Our Verse of the Day – Page 8 – Faith Joy & Coffee

Galatians 6:2 (KJV)

The Word says:
“Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”

Verse Thoughts:
Believers in Christ are fellow-members of His Body, which is the Church. All are children of God and all have been born of the Spirit. All have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. All have received eternal life as a free gift of God’s grace, and all have been granted an inheritance that is kept for us in heaven.

Each member of Christ’s Body is accountable to the Lord for the way we live, but we also are responsible for the attitudes we adopt, and the actions we take towards our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. We each have a responsibility to support and encourage fellow believers and are called to “bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfil the law of Christ.”

In the previous verse, the spiritual believer is instructed to help to restore a brother or sister who has fallen into sin – but to do it with gentleness and Christ-like consideration. Indeed, the spiritual one is warned against being adversely influenced by the carnal behaviours of others, or led astray by a misguided brother, lest they also are tempted into similar, ungodly ways, or fall into carnality themselves. Paul instructs those that are spiritual to restore those who are not walking by means of the Spirit – or who have been overtaken by worldly sin, the wiles of Satan, or fleshly carnality.

However, in this verse it is having a caring concern for a brother in Christ who has become heavily burdened or deeply distressed, with whom the spiritual Christian should be concerned. Every one of us has areas of life in which we are weighed down, discouraged, and deeply burdened, and the instruction to ‘come alongside and help one another’ is identified as fulfilling the law of Christ.

The Lord Jesus, Himself, explained the distinguishing qualities of this ‘law of the spirit of life’ which is found in John 13:34 where we read: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.” Love for God and love for our brothers and sisters in Christ is the fulfilling of the law – but it can only be carried out by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit in the life of a spiritual believer i.e. a Christian, who is walking in spirit and truth.

There is much misunderstanding concerning the difference between spirituality and maturity in our Christian walk. Maturity is a life-long process, which takes place over time as we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, study His Word, and apply its principles in our life. The spiritual believer is one who abides in Christ, obeys His commands, honours His name, is growing in grace, and is becoming more Christ-like with every passing day. The more we die to our self-life, and live for Christ, the more we mature in our Christian walk, and the more Christ-like we become.

Spiritual maturity is not the same as spirituality. Spiritual maturity develops as we are conformed into the likeness of the Lord Jesus through the wise choices we make. Spirituality, however, is not a process but a state. At any given point, we are spiritual OR we are not spiritual! At any given time in a believer’s life we are EITHER walking in the spirit and truth OR we are living in fleshly carnality. At any moment in time we are either honouring the Lord or dishonouring Him.

We are either spiritual or we are fleshly. We are either walking in spirit and truth or walking in the flesh. We are either living for God or living for Self. We are either in fellowship with our Heavenly Father or we are out of fellowship with Him – because the antithesis of spirituality is carnality. Jesus said, “Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters,” while Peter, who was prompted by the Holy Spirit to confess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, became a fleshly tool in the hands of Satan immediately after his great spiritual revelation from God.

Christians do not progress towards spirituality in the same way that they progress towards spiritual maturity. Just as one is either saved or not saved at a given point in time, a believer is either spiritual or not spiritual at a given point and there is no middle ground. When we sin in our Christian walk, we are unspiritual and lose fellowship with our Heavenly Father – we are not fulfilling the ‘law of Christ’. However, as soon as sin is confessed, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and return us into fellowship with Himself, and spirituality is once again restored – and we thereby fulfil the law of Christ.

Let us seek to be those that are spiritual and to bear one another’s burdens in humility and gentleness. Let us die to self and live our life to the glory of God so that we may mature in the faith, grow in grace, live a spiritual, God-honouring life, and become a living testimony to the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 5:44 (KJV)

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;”

Verse Toughts
God’s Word does, indeed, command us to love our neighbor as our self. However, it seems that the religious leaders were also teaching that it was permissible, possibly even mandatory, to hate one’s enemies. Jesus again declares that God’s intent for the righteousness of His people goes beyond selfishness and legalism. It implies something much more difficult and more like God Himself.

Instead of only acting in love towards neighbors, Jesus tells His disciples to love their enemies and even to pray for those who persecute them. Though few people live this out, in a meaningful way, the idea is deeply ingrained in western culture. Many modern people have heard this teaching, or variations on it, all our lives. That makes it easy to forget how radical the claim was, especially for those who live with daily threats from dire enemies, as did the first-century Israelites.

On one hand, becoming part of the Roman empire brought benefits. Rome typically did not destroy those they conquered, rather they allowed relative freedom with a set of conditions. Israel continued to function as Israel in many ways, and they experienced a form of peace under Roman rule. That said, Rome ruled over conquered nations absolutely and severely. Dissent beyond the established limits was savagely punished. Crucifixions were common and brutal. Roman soldiers enjoyed privileges and took liberties with Jewish citizens under their thumb. The Roman tax burden left many people in near poverty. The Jewish people understandably viewed Rome as their enemy.

And yet, a man thought by many to be the Messiah, the Savior who was supposed to free Israel from her enemies, has just commanded His disciples to love and pray for their enemies. Worse, He equated this with the righteous living needed to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is hard enough to grasp today, but at the time the words were first spoken they would have been shocking.

Christ does nothing to take the edge off this command, either. This is not described as emotional love, or affection. This kind of love is meant to be expressed in action. Offering prayers to God for people who are actively hurting you, especially for being associated with Christ, requires looking at the world in a completely different way.

The Sermon on the Mount contains some of Jesus’ most challenging teaching. It begins with the unlikely blessings of the Beatitudes. Jesus’ disciples must do good works in order to be a powerful influence: as the salt of the earth and light of the world. The superficial righteousness of the Pharisees is not good enough to earn heaven. Sins of the heart, such as angry insults and intentional lust, are worthy of hell just as much as adultery and murder. Easy divorce and deceptive oaths are forbidden. Believers should not seek revenge. Instead, God intends us to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors. In short, we should strive to be perfect, as God is perfect.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (KJV)

9. “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.”
10. “For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.”

Verse Thoughts
When life is lived without God, life is futile and meaningless. Human effort or intellect pursuits, pleasure seeking or a power grab, personal prestige or the accumulation of wealth, is identified by Solomon as being utterly vain. When the Lord is eliminated from the human heart, then the circle of life and the inevitability of death expresses nothing but hopelessness. When God is excluded, then the enemy has full sway in a life.

It was Solomon who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes and although he was a king with wisdom and his wealth outstripped every other mortal being, he was a man who lost his spiritual direction over time because of the carnal choices he made – and consequently he lived a defeated life.

Although he started out well, Solomon dishonoured the Lord. He ignored God’s Word and went his own way, which brought him to the brink of despair when he should have been enjoying a victorious and spiritually satisfying life.

Amidst a constant outpouring of lamentations in Ecclesiastes, where he complains, “Life is meaningless. Everything is futile. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity,” we discover a few chinks of hope and some sound advice. Solomon reminds us that our Creator God has made everything beautiful in its time and has set eternity in the human heart. He reminds us that there is a time and a season for everything in life and he records his important conclusion about the meaning of life, in chapter 12, where he declares, “the end of the whole matter is this – fear God and keep His commandments.”

Chapter 4 deals mainly with the inequalities of life and Solomon bemoans the terrible acts of oppression, the shocking discrimination, and the lust to control the minds of others, by certain individuals that seemed to characterise the days of Solomon and is so prevalent in today’s society. And verse 9 speaks of the advantages of fellowship, partnerships, self-control, and mutual encouragement between two people, “two are better than one,” he writes, “because they have a good return for their labour.”

Our God is a relational God and He has made us to be part of a family and members of society… and we see in this verse a contrast between those whose lives are motivated by the futility of envy or isolated by selfish greed and inappropriate incentives, as opposed to the comfort, help, encouragement, and reward, which is gained in trusted friendships or a reliable partner in times of need.

The benefits of mutual support lies in stark contrast to the previous verse, which points out that a selfish, miserly person, is devoid of companionship and likely to become a bitter, isolated individual, who harbours a spirit of discouragement and discontent… as opposed to being in fellowship with a companion which is more profitable than being alone.

Although the benefits of intimacy with another person outweigh the disadvantages of isolation, this is a truth that is particularly pertinent in Christian circles, where we are called to live with one another in the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We are the Body of Christ and although there are many members, we are one Body… each with his or her unique part to play, and all are called to consider others before ourselves.

God uses members of Christ’s Body to compliment the gifts and graces of other brothers and sisters and to offer encouragement and support. When Christ sent his disciples out to minister to the lost sheep of the house of Israel they were sent two by two, “for two are better than one because they have a good return for their labour,” and the two men on the road to Emmaus is another reminder that during times of discouragement and pain, God always provides the support we need.

As Christians, we are all individuals with our own God-given tasks and responsibilities, but we are one Body that is called to live and work in partnership with one another, which is much more productive and profitable than toiling alone.

Shared successes and shared sorrows not only give greater encouragement and is edifying, it is how we are called to live in this world by our heavenly Father. May we work together for the furtherance of the gospel and work the works of God in the unity of the Spirit, while it is still day.

Romans 13:8 (KJV)

“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.”

Verse Thoughts
The more the book of Romans unfolds, the greater our understanding of the amazing grace that God has demonstrated towards us – in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us so that we might become sons of God and joint heirs with Christ. For He Who knew no sin, was made to be sin on our behalf so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God.

The way that God’s righteousness is revealed in the lives of those who believe in Him, is through the demonstration of a transformed life. Once we are born again, we start to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Saviour. As we increasingly consecrate our lives to Him, we start to be conformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus and are enabled to become effective in our Christian witness.

There are certain characteristics and identifying marks of the believer who is walking in spirit and truth, and a changed life that is exercising the gifts of the Spirit and producing the fruit of holiness, is a testimony of the inner workings of the Holy Spirit of Christ – which is transferred into the outward actions of the individual life.

There are certain principles that a spiritual believer is exhorted to put into action, and of all God’s holy attributes, the one we are commanded to engage in and develop, is love – which seems to be both the guiding principle and pinnacle of the Christian life – for God is love.

Indeed, it was love for the world that caused the Father to give His only begotten Son to die as our sin-substitute on the Cross, and it was love for the Church that held Jesus to the Cross, for He loved the Church so dearly that He gave Himself for her.

Love is not only a guiding principle, but was a crucial part of the moral commands given to Israel. Jesus condensed the entire Mosaic Law into one simple instruction: “You shall LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself.” And He continued by commanding His disciples, and us, to love one another with that same supernatural, godly love with which He loves us.

Paul not only took pains to explain that the Law could not save us, but identified it as a simple tool used by God to identify our need of a Saviour and thus bring fallen man to faith in Christ, our ‘sin-substitute’. He also taught that love is the fulfilling of the law and that we are to “owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the Law.”

It is argued that if love were to become humanity’s guiding principle, man could correct all the problems on earth BUT the supernatural, godly love about which Paul is speaking, is the unique, unparalleled love of Christ, which is only given to the spiritual believer through the power of the indwelling Spirit of God – and will always be beyond our comprehension.

However, to love as Christ loves is not a suggestion but a command, which is only possible as we abide in Him and He in us. If we are to fulfil the law of Christ by loving others as Christ loved us, and if we are to owe nothing to anyone except to love them – this can only be in done in the power of the indwelling Spirit.

May we grow in grace and walk in spirit and truth so that by His grace we may owe nothing to anyone EXCEPT to love one another with Christ’s own perfect, supernaturally imputed love.

1 Samuel 12:24 (KJV)

“Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.”

1 Samuel 12:24 (KJV)

Verse Thoughts
If we would but follow the wisdom contained in the Word of God, how our faith would be strengthened and how our fear would dissolve into the sea of God’s gracious faithfulness.

When we look at the ever-mounting circumstances and troublous times that are overwhelming our lives, or watch in horror as the world situation continues to spiral downwards with increasing rapidity, too often we consider in our hearts that things are out of control, that this is too mighty a task for God to manage, that He is too impotent to intervene, or perhaps too distant to even notice that we are hurting and those we love have all but been swamped with fear and discouragement.

But this is not the truth of Scripture, nor it is the character of our gracious God, and once again His Word reminds us what to do in troublous times when our world is spiralling downwards with increasing rapidity. We are to trust in the Lord, reverence His name, walk in the truth, and consider what great and wonderful things He has done for us.

If we find it difficult to trust the Lord with our future, we need to look back to the past and consider all the great things that He has done for us. When we reflect on His never-failing faithfulness in the past, we will confidently trust our lives into His keeping in the future, even when mountainous circumstances appear likely to overwhelm us.

But trust in the Lord should not only be confined to the bad times – we should fear Him, trust Him, love and serve Him in spirit and truth, in times of ease as well as seasons of pain. Both good times and bad times demand that we reflect on the goodness of God and the great things that He has done. In seasons of poverty or plenty, our hope should rest on the Lord as we rejoice is the great things He has done in our lives.

No matter where we are in our Christian walk, whether far from God or quietly resting our head on His bosom, today is the day to fear the Lord – today is the day to trust the Lord and to serve Him with truth in our hearts.

Today is the day to consider what great things the Lord has done for you and to step confidently into the future, trusting in His never-failing faithfulness.