God's Timing

"And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him." --Genesis 21:5.

We as Christians tend to be so impatient with God. We say a 5-minute prayer and expect an immediate answer, as if God were merely a genie. He wants to do so much for us, but we are limiting Him by our lack of faith. God greatly blessed Abraham, yet he had to wait for God's true blessings. His shortcuts never worked! He tried having a son with another woman and that just bred jealousy (duh!); and he tried leaving the promised land, but had gotten so much stuff so quickly that his nephew had to leave and got wrapped up with Sodom and Gomorrah. He was trying to rely on his wisdom, yet God's was the only one to work. He can do better with your life than you can. The only question is: will you let Him?

Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

"That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" --Genesis 18:25.

To say that America is in a moral slump is an understatement. Essentially, we have turned our back on God as a nation--the very God which has blessed and protected us for two centuries. We are seeing our nation die before our eyes, and I cannot help but wonder if the only reason we aren't done yet is that there are still some righteous here (not just those that claim to be). God can still turn this country back to Him, but we as Christians need to get out and reach this nation. God promised not to destroy Sodom if He found at least 10 righteous people, yet He couldn't (which is the context of this verse). Will the same thing happen when He evaluates the US?

Salvation by Faith

"And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." --Genesis 15:6.

Notice that Abram's only claim to righteousness was belief. God's plan has always been the same, and it won't change (Heb. 13:8). We are sinful beings that have only ONE hope of salvation, and that is our belief in Jesus Christ. In addition, notice how this comes BEFORE the circumcision or even the birth of Isaac? This shows that God's blessings come AFTER belief. Too many of us expect to see the blessings so we can believe, but that is NOT faith (Heb. 11:6). Also notice that Ishmael is conceived shortly after this, illustrating that it is still possible for believers to sin even after they are saved, AND that God will not stop working in a believer's life just because of one mistake. Salvation has always been by faith, and it always will be. There is nothing we can do for ourselves; it must be given to us (Eph. 2:8-9). Are you relying on faith or works?

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References used in order:

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." --Hebrews 13:8.

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." --Hebrews 11:6.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: ⁹Not of works, lest any man should boast." --Ephesians 2:8-9.

"And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." --Acts 5:41.

These early Christians were happy when they were persecuted because they knew that they had stood out among the other Jews, and leading people to the Lord. Yet how many times do we not want to be different from other Americans worrying about persecution? Let's face it, we really don't have much persecution to suffer (yet). The most that will happen is a loss of job or expulsion from school. These men were almost put to death, yet they still stood for Christ. We still have the freedom to share our faith without fear of capital punishment, yet we don't. Why not? Christ died for us, having to endure being separated from His Father for the first and only time in all of eternity. He gave everything for us. Why can't we tell others He did it for them too?

Letting God Speak for Himself

"Add thou not to his [God's] words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." --Proverbs 30:6.

Many times, we try to "help God out" with logic when explaining something to a weak Christian or unbeliever. We add things to what the Bible says to make our explanation make sense. While there's nothing wrong with putting a doctrine into layman's terms, there is a problem when doctrine becomes derived from opinion rather than Scripture. Another way we can see this is with the Christmas story. Now, before you comment blasting me, I LOVE Christmas, and have no problem with the holiday. Yet, there are some things that get taught that are flat out un-Scriptural. For example, the three wise men are often taught to be kings when the Bible makes no such claim (oh, and they went to Jesus' house, NOT the stable), angels in the Bible are always masculine with no mention of wings (when they appear on earth to individuals) even though they are almost always depicted as women with wings, and the manger was more than likely stone instead of wood since trees were scarce in Bethlehem (and the stable was probably a cave). These are just some examples of what we add to His Word, yet if someone researches it, we will be found liars. We need to be careful to distinguish between doctrine & tradition/opinion as we tell others the news of Christ. (Oh, and as a freebie, Christ was probably not born 25 Dec.)

Living in unity

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" --Psalm 133:1.

As brothers & sisters in Christ, we often are at each other's throats, and this really shouldn't be. God wants us to dwell in unity and follow Him with one accord. Now I'm not talking about compromising doctrine, but the petty things are what usually trip us up. Churches have split over the color of the carpet! As Christians, we need to learn how to fight for what matters and let go of what doesn't.

For more information on unity in the church, see Ephesians 4.

Who do you fear?

"The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe." --Proverbs 29:25.

All too often, we worry about what others think. We worry about what someone will think of us if we leave a tract, or what someone will say if we decide to turn off a program that isn't clean, or if we're doing enough to please the people in our church. The truth is that we need to trust God alone and worry about what HE thinks. God created us, provided for us, died for us, and now lives with us--wanting only to be in fellowship with us. Everything God did was so He could have fellowship with us and show His unconditional love toward us. Yet, we act as if we do God a favor by showing up to a service on Sunday morning. Why not sell out & forget what others think? What could you possibly give up that matches God's gift of His Son to us?