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The Self-Righteous Christian
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Kings 7; 2 Chronicles 4; Psalm 98; Romans 2
Today’s Key Passage – Romans 2:1-16
One of the easiest things for most people to do is to become self-righteous. No matter where we are in our lives or in our walk with Christ, we can always find someone we consider to be not as “well behaved” as we are. When we compare ourselves to the standard set by the other person, we feel like we are doing pretty well in the way we are living our lives. Many people of varying faiths feel that they are going to Heaven because they are not “immoral” like others. They reckon that since they are not adulterers, murderers, or bank robbers, God will probably judge them as worthy. In fact, when they see other people who are adulterers, murderers, or bank robbers they find fault with them, and consider themselves to be in some way “above” those people. There are also many born-again Christians who feel like they are “better” than other Christians or other denominations. They decide that their church attendance is better than others, they pray more than others, or the places they choose to go or not to go are better than others. All of these things are examples of self-righteousness, and all of them are very dangerous to a follower of Christ.
In today’s key passage, Paul confronts the self-righteous people in the Roman church. Near the end of Romans 1, Paul spoke about the wickedness of men. He talked about various sinners and sins that were taking place outside of the church. Likely, the Roman audience of Paul’s letter would have considered themselves to be well above that kind of behavior and far better than these people described in Romans 1. In our text, Paul confronts the person who felt that he would get to Heaven because he was not like those sinners mentioned in Romans 1. He shows in our passage that the self-righteous person is just as guilty in the eyes of God as the blatant sinner is. If Paul were writing to Christians today, he might point out that going to church or living an outwardly moral life is not going to get you into Heaven. He might point out that just because we might “feel” self-righteous as compared to some other people, we are not actually viewed by God as righteous based on our own actions. After all, “God does not show favoritism.” (Vs. 11) The simple truth that Paul later points out to the Romans (and to us) is that because we are all sinners in one degree or another, we are all in need of a Savior. We need someone to take away our sins, and that person is our Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe today’s key passage serves as a reminder and a warning for those of us who know we are saved that we have no right to stand as critics of others, regardless of what they do. So often we can all have moments when we are critical of others. We can all have moments when we feel “justified”. We can all have moments when we feel “self-righteous”. It is vitally important, however, that we are careful when it comes to being critical of other people or believing we are in some way “better” than they are. Put simply, God is the only one that has the right to judge, and as followers of Christ, we can rest in the comfort of knowing that one day, He will.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Solomon Asks for Wisdom
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Kings 3; 2 Chronicles 1; Psalm 78; 2 Thessalonians 2
Today’s Key Passage – 1 Kings 3:4-15
Most of us, at one time or another, have played the little game of “3 wishes” with ourselves or with others. The game goes something like this – you have been given three wishes, and you can ask for anything you want. What would your wishes be? The answers to this question are typically humorous and pretty informative. In fact, if you ever want to really understand what drives another person, ask him or her this question. In today’s key passage, we see a real-life example of this game in Scripture. Solomon was the new king and one night in a dream, God appeared to him and said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” (Vs. 5) Now we all have moments of greatness in our lives. These are moments when we do the right thing, say the right thing, or think the right thing. In my opinion, Solomon’s greatest moment comes in the next few lines of Scripture. In response to God, we read in verses 7-9, “Now, O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.” When given the chance to ask God for anything, Solomon chose to ask for wisdom. The next line of Scripture is beautiful in its simplicity as we read, “The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.” (Vs. 10)
My question today for each of us might be a convicting one. If you were in the same position as Solomon, what would you say? If God appeared to you today and told you to ask for whatever you want, what would you ask for Him to give you? I ask that you spend some time today prayerfully considering this question, because while it may seem like an easy one, the answer will directly reflect where your heart is in relation with God’s will. When considering this question, remember that no matter what we say our answer would be, God knows our heart and He knows what we would truly ask from Him. He knows what is in our deepest prayers and He knows what drives us and motivates us. Would your answer be pleasing to Him? If not, the good news is that God has the power to change our hearts. He has the power to help our will line up with His perfect will. In fact, that is what our walk with God is really all about – growing and maturing in our faith as we become more like Christ. My prayer today is that you would prayerfully consider your request, that your request would be pleasing to God, and that He will give you the desire of your heart. Just as God granted Solomon’s request for wisdom, He will grant your request as well when it lines up with His perfect will.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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What God Wants
Daily Bible Reading – 2 Samuel 15,16; Psalm 32; Matthew 25
Today’s Key Passage – Psalm 32
Most of us spend a lot of time thinking about “wants”. We think about what we want to eat for dinner. We think about what our children want for their birthdays or Christmas. We think about where our spouses want to go on vacation. A better “want” to consider, however, is what God wants. The Bible helps us answer this question in many different ways. We know that He wants us to love Him. We know that He wants us to put Him first. In today’s key passage, we find more clues as to what God wants. Let us look at a few of those “wants” today:
- God wants us to be cleansed - (Vss. 1-2) – God wants each of us to receive the initial cleansing that comes from the salvation offered through Jesus Christ. In addition, he wants us to be continually cleansed by Him as we live our lives daily.
- God wants us to be convicted - (Vss. 3-4) – The Holy Spirit living in us convicts us of sins as they happen. When we sin, God will convict us and show us that we need to turn back to Him to restore our relationship. This conviction will not let us rest until we have dealt with our sin.
- God wants us to confess - (Vss. 5-6) – When we acknowledge our sins to God, He forgives us and cleanses us from our impurities.
- God wants us to rest in His protection- (Vs. 7) – God wants to be our “hiding place” from all of the troubles of this world. When we rest in Him, he will shield us from evil.
- God wants us to rest in His guidance - (Vs. 8) – God wants to instruct us and teach us how to walk in His ways. He wants us to trust Him to lead us only to what is best for us.
- God wants us to cooperate - (Vss. 9-11) – Some people in this world are stubborn. Rather than allowing God to guide them with love, they leave God no other choice but to lead them with “bit and bridle”. In other words, they force God to lead them using discipline and punishment. When we fail to acknowledge our sins before God, He may punish us to force us back to Him. God will use any means necessary to restore our relationship with Him.
As I read today’s passage, I am awestruck by the differences between God and man. Obviously, human beings are very different from God in many ways, but I believe one of the biggest differences comes in the area of forgiveness. When humans forgive others, we sometimes do it almost grudgingly. We know we “should” forgive someone, or we feel like we “need to” forgive someone. Sometimes we even feel like we “have to” forgive someone. When we do forgive, we very seldom ever forget. God, on the other hand, is not like us in this regard. God never feels like He should forgive, or that He needs to forgive, and he certainly never feels like He has to forgive. God wants to forgive us. In addition, when He forgives, He forgets completely that we have sinned. We do not have this ability on our own, but God does. He does not keep a record of wrongs. When God forgives us, we are washed clean in the blood of Christ and are made white as snow, and our relationship to God is completely restored. We do not have to live with guilt over sin. We do not have to live in fear of His punishments. We can find freedom and joy today through the forgiveness He offers us. The next time you are thinking about “wants” in your life, consider what God wants for you. Think of this Psalm, and rest in His promises.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
Freely You Have Received, Freely Give
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Samuel 27; Psalm 141; 1 Chronicles 9; Matthew 10
Today’s Key Passage – Matthew 10:5-10
In today’s key passage, Jesus is getting ready to send His disciples out into the world for the first time on their own. He has spent time with them and He has trained them, and now He is sending them to reach others. He tells them to go to the “lost sheep of Israel” and preach the message that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. He gives them the power they will need to heal the sick, raise the dead, and drive out demons. Just before they leave, Jesus gives the disciples a principle that they should use to guide their actions as they go from town to town preaching His message to others. He tells them, “Freely you have received, freely give.” (Vs. 8) When I first read this verse, my first reaction was that Jesus was talking about generous giving. God gives us so much in this life and blesses us in so many ways, that the very least we can do is share that wealth with others by freely giving of our time, money, and possessions to help others. While this is obviously sound advice and something that we should all practice in our lives, the more I read this passage today the more I started to believe that Jesus was talking about a lot more than just material goods.
As I sat quietly today talking with God and thinking about this passage, I tried to focus on all the different things we have received from Him. The more I meditated on it, the longer the list became, so I began to write down some of the things we freely receive from God that we can freely give. Below are some of the items on my list:
- Freely we have received His grace and mercy, and freely we should extend that grace and mercy to others.
- Freely we have received His forgiveness of our sins, and freely we should forgive others of their transgressions.
- Freely we have received His encouragement, and freely we should encourage others.
- Freely we have received His wisdom, and freely we should share that wisdom with others.
- Freely we have received His love, and freely we should show that love to others.
Perhaps the most important thing on my list that we have received from God is the Good News about Jesus Christ. Each of us has been saved by His grace through faith in Jesus, and the fact is that at some point in our lives we learned about our Savior because someone somewhere cared enough about us to share the Gospel with us. God freely gives us salvation, but in order for people to receive His gift, they have to first hear the Good News. That is where we come in. Freely we have received salvation through His Good News, and freely we should share that Good News with others. I encourage you today to make a list of all the things you have freely received from God that you can freely give to others.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Finding Strength in Our Weaknesses
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Samuel 13; 1 Chronicles 2,3; 2 Corinthians 12
Today’s Key Passage – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
There are many times in the Bible when what we read seems to contradict what our earthly minds believe to be true. Today’s key passage is a good example of this type of conflict. The apostle Paul tells us that he has been given a “thorn” in his flesh to keep him from becoming conceited. While we do not know exactly what this “thorn” was because Paul never provided details, some Biblical scholars have theorized that it might have been a disease such as malaria or epilepsy, or perhaps a problem with his vision. Whatever the case, we can be sure it was some sort of physical ailment that made Paul’s mission in life more difficult. Three times Paul pleaded with God to take this “thorn” away from him, but each time God refused, telling Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (Vs. 9) What Paul goes on to say in verse 10 is the part that seems to conflict with what we believe to be true based on our human knowledge. He says, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
I love these examples when God takes our conventional earthly wisdom and turns it upside down. Jesus said that whoever is first will be last and that the meek will inherit the earth and Paul said that when he is weak, then he is strong. If you are wondering how this can be true, allow me to explain. When we are strong, we tend to start to feel pride. During our strongest moments, we feel like we can accomplish anything on our own, without any help. While that might sound like a good thing, it is actually the opposite of what God wants for us. God wants us not to try to accomplish things in our own strength, but to accomplish things through His strength. He wants to be our source. During our weakest moments, when things look dark and bleak, those are the times when we can turn to Him for strength. More importantly, God’s strength is so much more than anything we can possibly muster on our own. Therefore, when we are weak, we become strong because God gives us the strength we need to move forward. When we tap into the power of Jesus Christ living through us, we become far more powerful than we can ever be on our own. We can accomplish so much more than we could ever accomplish on our own. When you are feeling your weakest, rejoice in knowing that you can find strength. Rejoice in the knowledge that the power of Jesus Christ is available to you in your darkest hour. Rejoice in knowing that when you are weak, then you are strong.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Healing Through Prayer
Daily Bible Reading – 1 Samuel 1,2; Psalm 66; 2 Corinthians 7
Today’s Key Passage – 1 Samuel 1:1-18
In today’s key passage, we read the story of a man named Elkanah who had two wives, Peninnah, who had children, and Hannah, who had no children. Three times a year, Elkanah and his wives would travel to the tabernacle in Shiloh to worship God and bring the required sacrifices to God, and each time Peninnah would insult Hannah because she was barren. Hannah would get so upset during these trips, that she would end up crying constantly and would not eat. Finally, during one of these trips, Hannah decided to pray. She made a vow to God that if He would give her a son, she would dedicate him to a life of service to God. The high priest Eli saw her praying and gave her encouragement. When she finished her conversation with Eli, this woman who was so upset that she would not eat, “went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.” (Vs. 18) In a matter of moments, Hannah went from feeling depressed and discouraged to feeling joyful. Eventually, God blessed her with a child, and she kept her promise to God to dedicate him to a life of service. (Vss. 27-28) In addition, God would later give Hannah five more children. (Vs. 2:21)
In this story, Hannah actually received two different types of healing through her prayer. She received a physical healing when her prayer was answered and God allowed her to conceive her first child. In addition, she received emotional healing when she was finished praying. It is important for us to note that she did not need to wait for her prayer to be answered in order to feel joy. Her emotional healing came about not by God working on her behalf and making her pregnant, but through her faith in God and through the encouragement she received from Eli. When she cried out to God in her desperate time, she was able to leave her problems with Him. Moreover, she received moral support from a fellow believer that further led to her emotional healing. So often, we have a tendency to hold on to our discouragement until the time comes when God answers our prayers, but we can receive emotional healing long before that ever happens. When we pray, we can take all of our problems to God and can LEAVE THEM at the cross of Jesus Christ. We do not have to hold onto our sadness, our anger, or our bitterness. When we have faith like Hannah, we can finish our prayer knowing that God has heard us. We can finish our prayer knowing that God is working in our best interest. We can finish our prayer with emotional healing.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Gleaning in the Right Field
Daily Bible Reading – Ruth 1,2; Psalms 53,61; 2 Corinthians 5
Today’s Key Passage – Ruth 2:1-23
Today we began the story of Ruth. In chapter 1, we read that Ruth was a widow living in Moab with her mother-in-law Naomi. When Naomi decided to leave Moab and return to Bethlehem, Ruth decided to go with her and care for her even though she was not obligated to do so. During this time in history, being a widow typically meant living a life of poverty and neglect, and this was true of Naomi and Ruth. In chapter 2, we learn that since they did not have much money, Ruth decided to find a field in which to glean. (By Israelite law, when it was time to harvest wheat and barley, landowners were not permitted to harvest the edges of their fields. In addition, during the harvest anything that fell to the ground was to be left there. Poor people could then come along and pick up the leftover wheat and barley, which was called gleaning.) Ruth found a field belonging to Boaz and began to glean there. She worked hard all day to gather as much as possible to feed herself and Naomi, and Boaz (the landowner) noticed her. He told Ruth to stay in his field and glean as much as she wanted. In addition, he told his men to leave some of the prime harvest for her to pick up. At the end of the day, Ruth had gleaned an ephah of barley (which was about 30 to 50 pounds) which she took back to share with Naomi.
There are many lessons to be learned from the story of Ruth. We can learn about her character as she lived a life of obedience to God. We can learn about her positioning herself in a place to receive God’s blessings. We can also learn a valuable lesson about gleaning. We may think that gleaning is an unimportant thing of the past that does not apply to us today, but in reality, each of us “gleans” every single day of our lives. We “glean” from different places as we feed our minds and our spirits with material. Whether we realize it or not, we are going to “pick up” things all the time, either from what we see, hear, or read. It is important that, like Ruth, we find the right field in which to glean, and the best field we can find is the Word of God. In this field, we can gather the spiritual nourishment we need to survive. Gleaning in God’s Word may not always be the easiest choice, and sometimes it may take work on our part, but once we have found this good “field”, we should stay there and glean as much as we want. As we search God’s Word, we will be rewarded for our work as He leaves all sorts of “prime harvest” for us to pick up to feed our souls. It is not enough, though, for us to simply get our fill of God’s harvest. We must take our “gleanings” and share them with others, just as Ruth shared her gleanings with Naomi. Take a look today at where you are spending your time. From what fields are you gleaning? From what fields are your spouse and children gleaning? The field of God’s Word is available and waiting for you to come along and start picking up a harvest.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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Dangerous Knowledge
Daily Bible Reading – Joshua 15-17; 1 Corinthians 8
Today’s Key Passage – 1 Corinthians 8:1-3
I heard a piece of tongue-in-cheek marital advice the other day, and it went something like this: “When you are wrong, confess it to your spouse immediately. When you are right, do not say a word.” I thought about that advice today as I read Paul’s remarks to the church in Corinth. In our key passage today, Paul says, “We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God.” (1 Corinthians 8:1-3) Paul is giving the Corinthians similar advice to the humorous marital advice above – no one likes a no-it-all. Do not get me wrong here; we all know that knowledge is a good thing. The more we learn about a particular topic, the better off we are, at least up to a point. What Paul is talking about is what I like to refer to as dangerous knowledge.
So, what makes knowledge dangerous? In our key passage, Paul says that knowledge “puffs up”. When you hear that term, what kind of a person do you picture? I picture a proud man – a man who thinks he knows it all. I picture a man who believes he is right almost 100% of the time, and is not afraid to tell you about it. I picture a man who believes being right is more important than being compassionate and loving. In the interest of honesty, I have to admit at this point that I have struggled with this issue (as the people closest to me can attest). I have felt this compulsive need to be right for as long as I can remember, and there are still times when I am acting in the flesh when this comes out of me. It is something that God continues to work on in me, and I know that eventually He will rid me of it completely. See, the issue here is really an issue of pride, and this pride is what makes knowledge dangerous. When you get to the point where being right is more important than compassion, you have entered dangerous territory. When you resist any kind of correction, you have entered dangerous territory. When you have intolerance for opposing views, you have entered dangerous territory. Dangerous knowledge can be toxic, both to yourself and to the people around you. If left unchecked, this dangerous knowledge can lead to a condition where you stop putting your faith in God to provide for your needs. When you wrongly believe that YOU can control your own destiny, you have definitely entered into VERY dangerous territory.
With all of that being said, what is the answer? How can we ensure that our knowledge does not turn into dangerous knowledge? The first step comes in understanding the sovereignty of God. When you realize that He is control of everything and that He is the only one who is always right, you can start to escape the snare of dangerous knowledge and pride. The second step is putting our focus on the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Compared to Jesus, who among us can claim to be perfect? Who among us can claim to be right? Christ came to this earth and lived a perfect life, and then died on a cross because of our sinfulness. When we begin to exalt Him instead of ourselves, we can begin to get out of the danger zone. Finally, the last step is love. When we realize that God loves us unconditionally regardless of what we do, we can in turn begin to love others in this same way. When you love another person unconditionally, you will want to build them up with that love instead of “puffing up” yourself. At that point, being right loses all importance.
The next time you feel the overwhelming need to be right; I hope you will remember today’s key passage. I hope that, like me, you will stop and remind yourself of Paul’s words. Aside from that, if all else fails – when you are right, do not say a word.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
If you like this post, please SHARE it with others to spread the Word of God.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
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The Importance of Scripture
Daily Bible Reading – Deuteronomy 16-18; Psalm 38; Galatians 2
Today’s Key Passage – Deuteronomy 17:14-20
Before entering the Promised Land, Moses took some time to speak to the Israelites and his addresses are chronicled in the book of Deuteronomy. In today’s reading, Moses spoke to his people about the Passover, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Tabernacles, appointing judges, and worshiping other gods. In addition, in our key passage today he spoke to them about appointing a king. God did not really want the Israelites to appoint a king because they already had a king – God. However, God knew that eventually the Israelites were going to want to have a king because all of the other nations had one, so He decided to provide them with some guidelines they should follow in appointing that king. In His list of guidelines, he tells the Israelites to make sure the king was a person chosen by God. The king should be another Israelite (as opposed to someone from a foreign land). Moreover, the king should not be allowed to build up a large army, should not amass great wealth, and should not take many wives as these things would lead him away from God. (We will find out later in the book of 1 Kings that Israel did not exactly follow this advice and it ultimately led to massive problems, but that is a topic for another day). Then God gives the Israelites one more command regarding their king. He says that the king should, “write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life”.
Of course, in today’s terms God is telling the king to get a Bible and read it every day. Why is this important? Why did God want the king to read the Bible every day? God answers this question by saying that he should read the Bible daily, “so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left.” It was important to God that the king of His people read the Bible daily. He wanted the king to learn about Him and to follow Him. He wanted the king to humble himself before his God. He wanted to build a relationship with the king. Does it not stand to reason that if we asked God, he would tell us the very same thing today?
The fact is that God wants us to read the Bible daily. His Word is the absolute best way to get to know Him. It is the best way to learn to follow Him. In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul tells us that, “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Sadly, so many Christians have trouble getting into God’s Word on a daily basis. When I was first saved, I knew that I should read the Bible every day, but I hardly ever did anything about it. I made excuses not to read the Bible – I would think, “I am too busy”, “I have too much going on at work today”, or “I am traveling this week” and I would justify my choices to myself. Fortunately, God made me realize that my thinking was flawed. I was trying to give Him whatever time I had left over from all of my other activities, instead of putting Him first. When I finally made a conscious effort to start reading the Bible on a daily basis, a new world opened up to me. I felt myself getting closer and closer to God. I began to feel His presence with me and I started to “hear” his voice guiding me in my life. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made, and I hope it is one you will make too. If you are already reading the Bible daily, keep going. Keep pressing closer and closer to God. If you are having trouble reading His Word on a daily basis, make it a priority even if that means you need to wake up earlier or go to bed later. If you are waiting until you can find the time to read the Bible, it will never happen. You have to make the time. Whether you follow along with our daily reading plan or you find a different one that will work better for you, get into God’s word daily. I promise you will love the results.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
Resolving Conflicts Biblically
Daily Bible Reading - Leviticus 7-9; Acts 15
Today’s Key Passage - Acts 15:1-21
The early Christian church was facing a conflict. Some of the early Christians believed that the Gentiles needed to adhere to Jewish law (including circumcision) before they could become Christians. Other early believers did not think it was necessary to become Jewish before becoming a Christian, and therefore thought circumcision was not necessary. If the conflict was not resolved, the early Christian church could have become split into two sects and therefore would have lost a lot of its momentum along the way. In an effort to resolve the differences between them, the two groups came together in Jerusalem to discuss the matter and to determine where the church would stand on the issue. For the first step in resolving the conflict, they allowed both sides to make their case. The converted Pharisees believed in a legalistic religion and wanted to require circumcision for all Gentile believers. Then Peter, Paul, and Barnabas spoke from their point of view and told of their experiences with the Gentiles being filled with the Holy Spirit despite not being circumcised. Finally, James stepped in and compared both arguments to what was said in the Scriptures to determine which direction was more biblically based. In the end, the decision was made that the Gentile believers would not need to be circumcised prior to conversion to Christianity.
Today, when we are faced with conflicts we should resolve them in the same way. Our first step should be to allow both sides to state their beliefs clearly and in an open way. Just because someone’s opinion is different from ours does not give us the right to keep him from expressing it. We should hear him out and allow him to speak his mind. We can then seek the counsel of others who are spiritually mature, such as a Pastor, to get guidance on the issue. Finally, the most important step is to compare both sides of the argument to the Bible. We must always consult God’s Word when resolving conflict, since God is the ultimate authority. When we have difficulties discerning who is correct, the Bible will light the way of the truth. Everyone has his own opinion about what is right and what is correct, but ultimately what matters the most is what God’s Word says. When we seek God’s Word in resolving a conflict, we will always make the best choice.
During your Bible reading today, what “key passages” stood out to you? Leave a comment below to share what God is showing you about His Word today.
To become a fan of The Daily Bible Plan’s Facebook Page, CLICK HERE.
To follow me on Twitter for inspirational tweets, click the follow button – Follow @kevin_griggs
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May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today.
