A Daily Devotional

[Soldier4Christ]

The Light Brigade
 
"Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." (Colossians 1:12-13)
 
By His grace, we have been snatched from Satan's darkness and been placed in the kingdom of light. However, we still live in a dark world hostile to the light. We are therefore soldiers of light, but as with any army, we are not to act independently, but instead "as a good soldier of Jesus Christ" (2 Timothy 2:3), we must follow the orders of our commander and act in accordance with established guidelines.
 
The Supreme Commander in this battle of light versus darkness is none other than God the Father, for "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" (Psalm 27:1).
 
Perhaps, in this analogy, the field commander can be considered to be none other than Jesus Christ, carrying out the will of the Supreme Commander. He said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). "I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me" (John 6:38).
 
We, of course, are the infantry, the light brigade, as it were. "Ye are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14). "Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober" (1 Thessalonians 5:5-6).
 
Our marching orders, our objective, and our methods are all found in the war manual, the Bible. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105). "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light" (Proverbs 6:23). What more could we ask?

[Soldier4Christ]

The Promise
 
"And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." (2 Peter 3:4)
 
Has Christ forgotten His promise? After His resurrection, He returned to heaven to wait as Peter said, "until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21). Ever since the primeval promise in Eden (Genesis 3:15), God's inspired prophets have kept assuring the people of God that He would come as Savior of the world and then again as everlasting King, removing the curse of sin and death and bringing in everlasting life and righteousness.
 
But the centuries have come and gone, age after age, and the world continues to decay, growing worse and worse. With global pollution, disease pandemics, ever-increasing crime, and countless other intractable problems, there may be nothing left if He doesn't come soon!
 
Has He forgotten His promise? No! says Peter, in this very same chapter. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
 
He has not yet returned because there are not yet enough who have "come to repentance"--that is, whose minds and hearts have turned away from the world system and have been renewed through faith in Christ as Creator, Savior, and Lord of all. We need not despair, but simply "account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation" (2 Peter 3:15), seeking to lead people to Him until He comes.
 
His promise is sure, and one day He will return indeed! Therefore, Peter concludes, "we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13).

[Soldier4Christ]

The Lord Our Maker
 
"O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker." (Psalm 95:6)
 
Psalms 95-100 seem to form a unit with several common themes running through them, all involving praise to the Lord.
 
One of these major themes is the recognition of the Lord as Maker of heaven and earth. For example, consider Psalm 95:5. "The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land." Thus, God made the earth, including both land and sea. But He also made the heavens! "For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens" (Psalm 96:5).
 
Higher and far more complex than any planet of the solar system or any star in the heavens, are the living organisms found only on planet earth--especially human beings--and He made these too. "Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture" (Psalm 100:3).
 
It is significant that these verses all emphasize the activities of God as Maker, rather than as Creator. In the first chapter of Genesis, both types of activity are stressed, the account finally concluding with the summary: "All his work which God created and made" (Genesis 2:3).
 
The two types of work are almost synonymous when referring to the divine activity, but not quite (otherwise "created and made" would be redundant). Specifically, the three acts of true creation in Genesis are the creation of the physical elements of the cosmos, the entity of biological life, and the spiritual image of God in man (Genesis 1:1, 21, 27). These entities God simply called into being, ex nihilo, by His omnipotent Word.
 
Everything else He made, or formed or let be, out of the three basic entities that were specially created. He is both Creator and Maker of all things, and we should worship Him as such.

[Soldier4Christ]

Running to Christ
 
"The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." (Proverbs 18:10)
 
When one realizes that he is lost and that only Christ can save him, he should not delay a moment, but come immediately to Christ. There are, in fact, several men in the New Testament who actually ran to Him.
 
There was the man possessed with a whole legion of demons. "But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him" (Mark 5:6), and Jesus set him free.
 
Then there was a young man who wanted to learn of Christ. When he found that Jesus was going away, he came "running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" (Mark 10:17). Unfortunately, his sincerity failed when he realized the cost. Zeal without sacrifice is dead, as is faith without works.
 
There was another wealthy man who was willing to pay the price. "And |Zacchaeus| ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way" (Luke 19:4). The conversion of Zacchaeus was genuine, and he demonstrated it by a changed and sacrificial life.
 
In the midst of Christ's suffering on the cross, He spoke of His awful thirst, and an unknown observer "ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink" (Mark 15:36). Christ will not forget this expression of concern and sympathy.
 
After His burial, Mary Magdalene came back to tell Peter and John that the tomb was open. "So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre. . . . and he saw, and believed" (John 20:4-8).
 
All who hasten wholeheartedly to Christ, sincerely seeking to know and serve Him, will find salvation in His name, for "the name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe."

[Soldier4Christ]

The Way and the Glory
 
"Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people." (Exodus 33:13)
 
"Moses the man of God" (Deuteronomy 33:1) was surely one of the greatest men who ever lived. He was the leader of a great nation, he received the tablets of the law from God, and he compiled and wrote the Pentateuch. It was said that "there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face" (Deuteronomy 34:10). Yet, "the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth" (Numbers 12:3).
 
It was such a man as this who made two remarkable requests of God. The first was, as above: "Shew me now thy way." The second, just a moment later, was: "Shew me thy glory" (Exodus 33:18).
 
These were not selfish requests. Moses desired the way of the Lord on behalf of his people. God answered this request with the gracious promise: "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest" (Exodus 33:14).
 
But then he also asked to see the glory of God. So God placed Moses "in a clift of the rock," covering him with His hand as His glory passed by, allowing him to see the remnants of His glory, as it were (Exodus 33:22-23), since he could not have endured any more. With such a vision of God's glory, Moses was then able to lead the Israelite multitude for 40 years in a terrible wilderness, transforming them from a mob of slaves into God's chosen nation, ready to bring God's Word, and God's Son, into the world.
 
We also can see His way and His glory. Jesus said: "I am the way" (John 14:6). Then He prayed: "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory" (John 17:24).

[Soldier4Christ]

The Tree of Science
 
"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2:17)
 
In this age of science, it is well to remember that the basic meaning of "science" (Latin, scientia) is "knowledge." Thus, it is instructive to substitute "science" whenever the word "knowledge" is used in Scripture. For example: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of science" (Proverbs 1:7).
 
It is significant that the first mention of knowledge in the Bible is in connection with the "tree of knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis 2:9). God warned Adam not to partake of that which would become in him "the science of good and evil" (Genesis 2:17). Adam already was familiar with good science, because everything God had made was "very good" (Genesis 1:31). But Satan tempted Eve with the humanistic lie that "ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5), and ever since, "science" has been both good and evil. Real science, properly applied, is good and beneficial to mankind, but "science falsely so called" (1 Timothy 6:20)--that is, pseudo-sciences, such as evolution and the humanistic social sciences--is both useless and harmful.
 
There are many references to knowledge in the Bible, and it is good to remember that in Christ "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and science" (Colossians 2:3). And it is very significant that the last mention of knowledge, or science, in the Bible is in the last verse written by the apostle Peter before his martyrdom: "But grow in grace, and in the science of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).
 
One can be ever so learned in all the sciences and the various intellectual disciplines of mankind, but if he does not know the Lord Jesus Christ, he has failed in the one science that yields everlasting life. He has eaten of the tree of science but has ignored the tree of life.

[Soldier4Christ]

Love in Action
 
"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up." (1 Corinthians 13:4)
 
It is well known that "charity" in this famous "love chapter" is the Greek agape, which is translated "love" three times as often as it is translated "charity," even in the King James Version. Why then did the scholarly translators prefer to use "charity" in this chapter, of all places?
 
Possibly it is because 1 Corinthians 13 emphasizes what love does, rather than what love is. Love is described in this chapter, not with adjectives or adverbs, but with verbs! "Charity," in the Old English sense, was not merely giving to feed the poor (note v. 3), but meant agape love--an unselfish, enduring, and active concern on behalf of others.
 
In this passage (vv. 4-8, 13) are listed 17 actions which love, or charity, does or does not engage in. Love acts with patience and kindness; it does not envy others or seek to impress others, neither does it exhibit arrogance or conceit. Love is never rude, does not seek its own way, is slow to take offense, and bears no malice or resentment. Love does not gloat over the sins of others and is delighted when truth prevails. Love will bear up under any trial and will never lose faith; it is always hopeful and unlimited in its endurance.
 
Finally, genuine love will be eternal. Even faith will cease when it is replaced by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), and hope will finally be fulfilled (Romans 8:24), but love will abide forever. Love, of course, is eternal because Christ is eternal, and Christ is God, and God is love.
 
This classic passage, describing genuine Christian love, could in fact be read as a beautiful description of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. That is, "Christ suffereth long, and is kind," and so on, finally climaxing in the great truth, "Christ never faileth." Jesus Christ is, indeed, love in action!

[Soldier4Christ]

A Soon Departure
 
"Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me." (2 Peter 1:14)
 
Peter was writing to the scattered believers, persecuted from without and badgered from within by false teachers. He wrote to "put always in remembrance of these things" which they had been taught, and so that they would "be established in the present truth" (v. 12). As he wrote, he viewed his impending "decease" (v. 15, literally "exodus") as merely putting off his earthly tent and putting on another as one would change clothes (2 Corinthians 5:1-2). But this would, perhaps, be his last opportunity to strengthen the lives of the believers.
 
Once before, Peter had faced the prospect of death. The church was under attack (Acts 12:1). Of the three who had been in Jesus’ "inner circle," James had been killed (v. 2), and Peter had been imprisoned and was under heavy guard (vv. 3-6). However, an angel of the Lord (v. 7) escorted him out of prison and out of harm’s way (vv. 8-10). We can only surmise the full impact this made on Peter and his ministry, but we do know he was not afraid to die for his Lord.
 
Actually, as mentioned in our text, the resurrected Lord Himself had predicted Peter’s brutal death at the hands of the enemy (John 21:19). Tradition has it that Peter was crucified upside down during the persecution of the church at the hands of Nero, no doubt glorifying God in and through his death.
 
But his main concerns in this passage were the believers to whom he wrote. He even revealed that he had a plan to "have these things always in remembrance" (2 Peter 1:15). This would be through his diligent teaching, through his letters, and evidently also through the ministry of his own disciple, Mark (1 Peter 5:13), who would carry on after his death.
 
May God grant each of us a similarly fearless, fruitful, and lasting ministry.

[Soldier4Christ]

The Provision of God
 
"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19)
 
Psalm 136 gives three key examples of God's sovereign provision. He protects and shelters during our times in the "wilderness." He makes possible victories over great "enemies." And he gives "food to all flesh." God's detailed provision and the many examples thereof in the Scriptures are inexhaustible. Yet, in these three areas, we may find hope for any situation "in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).
 
Our "wanderings" are compared to hard hearted Israel (1 Corinthians 10) and the many physical and spiritual sins of a people in rebellion to God's control in their lives. Jesus warned that the "cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things" would "choke the word" and make us unfruitful (Mark 4:19). Yet, even though we may be like the younger son in the story of the prodigal (Luke 15:11-32) and would waste our "substance in riotous living," God was still the Provider of the inheritance that was wasted. God was still waiting for the son to come "to himself" and return home. God still has compassion, and He forgives and restores to fellowship all who come home.
 
And were it not for the promises of deliverance from our enemies that are so replete throughout the Scriptures, were it not for the hope that we would see deliverance "in the land of the living" (Psalm 27:13), and were it not for the confident knowledge that "evildoers shall be cut off" (Psalm 37:9), we would be in constant fear and torment. God promises to bring us victory! We are told that He will fight for us, and that we are not left to our own devices! Jesus said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. . . . and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matthew 28:18-20).

[Soldier4Christ]

Sit Still
 
"Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day." (Ruth 3:18)
 
This was the instruction given to Ruth by Naomi in hopes that her kinsman, Boaz, would be willing to perform his family duty and marry Ruth, whose Jewish husband had died in Moab. Ruth's behavior had been honorable, and she had done what she could to let Boaz know she was willing to be his wife, but now she could do nothing except to sit still and wait.
 
This lesson needs to be remembered by Christians today. All too often we rush ahead of the Lord, fearful that things won't work out unless we take matters into our own hands. When the Jews were being invaded by the Assyrian armies and felt they needed an alliance with Pharaoh, God warned: "The Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still. . . . In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength" (Isaiah 30:7-15).
 
Long before, when the children of Israel were in even more desperate circumstances, with the Egyptian armies pursuing them and the Red Sea in front of them, Moses had said: "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord" (Exodus 14:13). Soon, the chariots of Pharaoh were at the bottom of the sea, just as, in due time, Boaz did marry Ruth, and as, 600 year later, the hosts of the Assyrians were slain by the angel of the Lord (Isaiah 37:36).
 
There is, certainly, a time to work--and work hard--in the service of the Lord. There are spiritual battles to be fought and races to be run. But when we have done the best we know how, according to the Scriptures, and still don't see the answer, there comes a time when we must simply sit still, and wait for the Lord. He would have us "be still, and know that |He is| God" (Psalm 46:10).

[Soldier4Christ]

Fitly Framed Together
 
"In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord." (Ephesians 2:21)
 
This verse is at the heart of Paul's beautiful exposition of the growth, one by one, of the great body of believers who will eventually comprise "the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven" (Hebrews 12:23). Here the figure of a great building is used, "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesians 2:20).
 
Upon this strong foundation the building is erected, with each stone being selected and prepared by God for its own specific place in the beautiful edifice. The stones, of course, are individual believers. These "lively stones, are built up a spiritual house" (1 Peter 2:5), and like the beautiful temple of Solomon, where "the glory of the Lord filled the house" (2 Chronicles 7:1), these "also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22).
 
Each stone must be exquisitely chiseled and polished, so that all will be "fitly framed together" when placed in the building. The stones may well be of varied sizes, shapes, and hues in order to display the architectural pattern and message planned and designed by the divine builder, but each is necessary for the integrity of the building. Some may be large stones, highly visible and ornate; others may be small and scarcely noticed, but all are essential, and must be "fitly framed together," so that the finished structure indeed can serve appropriately as "an holy temple in the Lord."
 
Every true Christian is a stone for the spiritual temple, now being cut and carefully dimensioned for a specific role, then polished and adorned for that precise location in the heavenly building (or ministry in the work of God), where he or she can best serve God (Revelation 22:3) in the eternal ages to come.

[Soldier4Christ]

Elijah's Prayer
 
"Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." (James 5:17-18)
 
"Elias" is the New Testament name for Elijah, the great prophet who lived during the darkest days of Israel's apostasy, when Ahab and Jezebel ruled the land and had turned it over to the worship of the demonic god Baal. "Elijah" means "Jehovah is God," a most appropriate name for a prophet of the true God in a nation and time given over to paganism.
 
Elijah suddenly appeared before King Ahab with the ominous prophecy: "As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these year, but according to my word" (1 Kings 17:1). This was not presumptuous. In his commentary, James said Elijah "prayed earnestly" before he spoke, and that "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16).
 
This remarkable prophecy was miraculously fulfilled. There was no rain in all the land of Israel for 3.5 years (as also confirmed by Christ in Luke 4:25) until Elijah defeated all the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:17-45).
 
Yet James reminds us that Elijah was "a man of like passions as we," and that both ends of the miracle--the onset and termination of the long, nationwide drought--were simply answers to Elijah's two fervent prayers. James has much to say about how we also can receive wonderful answers to prayer. In addition to praying fervently, we must "ask in faith, nothing wavering" (James 1:6). But faith must be expressed by action (as when Elijah confronted Ahab), for "faith without works is dead" (James 2:20). Finally, if we "ask, and receive not," it may be that we "ask amiss," wanting the answer only for ourselves (James 4:3).

[Soldier4Christ]

What God Requires
 
"And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?" (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)
 
This sounds simple enough, and the people of Israel readily agreed with Moses to do these things. Modern religious liberals cite such a lifestyle as all that is necessary to satisfy God. But the rub is this: Who dares claim to "walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord |his| God with all |his| heart?" Anyone who makes such a claim would be breaking God’s commandment against lying.
 
Solomon reached a conclusion of like kind: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Indeed so, but who can "keep his commandments"? "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10).
 
Another favorite verse of the liberals is Micah 6:8: "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Yes, but the problem is that "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not" (Ecclesiastes 7:20).
 
There was one such man, of course! The Lord Jesus Christ "did no sin," yet was willing to "bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness" (1 Peter 2:22-24). What we could never do, He has done for us. Now, through faith in the finished work of Christ, we have been set free from the bondage of sin and can indeed "have |our| fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life" (Romans 6:22).

[Soldier4Christ]

Every Creature Under Heaven
 
"If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister." (Colossians 1:23)
 
Before the Lord ascended back to heaven, He commanded His disciples to "preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15), and one might receive the impression from the words of our text that this had already been accomplished, just 30 years after the command was given.
 
Yet, it is hardly plausible to infer from this that Christian missionaries had already reached the entire globe. The problem may be our far-too-limited appreciation of God's witness in the creation. The phrase "to every creature" in our text could better be read "in everything created." That is, the gospel which was now being brought in explicit terms to the Colossians, was consistent with what they already should have known from God's great witness in the very structure and behavior of everything He had created.
 
This is the testimony of such familiar verses as Psalm 19:1 ("the heavens declare . . ."); Romans 1:20 ("the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen"); Acts 14:17 ("he left not himself without witness"); and Acts 17:28 ("in him we live, and move, and have our being"). In the verses just preceding our text (Colossians 1:16-22), Paul had defined this universal gospel as embracing the creation, salvation, and consummation of "all things" by Christ (vv. 16-17, 20). The essence of this truth can be seen (if one's eyes are willing to see it) in "all the world" (v. 6) in the beauty, complexity, unity in diversity, purposefulness, continuance of energy, and process, as found in "every creature which is under heaven." Every aspect of God's creation has been designed to reveal Christ as maker and Savior.

[Soldier4Christ]

Worship and Praise
 
"I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." (Psalm 138:2)
 
Praise and worship are widely taught in Scripture, but are seldom used to describe the same actions. "Worship" describes an attitude of obeisance and reverence (usually by bowing or prostrating) during a formal act of sacrifice or some other structured observance. "Praise," especially this word used in Psalm 138, emphasizes joyous thanksgiving, recognizing God's specific blessing or God's worthiness in character, power, deed, or authority.
 
There are only two events recorded in Scripture where the people of God both "worshipped" and "praised" at the same time. The first was at the dedication of the great temple of Solomon. When the prayer of dedication was finished, the fire of God's glory descended on the temple and entered the Holy of Holies. That awesome event drove everyone to their knees "with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised the Lord" (2 Chronicles 7:3).
 
The other occurred right after Ezra led a remnant back from Babylon. As the people heard the Word read to them for the first time in many decades, they became so convicted of their disobedience, that they began to cry and confess their sin. They stood for about three hours and "confessed |same word as 'praise'|, and worshipped the Lord their God" (Nehemiah 9:3).
 
In neither case did the people jump up and down, clap, or otherwise demonstrate exuberance. They were so overwhelmed at the presence of God that they fell down on their faces! Then they poured out their heart in intimate worship and praise for His lovingkindness, His truth, His name, His being, His attributes, and because God has magnified His Word above all His Name.