Author: BTP

“Freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:9).

If you read this chapter in Matthew, you will find that the Lord Jesus sends His twelve disciples out to preach. When they preached, they were also to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out devils, etc., with the Lord’s power. They had received the Lord’s message for themselves, and they were freely to give it out. They were also to do works of miracles freely, for God is a giving God.

This is good advice for us too. We have received salvation freely, and we should freely tell others about the Lord Jesus. If we have received more than we need in other resources, such as money, we should be willing to help others. We should also be willing to do things for others in the name of the Lord Jesus, without getting paid for it. I knew a Christian man who changed a tire for a woman who was stopped on the highway with a flat tire, and did not know what to do. When she offered to pay him, he refused, telling her that He did it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then he was able to speak to her about being saved, and give her a gospel tract.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

The little girl was a bit afraid to tell her father what had made her so happy, as she thought he might be cross with her for picking up the torn piece of paper. But she told him what the paper said, and that it made her happy to think that God had given something.

As you may imagine, her father was not cross with her, as the piece of paper was only scrap anyway. But he readily showed her the other half of the verse, about how God had actually given His beloved Son. Eventually the little girl learned the whole story of the love of God, and how the Lord Jesus had died for her, so that her sins could be washed away. Then she got saved, and was even happier than before. All this happened because a scrap of paper was on the floor, with only part of a verse on it!

“For God so loved the world, that He gave” (John 3:16).

Most of you who read this calendar will know the above verse by heart, and perhaps you will wonder why I have quoted only part of the verse. But there is a story attached to this.

About 500 years ago, when the printing press had just been invented, a young girl had a father who operated a printing press and made his living printing things for people. Among other things he printed verses from the Bible. One day she was in his shop, and found a torn piece of paper on the floor, with only the words from John 3:16 that I have quoted today. The rest of the verse had been torn off. She picked it up and read it, and it made her glad. She did not know what God had given, but it gave her great joy to think that God had given something, as she had never heard the gospel before.

She was so happy that she started to sing as she went around the house, and her whole life changed. She was much more cheerful than she had been before, and after a while, her father asked her what had happened, and what had made the difference. We will find out tomorrow what she said, and what happened.

“God hath not given us the spirit of fear…but of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).

Finally, in the same verse we have considered three times, we have the phrase “a sound mind.” Another good translation of the Bible translates this phrase as “wise discretion.” Perhaps “discretion” is a big word that we do not use very much today, but it simply means having the wisdom to know when to do something, and the right way to do it. It is not enough just to have the power to do something, and the love in our hearts to want to do it. We must ask the Lord for wisdom, so as to know when to do it, and how. Harm has often been done by those who had the strength to do something right, and even the love as a motive to do it, but did not use wisdom.

Only by walking with the Lord, and with the guidance of His Holy Spirit, can we have the wisdom to know when and how to do things.

“God hath not given us the spirit of fear…but of love” (2 Timothy 1:7).

When things are going downhill among believers, we may try to prop them up by introducing rules, using our own strength and ideas to hold things together. Here we are told that one of the characteristics of the spirit that God gives us is love. This means divine love—a love that keeps on loving, even if love is not returned by the one to whom we are showing love. This is not easy, and we can do it only because we have a new life in Christ that makes us capable of it.

Divine love does not take a casual approach to something wrong, but always seeks the good of the person who is loved. That means that even if we feel obliged to say something to someone about the way he or she is acting, it should be done with love. It makes a big difference!

“Our Savior Jesus Christ, who has annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings” (2 Timothy 1:10 JND).

God is presenting Himself to this world today as a Savior-God, through His Son Jesus Christ. As a Savior-God, He has done much more for us than simply saving us from hell for all eternity. He has annulled death, which simply means that as Christians, we no longer need to fear death, for it only brings us to Christ, “which is far better.”

Also, life and incorruptibility have been brought to light through the gospel. In the Old Testament, even the most godly individuals did not know what would happen when they died, nor did they know their eternal destiny. They definitely had a new life, but they did not know anything about eternal life, that fits us for God’s presence. Also, they knew nothing of the Lord’s coming for His saints, when they will receive glorified bodies, suited to heaven. All this has been brought to light through the gospel. What a wonderful Savior we have!

“God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power” (2 Timothy 1:7).

The book of 2nd Timothy was the last epistle the Apostle Paul wrote, when he was in prison for the second time, and knew that he would likely be executed. By that time things were starting to go downhill in some of the assemblies he had helped to establish, and some were rejecting the truth he had taught them.

However, Paul encouraged Timothy, as a young man, not to be discouraged. He was to use the gift the Lord had given him, and to remember that the spirit of fear was not of God. Rather, God gives us the spirit of power—His power. Today, we cannot pretend to have the power displayed in the days following Pentecost, but God’s power is always behind those who seek to honor Him, at any time in the church’s history.

“For the love of money is the root of all evil…But thou, O man of God, flee these things” (1 Timothy 6:10-11).

Yesterday we saw that the things of this world do not satisfy, but that great gain comes from godliness combined with contentment. Today we are warned that the love of money is the root of all evil, and then we have the expression “man of God.” If we wish to be men or women of God, we are to “flee these things.”

The expression “man of God” occurs a number of times in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. Actually, it occurs more than 70 times in the Bible, and only two of the references are in the New Testament; all the rest are in the Old Testament. Can you find the other reference in the New Testament?

The phrase “man of God” is always used to describe someone who faithfully follows the Lord, when many others are being unfaithful. It ought to be your wish and mine to be one of them.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).

When I was young, an older brother, now with the Lord, used to remind us that every advertisement was designed to make us discontent with such things as we have. This is true, and today some advertisements even tell us that “you are worth it,” or “you deserve it!” Even if we have to go into debt to get something, the world will tell us that we are entitled to it.

In our verse today, we are reminded that there is great gain in contentment, but it does not stop there. We need godliness as well. Why is this? Why are we not simply told to be content?

It is because godliness gives us an inner joy that lasts, while anything in this world will eventually only make us want something more. When we have Christ in our hearts, the enjoyment of Him is much more than anything riches in this world can give. When we live in a land where riches are within our grasp, there is a real temptation to go after them. But there is something much better than the things of this world.

“The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong…but time and chance happeneth to them all” (Ecclesiastes 9:11).

At first glance this verse might seem hard to understand, but if we think about it, we realize that it is true. The fastest runner does not always win the race, for he may fall, or trip, or get a muscle cramp, or simply run out of energy. Likewise, historical battles have not always been won by the biggest army. Alexander the Great won battles several times when he had the smaller army, because of his superior strategy. Yet in the end, he died at the age of only thirty-two, from an illness.

The Lord orders things in this world, and often has intervened using weather changes, strategy, and other factors to control the outcome of battles. At the same time, even those who were victorious had to remember that they too would die one day, in spite of their success.

How good it is to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, and to know that whatever happens to us in this world, we will spend an eternity with Him forever, because of His suffering and death on Calvary’s cross.