Busy, Busy, Busy!

“I’m sorry; I would love to, but I just don’t have the time.”

“Could we do this later? I’m a bit busy right now.”

How often do we hear these types of statements? How many times have we said these things to others?

“Busy-ness” seems to be the universal condition of people today. It does not matter how old you are, what gender you are, where you work, what you like or dislike, or any other condition– we are all busy! This seems quite ironic, considering the promise of modern technology that our lives would be simpler and easier.

In reality, we do have more time than our forefathers– we have just found other ways in which we occupy that time. Time that used to be spent in various chores and duties is often spent in front of the television or engaging in some other form of entertainment. Such things, in and of themselves, are not wrong. Being busy, in and of itself, is not wrong. A question confronts us: with what are we busy? How are we spending our time? How should we spend our time?

Being busy seems to be par for the course for the modern American. Nevertheless, we all have the same 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year. We must understand that if we say that we are “too busy” for things, it really means that we have made other priorities.

God has much to say about where we should be placing our time and priorities. In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus addresses the reality that most people spend much of their time either concerned about or working toward life’s necessities. It is not as if Jesus does not expect people to work (cf. 1 Timothy 5:8), but He establishes in Matthew 6:33 that we ought to put the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first, “and all these things shall be added unto you”.

Putting God and His Kingdom first in our lives can often be difficult, but it is necessary if we are going to properly serve God and to provide a godly example to others (cf. Matthew 5:13-16). In Matthew 13:7, 22, Jesus speaks of the “thorny soil”: they represent people who hear the Word of God and believe in Jesus, but who are quite concerned about earthly matters, and these concerns choke out the implanted Word, and they fall away. How many have fallen prey to this condition? How many spend their time concerned about that which perishes, with little concern for that which is eternal (cf. 2 Peter 3:11-12)?

Where are our priorities? If we are “too busy” to be active in God’s work, “too busy” to assemble with the saints, or “too busy” to put God first in our lives, why should we be surprised when our spiritual lives are sagging, our families are not spiritual, and our influence for good on others is negligible? If we are going to be God’s good soil, His obedient servants reserved for salvation, it is because we have put Him first. Let us never be “too busy” for God!

Ethan R. Longhenry

Evil

Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-16).

Many of the great and difficult questions plaguing humanity center on the problem of evil. Why do bad things happen to people? Why do people suffer? Why do terrible things happen to people who are innocent, like babies and small children? These are extremely challenging issues with which we must all come to terms at some point or another in life.

We may not like talking about evil and we would like to think we can just legislate evil away or keep it away from us somehow, but ultimately, such designs are misguided. We will experience the force of evil at times in life, and it is better to handle such situations with mature attitudes.

The question of evil has been especially challenging for those who believe that there is a God who is good, holy, righteous, and loving, the Creator of the earth and all that is in it. How can a good and loving God allow such terrible things to take place on earth? This difficulty is often described as the matter of theodicy: how can God be just when there is so much evil around?

The Scriptures provide some insight into the matter of evil. Much evil in the world exists as a consequence of sin: either the consequence of another’s free will decision to sin, or as a penalty for having committed sin (cf. Jeremiah 18:7-10, 1 Peter 3:12). Evil is a force in the world because humans sinned and the creation was subject to the forces of sin and death (cf. Romans 5:12-18, 8:20-23). The spiritual forces of darkness currently hold sway on the earth but will be defeated in the end (Ephesians 6:12, Revelation 19-20). Yet, on the whole, the question of why evil exists in the world, or why it strikes as it may, is left unanswered (cf. Job 40-42, Ecclesiastes 8:14-17).

To many this is a signature failure of the Bible to address the problems of life. Nevertheless, perhaps the problem is not with the Bible but with the nature of the question. After all, even if we could know why evil exists, would it make evil any more palatable? Would understanding the reason for suffering make suffering more bearable? It has been too easy to believe that knowledge is power; yet, in the case of evil, knowledge cannot overcome the problem.

We would do well to be less judgmental against God, for it is not as if He has been entirely untouched by evil. The New Testament reveals God’s willingness to see evil do all it could against His Son Jesus of Nazareth (cf. Romans 5:5-11, Hebrews 5:7-9). If there were another way of handling the problem of evil– to be able to easily eliminate it from the earth– do you not think that God would have availed Himself of that opportunity so that His Son would not have to experience such agony (cf. Matthew 26:39)?

Part of the challenge is our tendency to look at evil as an external force while remaining blind to our own evil. We may not want to admit it, but we have all done evil (Romans 3:23). The line between good and evil goes through each and every one of us; if God just eliminated evil from the earth, we would be gone also!

When we shift the question away from “why does evil exist?” and instead consider the question “what has God done about evil?”, we suddenly see how the Bible is really all about this difficulty. Even though God was never under any compulsion to do anything about evil, He was willing to give up His Son so we could overcome evil like Jesus did (1 John 2:13-14). In this world we cannot expect to defeat or destroy evil. Instead God has made provision for us to overcome evil and have the ultimate victory through Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57, Revelation 12:11).

The days in which we live on the earth are evil. There are plenty of evils taking place all around us. At various times we have participated in such evils, and we will experience suffering on account of evil. We cannot wish or legislate evil away. It may seem easy to blame God for the problem of evil, but such is a rather immature and unfair thing to do, for God has dealt definitively with the problem of evil through the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Instead, let us seek to overcome evil through our obedient faith in Jesus, looking toward the day upon which we will stand in the resurrection, receiving the victory. In the “new heavens and earth” there will be no more evil, no more suffering, no more pain (cf. Revelation 7:16-17, 21:1-5), but we must first suffer in this world in order to obtain the great glory of the next (Romans 8:17-18). Let us suffer as Christ did in order to receive glory!

Ethan R. Longhenry

Relativism

Modern life seems to be full of contradictions and tensions. People remember the tragedy of the wars of the twentieth century and the great horrors perpetuated by people who believed firmly in the “rightness” of their cause. People in the twenty-first century now seek to live in open, tolerant, and pluralistic societies, featuring people with differing belief systems and attitudes. Americans, in particular, have made much of personal freedom and have sanctified the individual’s ability to choose for him or herself.

Among the many casualties of these trends has been firm conviction regarding moral truths. Relativism seems to be the “non-standard standard” of our age. Some people are honest enough to confess that relativism has become their personal viewpoint: what is right and wrong to you is true for you but it does not have to be true for me. Others concede right and wrong when it comes to certain issues but tend to believe in greater variance on other issues, especially those relating to religion and sexuality. And these are true only for those who have at least put in some time thinking about morality: for many others, especially among the younger generation, have not stopped long enough to think about their conduct in terms of morality. Unsurprisingly, over three-quarters of teenagers do not believe in absolute truth!

Relativism is an understandable product of our modern age. When people are encouraged to accept multiple different viewpoints as equally valid and the individual is made out to be the ultimate standard for all things, relativism in morality will follow. Our society has relegated morality to the level of “personal choice.” Why, then, should we be surprised when the most impressionable among us–the youth of society–believe the standard of right and wrong is based on our personal feelings, and set forth the false humility of refusing to judge other people’s moral standards since they believe it is all a matter of personal taste?

As long as people continue to accept the premises of modern society–the individual is the standard, different people have differing views, and we should accept all of them–relativism will continue to flourish. Little wonder the phrase “extreme moral individualism” is often bandied about while describing our current environment. It is all up to the individual, and who is one person to judge another?

No society, however, can endure with a relative moral standard. No one really believes in relativism; it is a self-defeating proposition, since saying there is no absolute standard is itself an absolute statement. Furthermore, if someone steals from relativists, or violates their physical persons, or commits some outrage against their families, they will feel wronged and will most likely seek justice somehow. Therefore, it is clear they do not really believe “what is right for you is right for you” in every situation.

Relativism is a demonstration of the moral depravity following as a natural consequence of the rejection of our Creator as God and the attempt to replace Him with the individual as the standard (cf. Romans 1:18-31). Left by ourselves, no one has the right to declare what is right or wrong. This does not lead to some anarchist utopia; it leads to chaos and the degeneration of society. What we see in our society is the best argument against relativism: it leads to concern merely for the self without proper consideration for others, and everyone suffers.

When we come to an understanding that it is not within us to direct our own steps and the way that seems right to us leads to death (cf. Proverbs 14:12, Jeremiah 10:23), we can begin to see how we have gone terribly wrong. We should instead turn back to God our Creator who created us with an internal sense of right and wrong (cf. Romans 2:13-16). We can then learn humility and the value of living for the benefit of others, seeking their welfare, and not to please ourselves, as God has exemplified in Christ (Romans 15:1-3). Moral truths are too important for us to decide; we must instead accept God’s moral standards of right and wrong and seek to live according to them!

Ethan R. Longhenry

But in the Greek…

There are many times in preaching, teaching, writing, and especially in arguments regarding spiritual matters when people will turn and make an appeal to the original Greek of the New Testament to bolster or explain their position. We can understand the appeal; many strive to learn New Testament Greek in order to gain a better understanding of the Bible, and we might hope that nuances in the Greek may provide that elusive piece of evidence we need in order to make a more compelling point or argument. Nevertheless, appealing to the Greek can also be fraught with difficulties. There are many times when appeals to the Greek are entirely unwarranted– more often than not, difficulties that seem to exist in English are representing difficulties that exist in Greek. Rarely do we find a “Greek silver bullet” that solves a dilemma posed in English translations. While it is true that all such translations are the work of men and have their difficulties and weaknesses, no one should despair about understanding God’s will in English.

Yet it is true that English and Greek are different languages, and there are times when knowledge of Greek may help communicate some nuances and differences that may not be easily rendered in the translations. In these situations an appeal to the Greek can help facilitate better understanding of the Bible.

“Theological” or “Ecclesiastical” words. One weakness of most Bible translations is that they follow the traditions set down long ago about certain words of theological or ecclesiastical (“church”) importance. Some of these words (e.g., baptism, church, fellowship) will have more expansive meanings in English than they do in Greek. Other words (e.g. justification, sanctification, worship) come with the “baggage” of denominational theology and are often misunderstood. The meanings of these words in Greek can be used to clarify God’s intentions in using them.

Definitions. While Greek and English are part of the same language family (Indo-European), words in both languages often do not have one to one equivalence. The range of meaning in a Greek word might be different than the range of meaning in its English equivalent (e.g. agape / love). Occasionally the literal Greek provides an image not found in the English equivalent: a good example is splagchnizomai, which literally refers to a feeling in the bowels, and thus translated “moved with compassion” (cf. Matthew 9:36). Such pictures help to clarify and illuminate the meaning of the words in the Bible.

Grammatical details. In general, Greek is much more specific about the functions of its words (matters of syntax). Adjectives grammatically agree with the nouns they modify; both adjectives and nouns have cases that show their function in a sentence (subject, direct object, possessive, etc.). Greek verb forms often provide number and tense in their forms (i.e. first person present tense). Furthermore, Greek tenses also indicate the aspect of the action, whether the action is continuous or one-time, completed or continuing. While the latter is somewhat true in English it is often missed, and at times is essential for understanding the meaning of what is said (e.g. “to have” in 1 John 1:8 is in the present tense and thus progressive or repeated; in 1 John 1:10 “to sin” is in the perfect tense and thus completed). While proper care must be exercised about appeals to Greek grammar, we can see that there are times when it can help us more accurately interpret the text.

These are the most valuable ways to profitably use appeals to Greek in order to help people understand the Scriptures. It is good for us to not expect the Greek to solve all or even most of the challenges that arise in understanding the New Testament. Instead, we should be assured that our Bible translations do well at presenting God’s word to us in English, and appeals to Greek should be limited to when the English could use clarification or illumination.

Ethan R. Longhenry

Those Who Have Never Heard

One of the difficulties that some have with the faith involves the fate of those who never had the opportunity to hear the message of Jesus the Christ. If faith in God comes by hearing of the Word of Christ, according to Romans 10:17, and the power of God for salvation is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to Romans 1:16, what will happen with all of the people who lived between the days of Abraham and Jesus but who were not part of Israel? What about all of the people who lived in far off lands, including east Asia, Australia, and the Americas, before the Gospel message was brought there? What about all those people, even to this day, who have not heard the Gospel of Christ?

The question is a legitimate one; nevertheless, we do well to begin by keeping our limitations in mind. Only God knows the heart; God in Christ will make the final judgment on the last day (Acts 15:8, Acts 17:30-31, Romans 2:5-11). Therefore, it is not for us to make such judgments: each person will stand before the judgment seat of God (cf. Romans 14:10-12, James 4:12). Therefore, only God knows the eternal fate of all the people concerning whom we are speaking. We can trust that God will make that decision justly and with great love and compassion, since we know that God is just and His great love for mankind has been clearly demonstrated through the sacrifice of His Son (Psalm 33:5, John 3:16, Romans 5:6-11, 8:31-39).

Yet this answer does not address the root issue that leads to the difficulty, which involves the question of fairness and justice. If God really loves people, and He is a just God, how could He hold anyone responsible who had not heard of Him through the Gospel? How could God be just and condemn people who never had the opportunity to hear the message of Jesus?

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness; because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse: because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened (Romans 1:18-21).

Paul thus addresses this very question here in Romans 1:18-21 (really, Romans 1:18-32). Paul understands that people can only have faith in God through Christ through hearing the message of Christ (Romans 1:16-17, 10:14-17), but this is not the only way in which God has revealed Himself to mankind. God also has revealed His eternal power and divine nature through the things that He has made (Romans 1:19-20). That testimony should be sufficient for people to understand who they are and how they should act.

In Romans 2:12-16, Paul will declare that the doers of the law, not merely hearers of it, will be justified on the day of judgment, including those among the nations who did not have the law but did the things of the law “by nature.” As Paul says, the fact that people among the nations can do this shows that they have the law written on their hearts (Romans 2:15). Paul thus affirms the “moral law” that is inherent in all mankind: God has made us with an inherent sense of right and wrong, since we have been made in God’s image and through our ancestors have partaken of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 1:26-27, 3:6).

Paul provides us with the answer to our difficulty. Perhaps not everyone has heard the Gospel of Christ; however, God made everyone to seek after Him (cf. Acts 17:26-28) and granted to everyone an inherent understanding of right and wrong. Thus, whoever turns and makes a god out of aspects of the creation, and/or willfully does what is wrong, is thus without excuse. They had sufficient knowledge of God on the basis of His divinity manifest in the creation; having rejected the truth of God for a lie, God gave them over to their desires, and they will receive due penalty for their error (Romans 1:18-32). Those who turned from such folly or truly sought to do righteousness testify to God’s moral law in their conscience, and that will be duly noted in the judgment (Romans 2:12-16).

Ultimately, if people could be saved through ignorance, the worst thing we could do would be to preach the Gospel of Christ to them, for then they would be accountable when otherwise they would not be. Yet this is inconsistent with God’s desire for everyone to come to the knowledge of the truth and to be saved (Matthew 28:18-20, 1 Timothy 2:1-4). While we are not the judges of the eternal fate of anyone, we have the testimony of Scripture that no one will be saved by ignorance; God has provided sufficient testimony of Himself so that all will be judged fairly by what they have done in the body (Romans 2:5-11). Friend, you can hear the Gospel message if you have not yet done so; you can learn of God not just through the creation but also from the message of God’s love demonstrated to you in Christ. Obey the Lord and be saved!

Ethan R. Longhenry

All is Vanity

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; vanity of vanities, all is vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:2).

We humans understand some very difficult truths about our existence. We cannot live forever on the earth; the time will come when we will all die. When we die, our stuff will go to other people. Our friends and family will probably remember us for many years, but the day will come when they all will die, also. Few of us will be “immortalized” on a monument or in the history books. Most of us will become an inscription on a tombstone and perhaps an entry in the genealogical records of our descendants with maybe a story or two attached to us.

Meanwhile we seek meaning in our lives. Meaning is big for people. If we do not think that our lives or our work has meaning, we despair and wither. If life is ultimately meaningless, everything seems rather pointless. If all we are going to do is live to die, maybe to pass on the genes we inherited from our ancestors to our descendants, and that is really all, many would wonder why we should bother!

Can we find ultimate meaning in our existence by just considering our lives and work “under the sun”? People have been trying to do this for centuries. Why did our ancestors try to build the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:4:

And they said, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

They wanted to make a name for themselves– to leave some permanent mark on the world. They did not want to be scattered. They wanted to find some kind of lasting value in their lives.

Their purposes were ultimately frustrated (Genesis 11:6-9), and that has been the story for humans ever since. Generation after generation tries to “make a name for themselves” somehow. They build monuments and write books describing their lives and adventures. They pass down oral stories of their lives. But what ends up happening over time? Nations and empires come and go. Cities are built, destroyed, rebuilt, and many times left for ruins. Monuments decay or are toppled. Some books continue to be preserved; others are lost to history. Some stories get repeated while others are forgotten.

Ultimately, as Peter tells us, everything physical will be destroyed with an intense heat (2 Peter 3:10-13). Whatever monuments and books will remain will be gone. So many pursuits of men– wealth, empire, monuments, and so on– will be gone in a flash.

So it goes with any attempt to find meaning in this life alone– it is bound to fail, as the Preacher has told us (Ecclesiastes 1:1). It is all vanity– emptiness, or nothingness. We live and we die, no matter how well or poorly we have lived.

When it comes to this worldly existence, the best any of us can do is to enjoy the little pleasures in life and to enjoy the good of our labor, recognizing that this comes from God’s hand (Ecclesiastes 2:24). Anything beyond this is vanity.

This is a very hard message for us. We are used to hearing that we should “make something of ourselves.” We are raised to believe that we can somehow “make a difference.” Yet, in this world alone, we live and die. No ultimate difference will be made. We will return to the dust with as much as when we came from it.

So it goes with anyone who tries to find meaning in this worldly existence. True meaning, however, comes not from “below” but from “above”– from God in Christ (Colossians 3:1-4). We must place our confidence in heavenly citizenship, not earthly citizenship (Philippians 3:20-21). We must put to death that which is earthly in us so we can live for that which is heavenly– to live in the new creation where our treasure is stored in the place that will not perish (Colossians 3:5-11, Matthew 6:19-21). In this world, all is vanity; in God, all has value (1 Corinthians 15:58).

This life is ultimately vain unless we live with a view to the life to come in the resurrection. Let us place our hope in God in Christ, and not in the false hopes of “immortality” and “meaning” in the world!

Ethan R. Longhenry

Calamity

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places” (Matthew 24:7).

The “Arab spring”: the overthrow of existing powers in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, with pressure placed on governments in Bahrain, Yemen, and Syria.

The earthquakes in Haiti and Chile in 2010; the big Japanese earthquake and tsunami this year; and now, in the space of a few days, earthquakes in Colorado, Virginia, and Peru.

A major hurricane heading toward the Northeast.

Meanwhile, many other places are experiencing too little or too much rain.

A lot of people are probably wondering: what does it all mean? Is this the beginning of the end? There seems to be no end to the predictions people make about the impending doom that we are all facing. These types of events seem to “prove” what is being said.

The fact of the matter, however, is that what we are seeing has been going on for thousands of years. Major earthquakes strike the world every year: most just happen under water where they do not get as much notice. The same is true with major hurricanes: most end up going out to sea. Nations and governments come and go.

Perhaps what is different today is just how sheltered most of us are from calamity. Most of what we hear happens on the other side of the world; most of our ancestors would never know what was happening over there. Yet they had enough difficulties with high mortality rates, oppression by their own governments, constant war, famines, plagues, and a host of other ills.

Therefore, there is no special reason to believe that the types of events going on today are any different than events that have been going on for thousands of years. The Scriptures are clear that calamities of this sort are just part of life, and we must learn to live with them and despite them (e.g. Psalm 18:18, Luke 21:8-9).

Some people declare that disasters are God’s judgment on people. How can that be known unless God reveals it? It is foolish to make such declarations!

Others want to know why God allows such bad things to happen to people. All of these calamities take place because the world in which we live is subject to decay and corruption (Romans 8:18-25). The world began experiencing that corruption when sin entered it (Romans 5:12-18). Why it happens as it happens will always be a mystery to us; nevertheless, the fact that God loves us and wants us to be reconciled to Him does not have to be a mystery, for He displayed that love through Jesus His Son and His life, death, and resurrection (Romans 5:6-11).

For all sorts of reasons, some known, most unknown, calamities and disasters are part of this creation. They are sad events, but not even they are able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:31-39). We do well to take God’s advice and always be ready for whatever may come (Matthew 24:37-25:30): be reconciled to Him, seek to do His will in all things, and to gain the ultimate victory in Jesus over all the world can throw at us!

Ethan R. Longhenry

Treasure and the Heart

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

We humans appreciate certainty and have challenges in tolerating uncertainty. We want to be confident in our present existence and our ability to continue that existence for the near future.

Jesus is perfectly aware of these human tendencies. He understands that humans seek after security, confidence, and trust. In Matthew 6:19-21, He identifies our fundamental challenge: where our treasure is, our heart is also.

Where is our treasure? In what do we place our trust? It is easy for us to consider our money and our material goods to be our treasure. When we have money in the bank and the comforts of modern life, then life seems good. But if we run out of money and/or cannot obtain the comforts of modern life, then life seems miserable. If the way we look at our lives changes based on our financial circumstances, then we have put too much trust in our physical resources. The events of the past few years should vividly remind us what happens to the things of this creation. They are subject to decay and can easily be taken from us. They will not endure. If we hope in the riches of this world, we will find ourselves most bankrupt on the final day (1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19, 1 John 2:15-17).

Many people understand that they cannot really put their trust in their money, and so they instead put their trust in their fellow human beings. Their treasure may be their relationships with their fellow man. Perhaps they devote themselves to humanitarian causes and try to do good for the world.

Such is certainly good and far better than placing trust in riches. But can trust in fellow humans rescue us from the challenges of this life? Does not Jesus say in Matthew 6:1-4 that those who give to be seen by men have their reward? Humanitarian works are well and good, but will they endure any longer than material wealth (2 Peter 3:10-13)?

If we really seek full certainty, we must look beyond this world to the One who created it and who sustains it. Our treasure should be in God in Christ–He is the only One who can be our certainty. Trusting in anything else will lead to anxiety; trusting in God leads to the peace that surpasses understanding (Matthew 6:25-34, Philippians 4:7).

When our treasure and heart are entrusted to God, we will seek to serve Him and do what He would have us to do (Romans 6:16-23, Galatians 2:20). Therefore, we will still need to provide for ourselves, our family, and to give to those who are in need (Ephesians 4:28, 1 Timothy 5:8). So there is a place for money, for humanitarian work, and for cultivating relationships in our lives, but only inasmuch as they are rooted in our trust in God. Our trust in God should motivate us in all things to be conformed to the image of Jesus the Son–to live humbly, selflessly, seeking the best interest of all those with whom we come into contact (Romans 8:29, Matthew 20:25-28, Philippians 2:1-11). When God is the Absolute, first and foremost in our lives, we can then truly live, prosper, develop relationships, and do good (Philippians 4:13)!

Where our treasure is, our heart will be also. If our treasure is only of this world, then it and our hearts will perish with this world. The only eternal treasure is God in Christ. Therefore, everything we think, feel, and do should be rooted in Him and our trust in the goodness and rightness of His way. Confidence in God leads to peace; confidence in the world is easily shaken. Let us hold firm to the Rock of Ages and obtain the true treasure of eternal life!

Ethan R. Longhenry

Seven Reminders for Every Christian

Wherefore I shall be ready always to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is with you (2 Peter 1:12).

No matter how old we are in the faith of Christ, or how much we have matured in our understanding and practice of Christianity, we can always benefit from reminders about our faith and what is really important. This was Peter’s message for his own time: he sought to remind believers of the truth of God in Christ even though he was convinced that they already knew it and were established in it. In the same spirit, then, let us consider seven reminders that can benefit every Christian.

1. Rejoice always (Philippians 4:4). If anyone had a reason to be down, it would have been Paul when he was imprisoned for the faith. Nevertheless, he encouraged believers to rejoice as he rejoiced, for no matter how dire or difficult things may be or seem on earth, the blessings we have in Christ far outweigh them. Therefore, regardless of our circumstances, we ought to rejoice in God our Savior.

2. Pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We never get too mature or too old to pray; in fact, as we grow in the faith, we learn just how dependent we are upon God. We have been granted the privilege of petitioning the Creator of the universe, the First and the Last; we ought to take advantage of that at every opportunity!

3. Give thanks to God in all circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:18). A significant element of our petitions to God should involve thanksgiving (cf. 1 Corinthians 14:14-17). While God does want to hear about our cares and anxieties (cf. 1 Peter 5:7), it is right for us to always thank God for all the blessings with which He has blessed us. Giving thanks to God reminds us just how blessed we are, no matter how difficult things might seem, and how God has already done far greater things for us than for which our current distress would call. Our attitude is often changed by just counting our many blessings!

4. Remember who you are and who you serve (Titus 3:3-8). No matter how much maturity we develop in Christ, how holy our conduct may become, we are not perfect, and we still fall short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8). From the beginning until the end of our walk with Christ, we remain sinners who have received mercy from God (Romans 5:6-11). We are not the judges; we serve the Judge (James 4:11-12). We are His servants; He is the Lord (Ephesians 5:22-33). We were bought with a price to glorify Him (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). This is why we devote ourselves to good works, and we must never forget it.

5. The Gospel must never get old (Romans 1:16). We must resist the temptation to let the Gospel “get old”– a story that we have heard so many times that it has lost its power for us. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth– the essence of the Gospel– must continue to inspire us, lead us to give God thanks, and mold and shape our lives. The Gospel remains God’s power for salvation after two thousand years, and we have been commissioned to continue to promote it in our words and deeds.

6. Encourage one another (Hebrews 10:24-25). There is a tendency also for the assemblies of Christians to “get old” as well, and it also must be resisted. We ought to understand that the assembly is more about one another than it is about ourselves as individuals; we gain encouragement by being the strength and encouragement for others. Much can be done outside of the assembly to encourage, and that we must do. Nevertheless, the assemblies are the consistent and frequent ways to get the opportunity to strengthen one another, and we ought to take every opportunity to do so!

7. Remember what it is all about (Romans 8:17-18, Ephesians 3:10-11, Philippians 3:12-14). We have been granted the opportunity to play a role in God’s eternal plan for the salvation of mankind, participating in His work as part of the Lord’s church. Through our lives God is to receive glory, whether in good times or bad, in ease or in distress, abounding or in want. We will experience some of the harsh realities of life, and they are preparing us to receive honor and glory beyond measure or imagination when the Lord returns to judge the living and the dead and His followers are granted the resurrection of eternal life. Let us keep these things in mind, live so as to glorify God our Savior, and obtain that resurrection!

Ethan R. Longhenry

Authority and Faith

And the centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goeth; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he cometh; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he doeth it.”
And when Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, “Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (Matthew 8:8-10).

“Faith” is one of the most misunderstood concepts presented in the New Testament. A lot of people equate faith with some kind of mental agreement to a proposition. In such a view, having faith in Jesus is like having faith that two plus two equals four. The statements are accepted as true, but such faith does not lead to real transformation or change.

The reality of faith goes far deeper than the idea of accepting a proposition as true. Faith is really about trust, and it is a quality that all people have. It is not as if there are some people who live by faith and others who do not; everyone trusts in someone or something. The question involves where we place our trust.

We place our trust in that which we have invested with authority. Notice the conversation that takes place between the centurion and Jesus in Matthew 8:8-10. The centurion wants Jesus to heal his servant; he is a man under authority with people under his authority, and he understands that the word of the one with authority is sufficient to accomplish the task. Jesus then declares that in this centurion He has found greater faith than among any of the Israelites!

Why does Jesus talk about faith when the centurion has been talking about authority? The centurion has confidence that Jesus has the authority to heal his servant; the centurion understands that all Jesus needs to do is to say the word, since He has power. The centurion, based on his understanding of authority, places his trust in Jesus. He has confidence that if Jesus has power over the creation, as he has heard, then all Jesus will need to do is say the word and it will be done.

The centurion, therefore, models true faith–an understanding of authority leading to trust in the One who has authority. Such is consistent with Peter’s declaration before the Jews on Pentecost in Acts 2:36: God made Jesus both Lord and Christ. And how do the Jews respond? They are cut to the heart and want to know what they are to do in response (Acts 2:37). They hear that Jesus has been given authority, and they believe that this is true; they now want to know what they must do in order to express their trust in Him.

The connection between authority and faith is often missed by people today. We often would rather forget about the reality that we are placing our confidence and trust in certain people and ideas, and that when we do so, we act as if they have authority. This is true whether we are following after the ideas of our parents or the beliefs of the most recent celebrity on entertainment shows. It remains true whether we place our trust in the declarations of scientists or in the revelations of the Bible.

In the end, we cannot definitively know everything about everything. We will place our trust in someone or something. Who deserves that trust? What ideas represent truth so as to justify confidence in them? The One who deserves our trust is the One who has authority (Matthew 28:18), Jesus of Nazareth, and so it is right for us to trust in Him and what He has revealed to us through His Word. We must accept the truth that Jesus is Lord; then we must act like Jesus is Lord, seeking to live according to His will, walking as He walked, becoming conformed to His image (Romans 8:29, Galatians 2:20, 1 John 2:5-6). Let us declare Jesus as Lord of our lives, not ourselves or any other, and be saved!

Ethan R. Longhenry