Stepping in the Light

“Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” Colossians 4:6

We have all been in situations where someone has said something to us or asked us a question and we had a difficult time finding just the right answer. Sometimes we think of what we should have said later on, after our opportunity has passed. Unfortunately, these moments are an unavoidable part of the human experience, but the passage above gives us two guidelines to help us choose an answer when we are put to the test. First, our words should be gracious. Abrasive, sarcastic, or hurtful words might give us a temporary feeling of power or control; but they are a poor testimony and do more harm than good. Second, our speech should be seasoned with salt. This seems to refer to words that are spiritually challenging in nature. Jesus gave us an excellent example of a gracious, spiritual answer when the Pharisees asked whether it were lawful to pay tribute to Caesar. They were trying to trick Jesus into saying something that would be unpopular with the people. Jesus asked them to show him a piece of money. When he asked them, “Whose image and superscription is this?” they said, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). Jesus’ answer was gracious, but it contained a powerful spiritual message. “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (Proverbs 25:11).

“Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.” Isaiah 37:20

Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, sent Rabshakeh, the captain of his army with 185,000 men to surround the city of Jerusalem. The people of Jerusalem lacked the military might to repel such a formidable foe. Rabshakeh sent a message to Hezekiah, the king of Israel, demanding that he surrender and turn the city over to Assyrian control. He cautioned Hezekiah and the people not to trust in the Lord. He said that none of the gods of the nations that the Assyrians had conquered had been able to deliver them and that it was pointless for them to hope that God would save them. When Hezekiah received the message, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth. He then sent messengers to Isaiah the prophet asking him to pray that God would deliver them from their enemies. Hezekiah went up to the temple and spread the letter that he received from Rabshakeh before the Lord. He began to pray that God would show Himself strong on their behalf. Hezekiah acknowledged that the Assyrians had defeated many nations and had burned their gods in the fire, but he prayed that God would deliver them so that the whole world would know that He was the living God. The Lord heard Hezekiah’s prayer and sent an angel to kill the whole Assyrian army! Hezekiah’s prayer demonstrates that God wants His name to be honored and that He will answer us when our petitions are for His name’s sake.

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16-17

The Bible teaches that God is three in one: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As God the Son, Jesus was the active member of the Godhead in creation. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made,” (John 1:3). In the passage above, Paul divides the things that He created into things that are visible and things that are invisible. We can see the sun, the moon, and the stars. We can see the flowers, the trees, the mountains, and the sky; but we cannot see what they are made out of. The molecules and atoms which make up the matter in our universe consist because of the creative and sustaining power of the Lord Jesus Christ. This great power is the same power that is constantly at work in our lives. Our Lord not only sustains the world around us, but He sustains our spiritual and physical lives as well. It is important for us to recognize the magnitude of His power because it increases the faith that we have in Him to meet our individual needs. If He can feed the birds, He can feed us. If he can sustain the rotation of the earth in its journey around the sun, then He can sustain our lives and meet our needs. If He can meet our physical needs, He can meet our spiritual needs as well. Are you depending completely upon Him today?

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8

It is beyond our ability to control every thought that ever enters our minds. However, we do have control over what we dwell upon. This passage of scripture gives us a kind of filter for our thoughts. We are given eight qualifiers that we may use to determine whether a particular thought is worthy of our time. First, it must be true. Much of what crosses our paths simply isn’t true. The untrue is ruled out. Second, it must be honest. It may be true that someone stole a large sum of money from his employer, but it was not an honest deed, so we should not dwell on it. Third, it must be just. If it is true that life isn’t fair, then there are a lot of things that happen in life that we shouldn’t spend a great deal of time thinking about. Fourth, it must be pure. The standard for purity is the holiness of God and His Word. This guideline excludes a whole host of things. Fifth, it must be lovely. This word is used here in the sense of something that is acceptable; not only acceptable to God, but also acceptable to you. Sixth, it must be of good report; so bad news is out. Seventh, it must be something of virtue. These are positive attributes, excellent things. Eighth, it must be worthy of praise. It must be commendable. A thought that passes these eight tests is definitely something that is worth thinking about.

“For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.” Isaiah 28:10

The process of learning and spiritual growth is aptly described in this passage. God’s people were not interested in learning and growing spiritually. They wanted to fill their lives with sinful pleasures, and God was very displeased with them. In order for us to please the Lord, we must begin by believing that He exists and having a desire to know more about Him. Once we accept the precept (basic principle) that God exists, we can begin to explore the world that He created to find out more about Him. As soon as we learn that God has spoken to us in His Word, we can begin to search the scriptures to find out more about His nature and His purpose for our lives. We can see in the Ten Commandments that He is holy, and He wants us to learn to govern our lives by His statutes. The Old Testament law convinces us that we are sinners and that our sin separates us from God. In the New Testament, we learn that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us on the cross and rescue us from our sinful condition. Once we put our faith in Christ, we can build upon the knowledge of salvation by learning more about how God wants us to live. “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” (II Peter 1:5-7).

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Isaiah 26:3

The word stayed means “remained in a particular state or position.” When we say that something is stayed, we mean that it is affixed, steady, or unmoving. Perhaps you have used tape to stick a poster on the wall and become frustrated because it didn’t stay. When this happens, we immediately go looking for a better kind of tape. However, our minds can hardly be typified by a poster board. The poster board has one message and needs to be put in a particular place, while our minds are constantly processing information and need to be properly focused. Your mind is capable of handling thousands of bits of information per second. This is all happening within a context of awareness. As I am writing this devotional, I am aware of my surroundings, the day, the time, and hundreds of other details; but my main focus is on the topic at hand. At the same time, there is a larger awareness of purpose in life. The reason I am writing is that I want to be a blessing to others and ultimately to please God. The promise in the verse above is that if we will keep our minds focused upon God at all times, we will be at peace. This includes the moment-by-moment focus as well as the big-picture focus. When we fear God and trust in Him, we will choose our occupation, our recreation, and our meditation based on what we believe will please Him. This level of trust is what brings peace because we know that God is pleased with our actions and will bless us because of them.

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

Paul is writing to the Christians in the church at Philippi. He is referring here to the process of sanctification that begins in the life of a Christian the moment we are saved. Every one of us is a sinner, but God wants us to be holy. Because of our sin nature, we are not capable of living in holiness on our own. At salvation, all of our sins are forgiven by the grace of God because of the sacrifice that Jesus made on Calvary’s cross. There is nothing that we can do to earn this forgiveness, so it would be inappropriate for us to take any of the credit for the miraculous work that is accomplished in our lives. Our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ. After salvation, we are counted righteous; we are justified. In God’s eyes, it is as if we had never sinned. However, we still have our old nature, which is inherently sinful. The Holy Spirit begins working within us to convict us of sin, show us the right way to live by the truth of God’s Word, and empower us to do those things that will please our Heavenly Father. Every day we choose whether we will allow the Holy Spirit to guide us. Our thoughts, our attitudes, and our actions are constantly subject to God’s approval. When we choose to follow the truth of the Bible and the leading of the Holy Spirit, we have the ability to please God and live righteously. This is called walking in the Spirit, and it is the only way that we can live a holy life.

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:11

The devil’s goal is to deceive us. He wants to trick us into thinking, saying, and doing things that are contrary to God’s Word. There is a spiritual armor that we can employ to help us stand firm in our faith in spite of Satan’s opposition. We must have our “loins girt about with truth.” We can use the truth of scripture to protect us from the lies that the devil may use to question God’s Word. We need the “breastplate of righteousness” in both a positional and a practical sense. Once we are saved, we are counted righteous in Christ Jesus. As we put the truth of the Bible into practice in our lives, we build a layer of protection that gives us confidence in the face of evil attacks. We need to have our “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” As we walk through this world, we need to be constantly ready to share our faith with others. The “shield of faith” is our belief in God’s love, providence, and power. The more we believe that God can and will enable us to handle whatever comes our way, the less effective the devil’s attempts at getting us to doubt the Lord will be. The “helmet of salvation” pictures the assurance of salvation, and it is essential if we want to be confident in the battle against sin. Our only offensive weapon is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Jesus quoted scripture each time that He was tempted by the devil. Once we have our armor on, we are to be “praying always.” This is the most important job of the Christian, and putting on our armor enables us to do it.

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” Isaiah 14:12-15

Lucifer was the most elevated of God’s creatures. We do not know everything about him, but the Bible describes him as a beautiful, talented, and powerful creature who was originally one of the three named archangels. He is called “the anointed cherub that covereth” in Ezekiel 28:14. This title seems to reference the Ark of the Covenant, which was fashioned as a replica of the throne of God in heaven. The ark had two cherubim that faced each other and covered the mercy seat that was on the top of the ark with their wings. These word pictures lead us to believe that Lucifer was initially given the privilege and responsibility of continually standing beside the throne of God. It would seem that this would have been the most exalted position that an angel could occupy. He certainly could have been the envy of all of the other angels. But Lucifer was not satisfied with his lofty station. He decided that he wanted to go even higher and become equal with God, but he soon found out that pride is extremely dangerous and can do immeasurable harm. Satan’s fall is the prime example of the devastation pride will bring if we allow it to enter our hearts.

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:31-32

We are commanded here to be kind. Most of us would characterize ourselves as being naturally kind people. We know how to say the right things to the people we meet in the course of the day, and we might occasionally let someone go first in traffic.  But true kindness, which flows from a heart of love, requires a great deal more from us. These verses specify some things that we need to get rid of before we can be kind to others. Bitterness and anger sour the soul and eventually give way to harmful words and actions. The only way to root out bitterness and anger is through forgiveness. We are to forgive as Christ has forgiven us. In order to understand the magnitude of this task, we must attempt to get a picture of the holiness of God. When we sin, we sin against God. God’s standard of righteousness is absolute perfection. No matter how hard we try, we can never attain to His holiness. Because we are sinful creatures, our sin is much more offensive to God than the trespasses someone else has committed against us. In order to be kind, we must become tenderhearted and forgive others who have wronged us. When our hearts are free from anger and bitterness, God’s love can fill our hearts and enable us to treat others with true kindness.