Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagernesss and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
— �Acts 17:11-12
Equality of opportunity should be granted to all; after that everyone is on his own. No institution can add to or take from the original human stuff the student brings to class with him. After years of observation I am forced to conclude that some persons simply cannot profit from their educational opportunities. Beyond providing them with a few items of information they might not otherwise acquire, a college course does them little good.
Their years of enforced study leave them without improved tastes, without perspective and without wisdom. Some persons can gain a good education from life; others cannot manage to become educated by life plus long years in the best institutions of higher learning. Yet our educators continue to apply their Procrustean rules to each new generation, stretching and cutting till they achieve a uniformity Mother Nature obviously never intended.
In the field of religion things are no better. Within the holy precincts of the church Procrustes works on, cutting and tugging till everyone looks, thinks and acts like everyone else. To achieve this he must destroy our originality, make us afraid to be different and persuade us that conformity is synonymous with godliness and nonconformity a sin. And this he does with astonishing success.
Experience proves that uniformity almost always degenerates into mediocrity. It is easier to go down to the contented many than to rise above them; it is easier to memorize than to think through; it is easier to imitate than to initiate. . . .
thought
Uniformity or uniqueness ? most of us possess both but uniqueness is usually the lesser. The giants of the faith have been markedly different than the masses of Christendom. Christlikeness and a deep hunger for God made them unique.
prayer
Thank You, Lord, by Your enablement I can be different from what I have been and even from those around me. I can be different for You.
He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith.
— Mark 6:5-6
Idolatry is the supreme sin and unbelief is the child of idolatry. Both are libels on the character of the Most High and the Most Holy. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, wrote the apostle John. A God who lies is a God without character, and where there is no character there can be no confidence. This is the moral logic of unbelief. The unbeliever refuses to trust God because his conception of God is base and ignoble. That he does not burn incense to a graven image does not make him less an idolater, unless we want to make a distinction and say that the idolater worships his false god while the unbeliever refuses to do even that.
The joyous message of Christianity is that there is a way back from this place of unbelief and alienation. He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. The gospel message declares that the wronged God took the wrong upon Himself in order that the one who committed the wrong might be saved. Repentance is among other things a sincere apology to God for distrusting Him so long, and faith is throwing oneself upon Christ in complete confidence. Thus by faith reconciliation is achieved between God and man.
thought
How much do we limit the display of Gods power by our unbelief? God alone is worthy of our complete trust even when we dont always understand His ways.
prayer
Lord, is it my weak faith alone that hinders Your working in and through me? Or is it a propensity to pride on my part, to take glory that belongs to You? Lead me, O God, into complete trust in You.
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You of little faith, he said, why did you doubt?
— Matthew 14:31
Human sin began with loss of faith in God. When our mother Eve listened to Satans sly innuendoes against the character of God she began to entertain a doubt of His integrity and right there the doors were opened to the incoming of every possible evil, and darkness settled upon the world. The Bible talks about mans being alienated from and an enemy to God. Should this sound harsh or extreme you have only to imagine your closest personal friend coming to you and stating in cold seriousness that he no longer has any confidence in you. I do not trust you. I have lost confidence in your character. I am forced to suspect every move you make.
Such a declaration would instantly alienate friends by destroying the foundation upon which every friendship is built. Until your former friends opinion of you had been reversed there could be no further communion. Only a restored faith could bring about a restored friendship. Now, it is well known that people do not go boldly to God and profess that they have no confidence in Him, and no one except the rare professional unbeliever is willing to witness publicly to his low view of God. The frightful thing, however, is that people everywhere act out their unbelief with a consistency that is more convincing than words.
thought
Why do we doubt God? Is there a question about His character or His power? We often attempt to hide our doubt but it is evident in our prayer and our daily living, isnt it?
prayer
Forgive me for doubting You, Lord. It is often covered over with faith-talk. But only You can be fully trusted.
O Sovereign LORD, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant.
— Second Samuel 7:28
Because this is a moral universe, character, which is the excellence of moral beings, is naturally paramount. As the excellence of steel is strength and the excellence of art is beauty, so the excellence of mankind is moral character. An honest man is the noblest work of God, an apothegm usually attributed to John Wesley, may sound at first rather extreme, but if we allow the word honest to stand for all the moral virtues we may be able to understand the apothegm and possibly to agree with it. A saint should be not only a man of intense spiritual devotion but a man of symmetrical virtues and perfectly balanced character.
Relationship between moral beings is by confidence, and confidence rests upon character, which is a guarantee of conduct. It is true that sin has introduced confusion into the world so that we do not always find consistency of moral conduct among men; yet to live in a moral world it is necessary that we put confidence in our fellow man. A complete breakdown of confidence would destroy the adhesive quality of society, tear apart the fabric of civilization and turn the world into a cage of savage beasts. However bad men may at times become they must still trust each other. It is either confidence or chaos. What has all this to do with faith in God? Just this: God is a being of supreme moral excellence, possessing in infinite perfection all the qualities that constitute holy character. He deserves and invites the unreserved confidence of every moral creature, including man. Any proper relation to Him must be by confidence, that is, by faith. Where there is no faith it is impossible to please God.
thought
Gods character is altogether impeccable. We may fully trust Him even though we will certainly not always understand Him since He is God. Because of who He is, lets fully trust Him!
prayer
You have never failed me, Father. On the basis of the past I can trust You for the future and today.
. . . Enoch walked with God . . . Enoch walked with God . ..
— Genesis 5:22, 24
Without faith it is impossible to please God has become an axiom of the Christian way; yet I suppose not many stop to ask why faith should be so vitally important in our relation with God. But there is a reason. This is a moral universe. At bottom it is not material, though it contains matter; it is not mathematical, though it involves numbers. The God who made the world is a moral being and He has filled His world with moral creatures. We hear of mysterious beings who have access to the presence of God and who range throughout the whole creation as servants of the Most High. Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
The Scriptures tell us of at least four orders of such beings and refer to what they call watchers and holy ones, which may indicate other orders or may simply refer to the previously mentioned four. In addition, there is another and of course a more familiar order of being, the last and (before his fall) the highest of all the creatures God created and made. I refer to man who was made in Gods image and likeness and who for that reason bears toward God a unique moral and spiritual relation.
thought
Enoch walked with God. Also reported to have walked with Him are Noah, Abraham and Isaac. To walk humbly with God is our unique privilege. What other segment of creation is so honored?
prayer
Enoch walked with You, Lord. I can, too! I want to know what it means to so relate to You.
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
— Galatians 6:14
The cross is a symbol of the selfless, others-centered life of Christ, but it does not end there. Our Lord made it also a symbol of the normal Christian life. If any man will come after me, He said, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. The teaching here is too plain to miss. The self-interest motive in our conduct, though it is inherent in fallen human nature, is nevertheless an evil and destructive thing that can lead at last only to tragic and everlasting loss. Love alone can make our conduct acceptable to God. It is time we checked our brand of Christianity against the New Testament. There is real danger that we may overlook this radical new motive for human conduct and go on serving our own interests under a disguise of godliness. And that is a mistake none of us can afford to make.
thought
To most of us the cross is far too symbolic. We fail to see it as it is-an instrument of death, our death. This that we may experience Christs life.
prayer
In Your cross, O Christ I glory. May I not forget to carry mine.
And anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whosoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
— Matthew 10:38-39
Human society is built upon a balance of personal interests. People are so used to seeing everyone serving his own ends that no other kind of conduct is expected. Only the eccentric dreamer would expect that unregenerate men could be persuaded to surrender their personal rights and devote themselves wholly to the interests of others. Occasionally small groups of persons have come together to try to form a selfless society, but in every instance they have lived to see their little utopia tear itself apart by the centrifugal force generated by the very selfishness they were trying so nobly to escape.
The human heart is essentially selfish and it cannot be cured by external organization. With the advent of Jesus Christ a new and radically different motive for human conduct was introduced into the world and its symbol is the cross. By His words Christ exposed the evil of self-interest and by His cross He demonstrated pure selfless love in its fullest perfection. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many. Christ pleased not Himself, but lived in total devotion to the honor of God and the welfare of mankind, and when He died He set a crown of beauty upon a God-centered and an others-centered life.
thought
Whoever loses his life for Christs sake finds it. It is an altogether new life redirected away from self and centered in God and others. It is Christlike living!
prayer
Lord, it seems so threatening, even frightening, to let loose of self and sink into Christs life. May I have the good sense to do it.
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Dont they come from your desires that battle within you?
— James 4:1
Whether we are considering two men or two nations we see how personal interest controls their relation to each other. Two men can live together in perfect harmony as long as their interests coincide. Indeed it might correctly be said that human society can exist only by organizing itself in such a manner as to serve the interests of the majority of persons composing it, or at least of those persons who are in a position to fight for their rights. As long as their interests do not conflict nations may for centuries live side by side in peace; when a shift in population or a change in the economic structure takes place nations that have been friends for generations may suddenly become enemies.
Hostility between nations or blocks of nations can always be traced to a clash of personal interest. All wars arise out of a collision of interests and must for that reason be recognized as a manifestation of sin. From whence come wars and fightings among you? asks James, come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
thought
Do our selfish interests collide with Christs Lordship? Are we wholly His or just partially so?
prayer
Thank You, Father, for Your patience with me. Often my own selfish interests intrude to challenge the Lordship of Christ. Forgive me.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
— Jeremiah 17:9
Selfish personal interest, says the Greek moral philosopher Epictetus, is the motive behind all human conduct. The children of the world, Christ tells us, are often wiser than the children of light. In his discovery of the springs of human conduct Epictetus reveals an understanding of mankind far beyond that of the average Christian; and this in spite of the fact that the Christian claims to possess the Spirit of truth and the Greek did not. If we would be wise in the wisdom of God we must face up to the truth no matter how uncomplimentary it may be to us. It would be more comfortable to shrug off what our eyes behold and loyally declare our belief in the intrinsic goodness of all men; but our eternal welfare forbids that we deal dishonestly with reality.
The truth is, men are not basically good; they are basically evil, and the essence of their sin lies in their selfishness. The putting of our own interests before the glory of God is sin in its Godward aspect, and the putting of our own interests before those of our fellow men is sin as it relates to society. We know men are sinners because when they must choose between others and themselves they choose themselves every time. Personal interest sees to that.
thought
If we would live out Christs love we will have to renounce the primacy of self. We do that by taking up our cross daily by the Spirits enablement.
prayer
Forgive me, Lord. Self so often gets in the way. Help me to nail it tighter to the cross.