It is a misconception that truth and love conflict and thus one always overshadows the other. Truly, God calls us to live by and demonstrate both.
The world suggests that the truth puts men in bondage, but a man enlightened by the truth knows nothing could be further from the truth.
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.
In every way, God is greater than man. A man would have to be a thief to claim equality with God. Yet, Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
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.
For many ages now, the people of God have been asking, “how long?” This question suggests a longing, a longing for the Lord to set things straight.
It has been said that an individual is not truly ready to live for the Lord until he is willing and ready to die for Him. As a believer, one should not fear death.
In a very basic sense, the word hope means desire, yet the true meaning is not nearly as weak as the world presents. The word hope in scripture is associated with the word expectation (Proverbs 10:28; Proverbs 11:7). Hope is not simply some type of wishful thinking; it is something that someone trusts in dearly (Jeremiah 17:7). This type of hope is not something visible to the naked eye of man (Romans 8:24), but it is believed and held firm by faith (Hebrews 11:1). All men live their lives based upon hope; however, not all hope is the same. One man’s hope might be that there is no life after death. Another might place his hope solely upon the payment for sin provided by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Scriptural traditions are worthy of the believer’s allegiance and should move him to break fellowship with those who refuse to adhere to those biblical traditions. The apostle Paul spoke of traditions that the believers in Thessalonica had received from him. These traditions were good and were to be maintained by the believers (2 Thessalonians 2:15). In fact, these traditions were so important that the people of God were to “withdraw” themselves from those (including “every brother”) who walked disorderly (in disobedience to the traditions). No doubt, these traditions were the very ones which Paul made known in his epistles.
The average believer would never consider the word joy to be an appropriate descriptive term for temptations. There is a great explanation for this as the average believer experiences little to no victory when tempted. Temptations put a man’s faith on trial. When his faith stands the test, he learns patience. Therefore, he sees temptation as a means by which he can grow in the Lord and add virtues such as patience. It is not that he finds joy in the temptation itself, but that God can and will use that temptation to make him "perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (James 1:4). Believers who fight through and obtain victory find joy in knowing that their faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6).
