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.
Do you want God's respect? The Lord said, “to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.”
The means by which any individual seeks and finds pleasure exposes the condition of his heart. The Bible points to those who find pleasure in rioting, while others in backbiting or carnality, and yet others in selfish indulgences. At first, the individual tries to hide his carnal pleasures. As these things become more amusing to the carnal Christian, he begins to do them in the open, or as the scripture says, “in the day time.” All these things point to a cold heart toward the ways of God and a warming toward the things of the world. Yet, the people of God should find pleasure in spiritual things such as Bible reading, talking with the Lord, singing His praises, fellowshipping with like-minded believers, and witnessing to others of God’s goodness.
Sobriety helps the believer “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” In other words, it keeps him grounded rather than haughty. Pride is one of the greatest destructive forces in the world. Pride led to the fall of Satan and will likewise destroy the believer’s walk with the Lord along with his testimony before others. Sobriety is a companion to gravity (1 Timothy 3:11; Titus 2:2) and causes a believer to perceive himself as he really is. The Devil fell when he began to think more highly of himself (Isaiah 14:12-14). In his heart, he thought to exalt his throne and be like the most High. If the believer is not sober, he too can begin to think thoughts of pride. Just as it was with Satan, this pride will be his downfall.
The Devil despises any praise offered toward God. Men who sacrifice to God demonstrate their valuation of Him. For this reason, the Devil longs to eliminate godly sacrifices. Daniel 9:27 references a future time known as Daniel’s seventieth week when the Devil will cause the reinstituted Jewish animal sacrifices to cease. In the present age, God has clearly shown that He has no desire for man to sacrifice animals. Instead, believers offer spiritual sacrifices to God thus demonstrating their praise and declaring their love for God. Just as the Devil will one day seek to end the physical sacrifices given to the Lord by the Jewish people, he presently works hard to keep New Testament believers from offering the spiritual sacrifices of praise to God.
As it is with all sin, rebellion originates within the heart. Long before it manifests itself in the individual’s actions, it finds life by taking root within his heart. The Lord described a rebellious generation by saying that they were “a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.” A man with a wicked heart and the wrong spirit cannot enjoy sweet fellowship with the Lord. As rebellion takes root in his heart, the rebellion pushes out the desires for prayer and for God’s word. Humility is crowded out because of pride and self-will to the extent that a man justifies, perhaps even with scripture, his rebellious spirit. His once soft heart becomes hardened because of the deceitfulness of sin.
A good wife and mother will exemplify a type of selflessness like no one else upon the earth. Proverbs offers a wonderful examination into her life and ways. Her life is one of sacrifice, often putting the needs and wants of her household ahead of her own. She labours to take care of her family (Proverbs 31:16-19). She looks well to the ways of her household while enjoying little to no idle time (Proverbs 31:27). Yet at day’s end, she rises up to give meat to her household (Proverbs 31:15). All the while, she can open her mouth with wisdom with the law of kindness in her tongue (Proverbs 31:26). The Bible points to her only reward as the praise of her husband and children (Proverbs 31:28). This reward may seem insignificant to the world, but to her the love of her family is both sufficient and worth the effort.
During the Lord’s earthly ministry, His most malicious enemies were not common men or even the Roman government. His greatest enemies were the religious leaders charged with maintaining the spiritual purity of the people of God. How could those most religious create discord with the very One who gave them the dictates for the Jewish religion they claimed to defend? The answer is simple. It was envy! According to John 11:48, the religious leadership of Israel determined that they could not allow Jesus to continue teaching, preaching, and ministering to others. These leaders realized that all men would believe on Him causing the Romans to demote them. They would not allow this to happen. How far would they go to keep their place and nation? The Bible reveals that they would even cause the crucifixion of the innocent Son of God.
The Bible clearly states that all comfort comes either directly or indirectly from the Lord. The Bible says that He is “the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Any true and lasting comfort man receives originates with and through the Lord (James 1:17), and the comfort given by God can comfort each of us in any and all tribulation (2 Corinthians 1:4). Unfortunately, man seems to think that every problem he faces requires a different area of study with various solutions. Yet, the Bible contradicts this line of thinking by stating that every tribulation has only one source of comfort. It is important to note that the comfort received by one person can be passed on to help others regardless of the trouble faced. That is the power of God’s comfort!
Singing has become more of a performance than worship because most churches have lost any concept of biblical singing. Singing was not intended to be something performed by the few to be witnessed by the multitudes. All of God’s people ought to sing, but how shall we sing? According to 1 Chronicles 13:8, God’s people should worship the Lord in song “with all their might.” In agreement with that passage, the Bible suggests that God’s people should be singing aloud (Nehemiah 12:42; Psalm 51:14). This is further confirmed when the Bible likens singing to a breaking forth (Isaiah 14:7). This breaking forth should come from an overflowing heart (Ephesians 5:19).
