1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
[23] “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24] He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
The first thing to notice is that this is a blessing: it is a biblically inspired hope for the reader to experience a blessing from the Lord. You can often spot them by the presence of ‘may’ at the beginning of the blessing.
Paul is wishing for the Thessalonians to experience a specific blessing based on the direct work of God: “may the God of preach himself.” Paul wants God to act and he wants us to know that this act is something God desires to do. Listen, Thessalonians, I want you to experience the undeserved power of God and I want to let you know that this is one of the ways God desires to give you this favor/power. He will act on your behalf and you will experience it.
Well, what is it that God wants to use his undeserved power to accomplish in this case for us: “to sanctify us completely.”
If you examine just the sheer number of times Paul mentions sanctification or its effects you will find that Paul is much more often concerned with positional sanctification than progressive.
Positional sanctification is the fact that once we are in Christ we are considered holy, saints, like Jesus. Paul looks forward into our future knowing that because God is faithful to his promises (in this case the promise is being made holy one day) because he is faithful to his promises we can already live knowing that it is a done deal. Every time you see Paul calling this or that Christian ‘saint’ you know he has in mind is positional sanctification: the process is done.
Progressive sanctification however is the one we are more familiar with. It is the very real process believers must walk in to become more and more like Jesus. It is the putting off of sin and putting on of Jesus. It is the forsaking sin and embracing Jesus. [BTW: we are not yet ‘made holy’ as some teach, we are not yet ‘glorified’ and we will always be those who had sinned and were redeemed by the Savior!] Every time you see Paul calling saints to forsake sin you know he has progressive sanctification in mind.
And here Paul communicates that the God of peace himself sanctifies us completely. And so we don’t miss the point he piles it on: “may your whole spirit and soul and body:” every part of you, completely!
But what does Paul expect God to do for every part of us? May every part of us “be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Yes, this life is a painful de-dross-ing; it is a frustrating purification. And, on that day, when Jesus returns, it will be complete.
You are struggling now; you are suffering now; yes, it is real and it hurts: it—is—worth—it!
Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
You can have hope in your pain because the God of Peace Himself will see to it that all your pain has the right effect: to make you more like Jesus!
“He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
Trust him through it!
Praise Jesus!!!
Don’t Believe Everything You Think!
2 Corinthians 10:5
[5] “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”
The context of this verse is that the Corinthians had some people who were attacking Paul’s apostleship and influence at the church of Corinth. There needed to be some church discipline and the Corinthians needed to do this themselves. So Paul offered some guidance.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. [4] For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. [5] We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”
We do not fight with fists and clubs and knives and guns (except under specific circumstances which are not being addressed here). We destroy arguments. We destroy ‘lofty opinions’ raised against the knowledge of God.
There are presuppositions, mental attitudes that prevent people from knowing God. In todays culture they are as thick as oil. It is the duty of Christians to be so immersed in Gods Word that our presuppositions (the things we hold to be true that underlie and found our ability to process facts). Having such a strong grasp of the Truth will prevent us from believing the many lies of our culture from the ‘right’ or the ‘left’.
And so, what that means, among many other things, is that we do not believe everything we think. Just because you can say (or write) something doesn’t make it true. Instead, we compare our thoughts and those of others captive, we compare it to what we know of the Bible. We so believe and therefore act that anyone around us will know that we are biblical (as opposed to for example: Christian Nationalist or flat earth or whatever other pseudo-intellectual garbage floating around on the virtual ether).
Because (well, because we are given Paul’s command and example here), even if some of the other ideas floating around are ‘correct’ it will benefit us far greater to be right with Scripture and therefore God than being ‘right’ with whatever is the soup du jour online today.
Take whatever you are tempted to be sidetracked with and compare it to the truth of Jesus. This includes the above but also just plain sinful thoughts about yourself, your circumstances, your ‘rights’, and see how they stack up against whatever it is that God says about himself, you, and the world.
Paul is not specific (though the context is clear—the arguments are aimed against the truth of Scripture esp. re the functioning of the church and the gospel). Paul is not specific because our thoughts can wonder in many directions that are not helpful (I just gave two easy types of examples: many others could be given). The point is: captivate your mind with Jesus and the things of this world will grow strangely dim…
Praise Jesus!!!
Don’t Trust Your Heart!
Jeremiah 17:9-10
[9] “The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
[10] “I the LORD search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”
First things first: what is the heart?
Human beings are created in the image of God: male and female. Without defending my statement here, analyzing Genesis 1-2 to see how the context of the original statement of this truth describes the image of God (Gen 1:26-27), one way of seeing what this image is to say that humans are fundamentally Creative; made for Community; make real, voluntary, and eternally significant Choices; and wear a Crown.
We are also at the same time dualistic and wholistic beings. In other words we have a spirit and a physical body. Both are essential to us though also able to be separated at death (until the Resurrection-when that unnatural state will be forever rectified).
Now, the Bible describes the human spirit as having different capacities: the heart, the mind, and the will. Again, I am unable to defend my assertions here: please allow it suffice that I note I am not making any novel statements here and that biblical Christians of many flavors will essentially agree with what I am saying here. The heart is the seat of the affections: it is ‘where’ we love and hate. It is that ‘part’ of us where we value as good or bad; approve or disapprove. The mind is that which holds before the heart that which is to be loved or hated. And the will is where the choice is made to do or value whatever it is our heart loves/hates.
And it is the seat of our affections, where we have our values from which our attitudes and actions flow, that is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Your ‘valu-er’, the part of you that assigns value to that which is around you is deceitful and sick. And to the extent that it is not redeemed it may be anywhere on the spectrum of fully demonized to well-ordered and godly. But your heart is above all not to be ‘followed’ blindly(!) but to be kept/guarded (Prov 4:23-27) and disciplined (Prov 22:15).
You will find with little reflection that you can see the lies that come forth from your heart and defile you. You value whatever filth (gossip, bitterness, porn, covetousness, comfort, etc.) and love it for whatever ‘feeling’ it gives you. But (for the believer!), when you come to your senses again you note how awful and what a lie it was that lead you to embrace that sin (James 1:12-15).
But the Lord sits above us and tests us. He looks at our hearts and minds and judges based on what he sees. And if he does not see Jesus, our situation is quite desperate indeed. He is not to be trifled with (Heb 12:25-29)!
Run to Jesus! Seek Jesus! Repent and trust Jesus! Continually! Forcefully! Violently (Matt 11:12)! Violently fight that deceitful and sick heart to allow God’s Word to dwell in you richly so that by God’s grace, by the working of his Spirit you will bathe yourself in Truth. Over and over again. Reject all lies ever where and see Truth. In this way you will live until you cross the Jordan and into the Promised Land!
Oh come quickly, Lord Jesus!!!
Praise Jesus!!!
All Sufficiency?!?
2 Corinthians 9:8
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
One of the struggles of my heart is the constant feeling of insufficiency. On the one hand, this is exactly correct: I am not sufficient for the challenges of this life and neither are you. As Christian we must guard against any feeling that ‘we got this’ when it is so clear that we do not! On the other hand: we must also guard against a fear of stepping into the fray around us and be willing to risk whatever it is we fear to lose in order to win souls and make disciple making disciples!
So let’s break down this passage so that we can see Paul’s logic and how we must think about our work in this world:
“And God…”
First and foremost: God is the subject of this sentence. He is the Actor. He is in charge: so let him be. As you do anything and everything, keep your eye on Jesus. Psalm 123:2 calls us to pay attention to what God is doing in your life and the lives of your near ones. This isn’t some mystical mumbo jumbo: it means you are staying close to God in his Word and prayer and doing the next right thing. And it means you are moving in what you know of his revealed will.
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you”
It is crucial that we know that grace is Gods undeserved power to accomplish his purposes in/through/for us and our near ones. When we do we will recognize that whatever it is that God calls us to (three months of unemployment for example; a body that isn’t working right for example) he will empower us to glorify him. We don’t need to be afraid of insufficiency: he will grace us with the power we need to glorify him! That is all he has promised to do.
“so that having all sufficiency”
Whose sufficiency? His. Amen.
“in all things”
All things. Yes. Keep reading, Paul qualifies appropriately.
“at all times”
All times. Yes. See immediately above (then below!).
“you may abound”
Not just some of the time; he wants you to make it noticeable to all near you that you belong to him!
“in every good work.”
Every good work means the work you do (by his grace! See above)! Every good work means what you accomplish for his kingdom, not your own!
And, it is helpful to get the context of the verse or we can make it say whatever we want it to say:
The Context:
2 Corinthians 9:6-9 “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. [7] Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. [8] And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. [9] As it is written,
“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”
Sowing in this case relates to monies the Corinthians said they would give to the poor Christians in Israel. You can be sure that whatever you sow: time, talent, treasure you will reap.
So do not fear. You may not have extra cash. Don’t fret, God knows and he expects you to give according to your ability (2 Cor 8:11-12) not what you don’t have! So, give encouragement to the discouraged. Give prayers for those suffering. Give time to those who are short on it. You are sufficient to do this because God made you sufficient by his grace for his work.
This is how you will…
Praise Jesus!!!
Live free from loving Money
Hebrews 13:5-6 “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” [6] So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
Love of money is one of the most pervasive roots of sin there are (money, pleasure, and power are THE big 3)!
The love of money is the trust in or dependence on money (any/every idol, really) to provide protection, provision, and/or purpose). When you look at someone or something (other than the biblical God) to be your foundation and hope for the 3 Ps then you are looking to a false hope, worshiping and idol, ‘loving’ money, pleasure, or power (or whatever flavor of idol you choose!). To love something is to do whatever it takes to get into a right relationship with or earn the favor of that thing.
Of course, ‘love’ properly defined is ‘the joyful willingness to sacrifice for the good of the beloved’ which is why ‘idolatrous love’ is so wrong because it turns love upside down.
So the preacher of Hebrews gives us (5) strategies to defeating this idolatrous ‘love’ of money:
1. “Be content with what you have”
Money is such a popular idol because it promises to buy anything and everything. But the trick to happiness has never been to have the best of everything. The trick to happiness is to make the best of everything. This is a heart capacity, not a wallet capacity. Contentment is born of thanksgiving for what we have. This is a choice. Certainly, we have needs. And God promises all we need to glorify him; but he doesn’t promise more than that.
2. “For he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
The rock hard basis for every promise in Scripture is: “I will be with them as their God and they shall be my people.” This promise is found worded like this or similarly from Genesis to Revelation!). His Presence makes every hardship a blessing, and every joy a breath of Heaven.
And because this promise is true we don’t need to amass a fortune or prep for every contingency. We need to love Jesus. Get close to Jesus.
“So we can confidently say,”
I use this as a preface for the following quotes because the Bible does not tire of calling us to remember. Because we so easily forget.
3. “The Lord is my helper”
God is at your side (2 Peter 1:1-9!). And he will give you what you need (Isaiah 41:10).
4. “I will not fear”
Fear is a choice just like love is. In fact, the two are opposites because love is willing to sacrifice and ‘lose’ so that the beloved ‘wins’. So, can you ‘fear’ something that ultimately benefits you? I suppose so. But that’s not the way it is supposed to be. Trust Jesus!
5. “What can man do to me?”
Kill you. Cause you great pain. Neglect you. Shame you.
All kinds of things: man’s evil knows (almost) no bounds.
And, God’s love is greater by far (seriously, take 5 minutes and seriously consider Romans 8).
I’ll wait.
And the point is that:
Romans 8:37 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
What man and Satan mean to use to destroy us, God means to mold us into the son/daughter he created us to be. We are more than conquerors because not only do we overcome the trap and are not ultimately harmed, but God turns it on its head and uses that evil for our good (remember, God loves us!).
So, go about your day today rejoicing that you don’t need to be a slave to anything. Ever. Again.
Praise Jesus!!!
Peace in Affliction
Isaiah 26:3-4
“You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
[4] Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.”
What do we do with traumatic memories?
What do we do when our own sin or the sin of others threatens to destroy us?
What do we do when our circumstances seem over whelming?
Well, we do what we are always supposed to do: trust and obey. We repent of our sins, and we turn to the promises of God for us in Jesus. We humble ourselves so that we know that God will come through where we cannot. We keep prudence; we do not forsake godly counsel; we pay attention to do that which is the next right thing: and we trust that God will keep his promises.
So, here God promises to keep his children in perfect peace. To keep us with hearts that aren’t fretful over all that can go wrong. [Have you ever noticed that when you start to focus on what can go wrong that there is a never-ending list?!?!]
But to whom is this promise directed? To those whose minds are ‘stayed’ on God. On those who keep their eyes fixed on Jesus. To those who seek the things above. To those who know and trust what God has promised us. This takes discipline. And like all discipline, you get better at it the longer you work at it.
Grace is not opposed to effort;
grace is opposed to earning.
You are also commanded to trust in the Lord forever. Why? Well because he commanded us to: that’s enough. And God graciously promises us in the command that he is an everlasting rock. He is a foundation that will not slide out under us. We can trust him. Trust him.
Praise Jesus!!!
Godly Grief
2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (ESV)
Ever get that sick feeling in your stomach? What did I do? What will happen? What will people think if I get caught?
You’ve experienced worldly grief.
You lay in bed with zero chance of sleep. You play over and over in your head what happened. You start changing what happened, spinning it for yourself, preparing for the inevitable conversations that must take place and give yourself the best look possible.
It wasnt really my fault you see? I really had no choice.
Now, whether you ‘get caught’ or not, can you see from where you sit right now that this only brought you death? Can you see while your eyes are open how this thinking leads straight to death: condemnation, shame, fear, loathing. And Hebrews 10:26-31!!!
Godly grief on the other hand leads straight to repentance. “‘I’ sinned. I must go to Jesus.” I sinned and I must seek reconciliation: reconciliation with God and with those whom I have offended.
Repentance is the acknowledgment that ‘I’ sinned. Followed by a genuine desire to make it right. Accompanied by a desire to forsake that sin: never do it again. This path, and no other leads to salvation.
Salvation means of course dying and going to Heaven. And, crucially, it means deliverance from all the self-loathing and excuse making that is death from worldly grief.
Christian: when you find yourself in the throws of worldly grief, stop it! Repent. Confess that sin to God then to some mature brother or sister who has the spiritual authority to bless and guide you. (See what I wrote recently on James 5:16!)
Your flesh will tell you: You can’t confess! You’ll be shamed You’ll die!
No you wont. In fact, God promises (James 5:16) that you will be healed. Trust the process even though great pain may come of it! You cant confess trust the process because the Promise from the Person will not fail!
Praise Jesus!!!
Confess your sins
James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (ESV)
Context is king when determining meaning, we must discover what the ‘therefore’ is there for:
James 5:13-18 “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. [14] Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. [15] And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. [16] Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. [17] Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. [18] Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” (ESV)
In verses 13-14 we find that whatever your circumstance turn your mind to God. He is the author of what is going on, look to him for peace, comfort, praise, and above all, thanksgiving.
This includes your sins. “For there is no one who does not sin” (1 Kings 8:46 ESV). Solomon wisely here talks about the elephant in the room straight to God while dedicating his Temple. Forgive! Yes! Amen.
Go before your elders and confess that you may be healed. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
It is the confessing of sin (naming it, noting that it is ‘my fault’, and repenting of that sin by turning away from it and towards God).
Then, pray. The people to whom you confess must be spiritually mature enough and in a position of authority/responsibility to help you in overcoming that sin. (Confess sin only as wide as the offense: you dont need to broadcast it to everyone, greater offense will then be made and perhaps more damage. Again, wise, loving, godly counsel will help here). The prayer is to show unity with God in hating that sin and in a sincere desire to sacrifice to help the sinner heal (cf. Galatians 6:1-5!!!).
Then James does something strange! Prayer to God in such circumstances: loving, godly, restoring, and serious people who love you, Jesus and hate sin is powerful. Ok. Got that. What’s Elijah got to do with this.
Elijah was a human just like you. Wait! The dude who fought 400 prophets of Baal. The dude who asked it not to rain and it didnt! He’s just like me. Yep. He has the same nature as you. And God worked through him.
That of course is the key: he was a man who had turned his life over to YHWH and he blessed Elijah. Your prayers are powerful as you bring your life more and more into line with his by the power of God the Spirit.
Therefore, keep turning to Jesus. Continually find godly people to both confess to and pray for. Healing will come. This is a choice you must make and it is the power of God that must he at work in you to make it happen:
Philippians 2:12-13
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, [13] for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (ESV)
Hope in Grace!
What does ‘grace’ mean?
I began using this phrase, Hope in Grace, back in the AOL days [mid 1990’s]. Since March of 2020 I have been posting various devotionals on Facebook. I want to use this page give new devos as to what God the Spirit is teaching me now and to edit the older posts and group them variously so that they can be searched more completely. I pray and hope that the grace of God will empower them to be useful to any.
And, I want my ‘first post’ to be a defense of why this simple phrase, hope in grace, is so important to me. It gets to the heart of how I have defined grace (since the AOL days).
Grace is God’s undeserved power to accomplish His purposes.
Allow me to explain:
After becoming a Christian I was told that ‘grace means unmerited favor’. Now, this is true as far as it goes but is not enough and is sufficiently vague that I’ve heard many people have serious misconceptions based on this ‘definition’.
- “Grace means God loves me no matter what.” Well, yes, as a child of God He loves you exactly as you are (sins and all) and He loves you enough not to leave you that way [which of course takes ‘grace’].
- “Grace means He fills in the gaps where I fail.” Again, yes, and He gives grace so that you can grow in holiness.
- “Grace means I can let go and let God.” I’m not even going to say ‘yes’ to this one because the very small amount of truth it contains is misguided and misses the much larger truth: Grace is opposed to earning; not effort.
I have never been satisfied with ‘grace means unmerited favor’ (as noted above, it is true as far as it goes) also because grace is usually seen as the active movement of God in accomplishing his purposes. Let’s look at the first verse most think of when they think of grace:
Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
When considering salvation, grace is the means and faith is the instrument. Grace is the living water by which we are saved, our faith is the hose God uses to bring this salvation to us. [I define faith as trusting the promises of God for you in Christ—a future devo will be devoted to defending that definition]
God saved us: He raised our spiritually dead corpse to life; He switched out our stony heart for one of flesh; He wiped away every stain of sin. All of this involved power only God can wield and quite apart from any merit on our behalf.
Now, the very next verse applies this action of grace on our behalf. Because we are saved, and without any merit of our own [grace is unmerited!], we now can live out this salvation with good works:
Ephesians 2:10 ESV “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Let’s look at another commonly examined verse on grace. The second most common verse (at least I think of) when grace comes to mind is:
Titus 2:11-12 ESV “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age”
Here the power aspect of grace is front and center. Grace brings salvation; grace trains us; grace empowers us to live as God intends for us to live.
Grace is the power of God to accomplish His purposes in and through and for us and our near ones.
Grace is the movement of God so that we become the men and women He created us to be in the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ.
Praise Jesus!
A sampling of other verses in this regard:
2 Corinthians 9:8 God’s grace abounds us to make us sufficient in His purposes.
2 Corinthians 12:9 God’s grace empowers us when we are week (probably my 3rd most thought of verse in regards to ‘grace’).
2 Timothy 2:1 God’s grace strengthens us for use in His Body.
Hebrews 4:16 God’s grace helps un in our times of need.
Hebrews 13:9 God’s grace strengthens our hearts as food does our bodies
James 4:6 God’s grace causes us to submit to God and resist pride
1 Peter 5:10 God’s grace restores, confirms, strengthens, and establishes the believer.
Grace is God’s undeserved power to accomplish His purposes.
My prayer is that this collection of devotionals, often hindered because of the intended brevity of them from discussing them more fully, will be a means of God’s grace abounding to you!
2 Corinthians 9:8 ESV “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
Praise Jesus!!!
Hope in Grace 