Say What You See

"Then said I: "Ah, Lord God!  Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth."
But the Lord said to me: "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' For you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak."
Jeremiah 1:6-7 (NKJV)

There are many things that we talk about, and often we talk about what we see.  We might see something beautiful, something interesting, or something unusual, and when we do, we usually talk about it.  We also talk about what we think and feel, but talking about what we have seen and are currently seeing is very common.  It would be strange for someone to see something noteworthy and never talk about it, and that rarely happens, because most of the time we like to talk about, and tell others about, what we see.

One of the most important elements of the Christian life is faith.  Faith is not based on what we see, faith is based on God's Word.  Faith can be seen through someone's actions, and faith is something that can be expressed with our words.  Most often, we exercise our faith through our words, and this is why it is important to know what God's Word says, so that we can build our faith and speak our faith.  Our faith is released through our words, and we need to say what we see in God's Word to exercise our faith, and not wait until we see some natural evidence of something before we say something.

When God told Jeremiah that He had called him to be a prophet, Jeremiah's reaction was that he could not do it, because he was so young. Jeremiah based his faith, and his words, on what he saw in himself naturally.  But God told Jeremiah not to talk about what his natural situation was, but to say what God told him to say.  We have the same choice as Jeremiah, we can say what we see, naturally, or we can say what God says.  When we say what we see naturally, we are not always speaking in line with God's Word.  We need to see what God's Word says, and then say that.  

You Cannot Overpromise The Gospel

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek."
Romans 1:16 (NKJV)

One thing that can hurt a business, and the product that it sells, is to overpromise anything about that product.  If a company is selling toothpaste that they say will make your teeth whiter, then that toothpaste cannot make your teeth any darker.  If a company claims that their new mobile phone network has better coverage than their competitor, but the coverage is actually worse, they have overpromised what their product can do.  This same principle works in many situations, and it is always better to be honest and not make any claims about something that cannot be proven.

The word gospel means, "good news."  Usually, when people use the word "gospel" today they are referring to either the four books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John or they are referring to the message that Jesus came to deliver.  The writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell us about Jesus and how He came to bring the good news to people that He was the Way to God, and through Him people could be restored to a right relationship with God.  That is definitely good news and something that once someone takes advantage of can change their life for the better, and that is not overpromising anything!

Jesus came to bring us abundant life through a relationship with God.  Jesus' message of hope and freedom is something that is available to everyone, it is good news, the Gospel.  In Romans 1, Paul said that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation, and the good news is that today we can be set free from a life of sin and shame because of Jesus.  The Gospel message of how Jesus came to die for our sin and to enable us to become the children of God is something that can truly change a person's life.  This is not hype, over stating or overpromising anything, but it is the truth that will set people free!

A Good Habit Jesus Had

"So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.  And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read."
Luke 4:16 (NKJV)

A habit is something that can be described as a regular practice or a routine behavior that someone engages in on a consistent basis.  A habit would not be something that a person only does one time, or once and a while, but a habit is something done repeatedly and often.  People can have good and bad habits, and while we certainly want to eliminate bad habits, we should develop good habits.  By developing good habits and avoiding bad habits, we can build a routine in our life that is positive for ourselves and those around us.

In the Gospels, we get a picture of who Jesus was and what He did.  We can see the kind of life that Jesus lived, and that can be a great example for us.  Of course, we know that Jesus lived a sinless life and fully did the will of God.  This can make it seem impossible to follow in Jesus' footsteps, but there are some things that Jesus did that are a pattern for us to follow.  And of course, if Jesus did something positive, and it is possible for us to do it, then we should follow His example in that thing.

Jesus is our example of how to live and serve God.  Luke 4:16 tells us it was Jesus' custom, His practice, His habit, to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.  This would be similar to Christians attending a church.  Some Christians say they do not need church or to interact with other believers, because if they are in a relationship with God, then that is all they need.  But even Jesus had a habit of meeting with other people who believed as He did.  Being a part of a life-giving, Word of God believing group of people and being involved there is a good habit that Jesus had, and every believer should have that habit too.

Good And Bad Doctrine Both Do Something

"Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
Matthew 16:12 (NKJV)

Leaven is something you can put into dough that will cause the dough to rise, the leaven will cause a reaction in the dough.  If you put air into a balloon, the balloon will inflate, the air will cause a reaction in the balloon.  You could put some food coloring into some dough, and that too will cause a reaction, but it will not be the same thing as putting leaven into the dough.  And you could put water into a balloon, which will also fill the balloon, but this will cause the balloon to act in a completely different way than if you had filled it with air.

One thing we are warned about repeatedly in Scripture is false teachers and false teaching.  There are a lot of ways for us to receive teaching today, but not all of it is good.  For example, anyone can post something on social media to say whatever they want to say, but that does not make what they are saying correct or good in any way.  Good teaching based on biblical principles will help us in our life, but bad teaching will harm us.  We need to be sure the teaching we hear is good, Bible based teaching, and we have to be careful to avoid the wrong kind of teaching that will harm us.

In Matthew 16, Jesus warned His disciples about the "leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  At first, His disciples thought Jesus was talking about natural bread, but Jesus was actually warning them about the teaching of those religious leaders.  Jesus compared their teaching to leaven, because just like leaven will create a reaction in dough and cause it to rise, the teaching we hear will cause a reaction in us and have an effect on our life.  Good Bible based teaching will help us in our life, but bad teaching will harm us.  We need to be sure the teaching we hear is good, Bible based teaching.

Something "Old" In The New Year

"For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.
Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,"
2 Peter 1:12-13 (NKJV)

When a "New Year" starts, people often think about making changes and doing something different in their life.  But the New Year is not really new, we just change the number of the calendar year that we are in.  We still have the same 12 months, we still have the same 52 weeks, and we still have the same seasons, so nothing is really new.  Making changes and adding something new to improve our lives is a good thing, but we often already have much of what we need, and it is not that we need something new, we just need to make use of what we already have.

At the start of the New Year, and sometimes at the end of a calendar year, Christians will talk about what they believe the emphasis of the New Year should be.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes Christians get the idea that something new and different is needed to improve their life and relationship with God.  No matter what the year is according to the calendar, there are some things we have now that we will still need each and every year, and one of those things is the Bible.  No matter the year, we need to read and study God's Word again and again.

In 2 Peter 1:12-13, Peter made a great point when he told the people he was going to continue to remind them of something, even though they were established in that truth; Peter was talking about God's Word.  We have to be careful that we do not fall prey to the idea that there has to be some new thing in our life to make the New Year better.  We need to keep doing the same "old" things of spending time with God in His Word and through prayer, putting God's Word into practice, and being led by the Holy Spirit.  These are the things that we need to keep on doing in our "New Year," and every year.