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timewithgod.blog-city.com — January 2008
Colossians 1 -- I'm God's FRIEND?? YES!!
Last night, I was describing for my parents how my younger son really seems to have trouble making friends. When asked the reason, I told them that while his birthmother was gone and he lived with his grandmother, he pretty much did whatever he
Last night, I was describing for my parents how my younger son really seems to have trouble making friends. When asked the reason, I told them that while his birthmother was gone and he lived with his grandmother, he pretty much did whatever he wanted from what information I was given and from reading between the lines of what he's told me. His grandmother was at home dying of cancer and couldn't help him to learn to interact well with others. Therefore, his childlike attitude took over and Joseph would get fed up and walk away if the other child didn't want to do what he wanted to do.
I think that his attitude in many ways mirrors man's relationship to God. So many want "God on their terms". They want a God they can be comfortable with. Yet God is unchanging in His demands, part of which are that we live our lives His way. It can never be "all about us". It must be "all about Him."
Earthly friendships require lots of give and take -- something my son hasn't learned yet. What this chapter is showing me is how gracious God was in allowing us to have a way back to Him. He didn't have to do that. He is sovereign and over all. It is only by His invitation that we may approach Him. Verse 21 says that He's done that already:
"At one time, you were separated from God. You were His enemies in your minds, and the evil things you did were against God. But now, God has made YOU His friends again. He did this through Christ's death in the body...."
Paul says it, and God didn't refute it. It's in there -- I am a friend of God, just like the song says. Not through any merit on my part, but solely because of His grace.
Father, thank You for reaching down to me when I was Your enemy in my mind, when I was unlovable to you. Thanks for allowing me to be Your friend by giving Your Son for me on the cross. Help me in this new year to let it be all about You and not all about me.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Colossians 2 -- Not Making Rules For Myself
Verse 11 mentions that through Christ's death, we were made free from the power of our sinful selves. Unbelievers can't say that, as verse 13 continue the thought -- "When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because
Verse 11 mentions that through Christ's death, we were made free from the power of our sinful selves. Unbelievers can't say that, as verse 13 continue the thought -- "When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self..."
It takes acknowledgment of Christ's divinity and His death for our sins, and God's great power to resurrect Him -- our belief in all that -- to free us from the power of our sinful selves. It goes on to say that He took the list of rules we were SUPPOSED to follow and tore them up, along with the record of how many times we'd failed.
Yet from verse 20 to the end of the chapter, Paul says that we are often susceptible to thinking that following certain rules will help bring us closer to holiness. We think, "Oh, if only I could not DO that for 6 weeks," or "If only I could make sure to DO this for 4 weeks, I'd be better." He says that all they really do is make people pretend NOT to be proud and make them punish their bodies..."
Stopping right there he sees us scratching another mark on the wall of our spiritual "prison", marking another day that we made it. As each day passes, we secretly think, "WOW! I've gone that long without doing that! Then we immediately kick ourselves because that "I" word reared itself again -- the pride is still there, just like the verse mentioned. Unfortunately, we'll most likely also discover that during that time, "the evil desires of our sinful self" still kept popping up. So we really accomplished little or nothing.
So how then can we do it? How can we control the evil desires of our sinful selves? The answer seems to be back up in verses 6 & 7: "So continue to live in Him. Keep your roots deep in Him and have Your lives built on Him." We don't deprive our body so much as we surrender every thought to Him and ask for strength not to entertain evil thoughts when they do pop up, giving them the door instead.
Father, I've seen this in my own life often. No "rule" I might invent for myself will ever take the place of simple obedience to You. Strengthen me and hold me close with Your love. Fill my every thought with You. Help me to understand the futility of "doing" and the freedom of "believing".
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Colossians 3 -- Our part in getting along with others
Verse 15 & 17 seemed to be what everything else in this chapter hinged upon:"Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking... always be thankful....Everything you do or say should be done to obey Jesus your Lord...."The rest of
Verse 15 & 17 seemed to be what everything else in this chapter hinged upon:
"Let the peace that Christ gives control your thinking... always be thankful....Everything you do or say should be done to obey Jesus your Lord...."
The rest of the chapter gives specifics for getting along with others, yet these two verses in themselves should be able to produce in us hearts that beat for God.
For instance, in verses 20 and 21, it says, "Children, obey your parents in all things .... Fathers, do not nag your children. If you are too hard to please, they may want to stop trying."
My younger son Joseph and I have struggled quite a bit with this lately. My take on the situation is that he only wants to obey if I can give him a satisfactory explanation first of why he should, and he then will attempt to put off obedience by arguing the merits of what I present and attempting to find fine print, footnotes, or loop holes that would keep him from having to obey. Doing that of course makes me angry because I want obedience, not a debate. Both of our roles are stated clearly in those verses. He is to obey and I am not to nag.
But going back to verses 15 & 17, I must let Christ's peace (that He gave me) control my thinking, and always be thankful for him. So even the way I discipline him must be done to obey Jesus. That peace should allow me to discipline without anger or wrath. If I feel either welling up inside of me, then I am not following God's word and obeying Him.
Likewise, for my son, Christ's peace should operate in his life to help him not to provoke me. Not obeying until the 3rd command would not fulfill this verse's requirements. Nor would what he's doing or saying appear to be obeying Jesus his Lord.
If we could just offer these verses as a basis for each relationship we have, what a difference there would be, and how much better Christians would get along.
Father, help me to remember that relationships are not meant to be one-sided. Give me the wisdom to react correctly from the start, and to also let Your peace guide me as I strive to be obedient to You in all that I do.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Matthew 1 -- Not The Same Old Christmas Story Today!
As I read this chapter and my commentary, God seemed to bring back to mind a time years ago when I was right out of college and I believe I must have been reading the Bible with hostility toward God. I was looking for errors. This first c
As I read this chapter and my commentary, God seemed to bring back to mind a time years ago when I was right out of college and I believe I must have been reading the Bible with hostility toward God. I was looking for errors. This first chapter of the New Testament couldn't have been a better place to start.
As my commentary pointed out, certain names are missing from the list based on other books of the Bible -- Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah. This family tree, though different from the one in Luke, also happens to overlap with Luke's at Shealtiel and Zerubbabel -- very unusual. "Both gospels follow Ezra 3:2 in listing Zerrubbabel as the son of Shealtiel, whereas in 1 Chronicles 3:19 he is listed as the son of Pedaiah," my commentary noted. Why also does Matthew list 27 generations from David to Jesus while Luke gives 42? Even at a conservative (liberal, I guess, when you look at it) 13 years between generations, that's 195 years of people out of synch.
I like how my commentary answered these "problems":
"First, our foundational premise is that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Therefore, it cannot contain errors. Second, it is infinite because it reflects the infinity of the Godhead. We can understand the fundamental truths of the Word, but we can never FULLY comprehend all there is in it. So our approach to these difficulties leads us to conclude that the problem lies in OUR lack of knowledge rather than in the Bible's fallibility.... What seem to us like difficulties and contradictions all have reasonable explanations, and these explanations are filled with spiritual significance and profit."
I wish I'd heard that back then, at a time when I was pretty stuck on my intellect (a pretty common result of being around many professors at a secular university, by the way)!
Father, thank You for gently reminding me that I don't know it all and You do. Thank You for these little "intellectual Christmas presents" here on earth that tease us today but which we'll drop like a heartbeat when we finally get to meet Your FIRST Christmas Present in person. Just one look at His face will erase all doubts. I can't wait, Father!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Matthew 2 -- Viewed Quite Differently Today
As I picked up my Bible and opened it this morning, I believe God caused me to think, "This is God's Word. Read it like He is telling it." How incredibly powerful even the first sentence was as God, the Daddy, writes, "
As I picked up my Bible and opened it this morning, I believe God caused me to think, "This is God's Word. Read it like He is telling it." How incredibly powerful even the first sentence was as God, the Daddy, writes, "Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem..." It was no longer a Levite, a tax collector, a doctor, or anyone else telling the story. It was the Daddy.
As I read on, my imagination moved the scene in and out like watching the earth from above on Google Earth. Even the tiniest detail held great meaning as this Daddy related His Son's birth:
--- His displeasure with the efforts of a man whose life choices had led him to become a less-than-admired ruler over God's own people.
--- The twinkle in Daddy's eye as He directs wise men with a star.
--- The ease with which He moves through time in the Old Testament prophesies: "A ruler will come...", "A voice was heard... Rachel crying...", "I called My Son out of Egypt..."
--- His ease of directing each moment, reminding the wise men to go home differently that they had arrived, the Jewish leaders reciting Scriptures yet clueless to why they are being asked; a star that moves not like a distant star or a planet; even His directing a government based hundreds of miles away to issue orders months before, so that Joseph has to take his very pregnant wife along on a trip.
He does so with the ease of a new parent sending out birth announcements, with the certain joy of the promise this Child will hold, and with the knowledge of what His Child will have to endure as well.
How much we may be missing by not reading all of God's word like this -- not as a narrative by humans known to us or not -- but instead as God's JOURNAL.
Father, thank You for giving me fresh eyes this morning. For 2008, help me to begin to see Your Journal in a whole new light.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Matthew 3 -- A little bit of Pharisee in each of us?
John the Baptist was brave enough to look the Pharisees and Sadducees in the eyes and tell them, "Do the things that show you really HAVE changed your hearts and lives." They were the religious leaders of the day, yet they were only l
John the Baptist was brave enough to look the Pharisees and Sadducees in the eyes and tell them, "Do the things that show you really HAVE changed your hearts and lives." They were the religious leaders of the day, yet they were only leading and not following God's will in their lives. For the most part, they would likely feel that they were superior to John and to Jesus. They almost felt as if God owed them their places in heaven because of what they'd done and what they'd avoided.
My commentary says, "True repentance, as J.R. Miller wrote, amounts to nothing whatever if it produces only a few tears, a spasm of regret, a little fright. We must leave the sins we repent of and walk in the new, clean ways of holiness."
For most of us, I doubt that the regretting is the hard part. Satan's attempts to beat us up over past sins causes us plenty of regret. If we find ourselves, however, looking back on our old sinful lives with a certain fondness, gladly recalling whatever emotions or physical feelings we felt, then I imagine that it would be hard to say that we were walking in a new way.
If we aren't doing the things that show that we really have changed our hearts and lives, that means we're having trouble letting go. Our response should resemble what John said in verse 10 about every tree that doesn't produce good fruit being cut down and thrown into the fire.
Father, I realize that there are still parts of me that I grudgingly hold onto, almost like an entitlement, rather than giving them up completely to let You be Lord of my life. Yes, You are Lord, but I am selfish. Help me to let go of the worthless, broken things of life that keep me looking like a spiritual orphan at times, and lead me to fully grasp the life You've prepared for me as a member of Your family. Holiness is what I long for and need.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Matthew 4 -- A Can of Worms This Morning
I find myself in a quandary after reading what my commentary had to say: "Like us, Jesus could be tempted from without: Satan came to Him with suggestions contrary to the will of God. But unlike us, He could not be tempted from
I find myself in a quandary after reading what my commentary had to say: "Like us, Jesus could be tempted from without: Satan came to Him with suggestions contrary to the will of God. But unlike us, He could not be tempted from within -- no sinful lusts or passions could originate in Him. Furthermore, there was nothing in Him that would respond to the devil's seductions."
My problem was this: He certainly was God in the flesh. But He was in the flesh in an earthly body like mine. That flesh daily sends input to our minds, and in a hundred different ways our fleshly body sends signals that either say "this is pleasureful!" or "this is painful!" Chemical mixes in our body interact with those signals of pleasure in an effort to induce us to continue whatever is producing it. I have understood it to be that this is the point where temptation occurs. We weigh in our hearts and minds and spirits what our body is telling us against what God is telling us. The temptation is, of course, external, but even if we refuse to give in to it, the memory of the event is internalized. It is so often these memories that play back in our minds to tempt us again. To say that ulitmately these are external temptations would seem to lead us to conclude that there was some disconnect in Jesus that prevented these "memories" from ever forming, or that if they did, they could not be "played back". For instance, if his arm touched a girl's arm and that magic electricity ensued that all of us feel, that would be external. But a day or two later, if He thought back on that feeling, would that still be external? Could He do it? Or would it be that He could not use that as a jumping off spot to create imaginings of His own making?
I kept coming back to Hebrews 4:15 which says, "For our high priest is able to understand our weaknesses. When He lived on earth, He was tempted in every way that WE are, but He did not sin." About that, my commentary says, "It is wrong to argue that if He could not sin, He was not perfectly human. Sin is NOT an essential element of humanity; rather it is a foreign intruder. Our humanity has been marred by sin; His is perfect humanity."
The only thing I can conclude from all this must be that the "sin virus" is what enables the imprinting on our minds for playback and editing of things that cause us to sin. Absent that, our bodies would be like that of Adam before the fall.
As God, Jesus would know the effects of that sin virus on us -- thus He would understand our weaknesses. He simply would never have been impacted by it as He lived on earth. That's about the only way I could reconcile these two sets of verses with feeling that I don't have a high priest who is able to understand my weakness and who was tempted in every way that I am.
Father, I pray that You will increase my understanding of this difficult conundrum. Thank You for giving me a nugget to chew on so that I wouldn't disbelieve.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Matthew 5:1-12 Our Marching Orders
My commentary says that these verses were intended by Jesus to be the constitution or the system of laws and principles, which was to govern the King's subjects. So they are for us, not the world. It says that "the poor in spirit
My commentary says that these verses were intended by Jesus to be the constitution or the system of laws and principles, which was to govern the King's subjects. So they are for us, not the world.
It says that "the poor in spirit" does not refer to natural disposition, but to one's deliberate choice and discipline. "Those who acknowledge their own helplessness and rely on God's omnipotence. They sense their spiritual need and find it supplied in heaven."
It continues that the mourners are not those who are mourning because of "the vicissitudes of life. It's the sorrow which one experiences because of fellowship with the Lord Jesus. It includes, not only sorrow for one's own sin, but also sorrow for the world's appalling condition."
Not what I expected on the meek: "By nature these people might be volatile, temperamental, and gruff. But by purposefully taking Christ's spirit upon them, they become meek."
"People who hunger and thirst for righteousness are promised satisfaction. They have a passion for righteousness in their own lives, the long for it in society; they look for practical holiness in the church."
"To be merciful means to be actively compassionate."
"Peacemakers actively intervene to make peace."
Those who are persecuted not for their own wrongdoings, but for righteousness sake are promised the kingdom of heaven for suffering for doing right.
Also, there are those persecuted for Christ's sake -- "a privilege that should cause joy!"
I think so many times we read this and simply try to determine which one category we might fall in, and what our reward might be. Seeing all of it as our constitution helps to round us out and make us understand what a life with Christ really should look like.
Father, help me in all these areas, most particularly in those areas where I am lacking most!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Matthew 5:13-20 "You Mean We Have To Obey THAT??"
I had never highlighted verse 18 before: "I tell you the truth, nothing will disappear from the law until heaven and earth are gone. Not even the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will be lost until everything has happ
I had never highlighted verse 18 before: "I tell you the truth, nothing will disappear from the law until heaven and earth are gone. Not even the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will be lost until everything has happened."
Jesus plainly said that He had not come to abolish any part of the law, but instead to fulfill it. My commentary melds those two into this: "Jesus believed in the literal inspiration of the Bible, even in what might seem small unimportant details. Nothing in Scripture, even the smallest stroke, is without significance."
It becomes very tempting for us to say that as Christians we are no longer under the law. Yet, as my commentary noted, "In fact, the teachings of our Lord in the Sermon On The Mount set a higher standard than that set by the law. For instance, the law said, "Do not murder." Jesus said, "Do not even hate." So the Sermon On The Mount not only upholds the Law and the Prophets but it amplifies them and develops their deeper implications."
In the same way, we may feel that society has "progressed past" certain passages. But we must remember what verse 19 says: "Whoever refuses to obey any command and teaches others not to obey that command will be the least important in the Kingdom of Heaven." We're giving up a lot when we give up even a little.
Father, please help me to see the importance of even the apparently unimportant verses in scripture. I know "mine is not to question, but only to obey," yet I ask because I do teach. I want a front row seat someday in heaven.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Matthew 5:21-48 A Guy Thing Today, Particularly
This is the third day in a row that I've read these verses, thinking that I'd have finished the whole chapter, but the length of the commentary on it has required me to split it up. So God has really driven these verses home by now!Vers
This is the third day in a row that I've read these verses, thinking that I'd have finished the whole chapter, but the length of the commentary on it has required me to split it up. So God has really driven these verses home by now!
Verses 27-30 have really popped out as a result. Though it deals with adultery, I believe God is using it for lust in general here as well. My commentary said: "The Mosaic Law clearly prohibited adultery. A person might be proud that he had never broken this commandment, and yet have his "eyes full of adultery." While outwardly respectable, his mind might be constantly wondering down labyrinths of impurity. So Jesus reminded His disciples that mere abstinence from the physical act was NOT enough -- there must be inward purity. The law forbade the act of adultery. Jesus forbids the desire .... E. Stanley Jones wrote: 'If you think or act adultery, you do not satisfy the sex urge; you pour oil on a fire to quench it. Sin begins in the mind, and if we nourish it, we eventually commit the act.' Maintaining an undefiled thought life demands strict self-discipline .... The Holy Spirit empowers the believer to live a holy life. However, there must be COOPERATION and RIGID DISCIPLINE on the believer's part."
What I've learned and now had etched into my brain over these days is that small truth God showed me and had me teach to my guys on Sunday mornings over the years: "It's the thought that counts" more than anything else, because that's where the desire is born. Whether it's forty days or forty years, total abstinence might seem to be an awesome accomplishment, but only to the world. If we are filling our minds with sexual thoughts, our abstinence really means absolutely nothing. It can be likened to the act of circumcision that had become ritual for the Jews and not really about relationship -- closely akin to infant baptism -- a decision made by parents with no binding of the infant to what it entails through belief.
Father, help me not to be a Pharisee -- outwardly righteous but inwardly corrupt. Use Your Holy Spirit to empower me to live the life You desire, free of evil thoughts. Strengthen my self-discipline to help me banish thoughts that do not honor You.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
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