Author: BTP

“And Joseph came in unto them [the chief butler and the chief baker] in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold they were sad” (Genesis 40:6).

Joseph had been wrongly accused and put in prison, yet the keeper of the prison realized his faithfulness and his ability, and put him in charge of all the other prisoners. In this position Joseph could easily not have bothered to notice whether the other prisoners were content, or whether they were sad. Yet he was careful to observe that the chief butler and the chief baker were both sad, and he asked them what was wrong. This led to their telling Joseph their dreams, and he was able to interpret the dreams for them.

It is possible for us to be so concerned about ourselves that we do not notice other people, and how they may be feeling. Some people are naturally better at this than others. I have a good friend who says that all he has to do is look at someone, even a stranger, and he instantly knows whether they are hurting inside or not. But we can all have a concern for others and how they are doing.

Some years ago, I read a book about various character traits that “hold back” otherwise capable people. One chapter was entitled, “Being emotionally tone deaf.” We have all known people who cannot sing on key; they are “tone deaf,” and cannot, as we say, carry a tune. But occasionally people are not sensitive to the feelings of others, and they are described as being “emotionally tone deaf.” They tend to say and do things that offend others and hurt their feelings, yet often do not realize they are doing it.

It is important not to be self-centered, but to look around, and notice if others are not happy.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness” (Colossians 3:12).

“But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared … according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:4-5).

Kindness is spoken about many times in the Word of God, in both Old and New Testaments. The most important thing to notice about kindness is that it characterizes God Himself. It is He who showed kindness to us when we were lost in sin, and had no hope in this world. We had only a lost eternity ahead of us, but as a Savior God, He came to us in kindness and love, and saved us according to His mercy. Are we willing to follow His example in our actions with others?

In today’s world it is considered a good thing to be tough, and to “stick up for yourself.” It is considered quite acceptable to come back with rough language at someone who treats us wrongly, but we read in Proverbs 15:1 — “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” It is our privilege as Christians to show kindness, even to those who treat us badly, for once again, this is the spirit of Christ.

There is one thing more that we should remember. Sometimes those who may treat us badly may appear to be very tough on the outside, but often this is a “cover up” for weakness and insecurity inside. They may appear tough, but really they may be hurting inside, yet not wanting to admit it. If we show them kindness, often it will bring out the weakness, and we can ask the Lord to show us how to be a help to them.

When David became king, he wanted to show the “kindness of God” to any of the house of Saul, even though Saul had been his enemy. He wanted to do this for “Jonathan’s sake,” because Jonathan had been David’s good friend. See if you can find this account in the Old Testament. Ask the Lord to help you have a kind and loving spirit today!

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“The fruit of the Spirit is … temperance [self-control]” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Temperance, which means self-control or self-discipline, is a most important character trait to develop in ourselves when we are young. We do not want to sound like those who are always talking about “the good old days,” but discipline in general has been rather belittled in our society during the past few years. The object of discipline by parents, teachers, and others who mold our character when we are young is to enable us gradually to discipline ourselves as we advance into adulthood. But if those who are in authority over us do not have this self-discipline, then it is impossible for them to teach others what they do not possess themselves.

The lack of self-control and self-discipline affects many areas of our lives. It affects our ability to make and keep commitments, as we talked about two days ago. It results in a lifestyle that uses credit to buy more than we can afford; it causes us to be sloppy in managing our affairs; it makes us careless in our dress and appearance; it results in overeating and obesity. It can lead us into many kinds of addictions. The advertising today only adds to all this by telling us that we deserve it, that we are “worth it,” and that we should indulge ourselves, even if we cannot afford it.

All too often, when a lack of self-control tempts people to make unwise decisions, they get into trouble, but then expect that others will “bail them out” of their difficulties. Recently a woman, through her own lack of wisdom, was fooled by an internet scam and lost a considerable amount of money. But then on the internet she begged others to donate funds to cover her loss.

In Lamentations 3:27 we read that “it is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.” To learn to take charge of our own affairs and manage them well when we are young is excellent training for later life. It is true that this comes easier to some than others, and some of you may have to work harder at this, and ask the Lord for help. But He will help us to develop this character trait, if we ask Him. It is most important.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Render therefore to all their dues … fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor” (Romans 13:7).

“Thou shalt rise up before the hoary [white haired] head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God” (Leviticus 19:32).

In a previous meditation, we mentioned that perhaps more than anything else, young people want to be treated with respect. This is important, not only for young people, but those of all ages should be treated with respect. Just recently an author wrote that respect has been largely lost in our western culture, and desperately needs to be regained. In my observations over the past twenty or thirty years, I have found this to be true. But if you as young people want to be treated with respect, it should start with you. True respect involves our attitudes, speech, and behavior towards everything, and especially towards those who are older than you.

Our verses today emphasize respect and honor toward those who are in positions of authority, for that authority is given of God, and must be recognized as such. Parents, teachers at school, government officials, police officers — all are ordained of God, and should be respected. That is why, when the Israelites were told to “rise up before the hoary head,” the fear of God is connected with it. If we fear God, we will honor others too, for proper respect is intimately connected with the fear of God. This does not mean that we are actually afraid of God, but rather than we give Him the respect and honor due to Him, and to all whom He has placed around us in our lives.

The world has changed drastically in the last forty years, and it is true that some of us who are older are not in touch with much of the technology and up-to-date knowledge that is common among young people. But knowledge is not the same as wisdom, and wisdom comes only with experience and age; it should be respected. We can learn much from older ones, and if we respect them, we will find that they will respect us too. In my growing up years I learned a great deal from older brethren (and sisters too!), even though there was a “generation gap” back then as well. But their wisdom and experience was a big help to me, and as I have said, I found that when I was willing to learn from them, they respected me too.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation” (James 5:12).

Here we find another important quality for Christians, and especially young people, that is becoming more and more difficult to find today. Are we willing to give our word as to something, and then keep our word? A promise or a commitment needs to be honored, and if we learn to do this when we are young, we will be trusted and given more responsibility. But if we become known as someone who cannot be depended upon, we will not be entrusted with anything important.

When we make a commitment, in effect we make a promise to do something. Perhaps it is something that needs to be done on a regular basis, and requires a sacrifice from us. Are we willing to do that? Let me use an example. Perhaps some of you are getting old enough to teach Sunday school. In the Sunday school I was involved with most of my life, many of the children came from ungodly and often unhappy homes. It meant a lot to them to have the same teacher every week. They understood if their teacher was away once or twice a year, but if he or she was gone quite often, it disturbed them. To be at Sunday school regularly was a commitment for a teacher, for it was easy to want to go and visit friends or relatives on weekends, to go up to the cottage, or something like that. I was thankful for those who made that commitment and gave up their own pleasure.

We find this quality illustrated in Matthew 25:28, which reads, “Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.” Read the whole story for yourself, and you will see how two men used their talents wisely for the Lord, while one simply hid his talent in the earth. The master commanded that his talent be given to the man who already had ten talents. Why was this? It was because the master (who is a picture of the Lord) knew that the man with ten talents was dependable and would use the talent well. It is good to be known as someone who is dependable.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient” (2 Timothy 2:24).

Another important quality for us to remember is that of kindness and gentleness. We live in a world where many people are selfish, and will do almost anything to get their own way. This often translates into bullying, either physically or verbally. This has gotten to be such a problem that it is common to see signs in stores, offices, and public buildings, advising people that verbal abuse and offensive language will not be tolerated. Sometimes physical bullying becomes so serious that people are badly hurt or even killed. I read on the internet a few days ago about a young girl who was so badly beaten by her older half-brother that she died later in hospital. Why did he beat her? Because she had supposedly eaten his snacks that were in the refrigerator.

You and I as Christians ought to stand out in the middle of all this, and show our kindness and gentleness to all. This does not mean that we act like “doormats,” and let people do whatever they want to us. No, there is a time to reach someone’s conscience when they do wrong to us, and the Lord Jesus did the same. For example, when the high priest asked Him, “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”, the Lord Jesus answered him, “I am: and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:61-62). He owned up to who He was, yet He also told him that there was a day coming when He, the Lord Jesus, would come in power and glory to judge this world. But He submitted to the humiliation and suffering at that time. We are to do the same, and to exhibit gentleness to all men.

It takes more strength to understand someone than to talk back to them. It is a sign of strength to show kindness to those who are younger and weaker than we.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Every one that exalteth [to raise high] himself shall be abased [brought down low]: and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:14).

Pride in ourselves is something that is fostered and encouraged in children and young people today. We are all naturally proud, but today it is considered to be a good thing instead of something wrong. An article in the Reader’s Digest some years ago said the following — “When we are proud of our self-image, we feel confident and free to be ourselves … A miracle happens to the person whose self-esteem has been raised. He suddenly likes other people better. He is kinder and more cooperative with those around him. Praise is the polish that helps keep his self-esteem bright and sparkling.” The end result of this is that often people are praised and rewarded for poor work, when in fact they have not done their best. People are rewarded and encouraged for laziness and sloppiness, because it is not “politically correct” to tell them they have done a poor job. Sometimes so-called New Age philosophy merges with all this, even to the point of telling us that we are all gods, and that the very essence of God is in every one of us. We are told to think highly of ourselves, for according to this philosophy, we are, in fact, really gods. We do not need to remind ourselves that this is blasphemy. (Blasphemy is irreverent talk or expressions about God.) There is only one God!

But as always, the wisdom of God is the opposite of man’s wisdom, and we find in the Bible that every form of pride is wrong. Why is it wrong? Because it takes the glory that belongs to God and gives it to us. You and I have no right to be proud, for we are created beings, and before our Creator we should be humble. It is true that we have God-given abilities, and it is good to recognize them, and use them. To say that I am worthless is to dishonor God who created us. But to be proud of what we are is the wrong response.

The right response to our having some ability in natural things, or having some spiritual gift as a Christian, is to be thankful for it, yet giving the Lord all the credit. Paul had to tell this to the Corinthians, who were a proud people. He reminded them, “For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Let us remember that anything that is good in us, whether naturally (being musical, or a good athlete) or as Christians, ultimately comes from God. To be humble is to be Christ-like.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Provide things honest in the sight of all men” (Romans 12:17).

“Lying lips are abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 12:22).

Honesty and truthfulness are two very important characteristics for us as Christians. Under no circumstances should we ever tell a lie. Honesty is not always rewarded in our culture today, and sometimes people are encouraged to lie, even by those in authority over them. A Christian man whom I know well once worked for a big company. They had ordered a special refrigerator for a customer, but when it arrived by truck, his boss decided that he wanted it for a good friend of his. He told my friend to phone the customer and tell him that the refrigerator accidently fell off the truck and was damaged, and that they needed to order another one. My Christian friend refused to do this, so the boss made the phone call himself and told the lie. Even though the boss was forced to tell the lie himself, he respected my friend for being honest. Later, when my friend left the company to start his own business, his boss told him that if he ever wanted his job back, he was welcome to come back and work for the company again.

I know true Christians who got into the habit of lying and being dishonest, and after a while, no one trusted them. Sometimes they added details to a story that they made up themselves, or left out details that made the story entirely different. In the Bible this is called guile, which means being deceitful, and giving the wrong impression by the way we tell something. You could not depend on anything they said, for you never knew whether they were telling the truth or lying. Long ago someone invented the term “white lie,” thinking that sometimes it was all right to tell a lie to get someone out of trouble, or to prevent someone from being embarrassed. But when we might think of doing that, let us remember that it is not only ourselves and others who should be considered, but more important, the Lord Himself. Lying is an abomination to the Lord, and dishonesty is a sin in the sight of God. God views lying so seriously that He mentions it right at the end of the Bible, saying that “All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone” (Revelation 21:8). Even if it means getting ourselves into trouble, let us always tell the truth. The Lord is listening, and He will honor us for it.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you” (Ephesians 5:3).

Although we do not like to talk so much about these things to young people, yet we all live today in a world that is full of sexual immorality. It starts affecting children and young people at a very tender age, and has become a most serious problem. The sins that are common in the world around us have always been the ones that crept in among and affected God’s people, and so even Christians are affected by this tendency.

We are warned about such things in Scripture, in the strongest possible terms, and our verse today is one of these warnings. Sad to say, in the heathen world such things were very common, and taken very lightly. But when they heard the gospel and were saved, God called them to give up this lifestyle, and practice self-control. When I was growing up, these things were almost never talked about among children, and even in high school the subject was mentioned only very occasionally. But now it is commonly spoken about everywhere, and we are all affected by it.

Sexual activity should be reserved for marriage, and any tendency toward immorality should be stopped right away in our lives. We notice in our verse that there are stages through which such things develop. First of all, there is covetousness, then uncleanness, and finally fornication. If we judge the covetousness that starts in our hearts and minds (wanting a physical relationship that needs to wait for marriage), then we will not progress to uncleanness and fornication. Let us all be aware of how serious this problem is, and not fall into this wrong way of thinking.

The sad thing about all this is that unwise and sinful decisions made in our tender years can have consequences that may affect our entire lives. I have known those who engaged in this kind of behavior who never fully recovered from it. They may have been true Christians and been restored to the Lord, but the scars from what they did never went away. Let us take the warnings of God’s Word seriously and avoid all this trouble in our lives.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“I make no account of my life as dear to myself, so that I finish my course” (Acts 20:24 JND).

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Back in the 1500’s there was an English sea captain named Sir Francis Drake. He was a God-fearing man and might even have been a Christian. He used to pray a prayer like this — “O Lord God, when Thou givest to thy servants to endeavor any great matter, give us also to know, that it is not the beginning, but the continuing of the same until it be thoroughly finished, that yieldeth the true glory.” It was a good prayer, for it focuses on the importance of persistence in whatever we may be called to do. Of course, if we find that we are doing something wrong, it is good to stop it at once, but if we are doing something the Lord has given us to do, it is important to “follow through” and finish it.

In the world around us today, it is rather common for jobs to be left unfinished, and for people to attempt something, only to find it rather hard, and then quit. Students may start out to study a course, then decide that they do not like it, and switch to something else. I have seen this happen several times over in the life of one person.

It can be a difficulty in our Christian life too. A man named Demas started out well, but then the Apostle Paul had to say, “Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world” (2 Timothy 4:10). Paul tells Timothy that he (Paul) had “fought a good fight,” and in Hebrews 12:1 we are told to “run with patience the race that is set before us.” The word for “fight” and the word for “race” in the Greek language are the same.

The motto of David Livingstone was, “I determined never to stop until I had come to the end and achieved my purpose.” It is only with the Lord’s help that we can finish the race, and finish our course. But the Lord is willing to help us, and it is good to develop this attitude of determination and persistence, so that we finish what we are given to do.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers