Growing in Grace

“We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

When I was young, a brother used to remind us, “Never try to love the Lord any more than you do! Just think of how much He loves you!” This was good advice for us, for sometimes we feel guilty for not loving the Lord more than we do. The answer is to enjoy His love, and then our love will flow back to Him as a result.

Perhaps some of you have sung the hymn, “I am so glad that our Father in heaven, tells of His love in the book He has given,” etc. This hymn was written by a man named Philip Bliss, who lived back in the 1800’s. He was a gifted hymnwriter and wrote quite a few good hymns. He did not live to be an old man, for he and his wife were killed in a train wreck in Ashtabula, Ohio, U.S.A. when he was only thirty-eight years old. But it is interesting how he came to write this hymn about which we are speaking.

He was putting together a hymnbook and was using not only many of his own hymns, but also hymns written by other people. He wanted to use the hymn, “Oh, how I love Jesus, oh how I love Jesus, because He first loved me,” and reserved a place and a number for it in his hymnbook. But since the man who wrote that hymn was still alive, out of courtesy he contacted him, asking permission to use his hymn. To his shock and surprise, the author of that hymn flatly refused, saying that he was also making up a hymnbook, and did not want anyone to spoil the sales of his hymnbook by using his hymn in another hymnbook.

Mr. Bliss went away very sad, not only because he could not use the hymn, but mostly because the other man was using sacred things like hymns to make money. But now he had to find another hymn to fill the place in his hymnbook. As he walked home, he began to think of how the Bible does not speak mostly about our love to the Lord, but rather speaks about His love for us. God does not want us constantly to be thinking about our love for the Lord Jesus, but to enjoy His love for us. Then he sat down and wrote the hymn, “I am so glad that our Father in heaven, tells of His love in the book He has given.” That hymn took the place of the other one, and talks about God’s love for us. The chorus goes like this, “I am so glad that Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me!” If we do not feel as much love for the Lord as we would like to have, once again the answer is to think about how much He loves us!

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“For the love of Christ constraineth us … that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

The word “constrain” is a strong word, and means to force someone to do something, either by physical or moral strength. The Lord Jesus certainly does not force us by physical strength to do something for Him, but if we really understand how much it cost Him to save us, then His love has the force of a command. There is part of the 14th verse that I have left out, and it says, “If one died for all, then were all dead.” All of us, before we were saved, were “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Now we have life — new life in Christ, but it cost the Lord Jesus the awful suffering during the three hours of darkness on the cross. His love was strong enough to take Him through that suffering, but is it strong enough to constrain us? According to this verse, yes, it is strong enough. Then why do we not respond more to the Lord’s love?

Perhaps we can illustrate it this way. We have all seen a magnet, and we know that a magnet attracts iron. Yet, if we had a small magnet, and we placed some small iron filings about thirty feet (about nine meters) away from it, the iron would not be attracted to the magnet. Why not? If it is a good magnet, the iron should move toward it. Of course, you would immediately say, “The magnet is too far away! You will have to bring the iron closer to it.” You would be right, for those of you who have studied physics know that the strength of a magnetic field varies as the square of the distance from it. A magnet that is one inch (about 2 ½ centimeters) from some iron has a certain amount of pull. But if the magnet is two inches away, it has only ¼ of the pull. If it is three inches away, it has only 1/9 of the pull. You can see that a small magnet that is thirty feet away from the iron does not have much of a pull left in its magnetic field.

It is the same with some of us as Christians. The love of Christ does constrain us, but if we are too far away from the Lord in our lives, we do not feel the “pull” of that constraint. It is those who live in the sunshine of His love that feel the power of it in them, and then respond to the Lord’s call to serve Him.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you” (1 Peter 4:14).

Many years ago, back in the 15th and 16th centuries, the gospel was not known widely as it is today. Rather, people were taught that they had to earn their salvation by doing good works, and were even told to pay money for their salvation.

But then God raised up men who looked into the Bible, and began to preach the truth of salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus. One of these early reformers, as they were called, was a Frenchman named Louis Berquin. He was born about 1490, and as a young man began to read his Bible, and to listen to those who spoke against the bad teaching that so many believed. As a young man he accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior, and began to preach to others about Him. Because Louis Berquin was a nobleman, he was rich, and also an educated man. He was trained as a lawyer, and was well known to Francis I, the king of France at that time. Several times he was arrested and imprisoned for his faith, but was released through the influence of the king’s sister Marguerite. Finally the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church prevailed, and Louis Berquin was sentenced to be burned for his preaching and writing.

When he came to the place where he was to be executed, he came in his best clothes, rode down the street on his best horse, and in every way behaved as if he were going to visit the king. But it was not the king of France whom he was preparing to visit; he was going to be with the Lord Jesus. Many thought that he was throwing his life away, for he was not yet forty years old when he died in this way. But that is not the end of the story.

A young man, also born in France, had been sent by his father to study in Paris, and there he came under the influence of the reformers. He was present when Louis Berquin was burned for his faith, and was amazed at Berquin’s calmness and joy on such an occasion. He went away from that scene saying to himself, “That man has got something, and I want what he has!” The young man was John Calvin. A few years later he too accepted the Lord as His Savior, and went on to further the work of the Lord in Geneva, Switzerland. Louis Berquin did not die in vain, for indeed “the spirit of glory and of God” rested upon him, and John Calvin could see it.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee” (1 Timothy 4:16).

We seem to have coined a new word in the last thirty or forty years — the word “prioritize.” It is a word that I did not hear when I was young. The word may have existed back then, but we never used it. Why is it so common today? It is because the pace of life has rapidly quickened during the last few years, and everything has become more complicated. As a result, we have to decide what is important in our lives, and as the saying goes, “Put first things first.” Sometimes it is hard to decide what is most important, for even as young people, there are many demands made on our time. We live in a busy world, and have to be careful how we use our time.

Suppose you had some large rocks, some smaller rocks, some pebbles, and some sand, and were told to put them all in a large jar. Would you start with the sand and the pebbles? No, you would start with the largest rocks, then add the smaller rocks, then the pebbles, and finally the sand. That way, they would all fit in. It is the same in our Christian lives; we must start with the most important things first.

Here in our verse we find some things that need to be put in their proper order. First of all, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy to pay attention to himself, and to the doctrine or teaching. This is most important, for we cannot be a help to someone else unless we have made sure that our own state of soul is right. The Lord Jesus told people when He was on earth, “And why beholdest thou the mote (a small speck of something) that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam (as in a large beam of wood) that is in thine own eye? … Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-4). We must take care of our own Christian walk, and apply the teaching of the Word of God to ourselves, before we can help others with problems in their life.

Then we must “continue in them.” It is easy to get a rush of energy sometimes in spiritual things, but sometimes it is just human energy, not the energy of the Spirit of God. Human energy will never last, but if we really want to please the Lord, He will give us the strength and help to continue on without stopping. Godly consistency in our life is most important. James tells us that “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8). This is talking about a person who wants to please the Lord sometimes, but then decides to indulge his old sinful nature a bit too. This kind of Christian goes back and forth between doing the Lord’s will and doing his own will. It is hard to have confidence in someone like that.

Finally, if we have prioritized these things properly, we will not only save ourselves, but also others whom we may influence. This does not mean to save ourselves in the sense of our salvation from the penalty of our sins, but rather being saved from the power of sin in our Christian lives. It means being saved from a wasted life, and from the temptations in this world. We all have an effect on others; let us be an influence for good on other Christians!

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation (conduct), in charity (love), in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).

When I was young I really liked this verse, and sometimes felt that older people ought to read it more often! I felt that sometimes they did not pay much attention to what we young people said or did, except to correct us for something. Later on, as an adult, while waiting for a dentist appointment, I saw an article in a magazine entitled, “What do young people want most of all?” After doing a study with a large number of young people, they concluded that the answer was, “To be treated with respect.” Some months later, when I was speaking to a group of Christian young people, I asked them the same question — What do you want most of all from your parents and other adults? I was a bit surprised that they gave me the same answer — to be treated with respect. It seems that young people today are no different from my generation; they want respect from older people.

There is nothing wrong with this, and in our verse today, we see that the Apostle Paul told Timothy (who was a young man) not to allow anyone to despise him because he was young. He had a gift from the Lord, and could be a real help to others. Many Christian young people today want to please the Lord, and have real purpose and energy in their lives for Him.

However, we see that just as there are two sides to a coin, so there are two sides to this question of respect for young people. The other side of the coin is in the last part of the verse; as younger ones, we must behave in such a way as to deserve respect. We notice here that the Apostle Paul does not tell Timothy to demonstrate his knowledge by saying a lot, nor does he tell him to rebuke those who might want to despise him. Rather, he tells him to behave in a way that would honor the Lord. He was to be an example of the believers in various ways — in his talk, in his conduct, in his love, his spirit, his faith, and in purity. All of these things are most important and should be part of our character at any age. But it is most important to start these things when we are young, and to get in the habit of having our lives molded by the Word of God.

If we live the way a Christian ought to live, we will soon find that older ones will begin to respect us, as they realize that we are serious about wanting to honor the Lord in our lives. We will not have to demand respect, for they will respect us. Even people out in the world respect a godly Christian, although they may not like him or her.

There is one other point we should mention here. If we show respect to adults and those who are older, it makes it easier for them to respect us. Today in western countries many young people speak to older adults as if they were just like friends their own age. I have heard young people talk to those who were old enough to be their grandparents, the same way they would speak to their teenage buddies. This is regrettable, and while the older ones may not say anything about it, it lowers their opinion of that kind of young person. If we wish to be treated with respect, we need to remember to do our part too!

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Israel [Jacob] stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn” (Genesis 48:14).

Here we find Israel (God had given Jacob another name, Israel, which means “a prince with God”), as an old man, again conferring a blessing, but this time on his two grandsons, the sons of Joseph. Their names were Manasseh and Ephraim, and Manasseh was the oldest. Normally the older one would have gotten the bigger blessing, and ought to have had Israel’s right hand on his head. But Jacob crossed his arms, and put his right hand on Ephraim’s head. At first Joseph was not happy about this, and we read that he tried to take his father’s right hand off Ephraim’s head and place it on Manasseh’s head (see verse 17). But his father refused, and kept his right hand on Ephraim’s head. We might wonder why Jacob would do this.

When Jacob and Esau were born, they were twins, but Esau was born first. Normally he should have gotten the larger blessing, but before they were born, God had clearly said that the younger one, Jacob, would be the more prominent of the two, and that “the elder shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). If we go back another generation, we find that Ishmael was the eldest son of Abraham, yet Isaac got the larger blessing. Going back even further, we find that Japheth was Noah’s eldest son, yet God’s blessing was more pronounced in the family of Shem, who was the second son.

There is a special reason for all this. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:47 that “the first man is of the earth, earthy: the second Man is the Lord from heaven.” The first man (Adam) was a failure, for he and his wife Eve broke the one commandment that God gave them, and thus brought sin into the world. We are all naturally connected with the first man, Adam, and we all have sinful natures. But the second Man is the Lord Jesus, who succeeded where the first man failed. He perfectly did the will of God, and then at Calvary’s cross made a way for all who come to Him to be reconciled to God. That is why God often allowed the second son to be more important and more spiritual than the elder one.

If you look carefully, you can find other examples in the book of Genesis where the eldest son was not the most spiritual, but rather a younger son. It is not always the second son, and sometimes there is more than one younger brother in the same family who is more godly than the oldest brother. See if you can find some more!

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“And Jacob blessed Pharaoh” (Genesis 47:10).

“And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better” (Hebrews 7:7).

Jacob had not been a very good testimony for the Lord most of his life. He had cheated his brother Esau out of his blessing, and then engaged in scheming and planning to try and outwit his uncle Laban, for whom he worked for over twenty years. Then he had more than twenty years of great sorrow over what he thought was the loss of his beloved son Joseph. Now, at the end of his life, he is reunited to Joseph, and has the best years of all his life.

When he comes down to Egypt and is presented to Pharaoh by Joseph, Pharaoh asks him, “How old art thou?” (Genesis 47:8). Jacob’s answer shows that he could not look back on his life with much satisfaction, for he says, “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been” (v. 9). No doubt Jacob was ashamed of the way he had acted, and how he had dishonored the Lord in so many ways during his pathway through this world. Also, his sons had learned how to lie and cheat from their father’s example, which must have made him very sad.

In spite of all this, we read that “Jacob blessed Pharaoh,” and in the New Testament it tells us that “the less is blessed of the better.” How could this be? Was a man like Jacob really better than Pharaoh, and thus able to bless him? Yes, Jacob was better, for in spite of all his bad behavior, he really cared for the things of the Lord, and badly wanted God’s blessing. It is true that he felt he had to get that blessing by scheming and cheating, instead of trusting the Lord to give it to him. But the Lord saw Jacob’s faith underneath all his wrong lifestyle, and because of his faith, God disciplined him, in order to bring him to repentance. The result was that Jacob had some happy years at the end of his life, for he learned from God’s dealings with him. At the end of his life he can bless the mighty king of Egypt. Pharaoh may have been a child of God, for he certainly had every chance to know the true God through Joseph. The Bible does not tell us one way or the other. But Jacob was specially chosen of God to be His testimony in this world, and he is the one who blesses Pharaoh.

Some of us are like Jacob too. Perhaps we have character traits that are not good, and then the Lord has to allow difficulties in our lives, to make us realize that those things are not pleasing to Him. We sometimes call this “discipline in God’s school.” But if we learn from what the Lord allows in our lives, we can deal with those bad tendencies in our hearts, and then shine more brightly for Him.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way” (Genesis 45:24).

We do not use the term “fall out” any more in normal conversation, but it simply means to quarrel. Joseph was warning his brothers not to quarrel on the way home from Egypt! Isn’t it sad that he felt that he had to say that to them?

More than twenty years before, those same brothers had sold Joseph into Egypt as a slave, thinking that would be the end of him. They hated him so much that they did not care if he died. But the Lord was with Joseph, and as we know, he ended up being the governor over all the land of Egypt. Because Joseph had carefully stored up wheat during the years in Egypt when the harvests were good, there was plenty of wheat there when the Lord allowed a famine to come upon the whole area. Eventually his brothers were compelled to go to Egypt and buy food. If you have maps in the back of your Bible, perhaps you can trace out this journey.

Then Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and at first they were afraid of him, thinking that he would take revenge on them for selling him as a slave. But he treated them well, and freely forgave them for what they had done to him. You would think that they would have gone home very happy, knowing that they were not going to get into trouble with Joseph. But Joseph knew them well. He knew how easily they could get to quarreling among themselves, perhaps each one blaming the other for what had happened many years before. But they were all guilty, in one way or another, except for their youngest brother Benjamin.

It is often the same with Christians. We were no better than those who hated the Lord Jesus, and who wanted to crucify Him. Had we been there at the time, we too would have wanted to get rid of Him, for our hearts are all the same naturally. But now He has freely forgiven us, washed away our sins, and given us a home in heaven. You would think that Christians would always be happy, and enjoying the love of God. Yet how easily we can find fault with one another, and get into quarrels over small things that are not that important. Of course, we must not pass over things that dishonor the Lord, but many of the difficulties among believers are really just little things that annoy us. They are not really connected with the Lord at all. What Joseph said to his brothers is a good lesson for all of us — not to quarrel on the way home to heaven! Rather, we should all be enjoying what the Lord has done for us, and having happy fellowship together.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“Eye hath seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:9-10).

The ninth verse above is often referred to, as if God has prepared wonderful things for our enjoyment in heaven, but that we must wait until we get there in order to have them. This is partly true, for when we are up there, we will no longer have a sinful nature that keeps wanting to make us sin. Also, Satan will not be there to tempt us, nor will we have the bad influence of the world around us. We will enjoy the things of Christ more fully up there than we have ever enjoyed them down here.

However, our verses today show us that we do not have to wait until the Lord comes and takes us home, in order to enjoy those heavenly things. Rather, God has sent His Spirit down to indwell each true believer, and one of the things the Spirit of God does is to show us those wonderful things, so that we can enjoy them now. They cannot be seen with our eyes, nor heard with our ears, for they are not like natural things. They are things that only the Spirit of God can show us, but they bring real enjoyment to our hearts.

We see an illustration of this in the Old Testament, when Joseph sent his brothers back from Egypt, and told them to bring their father down to Egypt. In Genesis 45:23, we read, “To his father he (Joseph) sent after this manner; ten asses (donkeys) laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.”

There were ten donkeys loaded up with food for their father on the long trip down to Egypt, and this would have been plenty for him. But Joseph also sent ten donkeys loaded with “the good things of Egypt.” Why did he send those? They were not needed for the trip, but were intended to give his father Jacob a sample of what he would enjoy in Egypt.

The Lord does the same for us. He gives us all we need for the journey home to heaven, but He also gives us a sample of what we will enjoy up there in heaven. The Spirit of God is able to help us to enjoy them now. Isn’t that wonderful! I hope you are enjoying the blessings of being a Christian!

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers

“The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit” (2 Timothy 4:22).

Two days ago we saw that as human beings, we are composed of spirit, soul and body. We also saw that our spirit is the “God-conscious” part of us. It gives us the ability to know who God is, and to have a relationship with Him. But sometimes in the Bible the word “spirit” is used simply to mean the attitude we have, and the way that we do something. For example, in Matthew 5:3 we read of those who are “poor in spirit,” and in Luke 2:40 we read of the Lord Jesus, as He grew up, that He “waxed (became) strong in spirit.” It is important to do the right thing, but the way in which we do things is very important as well. We understand this idea in everyday life. We might say about someone, “He does his work with a good spirit.”

When the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy the second time, Paul was in prison in Rome, and he knew that he would not be released. While it does not tell us in the Bible, we know from history that he was executed shortly after writing this book, probably by being beheaded. Paul also knew that things were becoming more difficult in the church, and that some were giving up the precious truth which he had committed to them. Paul had to say, “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (2 Timothy 1:15). They were still Christians, but they did not want the truth of God that Paul had given to them. They wanted an easier path — a little more freedom to “drift along.”

In view of all this, Paul told Timothy to be faithful to the Lord, and not to give up what he had told him. But Paul also knew that when things started to get difficult, it would be easy for Timothy to become a little hardened, and perhaps not act with grace and love towards those who were unfaithful. For this reason Paul wanted the Lord Jesus Christ to be with Timothy’s spirit; he wanted Timothy not only to do the right thing, but to do it in the right spirit. In the same way Paul exhorted the Galatians and those in the household of Philemon — “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (Galatians 6:18, Philemon v. 25).

We need this reminder too, for although we may do what is right, if we do it in a wrong way or with a wrong attitude, it spoils what we are doing. We need to remember how the Lord Jesus walked while He was in this world, and seek to act as He did. The Lord Jesus sometimes had to speak very plainly to people, but He always spoke as the One who loved them, and cared about them.

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Growing in Grace Blog by Bible Truth Publishers