10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.
14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia[a] in length, and as wide and high as it is long.
17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits[b] thick.[c]18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.[d]
21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
Philippians
3:20 New International Version
20 But our
citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord
Jesus Christ,
1 Peter
2:11-12 New International Version
Living Godly
Lives in a Pagan Society
11 Dear friends,
I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which
wage war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that,
though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify
God on the day he visits us.
1 John 2:15-17 New International Version
On Not
Loving the World
15 Do not
love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for
the Father[a] is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father
but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does
the will of God lives forever.
Exodus 28:17-20 New International Version
17 Then
mount four rows of precious stones on it. The first row shall be carnelian,
chrysolite and beryl; 18 the second row shall be turquoise, lapis lazuli and
emerald; 19 the third row shall be jacinth, agate and amethyst; 20 the fourth
row shall be topaz, onyx and jasper.[a] Mount them in gold filigree settings.
Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Mat 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Act 8:22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
Act 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every
Mar 6:12 And they went out, and preached that men should repent.
Act 26:20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Rev 2:16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Rev 2:21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
Rev 2:22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
Rev 3:3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
Rev 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Mat 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Mar 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Luk 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Luk 5:32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Luk 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
Luk 24:47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Act 5:31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
Act 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
Act 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Act 26:20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
2Co 7:9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
2Co 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
2Ti 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
Heb 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
“The only way to gain your life is to give it up. The only way to win it is to lose it.” | Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth #BrokennessBook ⠀
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” | Matthew 16:24-28
21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
The New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb
9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
Matthew 24:8 Amplified Bible
8 But all these things are merely the
beginning of birth pangs [of the intolerable anguish and the time of
unprecedented trouble].
Matthew
24:13 King James Version
13 But he that shall endure unto the
end, the same shall be saved.
2 Timothy
2:8-13 King James Version
8 Remember
that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my
gospel:
9 Wherein I
suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not
bound.
10 Therefore
I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the
salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
11 It is a
faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
12 If we
suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
13 If we
believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
Revelation
2:10 King James Version
10 Fear none
of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of
you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days:
be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Revelation
21:4 King James Version
4 And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the
former things are passed away.
Numbers 23:19 King James Version
19 God is
not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent:
hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make
it good?
Revelation 2:11-19 King James Version
11 He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that
overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
12 And to the
angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the
sharp sword with two edges;
13 I know
thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou
holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein
Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
14 But I
have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the
doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children
of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
15 So hast
thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.
16 Repent;
or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword
of my mouth.
17 He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that
overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white
stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that
receiveth it.
18 And unto
the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God,
who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
19 I know
thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy
works; and the last to be more than the first.
Romans 8:20-22 King James Version
20 For the
creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who
hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because
the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we
know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
now.
Genesis 3:15 King James Version
15 And I
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;
it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Revelation 20:10-15 King James Version
10 And the
devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where
the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for
ever and ever.
11 And I saw
a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and
another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged
out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the
sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death
and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of
fire.
2 Peter 3:10-13 King James Version
10 But the
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing
then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye
to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking
for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Leviticus 26:11-12 King James Version
11 And I set
my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.
12 And I
will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
Exodus 40:34-35 King James Version
34 Then a
cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled
the tabernacle.
35 And Moses
was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud
abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
1 Kings 8:10-11 King James Version
10 And it
came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud
filled the house of the Lord,
11 So that
the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of
the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.
1 John 5:4-5 King James Version
4 For
whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he
that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Romans 8:11 NIV
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[a] his Spirit who lives in you.
1 Peter 1:2 NIV
2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood:
Isaiah 57:15 NIV
15 For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
Zechariah 4:6-9 NIV
6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.
7 “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’”
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
Galatians 5:22-23 NIV
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
It was a rousing mid-sermon rebuke — the kind to make you sit up in your pew.
“Jesus, being made perfect,” the preacher continued, “became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. And this Jesus, was, of course, designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. . . .”
The congregation doesn’t hide puzzled expressions. He pauses.
Melchize-who? Their sleepy faces wondered.
“Order of Melchizedek. . . .
. . . The King of Salem . . . “King of Righteousness”?
. . . Priest of the Most High who blesses Abram?
. . . In whose line the Messiah will serve as priest forever?
Maybe if he said, “Order of the Phoenix,” some might have recollected better, but “Melkitsadek” garnered little familiarity.
At this, he departs from his manuscript, walks around his pulpit, and looks them in the eye:
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food. (Hebrews 5:11–14)
These grown men and women, Christians for some time now, started off well (Hebrews 10:32–34), yet still needed doctrinal milk, and not solid food. Although by now they should have been sharp on how the Christian should read the Old Testament, their dull ears (literally “sluggish”) made them perpetual students taking the same courses over and over. The author of Hebrews expected them to uncover Messianic treasures, pointing irreversibly to Jesus, in the deeps of God’s word; instead, they were still treading water on the surface.
Believers on the Bottle
Do texts like Hebrews 5:11–14 not vindicate for all time the careful study of God’s word, a hearty adherence to the whole counsel of God, a glad obedience to the fullness of its teaching? If the specifics of an enigmatic figure in Genesis 14 and Psalm 110 — one who many today might be tempted to deem obscure or irrelevant — has its proper place in the Christian mind, how much more the more conspicuous points?
Yet how many small groups or Sunday schools or Bible studies around the Western world today know much (if anything) about Psalm 110:4 and the priestly order of Melchizedek? Of its significance compared to the Aaronic order? The question grows sharpest, however, when we ask, How many want to know? How many of us, through disobedience and stagnancy, become “dull of hearing”?
Some modern minds seem to enshrine ignorance of finer points of Christian thought and doctrine as a Christian virtue. Particulars of Christian dogma they see as only useful to fracture, puff up, or make one useless in this world. Seminaries, in their view, are better called “cemeteries,” for higher education is where passion and love go to die.
God’s truth — that stubborn and imperishable reality that shall outlive the stars — has fallen on hard times with them. They do not wish to draw unwelcome lines, and what’s more, they believe this to be a very charitable and beautiful thing in the world. They seem altogether proud of their non-denominational, non-doctrinal, non-distinctive, and non-divisive faith. This, they say, is Christianity at its finest. Death, they cry, to circling round and round in endless debate over texts and theological jargon. Back to what Jesus gave us: a religion of love.
So much fighting exists already; they preach unity. Everywhere they see bitterness and rage; why should they argue? The most expedient thing to do, in a world of conflicting opinions — especially about religion — is to cast particularities of Christian interpretation, and in some cases, religion itself, overboard.
Lovers of First Grade
“Carried away by a fancied liberality and charity,” J.C. Ryle wrote in 1877, “they seem to think everybody is right and nobody is wrong, every clergyman is sound and none are unsound, everybody is going to be saved and nobody going to be lost. Their religion is made up of negatives; and the only positive thing about them is that they dislike distinctness and think all extreme and decided and positive views are very naughty and very wrong!” (Holiness, 278).
What it means that God predestines unto salvation, that Christ is the only way, that you must be born again, that by works of the law none will be justified, that God’s design entails differences between men and women — seem so small from their lofty perch. Faintly they hear the combatant chirping over particular views, but what is that to them? Catholic, Protestant, “spiritual, but not religious” — they see nothing really all that different in the end. Different shades of gray, they might call it.
They love doctrinal milk, love the first grade. Their vague creed of love sends them away from controversy, away from laborious study, away from loving God with “all their mind,” away from such “trivialities” as the order of Melchizedek, indeed, away from the Bible itself, beyond a favorite verse or two. And some take this to be more Christlike because it fosters unity better, or it is thought, than a religion filled with doctrinal detail.
Good Vibes Christianity
Christian teaching does divide. It separates “self-made religion” from heavenly, all other gospels from the true one, the proud from the humble, the false from the true, the goats from the sheep, the unsound from the sound, the passing away from the eternal, the teachings of demons and the teachings of Christ.
“Christian teaching separates the goats from the sheep, the unsound from the sound, the passing away from the eternal.”
Christians ought to be Berean, lovers of God’s word, lovers of steak. What is true of the nobler Jew has been true of the noble Christian throughout history: “they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11).
But what of our unity? It is precious, “good and pleasant” (Psalm 133:1), a gift from above not based on vague spiritualism or good vibes; real unity does not seek to discover how little can be believed. No, we embrace and teach and love the whole counsel of God. Love for others is nourished by doctrinal meat; by Scripture, all of Scripture — without abridgment or apology. As we confess in the Desiring God Affirmation of Faith, “Our aim is to encourage a hearty adherence to the Bible, the fullness of its truth, and the glory of its Author” (15.2). This alone “stabilizes saints in the winds of confusion and strengthens the church in her mission to meet the great systems of false religion and secularism.”
We will not agree to a man on every point; some distinctions will separate some of us from the particulars of weekly fellowship. But even then, as the Church, our superseding oneness in Christ makes our unity stronger than it ever could have been in untruth, error, and apathy, in clawing for the least common denominator, rather than turning our souls to God’s word as supreme, and then finding who are our fellows.
Need of the Hour
Our souls need more than little-truth, little-light, little-belief. Our souls need a feast of pure meat and holy potatoes to gird us up for life’s hardships. Milk-and-water theological minimalism may sustain infants, but not for long.
“Our souls need more than little-truth, little-light, little-belief.”
“We must charge home into the consciences of these men of broad views,” as Ryle put it, “and demand a plain answer to some plain questions. We must ask them to lay their hands on their hearts, and tell us whether their favorite opinions comfort them in the day of sickness, in the hour of death, by the bedside of dying parents, by the grave of beloved wife or child. We must ask them whether a vague earnestness, without definite doctrine, gives them peace at seasons like these” (31).
And our neighbors, coworkers, and family members need to be met with weighty-truths, broad-shouldered beliefs, and a living faith in the living Savior. All of which give us reason to smile, not frown.
What Ryle calls that spiritual “colorblindness” that “fancied liberality,” that “boneless, nerveless, jellyfish condition of soul,” that “pestilence which walks in darkness . . . a destruction that kills at noonday” (328) — cannot be the religion that turned the world upside down.
Mark what I say. If you want to do good in these times, you must throw aside indecision, and take up a distinct, sharply-cut, doctrinal religion. . . . The victories of Christianity, wherever they have been won, have been won by distinct doctrinal theology; by telling men roundly of Christ’s vicarious death and sacrifice; by showing them Christ’s substitution on the cross, and his precious blood; by teaching them justification by faith, and bidding them believe on a crucified Savior; by preaching ruin by sin, redemption by Christ, regeneration by the Spirit; by lifting up the brazen serpent; by telling men to look and live — to believe, repent, and be converted. (328)
Dare then, Christian, to have decided beliefs in this world. Satan and his demons are decided. The world is concrete in its creed. False teachers are bold in their belief. Those attempting to uncreate God’s reality are firmly concluded. Will we not be?
And in such courage, we will not find ourselves alone but flanked — by real fellows, with whom we will then taste true unity.Greg Morse is a staff writer for desiringGod.org and graduate of Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife, Abigail, live in St. Paul with their son and daughter.
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you.
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.
On the night before he died, as Jesus looked at his twelve men and, beyond them, the billions who one day would follow him, he prayed for a oneness that would make the world take notice: “[I ask] that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you” (John 17:21). Father, take Jews and Gentiles, men and women, old and young, and make them one. Heaven-sent unity was his great prayer for us.
And yet, just moments earlier, he voiced another request that gives Christian unity a tension and a tang: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). Father, take these disciples, and bind them by your word. Spirit-given truth was also his great prayer for us.
Jesus wants his church to be one, and to be wise. He wants us to love all his people, and to treasure all his word. He wants us to offer an earthly illustration of Trinitarian unity, and an earthly witness to Trinitarian truth.
Few Christians and churches naturally maintain a balanced grasp on both prayers; on our own, we tend to drift toward a “unity” that erodes truth, or a “truth” that destroys unity. And so, we often need recalibrating: our inner ecumenist needs more backbone; our inner watchdog needs less bite.
To that end, one ancient tool, rearticulated and clarified in recent decades, may help: theological triage.
What Is Theological Triage?
Theological triage — a term coined by Albert Mohler in 2005 — seeks to organize Christian truth on different tiers, ranging from essential doctrines to more peripheral teachings. In a helpful recent book, for example, Gavin Ortlund offers the following fourfold model:
First-rank doctrines are essential to the gospel itself.
Second-rank doctrines are urgent for the health and practice of the church such that they frequently cause Christians to separate at the level of local church, denomination, and/or ministry.
Third-rank doctrines are important to Christian theology but not enough to justify separation or division among Christians.
Fourth-rank doctrines are unimportant to our gospel witness and ministry collaboration. (Finding the Right Hills to Die On, 19)
Rightly handled, theological triage does not justify indifference to doctrines below the first tier. All Scripture carries God’s breath (2 Timothy 3:16), and so, when Jesus prayed that we would be sanctified “in the truth,” he meant all of it — every iota (Matthew 5:18).
Nevertheless, Scripture itself treats some doctrines as more foundational than others, and theological triage seeks to follow suit. As Jesus spoke of “weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23), and as Paul spoke of the gospel as “of first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:3), so theological triage seeks to differentiate the weightiest, most important doctrines from those with less urgency. (Hence Mohler’s triage image: ER doctors treat gunshot wounds differently from sprained ankles.)
The main benefit, as we’ll see, is balance and wisdom in our pursuit of unity. We don’t minimize mountains, and we don’t magnify molehills.
Science and Art
As in a medical context, the process of triage is often complex. We will not always discern immediately whether a doctrine fits on the first tier (dividing Christians from non-Christians), the second tier (dividing local churches, denominations, or ministries), or the third tier (dividing nothing). Triage is both science and art; it requires both intellectual perception and spiritual wisdom; it runs on both careful judgment and godly instinct.
“Triage is both science and art; it runs on both careful judgment and godly instinct.”
The same doctrine, for example, may fit into a different category depending on the situation. As Ortlund observes, the issue of spiritual gifts sometimes fits on the second tier — but not always. Currently, a convinced cessationist gladly worships in the continuationist church where I serve.
Cultural or missiological contexts also influence the practice of triage. New churches on unreached frontiers, along with some missionary teams, may lower some typical second-tier doctrines to the third tier. In America, a church’s elders might limit membership to those who have been baptized as believers; in Afghanistan, the elders might not, or might not yet (and wisely so).
At times, even evaluating first-tier disagreements calls for wisdom. One person may reject justification by faith because he doesn’t understand it; another may reject the doctrine because he understands and hates it. The first situation calls for careful teaching and further evaluation, while the second does not.
More complexities could be mentioned (see Joe Rigney’s article “How to Weigh Doctrines for Christian Unity”), but these suffice to show the need for humility, patience, and collective wisdom rather than individual reflex. We read of a plurality of local-church elders in the New Testament, and for good reason. Theological triage happens best in a group of spiritually discerning pastors, men who have their eyes on the flock and are wise to the needs, dangers, and opportunities of their local context.
Just as ER doctors need more than medical knowledge to practice triage well, a church’s elders need more than scriptural knowledge to do the same. They need to know not only the canon of Scripture, but also the case before them and the context around them. They need to ask, “All things considered, is this doctrine worth dividing over now?”
Three Triage Tests
In his book When Doctrine Divides the People of God, Rhyne Putman offers three tests to aid the discernment process (220–39):
The hermeneutical test: the clearer the Bible teaches a doctrine, the more likely it belongs on a higher tier.
The gospel test: the more central a doctrine is to the gospel, the more likely it belongs on a higher tier.
The praxis test: the more a doctrine affects the practice of a church, the more likely it belongs on a higher tier.
These three tests won’t answer every question, but they do offer a start. Consider where some common doctrines fall after running them through hermeneutics, gospel, and praxis:
Doctrines like the deity of Christ and the Trinity (clear hermeneutically and central to the gospel) belong on the first tier.
Doctrines related to baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the callings of men and women (less clear hermeneutically, but still near the gospel and shaping a church’s praxis) typically belong on the second tier.
Doctrines like the age of the earth or the nature and timing of Christ’s millennial reign (less clear hermeneutically, less connected to the gospel, and less important for a church’s praxis) typically belong on the third tier.
Again, however, each category admits of complexity, requiring churches to practice triage in light of individual cases and their broader context.
Why Practice Theological Triage?
If theological triage involves such complexity, why practice it? Because, in all likelihood, only a habit like this one will keep our heartbeats in rhythm with Jesus’s John 17 prayer. Only as we distinguish doctrines will we learn to avoid the dangers of theological maximalism, theological minimalism, and what we might call unconscious triage.
THEOLOGICAL MAXIMALISM
Theological maximalists, or theological sectarians, may differentiate doctrine to a degree — they may not equate Christ’s deity and a church’s form of government, for example. But they tend to raise third-tier doctrines to the second tier, and second-tier doctrines to the first tier. And in so doing, they often separate when they should tolerate, divide when they should bear with. Afraid of wolves, they attack other sheep.
Maximalists rightly sense that protecting sound doctrine sometimes calls for strong words; like Jude, they “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” But as Ortlund points out, they do not necessarily share Jude’s eagerness to celebrate “our common salvation” (Jude 3). And so, failing to distinguish the weightiest from the less weighty, they can end up cutting at the limbs of Christ’s body.
THEOLOGICAL MINIMALISM
Theological minimalists also struggle to speak of “weightier matters” — not, however, because they raise so many doctrines to the higher tiers, but because they raise so few there. If pressed, they may agree that an anti-Trinitarian cannot be a Christian, but only if pressed. On their own, minimalists tend to lower first-tier doctrines to the second tier, and second-tier doctrines to the third tier. And in so doing, they often say, “Unity! Unity!” when there is no unity (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11).
“True unity requires an immovable core of conviction; otherwise, what are we even uniting around?”
Minimalists seek to embody the seventh beatitude — “Blessed are the peacemakers” — but they rarely or never take stands strong enough to embody the eighth: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account” (Matthew 5:10–11). They struggle to see that true peace, true unity, requires an immovable (and sometimes offensive) core of conviction; otherwise, what are we even uniting around?
UNCONSCIOUS TRIAGE
Perhaps the best reason to practice theological triage, however, is because we already functionally do. We can’t help but treat some doctrines as weightier than others. And unless we have carefully considered which doctrines really are weightier, our approach to triage likely will be shaped less by Scripture and more by a mixture of personality, background, and whim.
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for “straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel” (Matthew 23:24), and many of us, though less hypocritical, need to hear the same warning. Naturally, we are peculiarly attuned to some gnats and strangely dense to some camels: some vehemently contend for a young or old earth but breeze past justification; some attack complementarians or egalitarians as Athanasius attacked Arius, but dismiss Trinitarian controversies with a wave. We cannot abide the gnat in our stew, but we can stomach the camel in our meatloaf.
Theological triage, then, helps us weigh not only doctrines, but ourselves. It exposes our own besetting tendencies, and it invites us to recalibrate our unconscious models according to Scripture’s own example.
Loving Unity, Treasuring Truth
How will we know if we are growing to weigh doctrines as God himself does?
Those who tend toward theological maximalism will find themselves enduring disagreements when they would have broken fellowship beforehand; those who tend toward theological minimalism will find themselves ruffling more feathers than none. Maximalists will not treat second- and third-tier doctrines as unimportant, but they will learn to lower their voice when they talk about them; minimalists, meanwhile, will not roll their eyes when they see a brother or sister contending for precious truth. Minimalists will learn to fight more; maximalists will learn to fight themselves more.
And all of us, wherever we naturally tend, will hear ourselves praying more often, “Father, make us one” — then, in the next breath, “and bind us by your truth.”Scott Hubbard is an editor for Desiring God, a pastor at All Peoples Church, and a graduate of Bethlehem College & Seminary. He and his wife, Bethany, live with their two sons in Minneapolis.
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23–24).
Familiarity with these verses can often cloud their obvious meaning: to follow Jesus is to die. And though we may plaster them on our Facebook walls or quote them in our email signatures, our experience is rarely aligned with the daily dying prescribed in Jesus’ words.
The cross Jesus speaks of is not a piece of jewelry or home décor; it is an instrument of brutal death. And we are asked to take up this lethal tool daily. Every single day. To follow Jesus is to die daily.
An Unexpected Death
I had been following Jesus for many years when I married Jimmy. But my aversion to dying to self would have convinced you I had just begun. Jimmy’s budding career as a Christian recording artist held a knife to the throat of my own self-importance. As his fame grew, mine faded into his shadow. No longer recognized for my own spirituality or accomplishments, I was simply the lucky wife of a very gifted and spiritually mature man. His sidekick. His tagalong.
For the first time, I felt the sting of death closing in . . . and I wasn’t ready for it. I thought I knew how to lose my life for Jesus, but clearly any dying I had done hadn’t been that painful. And now I was surrounded by the inevitable death of my reputation and self-sufficient habits, and there was no way out. The significance I found in being a good Christian girl, the delight I had in being looked up to, and all the perks of my old life of ministry as a single person were being put to death. And it felt like it.
Getting married was the first of many seasons of death, losing my life for the sake of Christ. Though confused and angry in the moment, I now realize that God was giving me the best gift I would ever receive: freedom from myself. Because the subtleties of my sinful flesh usually manifested in “good Christian behavior,” pride and self-love had been impossible for me to detect. Since I was unaware of this growing stronghold in my life, God took the initiative to set me free. I’ve never been so grateful.
Most of us are surprised when taking up our cross actually hurts. We mistakenly assume that our fleshly desires will die easily and quickly. After all, we are new creations with the Spirit of God residing in us. But old loves and old habits still writhe in their last breaths. Physical death is messy, grievous, and terrifying. And in my experience, the losing of my life for the sake of Christ has often felt the same.
Death Is Messy
I didn’t see it coming. Since our relationship, through dating and engagement, had been like a dream, I assumed being married would be nothing less. That initial trip to Nashville, two weeks after I walked the aisle, ushered me into the most confusing year of my life. I had been hit by a wave bigger than I could handle and flailed around underwater, unsure which way was up or down.
The crucifying of my flesh in those initial moments was messy, raw, and confusing. I was convinced that what God sought to destroy was a good thing, a help and asset to my life. But the flesh, however noble it may seem to us, cannot please God nor bring about anything good. Unable to see that clearly at the time, I was left wondering and confused.
It took a couple of years and some counseling, but I was eventually able to communicate with some accuracy the good work God had been doing in my life. But until then, it was just messy.
Death Is Grievous
Dying is painful because something dearly loved is being lost forever. In the case of the Christ-follower, we are losing the self-sufficient and self-important ways that we have grown accustomed to, the pet sins we keep to comfort us on rainy days, and the worldly habits we enjoy that help us fit in on this earth. These things, though harmful to our relationship with God, don’t die without a fight. I can still feel the painful writhing in my soul as old ways and old loves take their last breath. Sorrow accompanies my internal pain as old, familiar paths are forever destroyed.
Death Is Terrifying
Death throws us into an unknown territory with no way back. What will life be like on the other side? There’s no test driving, no thirty-day return policy. Something dies and a completely new life begins. Yes, the new life promised is good, butwhat is a life dependent on God like? we wonder. How will we survive without our well-worn path of self-sufficiency? How treacherous is this new path? How painful? How will God’s help manifest? The challenge is that we won’t really know until self-sufficiency is six feet under and we have both feet on the rock of Christ.
Death Is a Good Thing
Yes, death is messy. Yes, death is grievous. Yes, death is terrifying. But death, for the Christ-follower, is a good thing. It ensures the demise of all that keeps us from God. It promises that sin and the flesh can be conquered with the finality of a grave.
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin (Rom. 6:3–7, emphasis mine).
The invitation to die—to take up our cross and lose our lives for Jesus—is truly an invitation to newness of life, to union with Christ, and to ultimate freedom from sin. For the one who has died has been set free from sin!
May we choose daily to die to self that we might be united with Jesus, knowing that He alone has the power to save our lives as we entrust ourselves to Him!
17 On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was less than two miles[a] from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
John 11:38-44 NIV
Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
International evangelist Greg Laurie warned that many believers are approaching a John 15:20 tipping point, if they aren’t there already.
“If you are a true believer, you will face persecution in some fashion,” Laurie writes in a recent Facebook post. “The word ‘persecute’ means ‘to be chased down, driven away and pursued.’ The good thing about it is that persecution can help you grow strong spiritually.”
Laurie details how Christianity has flourished, despite Satan’s attempts to destroy it.
Laurie writes:
Secular historians agree that there were 10 great persecutions against the church, 10 major attempts to wipe out Christianity, starting with the wicked Caesar Nero and ending with Diocletian. Believers were fed alive to wild animals. They were taken to Roman arenas for sport. They were torn apart. They were tortured. They were burned at the stake.
Diocletian thought he was so successful in obliterating Christianity from the face of the earth that he actually had a special medal struck, which was inscribed with these words: “The Christian religion is destroyed and the worship of the [Roman] gods restored.”
Needless to say, Diocletian was wrong. Instead of becoming weaker during this time of persecution, the church actually grew stronger. Instead of being destroyed, it became a lean, mean preaching machine. Persecution can have that effect.
The pastor, author and speaker is behind one of the largest modern evangelism outreaches: The Harvest Crusades.
Part of what draws so many people to Laurie’s events and sermons is his authenticity.
When it comes to the trials of the Christian faith, the evangelist refuses to mince words.
“In a way, persecution will separate the genuine from the fake. If you are a true follower of Jesus, you won’t back down if a little persecution comes your way,” Laurie says. “And if God allows it in your life, He will give you the strength to face it.”
Bill Johnson, of Bethel Church in Redding, CA., preached 3 days after losing his beloved wife, Beni, to cancer.
This was a quote from his sermon: “God is not a vending machine that I get to put a quarter into & withdraw from Him what I want. He chooses what He gives. But it is the wicked at heart that say ’God didn’t do what I wanted, He is a liar’.
May I never be found critiquing God when things don’t go my way. May I always be found having a heart ready to be critiqued by Him. Is God my friend?
He is. But He is my Lord first, and I’ll never have the pain I’m feeling right now in eternity, so in this moment it is a privilege to respond rightly to the Lord of my life with deeper trust and devotion.
I will bow before the Lamb on the Throne in awe, and worship Him forever, but never will I have the face to face chance to do that while I’m in pain, so in this moment I choose to do that. When I said yes to Jesus, I gave up my right to fully understand or be in charge of my life.”
44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.
46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day.
49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
Isaiah 53:1-12 NIV
53 Who has
believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 He
grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He
had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that
we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar
with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we
held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he
took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he
was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and
the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and
afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,so he did not open his
mouth.
8 By
oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation
protested For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression
of my people he was punished.[b] 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and
with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit
in his mouth.
10 Yet it
was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord
makes[c] his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong
his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has
suffered, he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e]; by his
knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their
iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g] and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h] because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
John 12:27-36 NIV
27 “Now my
soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No,
it was for this very reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name!”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it
again.”
29 The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an
angel had spoken to him.30 Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not
mine.
31 Now is
the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be
driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up[a] from the earth, will draw all
people to myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death he was going to
die.
34 The crowd
spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so
how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?”
35 Then
Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer.
Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in
the dark does not know where they are going. 36 Believe in the light while you
have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished
speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.
John
12:37-43 New International Version
Belief
and Unbelief Among the Jews
37 Even
after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not
believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:
“Lord, who
has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been
revealed?”[a]
39 For this
reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:
40 “He has
blinded their eyes
and hardened their hearts,
so they can
neither see with their eyes,
nor understand with their hearts,
nor turn—and I would heal them.”[b]
41 Isaiah
said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.
42 Yet at
the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the
Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be
put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved human praise more than praise from
God.
The Lord our God is bringing us His Patience but it’s up to us to bring Him our Repentance. You might ask Why would God bring us His Patience?
God does Not want Any man to be Destroyed. But He wants Everyone to be Saved (Rescued) from their Sins. O what a Loving, Kind and Patient God we serve. REPENT
The Bible says that “It’s the goodness of God that leads to Repentance!”
Dr. Mark, was a famous oncologist. One day he flew to an important conference in another city, where he was to be awarded a medical prize.
However, an hour after take-off, there was an emergency landing at the nearest airport. The doctor rented a car and went to the conference. Shortly after he drove out, the weather turned bad and a bad storm rolled in.
Due to heavy rain, the Internet disappeared in the navigator, it turned the wrong way and got lost. After two hours of driving, he realized he was lost. He was hungry and tired as hell so he decided to find somewhere to crash.
Finally he came across a tiny house. Desperate, he got out of the car and knocked on the door. A woman opened the door. He explained himself and asked her to use the phone.
The woman told him that she did not have a phone, but he could come in and wait until the weather improved. The hungry, wet and tired doctor accepted her offer and entered.
The woman served him hot tea and told him that she was going to pray. Dr. Mark smiled and said that he only believes in hard work. Sitting at a table sipping tea, the doctor watched the woman in the dim candlelight as she prayed beside the crib.
The doctor understood that the woman needed help, so when she finished praying, he asked her:- What exactly do you want from God? Do you think God will ever hear your prayers?
The woman smiled sadly and said:- The child in the crib is my son, who suffers from a rare type of cancer and there is only one doctor, his name is Mark, who can cure him, but I don’t have money to afford him, besides that Dr. Mark lives in another city.
God still hasn’t answered my prayer but i know he will.. and nothings gonna break my faith. Shocked and lost for speech Dr. Mark just burst into tears.
He whispered:- God is great…He remembered everything that happened to him today: a malfunction in the plane, the torrential rain that caused him to go astray; and all this happened because God not only answered her prayer, but also gave him a chance to exit the material world and made possible to help the poor unfortunate people who have nothing but prayer…
John 1:1-14 New International Version The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Colossians 1:16 New International Version
16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
Hebrews 1:2 New International Version
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
Genesis 1:1 New International Version The Beginning
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
John 21:25 New International Version
25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
John 20:31 New International Version
31 But these are written that you may believe[a] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Romans 1:18-21 New International Version God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Ephesians 4:18 New International Version
18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them
“When I was 16, a boy in high school evinced interest in me, so I had sex with him — just once. And after I came out of that room, I thought, Is that all there is to it? My goodness, I’ll never do that again!
Then, when I found out I was pregnant, I went to the boy and asked him for help, but he said it wasn’t his baby and he didn’t want any part of it. I was scared to pieces.
Back then, if you had money, there were some girls who got abortions, but I couldn’t deal with that idea. Oh, no. No. I knew there was somebody inside me. So I decided to keep the baby.
My older brother, Bailey, my confidant, told me not to tell my mother or she’d take me out of school. So I hid it the whole time with big blouses! Finally, three weeks before I was due, I left a note on my stepfather’s pillow telling him I was pregnant.
He told my mother, and when she came home, she calmly asked me to run her bath. I’ll never forget what she said: “Now tell me this — do you love the boy?” I said no. “Does he love you?” I said no. “Then there’s no point in ruining three lives. We are going to have our baby!”
What a knockout she was as a mother of teens. Very loving. Very accepting. Not one minute of recrimination. And I never felt any shame. I’m telling you that the best decision I ever made was keeping that baby! Yes, absolutely.
Guy was a delight from the start — so good, so bright, and I can’t imagine my life without him. At 17 I got a job as a cook and later as a nightclub waitress. I found a room with cooking privileges, because I was a woman with a baby and needed my own place.
My mother, who had a 14-room house, looked at me as if I was crazy! She said, “Remember this: You can always come home.” She kept that door open. And every time life kicked me in the belly, I would go home for a few weeks.
I struggled, sure. We lived hand-to-mouth, but it was really heart-to-hand. Guy had love and laughter and a lot of good reading and poetry as a child. Having my son brought out the best in me and enlarged my life. Whatever he missed, he himself is a great father today.
He was once asked what it was like growing up in Maya Angelou’s shadow, and he said, “I always thought I was in her light.” Years later, when I was married, I wanted to have more children, but I couldn’t conceive. Isn’t it wonderful that I had a child at 16? Praise God! – Maya Angelou
Have you ever noticed that in winter some oak trees retain crisp, dry leaves long after the maples, the elms, and the walnuts have become bare skeletons ?
Even the strong winter winds and the early spring rains do not strip the oak branches completely. But as springtime progresses, something wonderful happens.
Tiny little buds start appearing at the tips of the twigs, pushing off the dried remnants of the preceding season. “What the winds and rain could not do from without, the forces of new life do from within.”
At times, old habits cling to our lives with the same tenacity as those oak leaves. Even the winds of trial and suffering do not remove all the lifeless leftovers of our fallen human nature.
But God, who dwells in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, is at work. “His life within us continually seeks to push off the old habits, renewing us when we confess our weaknesses (sins), steadying us when we falter, and strengthening us to do His will.”
When every effort to cast off an old sinful habit ends in failure, remember the mighty oak. Thank God for His Spirit who lives in you. “Keep saying yes to His gentle urging to be kind, loving, honest, strong, and faithful. He’ll push off those “lifeless old leaves.”” — Dennis J. De Haan_
When stubborn sins tenaciously hold to their former place, We must rely on His strength and His unfailing grace. — Spurgeon “The best way to get rid of a bad habit is to start a good habit — rely on God.”
51 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; 2 look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many. 3 The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
4 “Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. 5 My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm. 6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail.
7 “Hear me, you who know what is right, you people who have taken my instruction to heart: Do not fear the reproach of mere mortals or be terrified by their insults. 8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment; the worm will devour them like wool. But my righteousness will last forever, my salvation through all generations.”
This parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule. The mule fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule praying or whatever mules do when they fall into wells.
After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together, told them what had happened, and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.
Initially the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, HE WOULD SHAKE IT OFF AND STEP UP!
This he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up!” He repeated to encourage himself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept right on SHAKING IT OFF AND STEPPING UP!
It wasn’t long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well! What seemed like it would bury him actually helped him . . . all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.
THAT’S LIFE! If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity. “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you that hope in the LORD” (Psalms 31:24).
