He who looks into the perfect law...

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper."
-Psalm 1:1-3

The dictionary lists the definition of "conviction" as: the state of being convinced of error or compelled to admit the truth; a strong persuasion or belief. The Christian is to be a person of conviction.  We are to be fully aware and unwavering in our loyalty to truth (the Bible). In other words, we are to know what the Bible says about the issues of life well enough that we can spot error when confronted with it.


When God gave the Law to the Israelites He commanded them that:

"these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
-Deuteronomy 6:6-9

God gave us His Word as a safe-guard against error that leads to death.  In His mercy, He carefully explained how we are to live so we can be sure of staying far from sin. In I Timothy Paul gives Timothy the instruction to:

Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.-I Timothy 4:12, 13, 16

All throughout the Bible there is instruction to believers to know doctrine, to be familiar with the Bible, to love the Law of God and to be careful to obey it. God gave us His answers, but it is up to us to search them out and obey them carefully.  It is to our benefit, and, really, for our safety that we search the Scripture to know how God thinks.


In speaking with many Christians, it is easy to see that many don't know what the Bible really has to say about the issues of life.  I have heard good God-fearing people discuss for hours the issues of drinking, divorce, homosexuality, etc. without one of them knowing what God has to say on the subject.  They ask friends' opinions or do internet searches but don't look into the answer book itself.


I think we tend to forget that in the end we will not stand before our friends, our culture, Christian authors, or even our pastors to give an account. We will, on the Day of Judgment, not be judged by a jury of peers, but by the Great Judge Himself.  In fact, Jesus said that we will be judged by the Word!

"He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him, the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day."
-John 12:48

There are no surprises on the last day, we will be judged by what God wrote in Scripture for us to read and obey.  The only people who will be surprised are those who foolishly assumed they knew God, when they never took time to read the instructions He wrote for them. (see Matthew 7:21-27 for more information on this.)


I encourage you to become very familiar with the Bible and what answers it has to the questions of life. I can guarantee that it has an answer for anything and everything that you will have questions about.


One last thought:
God is unchanging, "there is no shadow of turning in Him". What He expects of us has not changed since the beginning of time. In your study of the Bible, do not let your view of "cultural issues" be shaped or molded by modern-day philosophies or humanistic mindsets. Let God's Word be your guide. If God loves something, love it with everything in you. If God hates it, hate it with every ounce of your being.  Be confident that, on Judgment Day, you can stand before God with a clear conscience knowing that you will hear "well done, good and faithful servant."

"But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."
-James 1:25

One Way

What is your portion?

The Lord asked me this about a year ago for the first time and it has echoed in my memory every since.

What is your portion?
What are you satisfied with?
What is sufficient to meet your every need?
Who is your life source?
Is it Jesus?
Is He the your only way?

As Christians I think we understand that our first approach to God can only be through Jesus, but what about after that? As we come before God again and again, how do we approach? Do I come through the blood of Christ, or do attempt to approach based merely on the fact that I've been there before?

Let me present an illustration:
I am a citizen of the United States. As such I have a passport proves that I am who I say I am. Say I go to Greece on a vacation, but when I try to reenter the US I have lost my passport. I come up to the border with my suitcases full of mementos to bring back to my family and friends, but the guards won’t let me in…I have no passport……I can argue that I have been there before. I can show them that I speak like an American, that I have the clothes of an American, that I have family that is American. I can try everything I know, but only ONE document will let me into the United States no matter how many times I’ve come and gone.

It is the same with God.

In 2 Timothy 2:19 the Bible says that the Lord knows those who are His.
Ephesians 2:13-14 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the BLOOD OF CHRIST. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,

What opens up the border between where I am, and where I belong? My spiritual passport..the blood of Jesus

How do you approach the Throne of God as a Christian? Often we come before the Throne of God and bring before us our works, our ministry, our triumphs, our steadfastness…all like gifts on a platter to appease and delight the King? To which the King says, “Those are beautiful gifts, but who are you who brings them? I cannot accept or even look at a gift from one I do not know!”
But there are those who approach with head bowed and empty hands lifted – empty, that is, save for the stain of the blood of Jesus on them. To those who do that, the King says, “Ah, I recognize that mark, that stain is familiar. You are the one that was guilty and is now saved. YOU are one of those that my Son rescued. I recognize you. Come, what do you have to show Me?” And then you pull out your treasure trove of gifts to present to Him.


Heb 10:19, 22 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

The blood of Jesus is our passport into the Presence of God. There is no other way that we can belong there. It removes all suspicion and vulnerability to the judgement of God. When we have the blood of Jesus over us it is our confidence that we are where we belong.

When I ask, what is your portion, the question is What are you relying on to bring you close to God and what do you rely on to supply the grace that you need today? To be the only thing that you need. Are you trying to enter the hard way, with hands full of gifts from a foreign country? Or do you have the identifying symbol of one who belongs? Have you been washed clean and transformed by the Blood of Jesus?

Love

My Lesson for Today:
Give everything
Expect nothing
Let forgiveness know no bounds


In the Bible I read that if I don’t love the Body of Christ I cannot say I love Christ. It sounds so easy, this loving the Church.
It is easy until there is a breach in relationship with one person and I find it easier to withdraw my heart than to willingly sacrifice it on the altar of forgiveness.

1John 2:7-11
“ Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before.
Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.
If anyone claims, "I am living in the light," but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness.
Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble.
But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness."

If I love part of the Body, I have to love the whole and not exclude any member. If I love the whole that must be unfailingly else it is not really love at all because “love never fails”.

Who am I to withhold my love? Was it ever mine to monopolize? Did I originate it? Is my love not just borrowed from the One who loved me first? How selfish I am to grasp the gift of God so tightly in my fists! How ignorant I am to refuse to share it as He commanded.

To love is never easy…see, the thing about love is that it must consume. The thing that fuels love is the offering of my selfish desires to be burned. Love and selfishness are a sorry pair – they can never coexist. Love will always be determined to consume the selfishness and selfishness always desires to quench the fire of love. Love, true love, requires me to die that God might live His love through me.