Author: BTP

“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25).

I once read a book, evidently written by a true Christian, that was telling believers how to make right choices in their lives. His main advice was that since God has given us brains, we are to use them, and figure out what to do. Then we should check with the Word of God, and if we cannot not find anything wrong with our plan, we should go ahead with it. But we read in Jeremiah 10:23 that “the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Yes, God has given us brains, and does intend us to use them in natural things. Also, it is a good thing to read the Word of God, for God often guides us by His Word. But when it comes to directing our steps in a spiritual way, we need to ask the Lord what to do. We should not make up our own minds, and then look into the Word of God to see if there is anything wrong with what we wish to do. This is doing things backwards; rather, we should read the Word of God first, and pray about the matter, asking the Lord to make His mind clear to us.

Sometimes a plan may seem quite right for us, and appears to fit the circumstances in which we find ourselves. This was the case with a king of Judah named Asa. He was a godly king who wanted to please the Lord, but later in his life, when a king named Baasha came against him, he took silver and gold out of the house of the Lord, and paid the Syrian king Benhadad to go and fight with Baasha. It looked like a good plan, and it seemed to work, for when Benhadad fought with Baasha, Baasha stopped building a blockade against Asa. Then Asa was able to take all Baasha’s building materials and make some fortifications for himself. You can read the story of Asa in 2 Chronicles, chapters 14-16.

But the prophet Hanani came to Asa and told him, “Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars” (2 Chronicles 16:9). Instead of trusting the Lord, Asa had followed his own plan, and while it seemed to work, yet later it caused him more trouble. The king of Syria was not really his friend, and later ended up fighting with Judah.

Sad to say, Asa did not want to listen to the prophet, and instead put him in prison for daring to criticize his plan. Because of this, the Lord allowed Asa to get some kind of serious disease in his feet, and he died two years later. This was very sad, for Asa was a good king, but when he trusted his own plans instead of asking the Lord what to do, he ended up in trouble. Let us always go to the Lord when we need to make choices in our lives. He will always lead us in the right way!

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

This verse is sometimes hard for us to appreciate, yet it is clearly found in the Word of God. It is not easy to believe that even the difficult things in our lives are working together for good, and that we will profit by them eventually. Sometimes we are called to go through very trying times in our lives, and perhaps we wonder why the Lord has allowed them.

I remember that when I was a boy, an elderly Christian couple was driving along a road in the United States. I did not know them, but my parents did. A big truck carrying new cars was coming the other way on the road. The new cars must not have been secured properly, for suddenly one of them came loose and fell off the truck, right on top of the car in which the older couple were driving. The impact killed both of them instantly. We might wonder why the Lord allowed this, and what good could come out of it. But the Lord tells us that “all things work together for good” in our lives as Christians. Do we really believe this?

I have known even dear believers who became bitter and angry because of difficult things that happened in their lives, and sometimes they never got over it for the rest of their time in this world. I knew a young man who encountered some hard circumstances in his life, and he was a true Christian. Yet in commenting on what had happened, he said, “The Lord let me down.” I shuddered when I heard that remark, for the Lord loves us too much to allow something in our lives that is not for our good. If He was willing to suffer all that agony on the cross for us, in order to redeem us, will He allow things in our lives that make us suffer for no reason? It is not a good sign when we begin to distrust the Lord, and to think that He is not treating us well. We must justify God in all things, and then remember that no matter what He allows in our lives, “All things work together for good.”

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“Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another” (Mark 9:50).

As we have already seen, it is very important to have balance in our Christian life. If we go to extremes in any direction, we are usually wrong. Today’s verse teaches us once again to be balanced in spiritual things.

We have seen that salt in the Bible speaks of holy grace, and that just the right amount of it in our conversation can bring God’s claims before other people. Here in this verse we are told to have salt in ourselves. That means that we are always to keep before our hearts and minds the importance of God’s claims over us, and over others too. We should want to involve the Lord in all our dealings in this world, whether with believers or unbelievers.

Before the days of antibiotics, salt was often used to prevent infection, and was put on wounds for this reason. It worked well, for it tends to stop germs from multiplying and causing serious infection. But when salt is placed on a wound it really stings for a few minutes. This is how the Word of God affects people too; it sometimes stings them, for it speaks to their consciences. Many people do not like that, for it reminds them that they are responsible to God for their behavior. However, sometimes this use of salt is necessary, just as it was in natural things, to prevent infection.

But then, at the end of our verse, it tells us to have peace one with another. We should never forget to use salt, but we should do our best to live in peace with each other. This is the balance we need — never to use too much salt, or too little. In Jeremiah 6:14, the Lord had to say to some, “They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.” This means that they had overlooked serious sin in order to have peace, and we should never do this. God never makes peace with sin; rather, He wants us to confess it to Him, so that He can forgive us in the right way.

However, as much as possible, we are to “have peace one with another.” We can overlook things that may offend us personally, and things that do not involve the Lord’s honor and glory. Our Lord Jesus did the same when He was on earth. When the Jews said to Him, “Thou are a Samaritan, and hast a devil” (John 8:48), the Lord Jesus ignored the personal insult of calling Him a Samaritan. But He answered the accusation of His having a devil, for that was really saying that His miracles were being done by Satan’s power instead of by the power of God. How important it is to use spiritual salt wisely!

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man” (Colossians 4:6).

A good cook knows how to use just the right amount of salt when cooking, in order make the food taste just right. Too little salt, and the food will taste bland and flavorless; too much salt, and the salt will overwhelm the food itself, so that it tastes terrible. Sometimes a good cook will put in a little salt, then taste the food, and perhaps add a little more. The best cooks have very sensitive taste buds, so that they can detect subtle differences in flavor.

Probably we have all had people play tricks on us from time to time, perhaps by putting too much salt in a drink that was served to us. Or perhaps in preparing a drink, someone has mistaken salt for sugar, and produced a very salty drink. When sick people retain too much water in their bodies, they often have to go on low salt diets, with little or no salt used in the preparation of their food. They are not allowed to add salt from a saltshaker at the table either. Those people usually hate that kind of food, for it is very flat and tasteless. They know it is for their good, but they dislike it just the same.

In the Bible, salt is a picture of holy grace. It is that which brings what is due to God into our conversation, but in a gracious way. It flavors what we say. In our interaction with people in this world, it is important to know just how much salt to use. I have heard some believers talk about the Lord’s things in a harsh and objectionable way with unbelievers. It offended those to whom they were speaking, and turned them against the things of the Lord. I have seen other believers who never said anything about the Lord, and were no testimony at all to the unsaved persons with whom they came in contact. Both of these attitudes are wrong.

But someone may ask, How do we know how much salt with which to season our conversation? We must be walking with the Lord, so that the Holy Spirit is free to lead and guide us in our talk. We must remember that “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17), and then seek to balance these in our talk. With some people, they may need more truth; the Lord Jesus did this with Nicodemus. But with others, they may need more grace; the Lord did this with the woman in John 4, at the well of Sychar. He will help us balance our talk, if we look to Him!

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“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing” (Matthew 5:13).

We are all familiar with salt, for it is a necessary part of our diet, and is important for the health of our bodies. Salt makes many kinds of food taste better, and has played an important role in the history of this world. Wars have been won or lost based on the availability of salt, for before the invention of refrigeration, armies needed salt to preserve food, and to support their horses and cattle. The availability of salt was a factor in both the American revolutionary war and the American civil war. The ancient Romans used salt on green leafy things that they ate, and often paid their soldiers with salt. For this reason the English words “salad” and “salary” come from the root word for salt.

But salt was also used as a punishment, for salt makes the land unable to grow crops. If saltwater from the sea washes onto farmland, it is useless for one year. If conquered people rebelled against the Romans, they would sow their fields heavily with salt. This made them unable to grow food for three years, and served as a harsh reminder not to rebel again.

In the Word of God, salt speaks of holy grace. It is a preservative, and speaks of the grace and goodness of God, but always in a holy and pure way. For this reason the Lord says that believers are the salt of the earth. We are left here to show both the grace and the holiness of God. Many people may not read the Bible, but they should be able to see God’s character in you and me as Christians.

It is possible even for true Christians to lose that savor, and not to be the salt of the earth. In that case, the Lord asks, How will you season it? It is good for nothing, for you cannot season food with it, and to throw in on the land only makes the land infertile. So it is with unfaithful Christians. They do not feel comfortable with faithful Christians, and if they go out with the world, their consciences bother them there too. They do not feel comfortable anywhere. How important it is to be real salt that has an effect on others!

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“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you” (John 14:27).

It is a wonderful thing to have peace, yet today we live in a world that is anything but peaceful. Everywhere we look there is some kind of trouble — climate change, floods, drought, wildfires, hurricanes and tornadoes, as well as man-made problems such as world poverty, internal strife in countries, the threat of war between countries, oppression of minorities, and many other things. As I write this, all of the above problems are further complicated by the Covid-19 virus, which is now threatening us with variants of different kinds. If we look for peace from our surroundings, we will not find it.

However, our verse promises us peace, and in two different ways. The Lord Jesus first of all left us peace, and this is the peace we enjoy because of His work on the cross. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). That peace has been made “by the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20), and nothing can shake it. The question of our sins has been settled once and for all.

But then the Lord Jesus gives us another kind of peace, and He gives it to us as a gift, just as someone might leave us something in his will when he dies. When Jesus spoke these words, He was about to go to the cross, die, be buried, and placed in a tomb. But then He knew He would rise again, ascend up to heaven, and wait for the moment when He would come back to take us to be with Him. In the meanwhile, He gives us His peace — the peace in which He walked before God the Father during His pathway through this world. He accepted all His circumstances from His Father, and as the perfect dependent Man, took all His difficulties to His Father in prayer. This is the secret of a happy Christian pathway, and the secret to having peace.

We must first of all come to Christ as our Savior and have our sins forgiven. Then we receive a new life in Christ, and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. After that, we can take the legacy the Lord has left to us, for He has given us His peace. There was no peace like His — a peace that was not disturbed by any circumstances, for He accepted them all as from His Father. We cannot change our circumstances, but we can react to them in the right way. Then we enjoy “His peace.”

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“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

As we have seen in our meditation on January 24, our natural hearts are never satisfied, and we always want more. If this way of thinking has a hold on us as Christians, it will make us covetous, and our conversation will show it. We must learn to be content with such things as we have, for as we have seen, nothing in this world will satisfy our hearts. Only the Lord can do that, and as we read in our verse, He will never leave us nor forsake us.

In today’s world it is easy to get into debt, and to borrow money by using credit cards, easy loans, etc. in order to buy things we think we need. But the Bible warns us about debt, telling us, “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another” (Romans 13:8). While every kind of debt is not wrong, it is a bad practice to borrow money to buy things we cannot afford.

Like William Colgate’s family, the family of William Borden (who was born in 1887), had also emigrated from England to America, but much earlier. The Bordens had come over in the early 1600’s and settled in New England. They later moved to Indiana and started the Borden Milk Company. William Borden inherited a fortune when he was still in university and was a millionaire before he was twenty. Cars were just starting to become more common in the early 20th century and Borden loved cars. Once he saw a beautiful car go by and remarked to a friend, “My, would I ever like to have a car like that!” Knowing that William Borden had plenty of money, his friend replied, “Then why don’t you get one?” “I can’t afford it,” Borden said. William Borden was a Christian, and he knew that his money belonged to the Lord. While he could appreciate a nice car, he would not go out and spend the Lord’s money on something that would not help him in his service for the Lord.

A few years later, in 1913, William Borden went to Egypt as a missionary, and died that same year of meningitis (an infection in the brain). When they looked at his will, it was found that he had left all his fortune for Christian work, a sum that would be worth more than twenty-six million dollars in today’s money. He had plenty of money, and could have lived a life of luxury, ease, and pleasure. But he looked beyond it all, and gave not only his money, but his life for the Lord. Some felt that he had thrown his life away, and questioned whether it was worth it to have died so young. But his life inspired many others to give up ease and prosperity, and to use their talents, money, and lives for the Lord. Their contentment came from a sense of doing the will of God, not having more possessions.

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“Upon the first day of the week [the Lord’s day] let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him” (1 Corinthians 16:2).

Sometimes Christians ask the question, How much of my money should I use for the Lord? In the Old Testament the nation of Israel was commanded to give one-tenth of what they had been given. In their case it might not always have been money, but perhaps some of the produce from their farms. But in the New Testament we are not told how much to give; it simply says, “As God hath prospered him.”

When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian assembly about Christian giving, he reminded them twice of how much the Lord Jesus had done for them. When we think of how much it cost the Lord Jesus to bear our sins on the cross, it is not hard to give our money to the Lord. We will want to be generous!

Most of you are familiar with Colgate products — things such as soap and toothpaste. The company was started by William Colgate, who emigrated from England to the United States in 1795, at the age of twelve, along with his family. By the age of twenty-three he had started the Colgate Company, which in those days made only soap. Later his younger brother joined the business, and they began to make other products.

William Colgate was an earnest Christian who lived to please the Lord. When his business got larger, he had to hire a bookkeeper. In looking through the company’s ledger books, the bookkeeper was surprised to find that right from the beginning, one-tenth of all the money the company took in had been transferred to a place in the books called “God’s column”. That money was to be used only for the Lord; never for company expenses, or for personal use. When the bookkeeper asked William Colgate about it, he explained it, and told the bookkeeper, “Make sure you always put one-tenth of all the company income in that column. See that God is never cheated!” Later, William Colgate increased this percentage, so that much more than one-tenth of his money was used for the Lord.

Even when we are young, it is good to get in the habit of using some of our money for the Lord. Sometimes giving one-tenth of our money is referred to as “tithing,” and while the New Testament does not specify this amount, yet someone has said, “Tithing is the ‘training wheels’ of giving.” We have all seen training wheels on bicycles for small children. They help them to learn to ride, yet prevent a nasty fall. Later, when they can maintain their balance, they do not need the training wheels. If we become accustomed to putting aside some of our money for the Lord, it becomes a good habit that we can carry into our adult lives. Then, when we get older, perhaps we may able to give more than one-tenth, for as we have already seen, everything we have belongs to the Lord, and we are only stewards of it.

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“They that WILL be rich fall into … many foolish and hurtful lusts” (1 Timothy 6:9).

“Charge them that ARE rich in this world, that they be not highminded (proud), nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God … That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate” (1 Timothy 6:17-18).

The Word of God recognizes that there is a difference between those who desperately want to be rich, and those who happen to be rich because the Lord has given them a lot of money. Those who set out to be rich are usually people who somehow think that more money will make them happier, and because of this they devote their time, energy, and abilities toward making money. Sometimes they are very successful, but it is often like the verse in Psalm 106:15 — “He (God) gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.” This happens even in a natural sense sometimes. We have already mentioned John D. Rockefeller, who was the wealthiest man in America in the early 1900’s. But by the time he was fifty years old, his health was poor, and he could not enjoy all his money. He could not eat properly, and most people expected him to die soon. But when he started to use his money for others, his health improved, and he lived to be a very old man. Why? He was not thinking of himself anymore. It is even more true of us who are Christians, for if we go after the things of this world, we will not enjoy our true riches.

However, the Bible recognizes that some Christians will be diligent in their business or other line of work and may well become rich. They have not set out to make money, but the Lord has allowed them to become wealthy. Then there is a much greater responsibility before God to use that money for Him.

First of all, we are not to trust in those riches, for wealth in this world is uncertain. Money can become much less through things like inflation, changes in government, and many other events. Rather, the Lord wants us to trust in Him, for He will never fail us.

Secondly, we are to use that money to help others, and not simply hoard it in a bank account or some kind of investment. If we look around, and especially in poorer countries in this world, it is not hard to find those who can use some help. Then we have the joy of giving in our hearts, for that is the character of God. God is a giving God, and when we give to others, we are being more like Him.

Perhaps you say, I am not rich. By this world’s standards, that may be true. But those of us who live in so-called western countries are all rich beyond the wildest dreams of most of this world’s population. We can well afford to use our money for the Lord.

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“If ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?” (Luke 16:12).

In yesterday’s meditation, we mentioned “our money.” It does not really belong to us, it really all belongs to the Lord. This is true of everything we have, whether it is our money, our other possessions, or our bodies, our natural abilities, and our spiritual gifts. All belong to the Lord, and we are only stewards of those things.

Most of us do not have stewards in our homes today, but in times past, wealthy homes often had a steward, who was entrusted with managing the household. Sometimes this man was called a butler. The things for which he had responsibility were not his; they belonged to his master, but he was given the job of using them in the right way, and according to his master’s instructions. He was allowed to do this because his master trusted him and counted on him to use the goods properly.

In the story in Luke 16 from which today’s verse is taken, the steward was accused of being unfaithful, and of wasting his master’s goods. Because of this his master was not going to allow him to be his steward anymore. In modern language, we would say he was going to be fired.

In the same way, the Lord has given us things like money and other possessions and expects us to use them for Him. We cannot take them with us to heaven, but we can use our money to lay up treasure in heaven. But as our verse says, if we are unfaithful with our money, which really belongs to the Lord, how shall we expect to receive “the true riches” which really belong to us?

This refers to our spiritual blessings, which are really ours. According to Ephesians 1:3, we are “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” God has given them to us, and every believer is equally blessed, for God has no favorites in His family. But our enjoyment of those blessings depends on our walk as Christians, and if we are unfaithful in using our money and other possessions for the Lord, we will not enjoy those spiritual blessings that are really ours.

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