Consider: John 1

This first chapter of John holds nothing back. If ever there is the question concerning who Jesus was, read this chapter.

Check out the first 5 verses (from the NLT):

“In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and He was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that He did not make. Life itself was in Him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

The line I want to focus on is verse 3 which says “He created everything there is. Nothing exists that He did not make.”

How much more plain can that be?

He created everything.

Nothing exists without Him.

Nothing.

Simply approaching this passage with child-like faith (and plain English) clearly shows that Jesus is it. He is the One who created everything. He is the reason why we exist. We weren’t made by chance. He didn’t just start the creation process and sit back and watch everything happen. He actually did it. He created everything.

We should not only understand this in regards to the creation event itself but apply this to our lives in the fact that He has created us individually for a reason. You weren’t a mistake. You weren’t put on this earth by chance. Mother nature and karma had nothing to do with your birth. You were created by God to be on this earth for such a time as this.

Regardless of the circumstances that have surrounded your life in the past, you are precious to Him and He has made you for a reason… maybe not the reason you’ve thought of… maybe not the reason others thought of… but He definitely made you uniquely you.

Because nothing that exists came to be without Him.

Consider: 1 Peter 1

Check out what Peter says in 1 Peter 1:3 -

“All honor to the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, for it is by His boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again…”

Boundless mercy. Think about it: boundless. No boundaries. It doesn’t end. It doesn’t run out. It doesn’t dry up. The fountain is endless. The waves of His mercy are boundless.

Yet so often we live life as if there are limits to Him and His mercy. Or maybe for our own lives we believe in boundless mercy, but when it comes to others, there is only so much the LORD will give mercy for.

NO. His mercy is BOUNDLESS.

I’m grateful for boundless mercy. I’m thankful that His mercies are new EVERY MORNING (see Lamentations 3:22-23).

Consider: Hebrews 11

What a chapter to blog about! Obviously there is no way I could adequately communicate the fullness of what this chapter means. The stories of these men and women who have lived their abundant life of faith before us is amazing. Simply amazing.

One thing I do want to point out though is hidden in verse 2, which reads:

“God gave His approval to people in days of old because of their faith.”

The Gospel is simple, right? Yes, absolutely. We are saved by Grace through faith. It’s simple.

It is SIMPLE, but it is not without action.

Let me explain what I mean.

It seems as though we live in a day and age where a large portion of the human race “believes” in a deity of some sort. For many, Jesus is that deity… for many others it is Allah, Buddha, etc. There are many options out there when it comes to belief, and what some would consider faith.

So belief, in and of itself, is not enough. Dare I say faith in this regard, in a deity is not enough?

What God considers as faith is completely different than how we see it.

It is faith in God and Jesus, His Son that is the requirement (see John 17:3).

But it shouldn’t stop there…

Some say they have faith in God and in Jesus. But that’s where it stops, thus making their faith quite inactive and really ineffective. I’m not talking about works in order to be saved… but what I am saying is that those who say they are saved should take their faith beyond simply SAYING they believe.

Hebrews 11 is full of men and women of faith. They had faith. But if you’ll notice their faith is nothing like many people’s faith today. They did something WITH their faith. They didn’t just SAY they had faith, they LIVED their faith. They did things that forever changed the Kingdom of God. And without many of them, we wouldn’t have the lineage that brought us Jesus.

The faith that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6) is faith that is active and alive, not just a moment in our lives or a statement we like to throw around.

As James says, faith without works is dead (see James 2:17).

Consider: Isaiah 9

One thing that gets me excited is when the Word highlights part of God’s personality. If you weren’t aware, He does have personality. He isn’t just the cosmic operator in the sky.

Isaiah lays out a prophetic word in chapter 9. This is a very popular passage as this is where we have listed the various titles of Jesus: “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (see Isaiah 9:6).

A line in this passage that is passed over many times when the above Scripture is read is the end of verse 7. Check out what it says:

“The passionate commitment of the LORD Almighty will guarantee this!”

We have a guarantee that is based on the passionate commitment of the LORD.

But think about it. The LORD did not have to put this in the Scriptures. It has already been establish in other portions of Scripture that “He is not a man that He should lie”. So just His simple Word is guarantee enough. Yet He throws in His passionate commitment to let us know how He feels about this topic of Jesus coming to save the day.

Rest in the fact that our God is passionate, He is passionately committed to Jesus ruling and reigning and He is passionately committed to His relationship with you (see also Exodus 34:14)!

Consider: Hebrews 2

Hebrews is such a great book! In chapter 2, we get a glimpse at the greatness and the amazingness of Jesus. I don’t know if amazingness is even a real word… but it is in context of Jesus. This chapter is all about the One God sent to redeem us.

The chapter closes with this encouragement:

“Therefore, it was necessary for Jesus to be in every respect like us, His brothers and sisters, so that He could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. He then could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since He Himself has gone through suffering and temptation, He is able to help us when we are being tempted.” – Hebrews 2:17-18

Did you catch that? HE IS ABLE.

God is not just One who is in heaven who doesn’t understand or doesn’t care… HE DOES! He understands very much so what we go through on a daily basis because He Himself went through those things. He was tempted as we are tempted and suffered as we suffered.

You are not alone, and yes, Someone understands YOU.

You may feel alone… you may feel like no one understands your pain or what you’re going through. But there is Someone who does… His name is Jesus.

He is able to help you. He is able.

Consider: Titus 3

If you haven’t gotten it already, you’re not good enough. You’re just not. I’m not either. None of us are. If we were than Jesus’ death would have been pointless. It seems so often we try, try and keeping trying to prove something to God that we’re good enough to get into heaven, but the fact is, we’re not.

In Titus 3: 5-6, this is what Paul says about not being good enough:

“He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did.”

Check out a few bits from that passage:

• He saved us, not because of the good things we did
• It’s all because of His mercy
• He generously poured out His Spirit on us because of Jesus

It doesn’t say “He sparingly poured out His Spirit”… or “once we got our act together, He poured out His Spirit”… no. It says He generously poured out His Spirit because of Jesus and what He did for us.

Today, rest in the fact that you’re not good enough. May be an odd way to look at it, but it’s the truth.

Consider: 2 Timothy 2

This entire chapter is one of challenge. Paul doesn’t beat around the bush, he gets straight to the point with Timothy and he encourages him in his faith and relationship with God.

First Challenge:

2 Timothy 2: 4 – “And as Christ’s soldier, do not let yourself become tied up in the affairs of this life, for then you cannot satisfy the One who has enlisted you in His army.”

How plain and simple is that? So often we allow things of this life to entangle our hearts. Notice Paul didn’t use the normal Christian cliche of just “keeping God first”. He said if we got focused and distracted by this life, we then could not truly satisfy Jesus. It’s more than just trying to keep God first but actually living your life so that you are satisfying the heart of God.

Second Challenge:

2 Timothy 2:10 – “I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen.”

Again, a plain and simple challenge. Paul is letting Timothy know of his suffering for the Gospel, yet he is making sure Timothy knows that it is worth it!

Is it worth it to us? We barely know what suffering is here in America because of our freedoms. Would you be willing to endure anything?

Third Challenge:

2 Timothy 2:19 – “Those who claim they belong to the LORD must turn away from all wickedness.”

Where do we even get the idea that sinning is OK for Christians? I’ve heard many believers talk of since Jesus has forgiven all of our sins for all time then it doesn’t matter what we do after we believe. Need I remind you that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks?

Paul says that we MUST turn away from all wickedness…

Fourth Challenge:

2 Timothy 2:22 – “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust.”

He didn’t say walk, he said run. And he didn’t just say run, but run from. Get away from the junk. Sin is so not worth it. It will destroy our lives.
There are a few other challenges in this chapter, but I felt it important to focus on those above.

In this middle of this chapter, Paul gives us a look at part of our reward for meeting these challenges and fulfilling them.

2 Timothy 2:21 – “If you keep yourself pure, you will be a utensil God can use for His purpose. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use for every good work.”

I don’t know about you, but I like being used by God. I like being ready when Jesus says GO. The challenges that Paul laid out in this chapter will keep us ready.

Consider: 1 Timothy 1

Paul is laying out an interesting challenge here to Timothy, his son in the faith. Listen to what he says in verse 19:

“Cling tightly to your faith in Christ, and always keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked.”

That verse speaks to a lot of things, but primarily it simply says our faith has to be the solid thing in our lives. What are our lives founded on? Stuff? The pursuit of happiness? The American Dream? What is it that keeps us going everday?

Paul told Timothy to cling tightly. He didn’t say hold loosely. Or get around to working on your relationship with God when you feel like it. NO. He said cling tightly.

I kind of picture how little kids will latch on to their mom or dad’s leg and just hang on with all they have. That’s clinging.

So what happens if we don’t cling? Check out verse 20:

“Hymenaeus and Alexander are two examples of this. I turned them over to satan so they would learn not to blaspheme God.”

Not clinging is a big deal. Not being grounded in your faith in Jesus is a big deal. It’s not just a nice little raise-your-hand-once decision. This faith is life-altering and eternity-changing.

Cling to your faith. Cling to Jesus. He is the only One who never changes and He is the One who pursuing your heart.

Consider: Colossians 3

A few days ago I posted a few thoughts on how Paul was encouraging the believers and their thought life.

Our thought life is important… it really impacts our entire lives.

Now here in Colossians 3, Paul lays out that we should: “set our sights should be on the realities of heaven… let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth” (see Colossians 3:1-2).

What does it mean to think on the realities of heaven? It means to constantly remind yourself and bring to the forefront of thought the truth about it.

Here are some of the realities of heaven:

• The LORD sits on the throne in heaven; He’s in control!
• The angels surround His throne singing Holy, Holy, Holy; He is worth all of our worship and more.
• His will is done the moment it is spoken; Instant obedience.
• There is no veil and He is not hidden; His face is in plain site!

Can you see why it would be important to fill our minds with these things? The realities of heaven are not just golden streets and pearly gates… but a place

I challenge you today to set your sights on the realities of heaven; let heaven fill your thoughts, because in that, your mind will be change and transformed. No longer will you be content with what’s here on this earth, but a desire for more and a desire to be with Him where He is will fill your life!

Consider: Colossians 1

We live in “the home of the free”. There’s a lot that goes into that statement, but one of those things is, for the most part, we don’t have to do everything the government tells us to do. We don’t have to go to a certain government sanctioned church, we have the choice of which church to go to. We have the choice of which store we want to shop at… where we want to buy gas… we have the choice of who we want to be our next leader.

In freedom we have a lot of choices.

In Colossians 1, Paul briefly touches on the freedom we have in Christ. In verse 13 & 14 he says this:

“For He has rescued us from the one who rules in the kingdom of darkness, and He has brought us into the Kingdom of His dear Son. God has purchased our freedom with His blood and has forgiven all our sins.”

This freedom that Paul was talking about is not just any old good American freedom. It goes beyond anything our military could have shed their blood for. It’s freedom from sin and freedom from the one who wants us bound in sin, satan.

The choice we have through freedom in Christ is that we have the opportunity to live like Jesus and overcome sin. One of the lies the enemy likes to use is that “oh, you’re human. You’re gonna sin anyways. Just go for it.”

BUT through freedom in Christ, remember we are a new creation. We’re not just “normal” humans any longer. We have the Spirit of God dwelling in us. We have the ability to reject temptation and live our lives in a way that is pleasing to Him.

So as in America we have free choices, so you have the choice with your life as a believer. You don’t have to give in to the devil’s temptations. You don’t have to sin when the opportunity arises.

The moral of the story: you CAN say no to the devil and his ways and you CAN say yes to Jesus and a life of purity.