Today’s Scrip-Bit   5 June 2023   1 Corinthians 6:20.

05 Jun 2023 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1 Corinthians 6:20.       For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

And it’s a brand new work week friends, five days long, no holiday to start it off. Sometimes I think we get spoiled when Monday is a holiday yes. But as they say, all work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy. (smile) So it is good that every so often we have a four-day work week, although some of us cannot handle it. We tend to overdo the celebrations and end up of no use to ourselves or anybody else for the rest of the week. That just shows our lack of discipline, of self-control. Instead, as a believer in Christ Jesus, who has given us a spirit of power, LOVE, and of a sound or disciplined mind, (2 Tim. 1:7) we ought to have better control of our baser instincts and desires. 

And thus, these words of greeting from Peter ought to help us lift our heads high and square our shoulders as we go out to labour this Monday morning, proud to be servants of the Most High God Jehovah. He writes to his Christian brethren, that includes us: ‘Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through (in) the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.’ (2 Pet. 1:2) Please, let’s keep that thought uppermost in our minds today and all during the week, so that we can remember who and whose we are and the work we need to promote His kingdom. 

As Bruh Paul informs us: ‘What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.’ (1 Cor. 6:19-20) Yes friends, we were bought by God, with a very high price, so that we could experience salvation. 

And Peter explains: ‘Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible (perishable) things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation (aimless conduct) received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest (revealed) in these last times for you. Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.’ (1 Pet. 1:18-21) 

Oh my people, all that we are and have comes from God, through the amazing and obedient work of Christ. That’s why we ought to glorify Him with all that we have. We were indeed bought by the precious, sinless blood of Christ; the blood of a pure, sacrificial lamb.. It was the ONLY thing that could pay the price for our abominable sins. One commentary tells us: ‘The blood of Christ was shed so that we might have a relationship with God. That relationship is only made possible because Jesus was willing to die for us on the cross.’ 

Therefore, as this other commentary strongly advises: ‘We must choose to act as those who are God’s own people, rejecting the evil desires that drove our actions before we knew better. Our choices matter. Our God placed a high value on our lives, paying for them with the blood of Christ. Since God has made us able, we must now strive to earnestly give LOVE to each other.’ And that hits the proverbial nail right on its proverbial head my faithful brethren! 

Having been bought by the blood of Christ on Calvary’s rugged hill on God’s behalf, our actions, desires, our very lives, must now be filled with the things that demonstrate, that resonate the characteristics and attributes of our heavenly Father. Otherwise, Christ would have died in vain. And I’m not so sure that that’s not the case, because so many of us are simply lacklustre Christians, lacking in enthusiasm and true faith, scared of what man can do to us, instead of what the Father can do to us. 

Remember what Jesus said, that man can only kill our body, but the Father can kill both body and soul in hellfire. (Matt. 10:28) So I put it to you, if you have to be scared of one of them, it’s the Father you should be scared of, because He can do much more damage than man can. But the good news is that although the Father’s wrath can be great, we don’t need to fear it, if we react to our world with LOVE, His main attribute. The same attribute that He reacted with to our sinful behaviour, and instead of destroying us, as He had every right to do, He used LOVE and saved us. What a wonderful God we serve my fellow believers! 

Unfortunately though, many of us don’t seem to think so, otherwise our godliness would be much greater than it is. Anyhow, let’s hope that what we’ve said above, lights a spark in our souls, that grows into a big, burning fire, and we get serious about living for Christ. Now, let’s go to the throne of grace, through our Monday Morning Battle Hymn, seeking help in these times of desperate need. 

Altogether now: ‘Our Father, who art in heaven, we, Your humble servants, praise Your Holy Name and thank You this Monday morning for life and strong faith in Christ, despite the mass confusion in our world. We desperately need Your divine help, for You are the ONLY ONE with the power to solve our many problems. 

Heavenly Father, we admit that we have all sinned and seriously disobeyed Your Word, but we know that You are a merciful, forgiving and gracious God, who has faithfully promised to hear and answer our prayers when we humble ourselves, pray, and sincerely seek Your face. That’s why we come to You now, with sincere repentance in our hearts, pleading with You to give us wise guidance and direction to alleviate our problems.  

And Father, we pray that you will ease the pain of the many who are suffering from negative situations. Please show them Your awesome grace and mercy, and keep Your promise that You’ll hear our prayer, forgive us, and heal our land if we turn from our evil ways. Show this evil world that You are indeed Jehovah Rapha; the God who heals! We pray this in the holy and blessed name of Your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen! And again, we say: Amen!’ 

And as always, if we want to receive divine help, then we’ve got to clean up our act. Much LOVE!

…it’s time for mankind to wake up…and realize that we need God …much much more than He needs us… 

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Today’s Scrip-Bit 22 February 2014 2 Timothy 3:16

22 Feb 2014 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2 Timothy 3:16.    All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
 
Oh Friends, it’s one of those days! The ole fella’s struggling this Saturday morning, for the old brain is refusing to function properly. (smile) I had a hard time finding a Bit which I could handle, and now that I’ve found one, I don’t know what to ramble on about in my preamble. Steups!
 
Now isn’t that a lovely position for a supposed writer to find him or herself in? No words of wisdom are tumbling from my pen this morning, as they are won’t to do. There’s no inspiration from above.
 
But Friends, I’m assured that inspiration will soon be forthcoming, and with the Lord’s most generous help, we’ll soon turn this negative situation around. Then I’ll have too much to write about, and you’ll be going on about my long windedness. (smile)
 
But what’s there to talk about anyway eh? All the topics are so depressing. Like the weather? I’m tired of talking about it and its recent unpredictable behaviour. So what about politics, you ask? Chuh! Not that either! Too much incompetence, greed, corruption and deceit.
 
And we definitely don’t want to talk about the numerous wars and rumours of war that are being currently fought on this small planet. It surely seems like warmongering is our main, our favourite pastime, because that’s what we’ve been doing from the beginning of time.
 
So then, how about economics? No, that’s too heartbreaking! Too many people are out of work, too many homeless, too much sickness and poverty and inequality of wealth.
 
Well then the only thing left is religion… Oh no! Not that at all! Religion is what’s causing most of the wars, strife, anger and resentment littering our world. Then what should we talk about?
 
Oh my people, there exists only one completely positive and perfect topic of conversation; and that’s God!
 
All the other stuff we talk about don’t really uplift us, because they are all getting worse. Only God – not religion, which are man made rules and observances – stands the perfect test of time. And we’re talking here about the ONE and ONLY TRUE, LIVING GOD; He of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! 
 
I truly believe that if we talked more about Him, and less of the petty, often useless, disposable and inconsequential things of the world, we would all be much better off. But unfortunately, talking about Jehovah God is becoming rather unfashionable in these modern times.
 
In fact, in many places, even mentioning His Holy Name can be downright dangerous, and a serious threat to one’s health and life. So having an enlightened discussion on Him, and consequently His Word can be severely frowned upon, even in supposed Christian countries.
 
That brings us to our rather provocative Bit, where Bruh Paul is encouraging the young pastor, Timothy, to stand steadfast in the scriptures, because: ‘All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.’
 
Oh my fellow believers, there have been arguments over what is supposedly God’s Word since the beginning of time, and there will be disagreements over it until the Day of Judgement when the unbelievers finally discover its truth, though sadly too late to take advantage of it.
 
And in this modern, technological world, where we place so much emphasis on science, it’s easy to dispute the words of our Bit. And before I began writing the Bit, I was somewhat sceptical too, and could have been drawn into negative arguments about it.
 
Hn! But no longer my brethren, for over the years I’ve written the Bit, I’ve had so many inspirational moments, that I can now clearly see how those early writers of the Word could have been divinely inspired.
 
And why did God do that? ‘That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished (equipped) unto all good works.’ (2 Tim.3:17)
 
Yes Friends, our wonderful God, in His great wisdom, having known of and seeing our disobedient qualities from the very beginning, decided to give us a manual, a guide book for our travel along our earthly paths.
 
Unfortunately though, not enough of us spend sufficient time poring over those divinely inspired words, otherwise we wouldn’t be living in such an evil, negative, God-forsaken world. If we were to take up the Good Book and ponder it even half as much as we do the vacation brochures and weekly sales flyers, we’d all be much more contented.
 
But that’s how the evil powers of the world have set up their domain; with negative and wicked plans to keep us wallowing in anxiety, fear, uncertainty, and thus subjugation to their oppressive regimes!
 
But my fellow believers, if we stick to the divinely inspired Word of our Creator, we can beat Beelzebub and his evil cohorts at their own game. However, as with all things in this world, it first takes belief, and strong belief too, to go out on a limb and declare that the Good Book is truly inspiration from the holy, immortal God, given to lowly, mortal men for their distribution to His most blessed and LOVED creation. 
 
And we’ll end today’s message with some words from the scholars, re Inspiration. ‘3:16. This refers to the supernatural guidance of writers of Scripture by the Spirit of God, so that what they wrote was the divine Word of God, transcribed accurately, reliably, and without error in the original manuscripts (“autographs). The word ‘inspiration’ itself pictures God breathing out His Word to men.
 
Illustration: Not everything written by an apostle or a prophet was necessarily inspired. Paul wrote at least three epistles to the Corinthians, but apparently only two were an inspired record (1 Cor.5:9). Samuel, Nathan, and Gad each wrote accounts of David’s life; only one of these prophets produced an inspired record (1 Chr.29:29).
 
Application: Since the Scriptures are given to help Christians grow in maturity, they should rely upon them for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness (right living). (First Ref. Gen.1:3; Primary Ref, 2 Tim 3:16-17; cf. 2 Pet.1:21.)’ 
 
That should hold us for today Friends. But please, let’s not forget the great importance attached to the Good Book in the lives of ALL believers! It’s our guide book to heaven! Much LOVE!
 
…if you don’t read the Lord’s guide book…you won’t know where He’s at…or how to reach Him…