“I told you this because . . . .”

Philosophers and children in kindergarten wonder how we can be certain that the things we ‘know’ are true. This question could drive me out of my mind. It suggests we are totally deluded and that suggestion is a strong clue to its origin. In the first book of the Bible, Satan in the form of a snake says to Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” He has been sending that same doubt about what God says into the hearts of humanity ever since. He also challenges our certainty about everything else.

Putting this question aside, I read again from the book I’ve selected to use this year (see side panel). The author says, “The books of the New Testament were written to instruct local congregations of believers and to inform them of the life and teachings of Christ.” It reminded me of a few verses where the human authors recorded their reasons for writing what they did.

John wrote so I could believe in Jesus . . .  

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30–31)

As a new Christian, someone told me to read the Gospel of John five times. By following that advice, God firmly cemented in my mind the identity of Jesus. He is the Messiah, the Son of God, fully man and sinless, fully God and filled with love, God in human flesh. His excellence and grace not only convinced me of who He is and why He came, but by believing I have eternal life in His name. Jesus is the greatest event of my life and the Gospel of John was written so I would know about Him, believe in Him, and receive Him as God’s incredible gift.

Luke wrote his Gospel to make sure I understood the life of Christ in an orderly way . . .

It seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:3–4)

This book may or may not have been in chronological order, but in the mind of the author and his readers, what Luke writes is logical. He was a physician and did a careful investigation of the facts about Jesus. I’m not a doctor, but ‘getting it right’ has always been important to me, right down to the use of words. If someone writes ‘your’ and they mean ‘you’re’ I often wonder of the rest of what they write is accurate.

Other authors did not always give their reasons for writing, but John did it again in the first letter he wrote to the churches. He wanted his readers to be sure of their destiny . . .

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

John wrote of several ways to make certain that my faith is genuine. For the most part, he says that what I believe should change my life and the way I care about other people. That is, if I love God, then I will also love others. Jesus also said this is the ultimate test.

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. (John 15:8–10, italics mine)

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, today I hear You say, “If you believe in me, then prove it by sharing the love I’ve shown you with others.” We are invited to a special breakfast this morning, an opportunity to practice what faith tells me to do. Thank You for this opportunity. I also thank You that those who wrote the books of the New Testament had specific reasons for doing so. Sometimes they knew the situations in the churches where their letters were addressed. Sometimes they knew the truths that all readers needed to hear or be reminded of, messages from the Holy Spirit who knows exactly how to speak into our lives. You ‘get specific’ and use whatever has been written because . . .

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)

By telling me about Yourself, I have all that I need to live a godly life. How amazing. I do not know all there is to know, but as You feed me from Your Word, You constantly change how I think, talk and live.

Faith is about a mighty God . . .

Isaiah 39:1–40:31, Luke 14:1–35, Job 9:12–19

A funny story tells of a golfer who always tried to appear better than he was and often lied on his score card. One day, he got a hole-in-one. He marked a zero for the score on that hole!

I’ve been laughing about this and reminded of my own silly pride. What a contrast to today’s scripture readings! They speak of the God whom I serve and who does not need to prove anything.

In the OT, Hezekiah’s realm seemed secure, but God said, “The days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord.” (Isaiah 39:6) He spoke it, and this unexpected thing happened.

A bit later, the same God who chastened His people then declares, “Comfort, comfort my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1–2) He measures out chastening, but also knows when to stop and comfort me.

He also promised centuries before that Jesus would come, “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3–5) For this and all other promises and statements in His Word, He says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:8) God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

This God will come “with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.” (Isaiah 40:10–11) Again he says that this God who chastens sin also forgives it and shows mercy and grace to His children.

Lest I forget He is more than my personal saving God, Isaiah asks this: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” (Isaiah 40:12) He reminds me of God’s realm and His power. He also says that to God the nations are “like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales . . . the coastlands like fine dust.” (Isaiah 40:15)

His Word lifts Him high: “Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness . . . . Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.” (Isaiah 40: 21–23, 28)

Yet His promises bring Him near: “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:30–31)

Job echos Isaiah’s wonder at this amazing God, “Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’ . . . . If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?” (Job 9:12, 19)

And then the gentle Jesus comes and stands the scoffers on their ears. When reproved by the religious leaders for ministry on their sacred day, Jesus responded, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away,” rebuking them again by saying, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:3-4, 11)

This One who revealed the glory of God in human flesh gives examples in human terms. To be like Him, He says that when I give a feast, I’m to invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and I will be blessed, because they cannot repay me, but I will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. His life and this example tell me what it means to renounce all that I have to be His disciple. (Luke 14:13-14, 33) And like all these descriptions of what He is like, it seems illogical unless read with faith, believed because God said it, and acted upon because that is the result of genuine saving faith.

Abhorring doubt

Small children tend to believe everything they are told. Sadly, experience soon teaches them that this is not always so. I can remember the first few times that I realized even my best friends lied to me. For me, this was a deeply troubling offense and an insult. Certainly childlike believing was easier than trying to discern a lie, yet I also wanted to be trusted. Those lies created a barrier that became difficult to overcome.

When Christ came into my life, I knew that I had discovered Someone who did not lie. However, I also discovered something that troubles me far more than being lied to — my own sinful tendency to doubt God, the One who never lies. 

And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?” (Numbers 14:11)

Spurgeon calls unbelief a monster, a weed, worse than a weed. When it seeds itself in our hearts, we must aim at its root with zeal and perseverance, yet even when one weed is eliminated, more crop up to take its place. Doubt is faith’s great enemy.

Doubting the Lord hurts me, but what does it do to Jesus? I hate lies, but I also am personally wounded if someone does not believe me. How then must the one who said, “I am truth” respond when I do not believe what He says? Does doubt put a dagger deep into His loyal and faithful heart?

Sometimes I will tell someone a truth, the listener agrees with me, but then carries on as if I had never spoken. This too is hurtful and an insult. Yet I do it to Jesus. I agree with His wonderful words and write about them. I tell others what He says, loving His words and knowing they are true. But do I live according to what I know? Do I follow through with a changed life?

As Spurgeon says, Jesus has never given the slightest ground for my doubts. He is God the Son, sovereign and loving. He is the same today as yesterday and forever. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Nothing is too difficult for Him. He can meet any need, solve any problem.

Should I worry that my prayers will go unanswered? Or that He will not keep His promises? Or that I will be in need and He will turn His back? Spurgeon asks, “If Christ were only a cistern, we might soon exhaust his fulness, but who can drain a fountain?”

Another author, John Bunyan, says that unbelief has “as many lives as a cat.” It seems to me this is an understatement. In my sinful heart, doubt is more like dandelions. Even those that I think have been dug out to the root have a way of popping up again with even greater vigor, taking over the field of my heart.

***********

Lord, I so identify with the man who said, “I believe. Help my unbelief.” Doubt is a terrible insult to You and a traitor that habitually threatens my soul. Never do I want You to feel the insult that I feel when someone does not believe what I say, yet even as I write those words, I know that I am prone to doubt, prone to hearing the lies of Satan rather than remembering the truth that You always speak. I abhor the reality that my doubt insults You.  You are my Savior and from this sin I also need redemption. You have taught me to love truth. Keep teaching me to always recognize the source of my doubts and deal with this enemy until doubt can no longer find a place to grow in my life.

(Photo credit)

Reasons to believe

Someone in my family occasionally says about Christianity, “Who needs it?” She is convinced that people can get along “just fine without that.”

The women in my Bible study group have talked about the reasons people give for rejecting Christ. This morning I’m thinking about good reasons for doing the opposite. Why say no when God offers all this?

Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the LORD. (Proverbs 16:20)

Everyone wants a good, happy life. God doesn’t promise a rose garden, but He does give joy to those who trust Him. This joy is not based on circumstances. It wells up from inside and can be there even when life is crashing down all around us. How precious.

I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. (Jeremiah 31:3)

Another deep desire is to be loved. Human love is great, but it does come and go. God’s love is deeper. He says nothing can separate us from it (Romans 8) and this verse says it lasts forever. He also “shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Few people will die for their friends; Christ died for His enemies. No one loves me like He loves me.

I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

Another deep human desire is competence. People want to be able to do well in whatever they do. Paul, and all those who love and serve Jesus, discover that God adds a new dimension to their resume — the Holy Spirit. With His power, abilities change. So does effectiveness. He supplies competence.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

God takes care of His people in every way. While this verse does not promise He will give us all our wants, He does supply whatever we need. He knows those needs before we do and whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual, He covers every one. His resources are vast.

For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Corinthians 6:14–16).

The promise that blesses me the most is that God is my closest friend. He lives in me and walks with me. He says I belong to Him. I am accepted and have that deep sense of belonging. I am never alone or lonely. Knowing Him is the best thing that ever happened to me.

*******************

Lord, the only reason I can think of why people reject You is that their independence and pride is greater than their desire to have You supply all their deepest needs. At times, I struggle with the same pride and understand its power. However, Your goodness and love is more powerful. As I pray for all of my family and friends who do not know you, I ask You to remove the barriers and help each one see that You are a loving and merciful God who longs to be their Source, Resource, Savior, Redeemer and their best Friend forever.