters have become mostly good but can be swayed to take revenge or cut corners. Or they’re mostly bad but still have a soft place in their heart to help the little orphan child.
There are very few really good guys left.
There’s a drift from good to mostly good. But mostly good is only one step away from mostly bad. And only one more step from mostly bad to just-plain-bad.
I’ve been reading through the soap opera history of the kings of Israel and Judah. Like our modern soap operas there are three types of kings: (a) the good kings did what was right in God’s eyes; (b) the bad kings did what was evil in the God’s eyes; and (c) the wishy-washy kings usually did what was right but had a “however” attached to their reign.
Unfortunately, most of the good kings tended to drift from good to mostly good, and eventually to mostly bad. The drift continued each generation toward mostly bad until God was hard-pressed to find any king who wasn’t bad. How sad: God’s blessing was right there for any good king to claim, but they kept drifting away!
Drifting happens so easily, which is why we have to be so diligent.
You’re blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by GOD. You’re blessed when you follow His directions, doing your best to find Him. That’s right—you don’t go off on your own; you walk straight along the road He set. You, GOD, prescribed the right way to live; now You expect us to live it. Oh, that my steps might be steady, keeping to the course You set; then I’d never have any regrets in comparing my life with Your counsel. I thank You for speaking straight from Your heart; I learn the pattern of Your righteous ways. (Psalm 119:1-7, The Message paraphrase)
Just like those soap opera characters or soap opera kings, we can get some pretty straightforward advice from the Bible: “If you stay on course, walk straight along the road God set for you, He will bless your life.”
Don’t drift.
Don’t settle for mostly good.
Don’t assume you’re doing right in God’s eyes; KNOW that you’re doing right in God’s eyesby following His Word.
Craig T. Owens 