Passage of the Day: 2nd Peter 1: 5b … [NIV – see bold text] 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; …
2nd Peter 1: 5b … [NASB - see underlined text] 5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, …
My Journal for Today: John MacArthur makes an excellent point in his Strength for Today devotional for this date. He writes the “… moral excellence (remember from yesterday the Greek term, “arête”) cannot develop in an intellectual vacuum.” MacArthur, I believe, correctly claims that our culture, and even the church, has begun to succumb to an experiential orientation, … a feelings-first mentality, if you will, … where the pursuit of truth [i.e., Godly knowledge/wisdom] is shunted aside. The question, “Is it biblically correct?” is considered an unloving, divisive issue [i.e., politically incorrect] in many churches today.
However, in today’s passage/verse, Peter makes the inexorable connection between moral excellence and the pursuit of knowledge (for which the Greek term is “gnosis,” which means “a proper understanding” or an accurate discernment of the absolute truth). Yet, the church, especially some ascribing to the charismatic movement, push aside an intellectual pursuit of doctrine in lieu of finding a spiritual experience in their abiding relationship with Christ.
God’s word is clear, however, (see also Eph. 4: 13 - 15), teaching that Christians who lack doctrinal truth are believers who are childish and/or unstable in their faith, subject to blowing with the winds of cultural/worldly influences. That’s why Paul in the passage in 1st Cor. 14: 20, exhorted believers to be mature in their understanding of truth and not like children, who rely on their feelings. Yes, of course, Christ would have His disciples be childLIKE in their trust of Him – but not childISH. Again Paul exhorts, “… that your (Christian) love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.” (see Phil. 1: 9 - 11)
As the OT Prophet, Hosea, declared, “…let us know, (and) … let us press to know the Lord.” (Hosea 6: 3 - NASB) And that should the credo of every Christian; because to know God is to pursue becoming like God – which translates behaviorally into the pursuit of Christian “arête” or moral excellence; and that is the springboard of Spirit-led sanctification in discipleship.
My Prayer Today: Help me to know You, Lord, through Your truth. Amen
Showing posts with label knowledge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label knowledge. Show all posts
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
May 11, 2011 … Trials’ Lessons: Increased Wisdom
Passage of the Day: Job 28: 12 - 13 … 12 "But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell? 13 Man does not comprehend its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living.
My Journal for Today: Get ready folks; … if you’re reading along with my journal entry for today, we may go a bit longer today because Job 28 is one of my favorite Old Testament chapters [linked here if you're rigorous enough to go back and study the passage]. In today’s text we read of Job, who had been through a most incredible set of trials; and now, recognizing that he can’t explain or rationalize his circumstances, he concerns himself with man’s pursuit of wisdom and understanding. And to appreciate the teaching from the book of Job here, it’s important to see it in the context of the word picture which was used to describe man’s pursuit of wisdom. And we also need to define “wisdom” here as the essence of God’s mind, i.e., Godly understanding of man’s circumstances.
In Job 28, the unknown author of Job, relates how Job had been through agony of unspeakable horror; and the author compares man’s search for wisdom to that of the mining practices of his day. This involved digging shafts down through the rocky earth just big enough for a single man to be lowered on a rope in a support harness, at times hundreds of feet down into the earth to chop away at the rock to mine for jewels or precious ore. It was very dangerous and rigorous, but men risked their lives to mine in this way so that they might find the precious metals or stones which could be worth so much to them in that age.
The text in Job today is in the context of that picture … man, knowing the wondrous value of the mind of God and being willing to dig deep into His word and his relationship with God to find the precious content of wisdom. And in Job 28: 28, Job gives us the same lesson Solomon gave his son (and us) in Prov. 1: 7, which you can read below …
SCRIPTURE: Job 28: 28 And He [God] said to man, 'The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.' "
SCRIPTURE: Prov. 1: 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, …
In other words, in the context of the word picture from Job, the mining of the precious jewels of Godly wisdom begins when we mine for them deeply in the recesses of the Word of God. And from personal experience, I know that such mining requires rigor, discipline, and the faith that digging into His word will produce the jewels of God’s will and His promises. In the New Testament, James wrote about what we must do to mine the mind of God in James 1: 5 – 6 …
SCRIPTURE: James 1: 5 – 6 … 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
When we dig shafts deeply into the word for God, mining for His precious wisdom, we must truly believe and expect that those precious gems of wisdom we pursue will be there; and from these gems of God’s truth, which we glean from his word, God’s promise is that such wisdom will be ours if we mine in faith with the confidence that our efforts will pay off richly with an abundance of wisdom coming from our reverence of God and our expectation that we WILL find His wisdom.
As John MacArthur put it in his devotion for this date in Strength for Today, “God’s wisdom puts things in the right perspective during trials and helps us to endure them.” And that was exactly the lesson to which Job was addressing himself in Chapter 28 of the book of scripture God gave us through his writings.
However, from these lessons (above from Job, Solomon, and the Apostle James), we see that gleaning God’s wisdom is not an automatic task for the believer. We must actively and rigorously pursue the mind of God and ask for God’s wisdom [from ardent prayer] with an attitude of expectation from His own promises (see the verses above). And if you read how God provided wisdom for Solomon in 1st Kings 3: 5 – 13 [linked here], you will see that our willingness to surrender to God’s promises from His word will produce vast jewels and precious ore from the very mind of God.
The trials of life are the minefields from which we must dig and dig, with expectation and faith and an attitude of trust, knowing that such efforts, i.e., mining from the word of God, will produce all the riches we seek from God’s mind. And truly this is God’s promise (see Prov. 3: 5 -6 and all of Psalm 119). So here I am, day-by-day, digging deeply into God’s minefield of precious gems (i.e., His word), knowing that, like today, as I relate in this journal entry, my mining will bring up beautiful jewels of wisdom which will pay off with royal dividends in my life. I pray that you are mining and finding these gems of truth as well.
My Prayer Today: O Lord, I mine from Your mind; and everyday You give me Your jewels. Amen
My Journal for Today: Get ready folks; … if you’re reading along with my journal entry for today, we may go a bit longer today because Job 28 is one of my favorite Old Testament chapters [linked here if you're rigorous enough to go back and study the passage]. In today’s text we read of Job, who had been through a most incredible set of trials; and now, recognizing that he can’t explain or rationalize his circumstances, he concerns himself with man’s pursuit of wisdom and understanding. And to appreciate the teaching from the book of Job here, it’s important to see it in the context of the word picture which was used to describe man’s pursuit of wisdom. And we also need to define “wisdom” here as the essence of God’s mind, i.e., Godly understanding of man’s circumstances.
In Job 28, the unknown author of Job, relates how Job had been through agony of unspeakable horror; and the author compares man’s search for wisdom to that of the mining practices of his day. This involved digging shafts down through the rocky earth just big enough for a single man to be lowered on a rope in a support harness, at times hundreds of feet down into the earth to chop away at the rock to mine for jewels or precious ore. It was very dangerous and rigorous, but men risked their lives to mine in this way so that they might find the precious metals or stones which could be worth so much to them in that age.
The text in Job today is in the context of that picture … man, knowing the wondrous value of the mind of God and being willing to dig deep into His word and his relationship with God to find the precious content of wisdom. And in Job 28: 28, Job gives us the same lesson Solomon gave his son (and us) in Prov. 1: 7, which you can read below …
SCRIPTURE: Job 28: 28 And He [God] said to man, 'The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.' "
SCRIPTURE: Prov. 1: 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, …
In other words, in the context of the word picture from Job, the mining of the precious jewels of Godly wisdom begins when we mine for them deeply in the recesses of the Word of God. And from personal experience, I know that such mining requires rigor, discipline, and the faith that digging into His word will produce the jewels of God’s will and His promises. In the New Testament, James wrote about what we must do to mine the mind of God in James 1: 5 – 6 …
SCRIPTURE: James 1: 5 – 6 … 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
When we dig shafts deeply into the word for God, mining for His precious wisdom, we must truly believe and expect that those precious gems of wisdom we pursue will be there; and from these gems of God’s truth, which we glean from his word, God’s promise is that such wisdom will be ours if we mine in faith with the confidence that our efforts will pay off richly with an abundance of wisdom coming from our reverence of God and our expectation that we WILL find His wisdom.
As John MacArthur put it in his devotion for this date in Strength for Today, “God’s wisdom puts things in the right perspective during trials and helps us to endure them.” And that was exactly the lesson to which Job was addressing himself in Chapter 28 of the book of scripture God gave us through his writings.
However, from these lessons (above from Job, Solomon, and the Apostle James), we see that gleaning God’s wisdom is not an automatic task for the believer. We must actively and rigorously pursue the mind of God and ask for God’s wisdom [from ardent prayer] with an attitude of expectation from His own promises (see the verses above). And if you read how God provided wisdom for Solomon in 1st Kings 3: 5 – 13 [linked here], you will see that our willingness to surrender to God’s promises from His word will produce vast jewels and precious ore from the very mind of God.
The trials of life are the minefields from which we must dig and dig, with expectation and faith and an attitude of trust, knowing that such efforts, i.e., mining from the word of God, will produce all the riches we seek from God’s mind. And truly this is God’s promise (see Prov. 3: 5 -6 and all of Psalm 119). So here I am, day-by-day, digging deeply into God’s minefield of precious gems (i.e., His word), knowing that, like today, as I relate in this journal entry, my mining will bring up beautiful jewels of wisdom which will pay off with royal dividends in my life. I pray that you are mining and finding these gems of truth as well.
My Prayer Today: O Lord, I mine from Your mind; and everyday You give me Your jewels. Amen
Saturday, May 08, 2010
2010 – May 8 – Knowing the Limits of Knowing
Study from God’s Word… Psalms 111, 130, 131, 141, and 146 … Passage for Reflection: Psalm 131: 1 … NIV 1 My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.
My Journal for Today: Dr. F. LaGard Smith has me reading more Psalms, extolling the virtue of faithfulness and the discipline of righteousness; and he has me reeling in the recognition of my own human weakness. And today’s highlight passage from Psalm 131: 1 declares the realization of our limits as well as the respect we should have for the God, Who has created the “…great matters or things too wonderful for me (to fully understand).”
It’s okay to seek after the understanding of God’s way and His will for our lives. He has given us that prerogative and even invited us to get to know Him and His ways deeply. However, we should never be so presumptuous and prideful to think that we’re ever going to be able to plumb the depths of His mind/heart. How often do I return to the humbling premise, ”God is God; and I am not!” And … right in this moment, having meditated on today’s passage, my memory of Scripture has bubbled up in my consciousness, allowing me to remember the words from God to God’s people through the Prophet in Isaiah 55: 8 – 9, which I charge you to go back and study [with the available link], if you don’t know it by heart.
As Smith states today, “… we are foolish to think that we humans could ever unravel the mystery of God Himself;” but even more foolish are those who think they can substitute their own theories or human understanding to posit answers for the unanswerable. And there are many atheists who dabble in such foolishness. At one time in my life I was one of those fools; and I now recognize that all I was doing by trying to substitute my interpretations of such phenomena as the origins of life was giving me an excuse to be my own “god,” not having to obey or live under the sovereignty of THE GOD. And that prideful foolishness got me nowhere in life, … only brokenness and pain.
But now I recognize that God has given me all I need to gain as much understanding about my God as I need to in this life; and that understanding, which is the fear of the Lord and the beginning of wisdom [see Psalm 111: 10], comes from – and ONLY comes from – His truth through His word. As Peter extolled believers in 2nd Peter 1: 3-4, I have enough from God’s truth and seeking His ways to live in this life; and all I have to do is trust my Lord; and he will lead me into and through the minefields of my life (see Prov. 3: 5-6). And that’s enough for me; as it should be enough for you as well.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, You and Your word are enough knowledge for me. Amen
My Journal for Today: Dr. F. LaGard Smith has me reading more Psalms, extolling the virtue of faithfulness and the discipline of righteousness; and he has me reeling in the recognition of my own human weakness. And today’s highlight passage from Psalm 131: 1 declares the realization of our limits as well as the respect we should have for the God, Who has created the “…great matters or things too wonderful for me (to fully understand).”
It’s okay to seek after the understanding of God’s way and His will for our lives. He has given us that prerogative and even invited us to get to know Him and His ways deeply. However, we should never be so presumptuous and prideful to think that we’re ever going to be able to plumb the depths of His mind/heart. How often do I return to the humbling premise, ”God is God; and I am not!” And … right in this moment, having meditated on today’s passage, my memory of Scripture has bubbled up in my consciousness, allowing me to remember the words from God to God’s people through the Prophet in Isaiah 55: 8 – 9, which I charge you to go back and study [with the available link], if you don’t know it by heart.
As Smith states today, “… we are foolish to think that we humans could ever unravel the mystery of God Himself;” but even more foolish are those who think they can substitute their own theories or human understanding to posit answers for the unanswerable. And there are many atheists who dabble in such foolishness. At one time in my life I was one of those fools; and I now recognize that all I was doing by trying to substitute my interpretations of such phenomena as the origins of life was giving me an excuse to be my own “god,” not having to obey or live under the sovereignty of THE GOD. And that prideful foolishness got me nowhere in life, … only brokenness and pain.
But now I recognize that God has given me all I need to gain as much understanding about my God as I need to in this life; and that understanding, which is the fear of the Lord and the beginning of wisdom [see Psalm 111: 10], comes from – and ONLY comes from – His truth through His word. As Peter extolled believers in 2nd Peter 1: 3-4, I have enough from God’s truth and seeking His ways to live in this life; and all I have to do is trust my Lord; and he will lead me into and through the minefields of my life (see Prov. 3: 5-6). And that’s enough for me; as it should be enough for you as well.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, You and Your word are enough knowledge for me. Amen
Monday, May 03, 2010
2010 – May 3 – Having the Inside Track
Study from God’s Word… Psalm 119 … Passage for Reflection: Psalm 119: 97 – 100 … NIV 97 Oh, how I love Your Law! I meditate on it all day long. 98 Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. 99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. 100 I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.
My Journal for Today: Dr. Smith is right; and it’s not an exaggeration that “… everyone wants to be ‘in the know.’ “ Who doesn’t want to have the inside track on life supposedly offered by more education? That’s why parents push their kids to learn and to go to schools which will give them the opportunity to learn what it takes to be productive, and – hopefully – fulfilled, in this life. And the knowledge – well, at least the facts and practical information – which one can accumulate these days is proliferating at such a pace that there appears no way we can get all of what we need to be productive citizens of the world.
BUT (and there’s another one of those big “BUTs”), … that’s not the goal of the Christian, is it? We’re not into the education game of life just to get more information, are we? No, as the author of the longest psalm in the Bible understood and the truth we Christians need to grasp is that there is only one source of information which gives us the “inside track” in life; and that is what we know of as the “Book of the Law,” which is what the author of Psalm 119 called what we know of as “The Bible.”
Some like the songwriter of Psalm 119 was David; but this long acrostic poetry was not really his style of songwriting. Nobody really knows the actual author of this great song of faith. But whoever it was, the dude really had an absolute love affair going on with God’s word (as he knew it); and he had somehow gleaned the insight that mining in God’s word would give him the power and wisdom he needed to live out life and have the kind of knowledge which would bring him a joy-filled, fruitful, and productive life.
Job learned that lesson too; and you can read about God teaching him this truth lesson in Chapter 28 of the Book of Job. And by doing both of these studies, you can’t miss – unless you deny it – that God’s word (all of it – see 2nd Tim. 3: 16 – 17) is the repository of all the knowledge and understanding which will give us what we need to live out what the Old Testament says in Prov. 3: 5 - 6 and in the New Testament in what Paul taught about God’s word in that verse I just cited above (again 2nd Tim. 3: 16-17).
Well, if this is true; and devouring God’s word gives Christians the inside track on living out our lives, why is the level of biblical illiteracy growing in epidemic proportions? Well, the answer to that lies in the nature of our spiritual enemies. And one of those, Satan, will do all he can to con us into thinking that the wisdom of the world (our second enemy) is superior and more appealing than the essence of truth in the Bible. And Satan and the world have devised a way of producing very seductive mechanisms for gleaning information in great volumes, most of which will only lead us away from THE TRUTH we really need in life – which, again, is found in the Bible. Think of all the devices these days which are out there in the world drawing our attention away from God’s truth … TV, the Internet, I-phones, I-pads, I-whatevers. And isn’t interesting that all of the latter ones begin with the letter “I,” showing us where the focus of all these mind altering devices really is – on self, which is really our worst spiritual enemy.
If we don’t make a decision to discipline ourselves to consume God’s word, taking it in with such motivation to let God transform us and move us away from Satan, the world, and our own flesh, we will become “I” junkies; and we will miss out on the one source of truth which can allow us to become productive and fruitful Christians. I know it’s not alluring to use a computer to dig into the mine of God’s mind; but it will be far more productive that using that same device to glean knowledge from the ploys of Satan in such mind altering ventures as gaming, pornography, or even worldly education.
Yes, a computer and the internet can actually become mining tools into God’s word; but the belief just has to be there to understand that the mine we need to be digging into is God’s word … not some mind-numbing place like pornography or in the news of the day from the world. I had a friend that believed that the key to his mental, emotional, and spiritual future could be found in the out-working of what Paul taught, from God’s inspiration, in Romans 12: 1 – 2; and to that I would add God’s lesson to Joshua [and all of us] in Joshua 1: 8. Hopefully you know these truths by heart; but if not go back and mediate on the direction to which they are leading; and you will learn of God leading us to use His word, … consuming it as the lover of Psalm 119 taught … so as to let God’s Spirit conform us into the image of our Lord and Savior, … Jesus, the Christ.
But each of us has to decide to pursue God’s truth through His word for His purposes; and that takes time and mind-altering discipline. Are you one who will follow me – as I’m attempting to learn/teach here – in doing this? If you do, you’re going to find what I have found; and you’ll become addicted to the pursuit of the true riches found in God’s word.
My Prayer for Today: Take me deep, Lord, into Your mind as I mine for the wisdom You have there for all willing to dig after it. Amen
My Journal for Today: Dr. Smith is right; and it’s not an exaggeration that “… everyone wants to be ‘in the know.’ “ Who doesn’t want to have the inside track on life supposedly offered by more education? That’s why parents push their kids to learn and to go to schools which will give them the opportunity to learn what it takes to be productive, and – hopefully – fulfilled, in this life. And the knowledge – well, at least the facts and practical information – which one can accumulate these days is proliferating at such a pace that there appears no way we can get all of what we need to be productive citizens of the world.
BUT (and there’s another one of those big “BUTs”), … that’s not the goal of the Christian, is it? We’re not into the education game of life just to get more information, are we? No, as the author of the longest psalm in the Bible understood and the truth we Christians need to grasp is that there is only one source of information which gives us the “inside track” in life; and that is what we know of as the “Book of the Law,” which is what the author of Psalm 119 called what we know of as “The Bible.”
Some like the songwriter of Psalm 119 was David; but this long acrostic poetry was not really his style of songwriting. Nobody really knows the actual author of this great song of faith. But whoever it was, the dude really had an absolute love affair going on with God’s word (as he knew it); and he had somehow gleaned the insight that mining in God’s word would give him the power and wisdom he needed to live out life and have the kind of knowledge which would bring him a joy-filled, fruitful, and productive life.
Job learned that lesson too; and you can read about God teaching him this truth lesson in Chapter 28 of the Book of Job. And by doing both of these studies, you can’t miss – unless you deny it – that God’s word (all of it – see 2nd Tim. 3: 16 – 17) is the repository of all the knowledge and understanding which will give us what we need to live out what the Old Testament says in Prov. 3: 5 - 6 and in the New Testament in what Paul taught about God’s word in that verse I just cited above (again 2nd Tim. 3: 16-17).
Well, if this is true; and devouring God’s word gives Christians the inside track on living out our lives, why is the level of biblical illiteracy growing in epidemic proportions? Well, the answer to that lies in the nature of our spiritual enemies. And one of those, Satan, will do all he can to con us into thinking that the wisdom of the world (our second enemy) is superior and more appealing than the essence of truth in the Bible. And Satan and the world have devised a way of producing very seductive mechanisms for gleaning information in great volumes, most of which will only lead us away from THE TRUTH we really need in life – which, again, is found in the Bible. Think of all the devices these days which are out there in the world drawing our attention away from God’s truth … TV, the Internet, I-phones, I-pads, I-whatevers. And isn’t interesting that all of the latter ones begin with the letter “I,” showing us where the focus of all these mind altering devices really is – on self, which is really our worst spiritual enemy.
If we don’t make a decision to discipline ourselves to consume God’s word, taking it in with such motivation to let God transform us and move us away from Satan, the world, and our own flesh, we will become “I” junkies; and we will miss out on the one source of truth which can allow us to become productive and fruitful Christians. I know it’s not alluring to use a computer to dig into the mine of God’s mind; but it will be far more productive that using that same device to glean knowledge from the ploys of Satan in such mind altering ventures as gaming, pornography, or even worldly education.
Yes, a computer and the internet can actually become mining tools into God’s word; but the belief just has to be there to understand that the mine we need to be digging into is God’s word … not some mind-numbing place like pornography or in the news of the day from the world. I had a friend that believed that the key to his mental, emotional, and spiritual future could be found in the out-working of what Paul taught, from God’s inspiration, in Romans 12: 1 – 2; and to that I would add God’s lesson to Joshua [and all of us] in Joshua 1: 8. Hopefully you know these truths by heart; but if not go back and mediate on the direction to which they are leading; and you will learn of God leading us to use His word, … consuming it as the lover of Psalm 119 taught … so as to let God’s Spirit conform us into the image of our Lord and Savior, … Jesus, the Christ.
But each of us has to decide to pursue God’s truth through His word for His purposes; and that takes time and mind-altering discipline. Are you one who will follow me – as I’m attempting to learn/teach here – in doing this? If you do, you’re going to find what I have found; and you’ll become addicted to the pursuit of the true riches found in God’s word.
My Prayer for Today: Take me deep, Lord, into Your mind as I mine for the wisdom You have there for all willing to dig after it. Amen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
