Thursday, June 25, 2020

Full Coverage

"No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways."
Psalm 91:10-11 (NKJV) 

There are all kinds of different insurance policies that you can buy.  When you purchase an insurance policy, it will tell you about all of the things that are covered, and what things are not covered by the policy.  The more things you want to have covered by your insurance, the more it will cost you.  The most expensive type of insurance is full coverage insurance, which does what its name says, it covers everything.  It may cost more to have everything covered, but that is the best kind of insurance.

We can read in the New Testament about all that God provided for us through Jesus.  As a part of the New Testament, we have the benefits and blessings of the Old Testament, and more.  In the Old Testament, God promised His people safety and protection, and that applies to us today as well.  In Psalm 91:10-11, God promises that no evil or plague will come to us, that is talking about full coverage!  God goes on to say that He gives angels charge over us to keep us, to protect us, in all of our ways, in everything we do, and everywhere that we go.

People might ask, “If all of this is really true, then why do we still have problems?”  The simple answer is because we still have the devil to deal with, and if we don’t know what we are covered for, we can’t take advantage of it.  Our response should be that it is great to see what God’s Word tells us belongs to us, and is there anything we need to do to activate this “policy”?  God has provided full coverage for us, and that is the best insurance policy of all!  We need to take advantage of everything that God has provided for us. 

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Too Far To Quit

"And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God!"
But his wife said to him, "If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time."
Judges 13:22-23 (NKJV) 

For various reasons, more than once I have driven across several states, in the USA, on a single trip.  By the time I was half-way through the trip, I could hardly stand to drive any further, all I wanted to do was stop.  But that would not have made any sense, because I had gone too far to quit, and stopping half-way through the trip would be pointless.  Why should I stop once I had come so far and had done so much already?  The best thing was to finish the trip, which I did.

In the Bible we read the story of Samson.  Before Samson was born, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Samson’s parents to tell them what to do.  This was such an amazing event and it was so out of the ordinary that Samson’s father thought their life was over.  But Samson’s mother said that would not make any sense, because of what God had already done and told them.  Her thinking was, with all of the things God had already done and said, they had come too far for their life to end now.

So many times, it seems like we have reached the end of things and we can’t go on.  But, when we consider all that God has done for us through Jesus, how much God loves us, and all of the things that God has already done in our life, we should realize that God has brought us too far for us to quit now.  When things look dark, we need to realize that God is still with us and our journey with Him is not over!  God has invested too much in us to let things end now; we have a great, bright future with God!  

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Digging For Treasure

"in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
Colossians 2:3 (NKJV) 

There are people who dig for treasure, or valuable things, in various places, based on some information that they have.  It may be that there is evidence of a sunken ship, or maybe something was left behind or buried by someone in the past.  Based on the idea that there is something valuable to be found, people will invest their own money and their time looking for, and hoping to find, some treasure that is hidden away somewhere.  Then, if that treasure is found, the people who found it are rewarded for their efforts.

Colossians 2:3 says that in Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”, what an awesome statement that is!  The wisdom and knowledge that we need to live our life is found in Christ.  Colossians 3:1 goes on to say that our life, our true identity, is hidden in Christ.  With what these verses are telling us, we ought to invest our time and, if necessary, our money, in finding these treasures.  We have to dig into the Word and allow the Holy Spirit to show us who we really are, what we have, and can do, as a new creation in Christ.

The word “hidden” in Colossians 2:3 means, “a secret”.  A secret is not something that is seen or known openly, it has to be discovered, like a treasure.  Many people are seeking wisdom and knowledge, and others have said that they need to “find themselves”, but sadly these people are often looking in the wrong place, because all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge that we need, as well as our true identity, are hidden in Christ.  Knowing that the Bible reveals to us everything Christ is, and who we are in Him, shouldn’t we take the time to seek out these hidden treasures?

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Walking in Love - The Know It All

"For we know in part and we prophesy in part."
1 Corinthians 13:9 (NKJV) 

Have you ever met a “know it all” type of person?  Most of us have, and it is usually not a very pleasant experience.  Sadly, there are some people who think that they do in fact know it all and you really can’t tell them much, if anything, that they do not think that they already know.  The problem is that no one really knows it all, because there is always more to learn.  If someone has the “I know it all” attitude it also very often results in those people having a bad attitude.

Christians are called to walk in love.  This is not always the easiest thing to do, and we all have room to grow in this area.  One thing that has helped me to walk in love with others is what we read in 1 Corinthians 13:9, “we know in part”.  No one knows everything about every other person, and if we really understand this it can help us to walk in love.  We don’t know what other people are dealing with, and we don’t know all of the things that they may have gone through.

In 1 Corinthians 13 we can read about the love of God, and Romans 5:5 says that the love of God is in us.  But how does that work in our lives?  If we look at the characteristics of love in light of how we only know a part of what is going on with the other person, it can help us to be patient, kind, and so on.  We need to understand that we don’t know everything about other people and that they may not even realize how poorly they are behaving.  By recognizing that no one knows everything, we only see a part of things, it can help us to walk in love.