Author: BTP

“According as He [God the Father] hath chosen us in Him [the Lord Jesus Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).

What an amazing fact! It is hard for us to imagine such a thing, that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. How old is this world? We cannot be sure, for God has not told us, but we know that it was revealed a long time ago. It says in Psalm 102:25, “Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth,” and if God uses the phrase “of old,” surely it must have been a long time ago. But before God even created this world, and the universe, He looked ahead and chose you and me.

Perhaps you and I wonder why the Lord has chosen us, and we cannot really answer that question. God acts according to His own wishes, and if He has chosen us, we should simply be thankful, and praise Him for it. However, it is almost more than our human minds can take in, that before this universe was made, God was thinking about those whom He would choose.

“I am fearfully and wonderfully made…My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret…Thine eyes did see my substance, being yet unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written” (Psalm 139:14-16).

Have you ever been unhappy with the way you are made? Probably all of us, at one time or another, wished that something about us was different. Maybe you wished you were taller, or smarter in certain areas, or had a different color of hair, or a different skill in a particular area. I remember wishing that I was better at playing sports and other athletic activities.

However, our verse for today shows us that the Lord was directly involved in the way we were made. We are indeed wonderfully made, in both our minds and our bodies. Even before we were born into this world, the Lord was watching over our development, and even kept a record of it all! When the Lord designed us, He had a special purpose in mind, and He wants us to realize that purpose. He has given each one of us a mind and a body of His choice, and He wants us to use them for Him. Instead of being dissatisfied with what the Lord has given us, let us be content and ask Him how we can use our mind and body for Him.

“Now if Christ be preached that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?…But now is Christ risen from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:12,20).

There were some in Corinth that were teaching that there is no resurrection of the dead. But the Apostle Paul points out that if Christ rose from the dead, then it follows that believers will rise from the dead too. Paul points out that the resurrection of Christ is absolutely vital to Christianity. If Christ did not rise, then we are not saved; we are still in our sins.

Today is the day when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, and because of that, we can remember Him in death. If the Lord Jesus did not rise, then death would have conquered Him. But He conquered death, and rose from among the dead. His resurrection is an established fact, for there were many witnesses who saw Him afterward, and who could testify that He was alive. Because of Christ’s resurrection, every true believer who has died will rise from the dead when the Lord Jesus comes back to take us home to Himself.

“And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Corinthians 7:31).

Yesterday we mentioned the danger of filling our minds with the things of this world—things on the internet, on WhatsApp, things in magazines, etc., and we need to be on guard about this. However, this does not mean that it is wrong to use the internet, or WhatsApp, or to read secular things. The internet has been very useful to help Christians communicate with other Christians in different countries, for in some areas of the world postal mail is not reliable, or perhaps very slow. Social media sites like WhatsApp and Facebook have also been useful in communication. However, like many other inventions of man, they can be misused.

Our verse for today reminds us that we are to use this world, but not to abuse it. We must be careful to use modern inventions for a right purpose. We must guard against occupying our minds with sinful things, or things that may distract us from following Christ, and living for His glory.

“As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

It is a solemn thing to remember that whatever we allow our minds to think about tends to rule our life. When I was in university, I remember a history professor telling us that “how men think, so ultimately they act.” He recognized that in the history of this world, men’s thinking eventually translated into actions. Also, if we think about something often enough, we will find out that we will not be able to think about anything else. It will be very hard to change our minds into thinking about something different.

It is important for us to remember this in our Christian life. If we fill our minds with the things of this world—things on the internet, things on WhatsApp, things in secular magazines, things that are sinful, we will find it very hard to concentrate when we want to think about the things of the Lord. We will find it hard to focus when we want to read the Word of God, or to pay attention in a meeting for Christians. If we direct our minds to better things, once again we will find it easy to continue to think about those things, and it will not be an effort to do so. We will say more about this subject tomorrow.

“Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7).

It is a very serious thing to harden your heart against God. The children of Israel hardened their hearts against God in the wilderness, thousands of years ago, and God told them that they had to wander in that same wilderness for forty years because they hardened their hearts. During that time most of them died, and never did enter into the land of Canaan.

All this is a warning for us too, for today God is calling people to believe His Word, to repent of their sins, and to accept the Lord Jesus as their Savior. Sadly, many are hardening their hearts, and refusing to believe what God has said. About two years ago I quoted a Bible verse to one of my neighbors, and he simply said, “I don’t believe that.”

However, God’s Word is true, and that man was hardening his heart against God. If you are not saved, do not harden your heart against God. He loves you, and wants to save you today.

“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip” (Hebrews 2:1).

What does it mean to let something slip? It means that we forget something that we have once heard and learned. We know how easily this can happen in natural things. We may learn something in school or college, and then, if we do not use it, we tend to forget it. Today I could not pass many of the exams that I easily passed when I was in high school and university, because I have not used some of that information for many years. However, there are some things that I have continued to use, and I remember them well.

It is much the same in spiritual things. We may learn and enjoy things from the Word of God, yet easily forget them if we do not live and walk in them in our lives. That is why the author of the book of Hebrews, who wrote by inspiration, wanted those believers to pay attention to what they had heard. He did not want them to forget those things, for those things were important. We too need continually to remind ourselves of the things in the Bible, even if we have learned them. That is why it is important to read the Bible every day.

“And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work…for the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it (the tabernacle), and too much” (Exodus 36:5,7).

In our verse for today we see what happens when the Lord’s people have willing hearts. Not only was there enough material to build the tabernacle, but too much! The Lord had worked in many hearts, and they had given much more than was needed. This was surprising, too, for a nation that had been slaves in Egypt for many years would not normally be expected to have all those things on hand for the building of the tabernacle. Not only did they have silver, gold, and precious stones, but they also had large pieces of wood, fancy cloth, badgers’ skins, spices, and many other things. But God had seen to it that they had all these things, and the people willingly gave them to help build the tabernacle.

We are not called to build a tabernacle, but let us remember that whatever we have belongs to the Lord. We should be willing to give it to Him if He asks us to do so.

“And Moses called…. every wise hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it” (Exodus 36:2).

This verse is referring to the children of Israel, at the time the Lord had given to them the plans for building the tabernacle. The jobs were not likely going to be very exciting. Many were going to sit for hours embroidering cloth. Others were spinning, and still others molding silver and cutting stones. They were all to sit under the instruction of a man named Bezaleel to whom God had given wisdom in all these things.

Would you like to do something for the Lord? Ask Him for a willing heart. Ask Him to “stir you up”! And then do not be surprised if the job He leads you to seems a bit mundane. Maybe the meeting room needs cleaning, or someone just needs a helping hand. Do what the Lord puts right in front of you, and when that is well done, He will show you what to do next.

In the previous chapter, we read about “every man and woman whose heart made them willing” (Exodus 35:29). Let’s ask the Lord for willing hearts!

“With desire I [the Lord Jesus] have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer” (Luke 22:15).

“For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

The Passover was instituted almost 1500 years before the Lord Jesus was born, but it is one of the most beautiful types of His suffering, death, and blood-shedding. The Lord Jesus valued the Passover, and what thoughts must have filled His soul as He ate that Passover, just before He went to the cross!

He was the true Passover, and it was really the last Passover that God could honor until the millennium. Once Christ, the true Passover, had been sacrificed, there was no more need to keep it. Today you and I, as Christians, do not keep the Passover; rather we remember the Lord Jesus with a loaf and a cup. However, Paul reminds those in Corinth that the Lord Jesus was the true Passover, and that He was sacrificed for us.