The God of the Bible is a God of truth. On the other hand, the Devil is the great enemy of truth. The Bible says of him, “there is no truth in him.”
People's motives in serving Christ vary from pure to sinful. However, other men’s motives should not rob us of the joy of Jesus Christ being preached.
The right kind of sorrow is often needful and brings with it certain benefits. Yet, it is in the joy of the LORD that God's people specifically find strength.
Life is a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. Likewise, the trials of life are temporary and should be viewed in that light.
Many who understand the wickedness involved in murder fail to realize that the scripture also warns “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.”
Increasingly prevalent today, it seems more than at any other time in history, man continues to experience a sense of emptiness. Every day, people expend an enormous amount of time, money, and energy in hopes of obtaining this ever elusive goal of being happy. How can a people so desperately intent upon finding happiness find happiness so unreachable? The answer is quite simple. Happiness is not found in entertainment, money, one’s appearance, social acceptance, careers, achievements, spouse, or any other number of things where men continually search for this happiness. Instead, the Bible points out that happiness is attainable for the man “whose hope is in the LORD his God.” Hope can keep a man going when all other wells have run completely dry. Regardless of man’s circumstances, hope can put a song in a man’s heart and praise upon his lips.
Believing that one man can cause true biblical conviction upon another man serves as one of the greatest misconceptions concerning conviction. Obviously, one man can proclaim the truth to another, but only the Spirit of God can open that other man’s heart to convince him of the truth being conveyed (Acts 16:14). Even when the scriptures reveal that Apollos convinced the people that Jesus was Christ, the Bible student understands that he did so only through the help of the Holy Ghost (Acts 18:28). Apollos was merely the instrument. Thus, man is only responsible for giving the truth and doing so in a scriptural fashion. God then takes that word and makes it effectual in the hearers’ hearts.
The character of the individual in authority affects everyone under his authority. People mourn when a nation, congregation, or family unit is ruled by one who is wicked. On the other hand, those same people would rejoice under the right authority of a righteous ruler. When Pharaoh ruled over God’s people in Egypt, their lives were made bitter with hard bondage (Exodus 1:8-14). Their days were filled with sorrow and affliction (Exodus 3:7). In contrast, when Solomon ruled over the people of God in Jerusalem, there was great rejoicing (1 Kings 1:40; 1 Kings 5:7). This truth not only applies to Israel, but to every nation, church, workplace, and family.
When true worship gets blended together with amusement, it yields varying types of worldliness and idolatry. In Exodus chapter 32, the children of Israel observed a “feast to the LORD” at the same time that they “rose up to play.” As men begin to grow increasingly cold and indifferent toward the Lord and His ways, they will seek ever more imaginative ways to make spiritual worship appeal to the flesh. This is often accomplished by uniting pleasure and worship. In an effort to keep people interested in the worship of God, churches add comedic relief, drama, carnal music, and a host of other worldly amusements. In doing so, the worship of God gets corrupted and becomes nothing more than idolatry or false worship.
Faith moves a believer to speak on the Lord’s behalf. If an individual believed a building would burn to the ground, he would naturally desire to warn those in danger. Believers in like manner desire to tell the lost of the judgment to come. Those who truly believe God’s impending judgment to be real and the way of salvation to be unquestionably necessary will naturally desire for their loved ones to learn these truths before eternally too late. If a person claims to have trusted the gospel for salvation but lacks a desire to tell others, that person should examine his conversion to confirm its genuineness.
