Christian life

Promises of God – A Promise that ALL will be Blessed

Posted on by Bob Mathews

Genesis 12:1-3 says, “1Now the Lord said to Abram, Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you: 2And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

God had a plan for a man named Abram. God knew that Abram would believe Him, and that Abram would live out his faith through his actions. Because of His plan, God promised Abram that the world would be blessed because of him. God blessed the world through Abram in two ways.

First, Abraham (the name God gave Abram) became the prime example for everyone who would ever put their faith in God. His descendants were honored and proud to be called the “children of Abraham” (maybe too much so). However, Paul said that anyone who has Abraham’s kind of faith is a child of Abraham. “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise” (Gal. 3:29).

Second, is the greatest blessing God gave through Abraham. Jesus is what God was really getting at with the promise. Jesus was a descendent of Abraham. God redeemed all of the sin in our lives through Jesus, a descendant of the man whose greatest claim to fame was the simple fact that “he believed in the Lord” (Gen. 15:6).

Why is such a blessing needed? Romans 3:23 states the reason very simply and directly. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We all have done things that go against what God teaches. This sin separates us from Him. The blessing through Abraham is one that gives us all a chance to get back into a right relationship with God.

This promise was given to Abraham and through him to us, but as was said earlier, it was all part of God’s plan from the beginning because He knew we were going to need it. Ephesians 1:3-7 says, “3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He (God) chose us in Him (Jesus) before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”

Through Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross, God has given us the ability to come back to Him, to be His children. He made a promise and kept it so that each of us could be blessed, even at the cost of His own Son. Now it is our turn to choose whether to believe and follow Him like Abraham did or to continue living our lives however we want and remain lost to God. What side of the promise do you want to be on?

How readily do you accept gifts from others?

Posted on by Bob Mathews

I read an article some time back (on a blog that doesn’t exist anymore), and it got me thinking about a fairly common practice. Let me ask you this: When someone offers to do something nice for you or to give you something, what’s your first response? If you’re out to dinner with a friend, and she picks up the check, do you argue about it or do you accept her generosity? What would you do if you were sick, and you heard a neighbor mowing your lawn? You’d probably offer to pay him for the trouble, which is fine, but what if he refused? Do you insist (and keep on insisting) that he accept payment, or do you thank him for his gracious gift of kindness?

…salvation itself is a gift; Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that

I think many, if not most, of us react in those situations with feelings of shame or embarrassment — “I should be doing things like this more often.” Some of us react with the attitude of “You don’t have to do that.” And you know what? Those feelings are exactly right. As Christians, we should be known for our acts of kindness. Of course your friend didn’t have to mow your lawn. That’s why it’s called a gift. Gifts, by definition, are things we don’t deserve.

I contend if we have trouble accepting gifts and kind deeds from our friends & neighbors, we have the same difficulty accepting these things from our Heavenly Father. Indeed, salvation itself is a gift; Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that. So often though, we quote those 2 verses and leave out verse 10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Consider this:

  • We are created to do good works. (Ephesians 2:10 – By the way, any scripture references you see in any of our articles here, if you hover the mouse pointer over them, you can read the verse in a popup. If you click, it will open in a new tab.)
  • We glorify our Father when we do so. (Matthew 5:16)
  • Thus, when you fail to accept a gracious gift from someone, you prevent him or her from fulfilling the purpose for which we were all created! You prevent others from glorifying God.

What do you think?

Promises of God – A Promise set with a Rainbow

Posted on by Bob Mathews

Genesis 9:9-16 says, “9Now behold, I Myself do establish My covenant with you, and with your descendants after you; 10and with every living creature that is with you; of all birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. 11I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12God said, “This is a sign of the covenant which I am making between Me an you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; 13I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. 14It shall come about, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow will be seen in the cloud, 15and I will remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

16When the bow is in the cloud, then I will look upon it, to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

People had become sinful beyond what you might believe, and God’s heart was broken. He couldn’t put up with it any longer. So, before the rainbow appeared God did something massive. He brought a worldwide flood to wipe out the evil and corruption that had taken hold of all He created. Almost every person and animal on earth was lost. Only the people and animals on Noah’s ark were saved. When they got off the ark, you may imagine their thinking. Will this ever happen again? Or maybe, will we live through it again if it does? God calmed them down by promising that He would never destroy the world by flood again. To help all the people remember, He gave us something we can see. He put the rainbow in the sky as a sign of that promise.

Did God need the rainbow so He could remember what He’d said? No, the rainbow was for Noah and his family. It was for all his descendants who would live after him (9:9). Today, it’s for you. It lets you know that God keeps His promises. After all these years, God still remembers the promise He made to that group of people on the ark. When He made that promise, He knew that as long as the sunlight hits the raindrops, people can see the rainbow and know that He remembers His promise.

Even greater for us is the understanding that God remembers all His promises, whether they come with a rainbow or not.

Unanswered prayer

Posted on by Bob Mathews

When I exercise, I like to listen to audiobooks. Some time back, I listened to Prayer, by Philip Yancey. Many times the author uses the phrase “unanswered prayer”. Granted, Yancey explains his use of the term, but I’ve always disliked calling a prayer “unanswered” just because it’s not answered according to our liking. To say that prayer is unanswered is to say God turns a deaf ear to requests to which He has said he would listen.

A Christian can literally do whatever he wants to do.

So how do we know God answers every prayer? Because he told us so.

If we ask according to His will, we know He hears us — 1 John 5:14.

God is attentive to the prayer of the righteous — 1 Peter 3:12.

Prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective — James 5:16.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7

I see a few qualifiers there. These verses tell me God will answer my prayer if whatever I ask is according to His will, if I am righteous, and if I abide in Jesus and His words abide in me. I see no cause for confusion on the first 2 points. God said He will “hear us” and that He is “attentive to [our] prayer” if we are righteous. But will God really do anything for me if I just ask? Isn’t that what Jesus promised? In a word, no.

I once heard an elder say in a Bible class that a Christian can literally do whatever he wants to do. He didn’t just leave it at that; he explained his statement and I agree with him. If I truly abide in Christ, and His words abide in me (John 15:7), then the very things I want to do will be exactly what He wants me to do. Thus, I can literally do whatever I want. By extension, I can literally ask for whatever I want and it will be given to me (NIV) or done for me (NASV).

So, just like an attentive parent answers every request of his child, God answers every prayer of His child. Sometimes he says “yes, right now”, sometimes he says “yes, but later”, and sometimes he says “no”, but He listens attentively when I talk to Him, and He responds in accordance with His good and perfect will (Romans 12:1-2).

Response to the Gospel

Posted on by Bob Mathews

There you are, near the end of the worship service, when the congregation stands to sing the invitation song. Someone walks down the aisle to respond to the Gospel. What’s your response?

When you see the work of God, how should a Christian react?

I know we all respond differently, and no doubt we may even respond differently in this situation compared to how we responded the last time. On at least two occasions, I’ve been so affected that I couldn’t sing. I mean my voice just didn’t work! What was it that caused me to respond so emotionally when I wasn’t even the one walking down the aisle?

In both cases that I recall, it was a combination of factors. One, I knew the person well enough to know why she was responding. Two, I could see the power of God working in the lives of both of these individuals so undeniably that I could respond no other way.

In a way, I hesitated to write this post because I know a lot of people have difficulty seeing any response of ours to God as being anything but emotional. I don’t mean to imply that if you don’t feel something inside when you see God working, that there’s something wrong with you. But think about it. When you see the work of God, how should a Christian react? Should we act with an attitude of complacency, and that it’s “just God’s job” to work wonders through people? Or should we react in an attitude of praise, being thankful that God still moves the hearts of sinners? (Those are rhetorical questions, by the way.)

We know the word of God is living and active, and is sharper than any double-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). We also know God’s word will not return to Him without effect (Isaiah 55:11).

Are you able to see Him working in others? Just as importantly, can others see Him working in you? (Matthew 5:16)

Domino Effect

Posted on by Bob Mathews

The best way to avoid a pattern of negative choices is to seek wisdom from God to make good choices from the start. That’s the ultimate way to live as a follower of Jesus—fueling our daily decisions with God’s wisdom! That can lead to a positive domino effect, where one good choice leads to another good choice—and on and on it goes. And thankfully, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can be forgiven and set back upright again even when we do make a poor choice.

Proverbs 3:5-8 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all you ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in our own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones.”

Jesus cares about your decisions. Think of some choices you made today or this week, do you feel good about those choices? Are there some choices you would like to go back in time to change? In the passage we read, we’re warned to not rely on our own understanding. Why is that so hard to do? Because we like to be in control.

It’s true that God is in charge of everything, but he cares deeply about us and about all the little choices we make in everyday life. Jesus has the wisdom we need to make solid choices, and he wants to give that wisdom to us!

Your choices affect other people. I’m sure that all of you can remember a choice someone else made that affected you, either positively or negatively. God designed us to live life together, not alone. What’s one wise choice you’ve made that’s improved your relationships with other people?

Most of us know that relationships—with friends, family, colleagues, classmates, teammates—are really important. But sometimes we forget how much better those relationships could be if we sought wisdom from Jesus. The next time you’re about to make a choice that you know will affect someone else, ask Jesus to help you make the right decision. This Scripture says he’ll show you the right path to take.

Your choices either build up or tear down your reputation. Think about this: You can quickly gain a bad reputation because of one bad choice, and then it can take a long time to get rid of that bad reputation. Like it or not, our choices cause people to see us in a certain way. As Christians, we bear the name of Jesus Christ. We can make choices that honor him and reflect him.

Listen to this statement: “It can take five minutes to gain a bad reputation and a year to lose that bad reputation.” Do you know anyone in your life that has proven this statement to be true? If so, what can you learn from that person’s situation? Not trying to say we have to be perfect, but simply trying every day to be better.

What’s one choice you can start with today to create a positive domino effect in your relationship with the Lord?

30-minute worship

Posted on by Bob Mathews

While driving from Dallas to Austin some time back, I saw a banner with that phrase on it — 30-minute worship. My reaction was, Really? So who’s this targeting? People who just can’t be bothered to give more than 30 minutes out of their busy life to Jesus on Sunday morning?

I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t respond to a “30-minute cross” banner on his way to Golgotha.

If that’s offensive, I assure you I don’t mean it to be, but I would like us to take a look at our priorities.

We hurry home from an after-dinner rush to the supermarket so we don’t miss the beginning of MacGyver.

We have our child at school 45 minutes early for her kindergarten “holiday program” so we can sit in the front row.

We quietly slink out of Sunday morning worship so we can beat the _____ (insert name of denomination) to El Diamante and still make it home in time for the kickoff.

After a late Saturday night, we just can’t get it going the next morning, so we totally skip Bible class and arrive at worship 10 minutes late. We only miss a couple of songs.

We’re on time for Sunday morning worship, but have some things to take care of, so we make a hasty exit after communion. At least we were there for the most important part.

Do I sound cynical in the least? Please feel free to kick me if you’ve never experienced (or been guilty of) any of this.

…infants (and kids of all ages) tend to have schedules of their own, but many times when we’re late, isn’t it because we simply failed to plan far enough ahead?

What are we “here” for, anyway? I don’t agree 100% with Rick Warren, but I do agree with him that our purpose on earth is to give praise, honor, and glory to the One Who put us here. Period. That’s why God created us.

I understand there are times when there are business trips on Sunday and there are airplanes to catch. Been there. I also understand that there are other things that take us away from worship, and these just can’t be avoided. Most of the time though, isn’t is because of a choice we make? We choose to be on time and to participate fully in the things that truly matter to us.

We choose to hit the snooze 3 or 4 times, and end up being late to worship.

We choose to be in our easy chair when Yellowstone (or The Mandalorian or NCIS, or whatever it is you can’t miss) comes on the tube, and we don’t miss a second of the action.

We choose to have our 10-year-old son at his soccer game 15 minutes early so he can be a “starter”.

Anyone who’s ever had a child knows infants (and kids of all ages) have schedules of their own, but many times when we’re late, isn’t it because we simply failed to plan far enough ahead to get ourselves and our kids there in time for Bible class?

We can just as easily choose to make worship a priority in our lives. If it takes a full 60 or 90 or 120 minutes of our precious Sunday morning, day-off, day-of-rest time, then so be it. What are we here for anyway? How long was Jesus on the cross? (Hint: It was between 5 hours and 7 hours — Mark 15:25, 33-34.) I don’t think showing up on time and staying until the last “Amen” is too much to ask. What do you think?

Humility is seeing ourselves as God sees us

Posted on by Bob Mathews

I saw that quote on a church sign recently. You know the ones — these are the signs that have quippy sayings that are intended to make you think, and sometimes make you groan, kind of like ours. Like most quotes, some are better than others. This one got my attention though, because I wasn’t sure if I agreed with it or not.

How do you think God sees you?

…all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

Let me ask you this — if I had a huge, ugly brown spot on my back, would you ever know about this blemish if every time you saw me I was wearing a shirt? Scripture tells me at the time I was baptized, I was clothed with Christ.

26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Galatians 3:26-27

Therefore, since I am clothed with Christ, whenever God looks at me He sees Jesus. He doesn’t see the blemishes that abound — the blemishes Jesus’ blood washed clean (1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7). He sees me as pure and spotless as the day I was born.

And this brings up another question — if God sees us as being clothed with Christ, and doesn’t see our blemishes, shouldn’t we see His children in the same state? How easy it is to focus on each others’ dirty laundry and blemishes, when we should see our fellow life-strugglers as washed clean with the same blood as we have been.

So, back to the original quote and the question it provoked — is humility seeing ourselves as God sees us? I think not. “Humility is seeing ourselves as we would be without Jesus.” How’s that for a re-write?

What do you rely on?

Posted on by Bob Mathews

This is a question that popped into my head yesterday. With all the cold weather around the country, it should be no surprise that we got our share. The snow was nice to see and it was exciting for our young son to experience it for the first time. However, troubles come with snow most of the time. It is always a possibility that power may go out when the weather gets bad enough. Sure enough, we lost power sometime in the middle of the night. This is not something we haven’t dealt with before though. My wife and I have lost power before but this time seemed very different. It was the first time that we went without power with a baby in the house. It made me realize just how much we needed that electricity. If it was just us, we could have managed the cold. Our son has needs that only the electricity could supply. He doesn’t understand how to keep himself bundled up for warmth when the temperatures are freezing. Luckily, he will drink cold milk but it is definitely not his preference. All that to say, we rely on the ability to flip a switch and have power at our fingertips more than we ever realized.

It made me think though, do I rely on God and Jesus this much? Are they so important to our everyday lives that without them our days grow difficult or even unbearable? The truth is, we must rely on God and Jesus that much. Without them there would be nothing, no life, no you or me. “In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). You can continue reading on from there and see God go on to create all aspects of life including people. If you look at John 1:1 and following you would see that Jesus was there at the beginning with God as the Word that helped to create all things and continues to hold all things together. Unfortunately, after we were created, like bad weather causing problems, sin was brought into the world by going against what God commanded. This continues today whenever we choose to go against God. Because of our sin we are separated from the one who we need the most. Luckily for us, this is not the end of the story.

Insert God’s love here. If we look further into the gospel of John, we get to the famous passage John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” This is not the only passage we should know, but it does give us an idea about why we need to rely on God and Jesus so much. God loves us enough to show us grace and mercy. Mercy because we deserve punishment that He is willing to forego. Grace because He is willing to also bless us with a gift that we don’t deserve and could never earn in spite of our sin. But the only way we could be blessed in either of these ways is because He was willing to allow His Son (Jesus) to die for our sins and it is our belief, trust, and obedience to Him that affords us the blessings of His sacrifice.

So, what do you rely on? Is it the amount of money in the bank? Is it the job that pays the money? Is it the car that gets you to the job? Is it your family that takes care of you? Is it the government that provides what you need? The truth, however sad it may seem to be, is that all of those thing like electricity could be gone. And they may never come back. Nothing on this earth will last forever or ultimately be reliable. God and His Son are the only truly reliable sources that you will ever find. They were here at the beginning and the will continue after the earth is no more. Don’t take them for granted like electricity. A day is coming when the light switch of life will no longer work. When that day comes it will be too late to start believing and relying on them. If you have a desire not to perish and have eternal life, than choose to rely on Jesus today. It is those that believe and follow Him that have blessings from God that are necessary for eternal life.

What was nailed to the cross with Jesus?

Posted on by Bob Mathews

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Colossians 2:13-15 — NIV

The verse I want to focus on is verse 14, but I kept all 3 verses for context. Actually, for the full context, read the entire book of Colossians. It’s only 4 chapters, so it shouldn’t take more than 15-30 minutes.

having canceled the written code, with its regulations

I’d like to suggest it wasn’t the Old Law that “stood opposed to us”.

A reasonable person might read this and think, “How many ‘written codes‘ did God give?” Certainly the Old Law comes to mind. Any others? In fact, this is a popular interpretation of this passage — based on the NIV translation — but I’d like to suggest a different interpretation. (Are we under the Old Law then? No, but that doesn’t mean that’s what Paul was writing about in this verse.)

Here are the same 3 verses, from the New American Standard Version:

When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. Colossians 2:13-15 — NASV

having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees

Suddenly that doesn’t sound so much like the Old Law. In fact, I’d like to suggest it wasn’t the Old Law that “stood opposed to us”. In fact, the Law was perfect (Psalm 19:7). If it was the Law that was imperfect and that “stood opposed to us”, surely Jesus would have come to destroy the Law, but he didn’t (Matthew 5:17).

So what was “nailed to the cross” with Jesus (v. 14)? I believe context leads us to the interpretation that it was the fact that the Old Law could not save — that no one could keep it perfectly except the One Who was perfect already. You know the song — “He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay.” That was “the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us” — not the Law itself, but our slavery to the debt of having to keep the Law perfectly in order to achieve righteousness. This segues perfectly into that last word Jesus spoke from the cross — tetelestai (commonly translated into 3 English words, “it is finished” ). This word literally means “the debt has been paid”.

So what did Jesus nail to the cross?

He nailed to the cross our certificate of debt. It was that certificate that said under the Old Law, we must keep the Law perfectly in order to be justified, but under the law of grace, we can be counted as righteous — we can be justified — by Jesus having paid the debt on our behalf. Hallelujah!