The Faith of Our Mothers

“...when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.” (2 Timothy 1:5)

The “dearly beloved son” (v. 2) of the apostle Paul was a young disciple whose strong and sincere Christian faith was due, more than anything else, to the lives and teachings of a godly mother and grandmother. As Paul wrote to Timothy in his last letter, “From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).

Timothy’s mother was a Christian Jew (Acts 16:1), but his father was a Greek who evidently was not a believer. In the ideal Christian home, the father is to assume spiritual leadership (Ephesians 5:22, 25; 6:4), but countless fathers, for some reason, are either unable or unwilling to do this. There have been many homes where a mother or grandmother, usually by default, has had to assume this all-important responsibility, and the Christian world owes these godly women a great debt of gratitude. The writer himself was raised in such a home, and much of his own concern for the Word of God is due to the concerned dedication of a Christian mother and two Christian grandmothers.

It is significant that the fifth of God’s Ten Commandments requires children to honor their parents, and it is the only one of the 10 that carries a special promise: “Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth” (Ephesians 6:2-3). Every godly parent is worthy of real honor every day—not just once each year. And when a Christian mother, like Timothy’s mother, must assume all the responsibility for leading her children in the ways of God, she deserves very special praise. HMM

A Righteous Desire

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.” (Matthew 6:33)

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were quite religious in their behavior, but our Lord often took them to task because “all their works they do for to be seen of men” (Matthew 23:5).

God’s kingdom is first priority. The Lord’s admonition in our text was given to focus His followers beyond the “ordinary” desires and needs of their physical existence. We are expected to “look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). As promised, when we are rightly focused, “all these other things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).

Yield to righteousness. We become “servants” of those things that we “obey,” and we obey that which we have “yielded” ourselves to (Romans 6:16). It is not possible to “serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). Our “members” (our physical bodies) can either become “instruments” of ungodliness or of righteousness (Romans 6:13). We either “walk” after the Spirit or after the flesh (Romans 8:1).

Doggedly pursue godliness. “But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness” (1 Timothy 6:11). Even though our “new man” longs for righteousness, and we consciously yield ourselves to seek and serve God’s kingdom, “with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:25).

We must never become slack in our diligence. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). HMM III

The Christian’s Calling

“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” (Ephesians 4:1)

The Christian’s calling in Christ is a high calling. Since we are encouraged to walk in a manner worthy of this calling, it behooves us to make careful study of it, lest our lifestyle bring reproach to the One who has called us. Consider the following sampling of the uses of this important word.

First, the calling is “of God” and irrevocable (Romans 11:29). We are called “by his grace” (Galatians 1:15) and “into the grace of Christ” (Galatians 1:6). We are called “out of darkness” and “into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Furthermore, we are “called to be saints” (Romans 1:7). He has “called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace” (2 Timothy 1:9). We are “partakers of the heavenly calling” (Hebrews 3:1), and in response, we should “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

The New Testament writers also mention many things to which we are called. We are “called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9). We are “called unto liberty” (Galatians 5:13) and are now free to “serve one another,” even though it means accepting the call to suffering. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). The “eternal life, whereunto thou art also called,” may not come easily, for it involves the “good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). We are called “to glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3), even “his eternal glory by Christ Jesus” (1 Peter 5:10), for we are “called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1). “Give diligence to make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). JDM

Heartfelt Prayer

“Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.” (Lamentations 3:41)

It is so easy to let our prayers become routine and repetitious, and we need to remember that God listens more closely to our hearts than the phrases from our lips. The Lord Jesus cautioned us about this: “But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” (Matthew 6:7-8).

Many people will lift their hands to pray or prostrate themselves on the ground. Some will stand; some will kneel. Some shout, some pray silently, some even leap and dance. Some will write out their prayers and then read them to an audience. Others will pray eloquently and at great length. But the thing that counts far more than posture or eloquence is our attitude of heart. We must lift up our hearts to the Lord, not just our hands or our voices. Then He will hear in heaven!

We need to feel as the psalmist felt: “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Psalm 42:1). Our hearts need first to be right, of course—pure and true in His sight. “Call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22). “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18). “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:22).

Our prayers must also come from a believing heart. “Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” Otherwise, “let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord” (James 1:6-7). With these conditions met, the Christian is ready to pray, and then he must pray from deep within his pure, true, believing heart, and God will answer. “The effectual fervent [one word in the Greek, energeo] prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16). HMM

Waxing Old

“Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.” (Isaiah 51:6)

This verse is typical of many Scriptures that contrast this present decaying, dying order of things (characterizing a world under God’s Curse) with the things that are not dying and that will survive into the new order when the Curse is removed (Revelation 22:3). Even the present “heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away,” Jesus said (Matthew 24:35). God, the Creator, who imposed the Curse because of man’s sin, is not Himself subject to it. “They shall perish, but thou shalt endure:…as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end” (Psalm 102:26-27).

As our text assures us, God’s salvation and righteousness shall never be changed, even when Earth and heaven flee away. The same contrasts exist in the biological realm. “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40:8).

Human nature exhibits a similar phenomenon. “Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;…they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:30-31).

This principle, in fact, applies to the entire creation: “Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption [literally ‘decay’] into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). HMM

When He Shall Appear

“And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” (1 John 2:28)

There are many glorious promises associated with the great promise that Christ Himself shall once again appear in person here on planet Earth. For example, Paul says, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4).

Similarly, the apostle Peter promises, “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Peter 5:4). The writer of Hebrews first reminds us of His former appearance on Earth: “But now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). Then the promise is: “Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (v. 28).

Perhaps the most wonderful promise associated with His second appearing is given through the apostle John: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).

Therefore, when He shall appear, we shall appear with Him in glory, we shall receive an unfading crown of glory, and we shall be like Him, without sin unto salvation. These promises even now constitute an incentive for each believer to purify himself even as He is pure.

But there is also the sobering warning in our text associated with the soon-coming time when He shall appear. We should abide in Him (that is, continue in Him, hour after hour), careful that whatever we do, wherever we go, we are in no danger of being ashamed before Him when He shall appear! HMM

Alive into Heaven

“And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” (2 Kings 2:11)

This remarkable event—the translation of Elijah alive into heaven without dying—was altogether miraculous, but it really happened! Among other things, it assures us that heaven is a real place in this created universe, for Elijah is still there in his physical body, still alive, to this very day.

The prophet Enoch, who also served God in a time of deep apostasy, had likewise been taken into heaven without dying (that is, into the “third heaven,” beyond the starry heaven, where God’s throne is), as recorded in Genesis 5:24 and Hebrews 11:5. Enoch’s prophecies, addressed to the entire world of mankind, were given at approximately the midpoint of the period from Adam to Abraham, whereas those of Elijah, addressed only to Israel, were given at essentially the midpoint of the time from Abraham to Christ. Both were caught up alive into heaven before their ministries were finished. It is possible that they will return again to Earth as God’s “two witnesses” who will prophesy to both Jews and Gentiles in the last days (note Malachi 4:5-6; Revelation 11:3-12) and then finally be slain and resurrected.

In any case, there will also be one entire generation of believers who will—like Enoch and Elijah—be caught up alive into heaven. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven…and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

This could very well be our generation! And “when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). HMM

Feeding on Truth or Wind

“Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” (Psalm 37:3)

Although there are many promises in Scripture to the effect that the Lord will provide material sustenance to those who are faithful to Him (Matthew 6:33), this particular verse evidently refers to an even more blessed promise. The word translated “verily” is better rendered by “truth,” so the latter part of the verse could best be given as: “thou shalt be fed on the truth.” That is, the spiritual life of the one who trusts in Christ will be fed and sustained by truth.

In contrast, the unbeliever feeds on that which is not true. The one “who hath formed a god” (Isaiah 44:10) for himself will soon taste bitterness on his tongue. “He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isaiah 44:20). Those who trust in human deliverance will be like Israel depending on Egypt and Assyria. “Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation” (Hosea 12:1). The diet of false prophets is more bitter still. “Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall” (Jeremiah 23:15).

Wind and ashes, wormwood and gall; such is the spiritual food of those who reject the truth of the Word of God.

To the believer, however, the Scriptures are as much a daily need for the soul as bread for the body. As Job said long ago, “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12). Moses testified as follows: “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3). HMM

Preciousness

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)

The verses leading up to our text explain why we are so special in God’s eyes. We find the key in verse 7, which literally reads, “For you, therefore that believe is the preciousness,” since the Greek word is a noun and not an adjective. But what is this preciousness? The word means honor or honorableness, and in slightly different forms it is so translated in 1 Peter 1:7 and 3:7. But whose honor or worthiness is being discussed in this passage?

Peter answers both of these questions in the immediate context. Speaking of the Lord, he calls Him “precious…a chief corner stone, elect, precious” (1 Peter 2:4, 6). Christ, in God’s eyes, is precious. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Why is He precious? For His purity, love, desire for God’s will, etc.—all the ways (and more) in which we are not precious.

If we choose to remain in disobedient unbelief (1 Peter 2:7), the stone is made “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word” (v. 8). Christ, God’s beloved Son, and His atoning blood are so precious to God that there is a limit to His patience toward those who reject them. God will not allow His Son to be “disallowed” or disobeyed without penalty. Worthlessness is the state of those who reject Him, and judgment awaits them.

If we disbelieve, we have no hope, but “he that believeth on him shall not be confounded [literally, ‘shall positively not be disappointed’]” (v. 6). Our faith is well-founded. If we place our trust in Him, His preciousness is transferred to us. When God the Father looks at one who truly believes, He sees not only Christ’s sinlessness, but He sees His preciousness. JDM

Three Freedoms in Christ

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16)

We grow up “in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,” suffering temptations from three angles (Philippians 2:15). One angle tempts us to fulfill “the lust of the flesh.” “The lust of the eyes” tempts us to desire that which is off limits, and “the pride of life” tempts us “to think of [ourselves] more highly than [we] ought to think” (Romans 12:3). Even worse, no one has the power to deliver himself from these three angles. “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). Jesus can deliver! He offers freedom from each angle of temptation.

Satan approached Eve and Adam, who succumbed to all three temptations (Genesis 3:6). We inherit their sin nature since we descended from them. But Matthew 4:1-11 records how Jesus followed His Father when the devil tempted Him in the same three ways. He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). His victories qualify Him to free us!

“But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:13). Those who trust Christ for new life can live it with three new freedoms: to serve the Father instead of the flesh, to desire Him over the world’s lousy substitutes for knowing Him, and to enjoy His acceptance instead of having to pridefully labor to be somebody. “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6:22). BDT

Joy in Prison

"Yea, and if I offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all." (Philippians 2:17)

The epistles Paul penned while in prison include Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and likely 2 Timothy. One can imagine Satan’s glee when the apostle was first thrown into prison. But cell and chains didn’t silence Paul or thwart his joy.

The book of Philippians, “the epistle of joy,” was likely written from an imprisonment in Rome. Here we see a perfect example of a common biblical theme: something happens that appears evil, but God uses it for good. “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” (Genesis 50:20).

Think of it this way: God “sentenced” Paul to pray and write for a season. It was a retreat of sorts, a time of great intimacy between Paul and his Redeemer. Far from being despondent about his incarceration, Paul embraced it. He didn’t beg to be free, ask his friends to bribe the guards, or even insist on his innocence. He rather encouraged believers to “stand fast” for the faith (Philippians 1:27, 4:1).

Paul yielded to God’s will, and this was the key to his peace in prison. Only then could he say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). The Holy Spirit was present in the prison with Paul, and the Spirit inspired every word Paul wrote.

God advances the gospel despite and through apparent obstacles. “The things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel” (Philippians 1:12).

Are you in a place you don’t want to be? Remember that the Holy Spirt is with you in that seemingly dark place. God can and will use you wherever you are. There is purpose in the trial—the furtherance of the gospel and joy. “In thy presence is fulness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). MJS

Thanks for Everything

“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:20)

Being thankful for everything that happens in his or her life to a Christian believer is listed in this section of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians as one of the evidences that a Christian is indeed “filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

That is not all. Not only for everything, but in everything we should give thanks to God. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). These two commands are easy to obey when the living is easy, as the song says, though we might easily forget to do so. But when the Lord is allowing us to hurt for a while, thanksgiving becomes hard. It is hard while we are experiencing the difficulty and just as hard when it has passed with no relief in sight. The two small prepositions “in” and “for” are different in New Testament Greek as well as in modern English, and God really wants us to learn how to thank Him both during and after the hard experience.

This is because He has allowed it for a good purpose! The apostle James urges us to “count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations” (that is, “various testings”), “knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:2-4). Paul says that we can even “glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:3-5). Patience and real love will come to characterize a habitually thankful Christian. HMM

Showers of Blessing

“And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.” (Ezekiel 34:26)

This verse provided the inspiration for the old gospel hymn “Showers of Blessing.” While it applies specifically to Israel, it states a divine principle that believers of all times have rightly appropriated to their own lives. The same word (“showers”) is also frequently translated “rain,” speaking of the rain that followed Elijah’s contest with the prophets of Baal at the end of the three-year drought. “And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain” (1 Kings 18:41).

In general, the word is most commonly used to indicate very heavy rains. In fact, its first occurrence is in connection with the great Flood. “The rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights” (Genesis 7:12). This rain had poured forth from the windows (literally “sluiceways”) of heaven, and it provides an impressive picture of the tremendous showers of blessing that God desires to pour down on His people.

In the context of our key verse, the promised showers follow the condition of the preceding verses: “And I the LORD will be their God….And I will make with them a covenant of peace” (Ezekiel 34:24-25). The greatest blessings of God, accordingly, must follow the knowledge of God and the peace of God, through the Lord Jesus Christ.

No doubt the greatest of all spiritual blessings, at least in this life, is the inspired Word of God, and the same word is so used: “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud…so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11). HMM

The God of Heaven

“And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.” (Jonah 1:9)

It was by these words that the prophet Jonah identified himself to the merchants of Tarshish as he was fleeing on their ship from the presence of the Lord. This special title, “the God of heaven,” seems generally to have been used by the Jews when they were talking to men of other religions, stressing that their God was no mere tribal deity but the true God who had created the very heavens.

The title was first used by Abraham, speaking to his servant: “And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth” (Genesis 24:3). At this time, the nation of Israel existed only in the promise of this “God of heaven.”

It also appears frequently in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, first in the decree of Cyrus the Persian: “The LORD God of heaven…hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:2). Even though the Persians followed lesser gods, Cyrus knew that the one God of heaven was the Creator. The name then reappears several times in the book of Daniel, who was living in the palace of the heathen king of Babylon. Its final Old Testament occurrence is Daniel 2:44: “The God of heaven [shall] set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.”

In the New Testament it occurs only twice, both in Revelation. In one instance, John writes that the ungodly nations “blasphemed the God of heaven”; in the other, he says they “gave glory to the God of heaven” (Revelation 16:11; 11:13). In our own witnessing today, especially to those who don’t know or believe the Bible, it is also good to stress that our God is not just the God of Judeo-Christian tradition but the Creator of all things. HMM

Habitation for God

“...until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood. We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool.” (Psalm 132:5-7)

These fascinating verses may well have a double meaning: first, a retrospective reference to David’s desire to build a temple for God, and second, a prophecy concerning a still-future habitation for God. Ephratah was the same as Bethlehem, the birthplace of both David and his greater son, Jesus.

The writer of this psalm may have been King Hezekiah, a contemporary of the prophet Micah, who had written: “Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah,…out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). He was also a contemporary of Isaiah, who had written concerning this same coming Son: “His name shall be called…the mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6).

David had desired to build an earthly habitation for the mighty God of Israel; Isaiah had said this “mighty God” would be “a child born” and “a Son given”; and Micah said He would be born in Bethlehem Ephratah. Our psalmist must have been thinking about these truths when he saw, through the future eyes of those “in the fields of the wood” “at Ephratah,” this “place for the LORD,” who then would go to “worship at His footstool.”

Some 800 years later, “there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields” at Bethlehem Ephratah when a great host of angels told them the promised Savior had come, directing them to go to His “habitation” to worship Him. And that was where they did, indeed, find Him, “wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” (Luke 2:8, 12), and they were the very first to “worship at his footstool.” HMM