Stepping in the Light

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” II Timothy 1:7

Fear is an unavoidable part of the human experience. In some ways fear actually helps us in life. The anticipation of a negative outcome can help us avoid mistakes and poor choices. You don’t walk out in front of an oncoming truck because you are afraid of being run over. This kind of fear is actually healthy. Each time we make good decisions because of a clear understanding of consequences it prolongs our lives and helps us to enjoy a happier existence. However, most of the things that we are afraid of hold us back and keep us from achieving our goals and fulfilling God’s purpose in our lives. Any time fear paralyzes us and prevents us from performing a task that God has given us to do, we fail to realize our full potential and we leave something undone that could have made a difference for someone else. God does not give us those kinds of fears. They come from within, and the flames of doubt and fear are fanned by the devil. How can we fight against our fears? Ephesians 6:16 says, “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” Faith is the opposite of fear. Our faith must be in God. God gives us the spirit of power, the spirit of love, and a sound mind. Within the framework of a sound mind, we can exercise faith in an omnipotent God Who gives us the power to love others and serve Him. Through faith in God, we can quench the spirit of fear and overcome the attacks of the evil one.

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.” I Timothy 6:6-8

In terms of acquiring possessions and making money, gain is quite an attractive concept. Most people go through life constantly wanting more, and many find that temporal possessions never completely satisfy. Interestingly enough, God uses the idea of gain to help us understand spiritual truths. In the book of Proverbs, wisdom is likened unto great treasure. We are admonished to seek after it and to find it at all costs. Jesus taught His disciples to lay up treasure in heaven. In an eternal sense, the only things in life that we really get to keep are the things that we give away. The gain that is the focus in the passage above is a spiritual one, but it is felt in the physical world in a very real sense. The first ingredient we must add is godliness. Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). If we want this gain, we must put God first. The second component is contentment. Contentment is an attitude that we can decide to adopt whenever we choose. Wealth may be having what you want, but contentment is wanting what you have. Wealth can never satisfy because it leaves us wanting more, but contentment always satisfies because it fills us with gratitude for God’s blessings in our lives. Godliness with contentment is great gain!

“The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?” Jeremiah 7:18-19

At least a dozen times in scripture, God describes Himself as being jealous over His people. In Exodus 34:14, He says that His name is Jealous. In the passage above, we can feel God’s jealousy as He describes the family activities that His people were involved in. The children were dutifully gathering wood, the fathers took the wood that the children brought in and kindled a fire, and the mothers were working in the kitchen, kneading the dough to bake cakes to offer to their false gods. When the whole family is working together to make something happen, it means that it is pretty high on the priority list. God was jealous of the teamwork that characterized their worship of false idols because it demonstrated the degree of importance that the people placed upon their pagan sacrifices. It is disappointing to see people who claim to be Christians behaving in much the same way today. They work together to get everything packed and make all of the preparations necessary to put something temporal ahead of their relationship with God. How must this make God feel? If we really want to please the Lord, we will get our families involved in worshipping Him together.

“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” I Timothy 4:12

Paul charged Timothy to be a good example. Timothy was a young man, and Paul knew that in some ways this could be a disadvantage for him as a leader. We have a natural tendency to respect longevity and experience, neither of which are available to young people. So what can a young person do? Be a good example! For centuries, the older generations were revered and heeded; but in recent decades, we have seen a tendency for popular culture to follow the whims of the younger generations. This focuses a great deal of attention on younger Christians and presents them with a unique opportunity to use this new found influence for the cause of God and right. Imagine what would happen if every saved young person were to take a stand for what they believe in! What would happen if every young believer spoke out about the truth of scripture and the Bible way of salvation? What if every teenager and every young adult who named the name of Christ were to take to heart the exhortation of Paul to Timothy? Be an example in what you say, in how you live, in the way you love others, in your attitude, in your faith in God, and in pure living. Jesus had eleven followers who completely changed the world in the years after He went back to heaven, and I believe it would only take a few good examples to make a great deal of difference in our world today.

“Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.” Jeremiah 2:11

Idolatry was rampant in Old Testament times, and God used the faithfulness of the heathen toward their false gods as a stinging rebuke of His people for their lack of devotion to Him. The Ammonites worshipped Milcom, the Canaanites worshipped Baal, the Moabites worshipped Chemosh, the Philistines worshipped Dagon, and the Zidonians worshipped Ashtoreth. What God was saying to His people in the passage above is that no one ever heard of any of these nations forsaking their gods. These were idols carved out of wood and graven from stone. They were inanimate objects that were treated with great reverence by the people who worshipped them. The Ammonites never traded Milcom for Ashtoreth. The Philistines never forsook Dagon to follow Chemosh. How could these people be so faithful to false deities that really never existed and had no power to help the people who worshipped them, while the Israelites never seemed to be able to muster up complete devotion to the Creator of the universe, Who had chosen them and worked countless miracles on their behalf? How many Christians today cause God to feel the same way? How sad it is when the unsaved are more faithful to their worldly amusements and sinful habits than those who claim to be Christians are to reading God’s Word, seeking Him in prayer, and meeting together to worship Him!

“I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick; Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.” Isaiah 65:2-5

God was frustrated with the Israelites. Down through the centuries, they had enjoyed the unique blessings of being God’s chosen people; but they had never learned to follow His Word and obey His commands completely. God had made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had used Joseph to protect and preserve the Israelites as they grew into a nation. He had brought plagues upon the Egyptians and drowned Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. He had spoken to them from Mount Sinai and given them His law in tables of stone. He had fed them with manna and given them water from the rock. He parted the Jordan River and knocked down the walls of Jericho. After all of this, they still refused to obey. In spite of their sin, they looked down upon the people around them. They said, “I am holier than you are.” Pride never looks good on anyone, but it is especially ugly when we point out other people’s flaws while refusing to recognize our own.

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” I Timothy 1:15

Paul is writing this letter to Timothy. Timothy was one of Paul’s converts, and Paul had invested a great deal of time and effort in training him as a young preacher and fellow laborer in the Lord’s work. Timothy had a great deal of respect for Paul, so this letter would have meant a great deal to him. Paul describes himself here as the chief of sinners, or the worst sinner who ever lived. The Bible describes some pretty wicked people. Ahab and Jezebel were perhaps the most evil king and queen that reigned in Israel. When Athaliah’s son died, she killed her grandchildren so that she could be queen (II Kings 11:1). In the New Testament, the maniac of Gadara was possessed with a legion of devils. We may not be able to say for sure who the worst sinner who ever lived would have been, but the point here is that this was how the Apostle Paul saw himself. We have a tendency to want people to think well of us. We want to impress others, and we like to think of ourselves as basically good people. Paul did not allow himself such luxury. Perhaps that is part of the reason that he was able to stay motivated and why God used him in such a mighty way. Paul was grateful for God’s forgiveness and His goodness in allowing Paul to serve Him. Paul said, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry” (I Timothy 1:12).

“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2

Our unpleasant circumstances are never an evidence of God’s inability to help us. As the omnipotent creator and sustainer of the universe, God is able to hear, and He is able to save. Isaiah said that the “Lord’s hand is not shortened.” You may come to the point in your life that you feel that you are beyond God’s reach, that He cannot help you. But the truth is that we can never get to the place where the Lord cannot help us. Isaiah’s point here is that we can get to the place where He will not help us. The reason that the prophet gives for this frighteningly dismal situation is that our sin separates us from God. When we have unconfessed sin in our lives, God is displeased with us. He will not hear our prayers or come to our aid. When we have this kind of sin in our lives, we know it. Later in the same chapter Isaiah says, “For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them” (Isaiah 59:12). Unconfessed sin is not the only reason for unanswered prayer, but it is something that should cause us to search our souls when it seems like the Lord is not hearing us. A familiar song says, “Nothing between my soul and the Savior.” That should be our desire every time we go to prayer.

“Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.” II Thessalonians 2:16-17

The word stablish (establish) is used here to mean “turn resolutely in a certain direction.” Paul’s desire for the Christians in Thessalonica was that the Lord would turn them resolutely toward “every good word and work.” Good words and good works are defined by the principles in the Word of God. The Bible establishes the guidelines that we use to determine appropriate speech and behavior. As Christians, we have a responsibility to become familiar with the teachings of scripture and use them as the ground rules by which we live our lives. It should be obvious to the people around us that we are followers of Christ by the way we speak to them and the way that we treat them. When these desirable actions and words become firmly entrenched in our way of life, the people around us develop expectations regarding our deportment. They eventually begin to expect us to be kind, thoughtful, industrious, positive, and encouraging people. The patterns that they see in our lives become a testimony of the things that we believe. The practical outworking of our faith has established a reputation before those around us of kindness in word and deed. Every day presents us with an opportunity to further establish ourselves in good words and good works.

“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1

It has often been said that the best things in life are free. That is certainly true when it comes to the things of God. The greatest gift that a person could ever receive is eternal life. Many people believe that there is some good work that we must do in order to gain favor with God and ultimately spend eternity with Him. Some believe that their church will save them from their sins. They are trusting in religious rituals and good works to atone for the wrong that they have done. Unfortunately, this is insufficient when it comes to attaining perfection. People fail to understand that God’s standard is holiness, absolute perfection. Even one sin is enough to permanently spoil an otherwise spotless record. We are all guilty sinners before God. No amount of good works, penance, or restitution can erase the guilt of sin. God understood our predicament and decided to create a means by which we could be made righteous. He became a man in the form of Jesus Christ and died on the cross as a substitute to pay the penalty for our sins. If we believe that He died for us and are willing to accept His payment for our sins, we are counted righteous in the sight of God. Though Jesus paid the highest price for our forgiveness, salvation is made available to us absolutely free! In God’s marketplace of righteousness, we are able to buy without money because Jesus paid it all!