Why the Bible is the way it is?

 

The Bible (" the Library " or "the books" from Greek) consists of 66 canonical books. These are the accepted by most of the universal Church without lasting dispute throughout history books as inspired by God. In this short article we would look at why the whole compendium is considered by the Church as the book that comes from God. The questions we would look into are:

• What were the criteria, which made these books be put together as one and exclude others?

• What does inspiration mean? Does it mean that all in it is from God or perhaps there is a human element in it too?

Also, an important question is:

• "What is the main message of the Bible?".

The Christian Bible generally comprises two sets of books: Old Testament (OT) and New Testament (NT). The OT is largely the Jewish Bible and the NT refers to the books, which the ancient Church affirmed as inspired by God and therefore beneficial in great measure to humans. The OT was generally established hundreds of years before the Church was founded by Jesus. The Jewish religious community, by the time of Jesus had a set of books, which were accepted as given by God. They divided them into three parts:

-  Torah "Teaching") - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy;

-  Neviim ("Prophets") - Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi;

- Ketuvim (“Writings”) - Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles

There is no unequivocally proven, official, representative of all Jews, debating event or council that was held to establish the canonicity of all books in the Hebrew Bible, but there is a possibility for a Council of Jabna (c90 AD) to have really occurred, where these books were confirmed as inspired by God. The books listed above were, by then, largely well into use and venerated  by the major  Jewish groups.  By comparing the qualities of these texts we can discern certain criteria, which most probably guided the Jewish sages, when resolving which book is holy (“defiling hands”) and which is not.

One very important thing is that they expected all books that are worthwhile to be written in Hebrew and only partially (if at all) in Aramaic, which had become the vernacular language of most Jews due to their sojourn in Babylon and this language's prevalence in Palestine and the region.

Another criterion was that these books had to contain certain important notions, which, together, made them distinct from all others: the participation of God in human history, the election of Israel for a special purpose (whatever it is) and the covenant between God and man.

A third characteristic of a canonical book was that a writing had to be completed by the time of Ezra (c 5 century BC), who was regarded as the last really eminent person, led by God in a special way and allowed to add to the canon of the Bible.

The last possible criterion was that they wanted to make sure that all major Jewish groups already recognise and benefit from each book by regularly utilising it in religious services.

Only 39 books stood to these requirements and the Jews accepted them as inspired by God.

With the advent of Jesus on earth the Church was established. Less than 300 years after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascendance, 27 books, which will comprise the New Testament were largely crystallising as those, which are worthy for teaching from and following. The criteria, which (in retrospect) most probably guided the collective consciousness of the Church, were:  

1. Every book had to be traced back to an apostle from the first generation, when Jesus was walking on  the earth. The apostles or their close co-workers could be trusted as authentic teachers of the words of Jesus.

2. The inspired books had to be accepted universally by the vast majority of the Church.

3. They had to bear a consistent message. There could not be a book in the NT canon, which disagrees on anything of theological value with the other books.

4. All books had to pass the “test of universal usefulness”. They had to be used in liturgy across most of the Church.

Regarding the OT, the ancient Christians readily accepted the Tanakh as God’s word because Jesus and all His first apostles did too.

We can see that all these criteria of canonicity used by Jews and Christians leave no real room for any other known to us  book  to qualify as authentically inspired by God for teaching men His will. There were numerous other books, which different, self professing, Christian groups accepted as originating from God, but none could stand to the criteria outlined above. At stake was the salvation of man. The heavy plight of the world seemed to have no end. Those who lived  more than 40-50 years were considered lucky if one could call “luck” the plagues of disease, helplessness in  older and more frail age at a  stage of life  when the burden of having numerous children would leave no time for the elderly to be cared for by their own kids. Also, it  is estimated that every third birth was ending in fatality! The wars and perennial  attacks from all sides made life even more unpredictable. The power that the violent men had over the weak was unchecked and the consequences of the corrupted with sin human heart  could be seen all over the place. Solomon would say “its better for a person to have never been born at all and never see the evil that is going on in the world” (Ecc. 4:3). Mankind needed (and still does) salvation, which can come by changing certain aspects of their very nature of thinking and value system. The inclination of humans to sin against each other and their Creator could be really solved only by Divine intervention. The Bible is a record of the most fundamental historical part of that intervention, which theologians call “the history of salvation”. Its main message is that God would not leave evil unchallenged and He wants humans to join Him in eradicating it. The separation between the perfect and holy God and the fallen humanity is bridged by God becoming a man and thus identifying with the human race forever. This guarantees that humanity would win its battle against sin, evil and their ultimate consequences: suffering and death. The Bible is unfolding a story that is “breathed out by God and is  good for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). The Word of God which is contained in the Bible is the medicine for the well known disease of weakness before evil and sin to which humans are subjected.

But what of it is inspired and how much of it is truth? The Bible says about itself that it is “breathed out” by God. Therefore it’s very origin starts with the Divine touch. Does this mean that all that is in it is truthful: scientifically, historically and theologically? We should start answering this question by saying that theologically and philosophically the Bible is absolutely true. If it says that man is corrupted by sin - that is true. If it says that man cannot rescue himself - that is true. If it says that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, lest no one perish, but has eternal life” - that is true. But also when God creates or “breathes out” something into humans, like “His image” and “His likeness” then this means He bestows the level of freedom, which is characteristic for those created after His likeness. This freedom could deviate from the standard that God set. It would not be real freedom if it could not. Therefore, man made a serious mistake by rebelling against God in Eden. Similarly, when God wants to convey His Word He is seeking people, who would speak truthfully what they heard. They do not make mistake on theological issues as they are carefully selected by God (hence the incredible theological consistency of the Bible), but it is not guaranteed that they would not err on secondary in importance questions of science and history, which do not affect in any way that matters the theological truths. God is perfect, but no human vessel is ideal. Therefore, we should expect some mistakes in the text, but never such which concern the salvation and perfection of man. Surprisingly or not surprisingly (depends on the point of view), there are very few real errors in the Bible of any non technical nature and there is not even one “mistake”, which has not been explained well enough by the Christian or Jewish apologists. Given the ancient authorship, redactions and transmissions, it is incredibly consistent and corresponding  to most of the truth that we find through the means of science or history.

So the best thing we can do is trust the Bible as the Word of God because it came through us via rigorous process of selection and also we can be confident that God would make sure that all that we need to know about Him would be preserved intact for our benefit.

Give an answer to all who ask

"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect"

1 Peter 3:15

When we think about evangelism it all starts with great reverence towards Christ in our hearts. But what is there in Him that we should revere? 

Another apostle,  Paul,  talks elsewhere about the "Spirit of Christ"  and that He was in the image of God but decided to take on Himself marred by the consequences of sin human nature in order to rejuvenate the humanity by laying the seed of faith inside the hearts. God endured contradiction against His nature of almighty and holy by allowing to become temporary subjected to what God does not usually experience. In His presence is "fullness of joy and always gladness".  He suffered as a man, but He also conquered the evil as a God. On Jesus' eternal work on our behalf depends if we would be accepted in the presence of the holy and perfect morally and in any way God. If one has Jesus as an advocate he can trust securely that Jesus would make it work out well for him. If one doesn't have Jesus as defender and Saviour then there is no chance whatsoever to fare well before the high standard of righteousness and holiness required by God.

Therefore we "revere" or from Greek "sanctify" which means "to set apart" or "give special place" to Jesus in our hearts because we don't have and cannot reasonably have any other as real and meaningful hope for this life and eternity.

Our hope is not without a reason. We must have good reasons to believe what we do else it's completely arbitrary. If those reasons work for us then chances are they may work for other people too. How do we know whom they would work for? One obvious possibility is if somebody shows interest in our faith and "asks " us about why we hold it. They could be being nudged by the Spirit of God to seek the truth and we should be able to offer it to them. This perhaps happened to many of us once: we were seeking, we asked and were given to know the truth by somebody whom God used to bless us. Therefore we shouldn't hesitate to allow God to use us to, in turn, bless others too. 

Our sharing of eternal hope should be with meekness, respect and reverence. 

Yet we need to  ask a legitimate question: "If we have faith and want to share it but we are not asked about it should we go ahead and do it anyway?". Here, often, many Christians stumble in two diametrically opposing each other blocks of prejudice.

One group are the so called "Bible thumping" believers who want to talk about their faith to anyone regardless whether this is wanted by the other side or not. The problem with this approach is that if the person opposite does not want to listen and clearly says so we go beyond the realm of respect for the person, meekness in the heart  and reverence towards Jesus if we keep on pushing our case. That's also mostly counterproductive.

On another hand we should realise that there are many people who would want to hear our reasons but may never ask us first. Then we have the responsibility to broach the topic, to draw their attention to the larger than life question of their standing before God and then if they show lack of interest we should  stop but if they ASK for more we should be able to give it to them.

We cannot assume that the initiative is always on the other side. They should display interest, but we might be used by God to awake it in them in the first place.  Scripture shows that it goes both ways. Paul was asked but also was setting up the stage himself in order to get asked about the Gospel. 

Setting the stage and being able to answer afterwards are sometime the two sides of the same evangelistic coin and we should be prepared to polish those sides well and be able to use them at any time.

One last thing is the obvious for some but controversial for others question of "Why sharing the Gospel and why conversion is God's goal?"

The second  group of  people think  that others don't need to believe the Gospel but would nonetheless get saved so talking to someone with the purpose to help them come to God is superfluous. The first half of this sentence is true but it is about people, who never had the opportunity to hear a Spirit-filled, evangelistic, loving  message of hope and salvation, and the Holy Spirit never put them before the clear choice for or against   Jesus. Then and only then  in their ignorance they will be judged by the conscience they have and how much they obeyed the measure of light already revealed to them.

Yet this does not mean that we shouldn't share the Gospel at all and not aim to show the "advantages" of the One who called us from " the darkness into His marvellous light". Throughout the New Testament we see the witness of Jesus and His apostles that all people everywhere need to hear the Good news that they can have fulfilled life with and through God in it and all have to repent and turn to Jesus if they are to be saved from the eternal separation from their Creator - the Author of all good things. That is the principle and the cases of ignorance and conscience-based judgement do not rule out the need of Jesus (they still get saved by Him in a misterious way) and more relevantly to our topic: these cases do not rule out the need to preach the Gospel to all who have interest to hear the Word of Life. 

God wants to have ever more people who do know Him now and live lives of glorious worship towards Him and full victory over evil now.

Those who get saved through Jesus in a mysterious way without ever hearing the Good News about Him are people who, should they had the choice, they would have wanted to know and follow the truth. The prophets in OT were looking eagerly to see the glory of God in Jesus and couldn't see it in its fullness in their time but they desired to. 

The Macedonian who asked Paul in the dream to come and help them could have been in theory saved by following his conscience but he was so exacerbated (representing all who do or would love God but never heard of Him) that he fervently asked for help. If we love those people we would tell everyone who asks or would want to ask. 

Also, there is a clear warning that some people would be judged because they were told to say the truth to the perishing sinner but they didn't. Ezekiel was warned about this. When a man is violating his conscience as a constant practice then there is nothing left that could be done for him to save his soul but the Word of life preached and proclaimed in the hope that he would be turned and would want to hear it. The salvation through conscience without knowledge  is a mystery and not the wide, straight path. Being a mystery it should be treated with caution. It could be regarded as last resort, a safety net for those deemed sincere by God but in no way this risk (it is a risk) should be taken to its extremity. The mysterious is best dealt with if acted upon as per the revealed Word. As we said,  often people do not heed to their conscience and If we do not tell them and let the Word wrestle them out from the paws of the evil they may end up an eternal failure. And this could be our fault. Even if this is only theoretically possible, even if this is, say, only about being a spiritual failure in this  life, we should be careful to obey God and see this world saved from its own inequity. 

Dear God,

Thank you for saving the world and willing to use us, former sinners and unworthy before your high standard of holiness and purity, to help others know you better and thus be blessed. 

Please, give us ability to share our faith effectively with love and reverence, and cleverness to be able to set the stage upon which the flame and fire  of desire to know more about God would be stoked up.

Thank You for being with us.

In Jesus' Name!

Amen 

Nothing they set out to do would be impossible to them

"And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they would set out to do will now be impossible for them."

Genesis 11:6

Since the dawn of human civilisation mankind strives to "get a name for ourselves"(v 4). The early history of humanity is largely written about those, who managed to leave a memorable mark on the landscape  of human experience. Mostly, they were people, who ably wielded power over others and thus by somehow rallying and uniting them imprinted some of their own values on the conscience of the world. Sargon of Akkad, Chufu of Memphis, Nebuccanezzer of Babylon, Alexander the Macedonian... they were all people, who succeeded in getting together vast numbers of people under their banner. That's why history remembers them. God, though disrupted the plans of the very ancient people to be one under one ruler, as we read here, as indeed happens with all empires that ever came up on the world scene: they all fell tumbling down. We, though, still instinctively honour unification, we stand in owe when many people manage to act as one in harmony. It really feels that if humans get together for real, nothing would be impossible to them. God knows that because it's His potential that he placed in humans and He is usually happy about it in principle. He is God of peace and harmony. Why did He put in disarray the plans of the people in this verse? What was wrong with the "beginning" of lasting greatness for humanity? Is not God the one, who creates them and whose image they were fashioned after? Yes, surely that's the case. Man is the glory of God (1 Cor 11:7). The greater and more dignified man is the more glorified his Creator would be, because all is from Him, through Him and for Him (Rom 11:36). The organic unifying of the people and their coming together as one is a recepie for yielding out all good things humanity relishes.  But we don't see God mentioned here. He is not on these people's minds or lips. It's about us, us, us. God knows that if He is not there as the rightful Ruler someone else would the sooner or latter appear, would not withstand the temptation and would seize the power and it will become all about me, me, me.. This would cause a great suffering. There are so many movements of the people, which, when they fail to honour God and abide by His principles, degrade into bleak and embarrassingly vain and suffering-causing social and political phenomena. The Nazism, the Communism, the various empires of the past show that freedom, true liberty, is only guaranteed, when God is truly allowed to be what He has always been for humanity since the beginning - God. Only when the moral principles that flow from His character underpin the social and political order (and incidentally our way of thinking) human potential can achieve everything and that would not be to the detriment of those involved. It's too perilious to strive for greatness in goodness unless it is set upon the divine principles of righteousness and justice, love and appreciation of life and upholding of liberty. 

Prayer:

Dear Father,

You want the best for all your children. You love humanity and you created them for your glory. Sometime we try to achieve glory and something great, but you are not the centre. We fail to allow you to be our God and forget your principles and rules. Please, preserve us and keep us by gifting us with your wisdom from the madness of aiming for something good, but not in the right way. 

In Jesus' Name! Amen!

No rest until I find a place for the Lord

"until I find a hub for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”"

Psalm 133:5

In the Ancient world there was a firm belief that if the respective deity is welcomed and made an appropriate abode for this would guarantee the deity's presence and respective good fortunes that naturally would follow up.

David was influenced by his environment and he believed that his relationship and the relationship of Israel with Yahwe would never be completed unless a "dwelling place" for God is secured by the virtue of building a temple. God's presence, unlike the other gods made after primitive ideas of the divine, would guarantee real safety, blessing, aboundant life and peace to the people of God - Israel. 

David's determination to have God close to himself and his people was admirable and we all should realise that this attitude very much made him "a man in accordance with the heart of God" (1 Samuel 13:13-14).

In the previous verses he is saying that he "wouldn't rest" or "give sleep to his eyelids" untill temple is built. God likes people, who want Him close to them and mean business regarding His will. 

We can say that  we want people to come to God, but if we don't share the good news through works and words it somehow falls short from full, proper commitment. If we say we want God's will be done on this earth, but rarely give time to supporting the ministry of the church then again something else is seemingly priority in our lives. God wants us to make His will and desire to show His love in Jesus to the world our leading priority. "There is time for everything under the Sun"(Eccl 3:1)  and if there is no or little time for God's work then it seems we don't manage this resource well enough.

But building the opulent architectural edifice  was not what would satisfy God. He clearly said to David that the latter doesn't understand what the concept of "God's place" means.

If we liken the work for the Gospel and serving others in the name of Jesus with building the temple then filling up the temple with God's presence happens through developing personal relationship with God. Only works and words which are out of faith that is working through love (Gal 5:6) are really satisfactory for God. Both faith and love come through relationship with God. One comes through hearing the Word of God (Rom 10:17) and the other comes by the Spirit of God who supernaturally pours it in our hearts in Jesus (Rom 5:5). Achieving and retaining that state of ministry and knowing God surely implies similar determination and resolve as David had. We can not give our spiritual eyes rest and let inner self go to the comfort of its bed (as the previous verses state) until we see God and find Him by letting Him dwell fully in us.

When His words and Spirit fill us up then we are ready to met out to the world what God has for them. The true fun begins then. 

Prayer:

Dear Father,

Thank you for never being too tired or busy for us. Your love is indescribable. Please, give is grace, so we can be full of decisiveness and faith and love through which we would give a lot of fruit for your Kingdom.

In Jesus' mighty and sweet Name! Amen!

He does not retain anger

"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in mercy and love"

Micah 7:18

One sure and steady thing in the universe  is the love of God. In his book prophet Micah talks about the sins of Israel and Judah, both parts of the divided kingdom of greater Israel. He notes how the evil deed-doers  go around rampant and unchecked. Someone devises how to take away the lawful property of somebody else and then unhindered he can carry it out the next day. There seemed to be a chronic problem of deep seated political corruption and public indifference. All voices of challenge to the morally faltering system were silenced as quickly as possible. Those who oil the public image of the regime by saying how right and great they are were the preferred motivational and political  speech-makers. The influential Israelites, who dominated the weak, owned the day and ensured that all evidence around them appears to confirm their right to do however they pleased and that was perceived as God-given right to them. 

Naturally, Micah is not happy. He warned them that this weakens the society and it would soon fall prey to a more powerful nation. The Babylonians would soon be heard at Jerusalem's doorstep. They would be merciless in smashing all opposition and banish nearly all of those well off Israelites far away in the foreign land between the rivers - Mesopotamia.  Since the weak and needy were totally oppressed by the elite, now time has come, when the elite and those who support and/or do not stand against their disgraceful practices had to feel the same measure of the gory, brutal plight. 

In this deep, dark, deserved doom the spark of God's love was relentlessly making its way poring the thick cloud of moral, spiritual and social bleakness. 

His anger burns out quickly, but His love, however unnoticed at first,  is going from strength to strength. Micah says that God would not leave His people forever. Their inequities would be ironed out. The word "passing over" speaks of "blowing away forcefully" and is used when Moses divides the Red Sea so the Israelites can pass through it liberally. In a similar manner the sea of wrongs that the Israelites did would be one day blown away, wiped out by the absorbing love of God and it could not be seen any more. 

In Jesus, God fulfilled this promise. Our sins are removed by His work on the cross and God is not looking at them. They are thrown away so far by the wind of lovingkindness that should not be part of our self-image anymore. Instead we are God's remnant, who is under the special attentive, loving  care, which He affords to those, who are willing to accept it in gratefulnes and by faith. 

Prayer:

Dear Father,

Your forgiving love, powerfully removes every stain of shame and sin we may have. Thank you for you make this possible in Jesus' Name! Amin!

Do you agree?

"“Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?"

Amos 3:3

The Bible presents God as someone, who values our choices. In Revelation 22:11 Jesus says " Let the unrighteous and filthy go on being unrighteous and filthy and let the righteous go on doing righteousness and the holy go on being holy".

Does God encourage sin and evil? No, certainly not. He is merely saying that He endows and respects freedom in His creation and even bad choices would be respected, but dealt justly with nonetheless. Freedom is linked up unbreakably with responsibility. God wants the wicked to turn away from his ways and do God's will (Isaiah 55:7), but He is in no way forcing it. If we extrapolate a bit more on the question of freedom, we can note that eternal punishment is not ruling out evil as a choice to be, but merely curbing its impact without taking away one's inherent preference for it. 

Therefore God would never inherently (that means who we want to be in our hearts) take away from us what is wrong unless we want that to happen. He would not fulfil His best will for us unless we desire it from the heart. "Can two people walk together unless they agree?" God expects our agreement to walk on with Him. Your and my will bear a great responsibility for our destiny. That seems tantalising.  Deciding your own ultimate fate is only possible because God exists. The right decision might be and is being encouraged by Him, but it is taken by us. If we really want to walk with God then we need to do something first. Like Adam in the garden of Eden, we need to get to meet with God.  How do we do that? Do we have the access to God, that Adam had?

God is everywhere so the geographical place is irrelevant. Jesus' died for our sins and rose to make us righteous so what we have done in the past is irrelevant too. What matters is whether we want to go along with God's grace now. The small things we do can make a big difference. 

 Our quiet time reading the Bible, for example, or time praying or contemplation is not just about learning more, getting spiritual strength and relaxing. These are some of the benefits of course, but the primary thing that is going on is that we want to meet with God.  When doing these things we should have the conscious desire to meet with our Father. If we would want to go further and agree to walk on the path He wants us to walk onto,  this would be, incidentally, the best decision we could ever make and would find our true selves. 

Prayer:

Dear Father,

I know that you are so loving and patient that you do not foist on anybody what is your will. It is the best for us all, but you created is in such a way that we can choose to accept it or refuse it.

Thank you for this great gesture of trust in us. I pray now, please open my spiritual eyes widely enough that they can see your loving and gentle nudging that leads through the narrow, but blessed door of life aboundant. Let none of us miss your will for their lives!

In Jesus' Name! Amen!

The locust would not withstand

"What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten."

Joel 1:4

That's a moribund account of what happened and was about to happen to Israel and Juda due to their sin. Different stages of the locusts' plague represented  the incursions, raids, attacks, sieges by enemies  and finally fall of Israel's' cities.

Do you feel that sometime everything is going upside down? You barely sort out a mess and something else hits on. You feel exacerbated. You wonder if God is not mad at you. You start seeing every little mishap as a serious transgression before God. Your prayer life dissipates. You are probably angry. You think that God does not understand you.

That's sometimes part of the normal Christian spiral of growth. The important thing to remember is that God is not mad at you. Even with the ancient Israelites, who were guilty of many serious crimes like: enslavement, soliciting for prostitition, curbing the rights of the weak like widows and orphans, they were being told by the prophet that God is awaiting for them to return to Him and change their ways and He would be faithful to His covenant and would set them free.

If that was valid for ancient Israel, how much more aware of God's gracious helping hand should we be? Jesus himself is on the right side of our Father and ensures that we are saved and uplifted. So do not distance yourself from  God! Make time for seeking Him. As with the Egyptians and Moses -  He will send the wind of His faithfulness and grace to sweep up all drawbacks and you would be victorious. God does not change. If your commitement does not change too the only thing left that could alter is the adverse circumstance. And it will.

Dear Father,

Sometime some of us feel so puzzled by what life heaps on them. Yet, you never change. We can always trust in you and seek you. You are our Saviour and your nectar of faithfulness surely flows from your hand if righteousness and might towards us. Please, help any of us to never despair, but lead a life of dogged commitment and faith in You, that conquer the world!

In Jesus' the faithful Witness' Name! Amin!

My cup overflows

"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows"

Psalm 23:5

Having lived in a country that is close to Asia Minor and the Near East I can confirm that at least light alcoholic drink is often  present on the table at a banquet. 

When friends invite you they try their best to prepare for you coming and they put on the table the most exquisite they can source and cook. It almost always turns out to become a very merry gathering, where you feel appreciated, looked after and, indeed, full, in the end. 

At some point though, in case the guests overstayed their welcome, the host would never say so but would keep smiling and start filling their cups less and less. If you find yourself with no or little drink in the cup then you could be pretty certain that it's time to go. If they forget to fill your cup up, but want you to stay, they would be quick to redeem themselves by hurriedly and generously pouring in drink for you and apologise profusely. In ancient Israel that was a normal practice. They also used to put a few drips of oil fragrance onto the summit of the guest's head, which would ooze a pleasant scent around them for the whole evening. 

In life sometime we don't always feel that we are surrounded by friends only. Sometime we might feel like there are mostly people who don't seem to care about us. It might be that some people are in an outright opposition to us. Sometime there are problems that need attending. The least we feel like is like having a party. This hard situation doesn't alter God's intention to bless us though. It wouldn't change His plan about us. In the midst of challenges He is preparing a table of elaborate and astonishing  feast for us. Nothing can disrupt His unrelenting course to fulfill His will in our lives. In the stinky fallenness of this world the aroma of God's presence would be consistently with us. Just close your eyes and you would start seeing, through the eyes of faith, that the enemies are temporary, but you and God are meant to be a company forever. You are not a guest, who should carefully notice, when his drink is low and make his way out. God ensures His drink never vanishes from your cup. His Spirit wants to fill you up at all times because you have been purchased from the weary, worrisome world of the old time for God's kingdom of freedom and new life. 

Dear Father,

Thank you for your blessed hope in Jesus Christ. He is a proof that you are determined to change me, bless me and make me a victor and not be a victon. You are not stopped by the circumstances, but you fulfill your will for this world and you do so with me.

Please, let me never forget to have your oil on my head and enjoy my cup of favour being filled up for me by the King Himself every day.

In Jesus' Name! Amen!

I will make you mine

"And I will make you my wife forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy."

Hossia 2:19

Soon we expect to have an engagement celebration in our church. The couple are very young, but seemingly in love. We will be trying to make up the whole event in such a manner, that they would remember that this decision is not a temporary whim, but entering a door of new life forever. Nowadays, those who are somewhat business kind-of -thinking-people, are often afraid to commit forever. It seems to them like they haven't got the best deal in life if they don't have their door open for something possibly better. 

Thankfully God doesn't think this way. When He comes to us and makes a covenant with us in Jesus, He knows our state of mind, He knows our past, present and future wrongs, but He, without any second thoughts, commits to us. Some people worry if their partner would turn out not to be so good as s/he should be. God knows we would NOT be as good as we should be. Yet, He loves us and initiates the covenant of eternal relationship with us. He does so in righteousness and justice. The first (righteousness) is God's ideal will for His creation. The second (justice) is His particular will for us. What is the difference? The particular will is not always perfectly agreeable with His eternal will. The ideal will commands that all of us must be saved. The particular will says we deserve there just retribution for our sins. We don't deserve blessing.  So addressing the problem with sin particularly, God achieves His eternal will through something, which is against it in principle - the suffering and dead of His innocent Son. It is against God's righteousness because it is wrong for the innocent and let alone God himself to suffer. He does it though. That means personal sacrifice. God sacrifices part of what He is in order to get another part that He desires more - us. 

So if God is able to accept such a contradiction against Himself (Heb 12:3)  for the sake of love, we can be sure that He is fully and eternally committed to us and He can and will teach us to be that kind of people, who, motivated by love, accept the seemingly unjust and temporary in order to get what is righteous and eternal. He would teach us how to exercise "steadfast love and mercy". That would make us people who are easy to live with, partner with, work with. 

I hope that these young people would realise that the art of love is really an art of sowing and sacrifice in order to reap abundance and blessed life together. 

Prayer:

Dear loving Father,

You allowed so many contradictions and wrongs for the sake of love. You forgive them without compromising your righteousness but allowing your Son to suffer the just consequences of what is wrong for our sake. Please, help me be more into that kind of love, that sees the bigger picture and complies with your eternal will even though that would sometime mean being patiently enduring injustice, when that is the best thing to do, but winning out  like Christ nonetheless. 

In Jesus' Name! Amen!

I am grateful for you

"We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as it is appropriate,  because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing."

2 Thessalonians 1:3

Thankful people seem to be happier people. Grateful people seem to be deeper people. Gracious   people are apparently more sociable and less egoistic people.

When we are thankful we focus on the source of something good that adds value to our lives or those we care for and it makes us look away from ourselves in a dignified way. We don't look to another human being to criticise, to complain for, to get annoyed by and even to worry about. We look at them in an entirely positive and well meaning way. They might have a good deal of weaknesses that we can focus on, but we prefer to look at what is good in them because we personally experienced it.

What would happen if we never experienced something  significantly good by somebody or at least not experienced it lately, but we continue to focus on and encourage what is good about them?

Apostle Paul draws a parallel between the growing of the faith in somebody and the showing of love they are capable of. He knew that a servant of God (we are all called to be that) is called to see the people in a positive, God-point-of-view way. He had to have faith in them first.  Their love towards each other is "increasing", which would mean that probably it was very little at the start. 

That had not discouraged Paul though.  What he did was that he saw, through the eyes of God, what these people could become if he could impart them with faith in Jesus Christ. He looked at them with love and positive attitude well before they have done anything deserving gratitude. 

Once he shared the Gospel with conviction and spiritual power the faith was awaken in the Tessalonians. They realised what they can be in Christ and how many opportunities they have to flesh it out towards one another.  "The love (agape) of every one" was on the rise meaning that they all, having accepted Paul's way of reflecting Christ, were able to look at each other in a positive manner also before anything tangible in the other was yet manifested. The love of Christ does not depend on a value present in its object - it creates it. The gratitude-deserving deeds of course duly followed, but it was only possible because they chose to believe in what is the possible good about the other and love Christ in each other. 

Faith is conviction about things not seen (Hebrews 11:13). We don't need to wait to see the good things our acquaintances would do to be positive towards them. By being positive and showing high appreciation we prompt them to be better people and be good. And when thusly faith in Jesus is imparted in them, then goodness and love could only increase in magnitude. 

Dear Father of us all,

Thank you that you don't wait for us to produce something good in order to love us. I pray you help us see the good in people well before it is manifested and believing in them be able to help them believe in Jesus, who only can create true love out of nothing in the hearts of all of us towards each of us.

Praying in the lovingkind Jesus' Name! Amen!

The Word of God is living and active

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, going deep to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

Hebrews 4:12

Deep inside us lays our true self. It is created in the image of God and therefore nothing can give it satisfaction to a full measure, but the Word of God, which incidentally created it. When it is being heard, understood, sown and rooted in us, and lived out -  it changes our world. 
There are lots of additional layers of motivation, which life and our experiences in general piled up over our Self.
For some it is ambition, for others - passion, third - bitterness or revenge.  It varies, but the common denominator of each driving force within us, especially which is not in accord with  the Word of God, is that they not just cannot satisfy us completely and permanently but could be seriously  harmfu if we try to put it in the place of God's guidance. Ideally, everything we strive towards should be in harmony with the inner self of God in us and thusly we can live a fulfilled life.
How could it happen, when this core of spiritual reality in us is so overlayed? 

The Word of God, when absorbed attentively with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, becomes an instrument of God's will that fixes up our weaknesses. It strengthens our character so we withstand the temptations. It opens our eyes to see life as it is - in its deficiencies and blessings - and the true value of everything around us. Then we can stick to what is most valuable with fervour and not be easily tricked into taking the baits of triviality. Those, the Devil embellishes so much, that they become grossly inflated in fake value that they if take  are capable to waste all our spiritual savings of purpose, love, happiness and joy.

The Word of God "discerns" the thoughts and motivations of the heart and helps us know ourselves and take control of our thoughts and therefore - lives. Only it can separate the wasteful from the precious. As a sharp sword it does so very effectively, but being an expression of the love of God it does it gently too. Sometime we don't even feel much of how  the Word is working in us: no catharsis, no drama, but if it has just caught our attention, it changes us nonetheless.  The more we heed to it, the more we alter our value system and order it in a way that is suitable to our deepest God-like self and it's needs. As we achieve a balanced personality and life, it, quite naturally, brings up peace, joy, purpose and fruitfulness. Then we have finally begun live out what we have always been meant to be.

Prayer:

Dear Father,

I know that nothing can change me to the extent, which will make me really happy and fulfilled, but your Word. Please, let your Spirit make it desirable and understandable to me. I want to yield myself to it's changing power. I need it as an ally  against my biggest enemy - my old self, which must give way to the best I am enabled by You to be!

In Jesus' loving Name. Amen!

Someone touched me

"But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I sensed  that power has gone out from me.”"

Luke 8:46

The Bible portrays God as life-giver. "When you send your Spirit, life is created, and you renew the face of the earth." Psalm 104:30

His Spirit makes life possible. When Jesus came in flesh He couldn't, but be what His divine nature is: life- giving, supporting, bettering  and enhancing.

Wherever He was going, He was carrying the light of life in the darkness of human experience of oppression, sickness and frailty. It has to be noted that we are created in the image of God and that is why  we carry the higher  appreciation of life than animals, for example, do. We also carry a small seed  of God's life and life-affirming qualities. Faith in God is the window through which light can enter and welcome this seed of life we have  in us into growing, blossoming and full fruition. 

When we strive to let the sun of righteousness shine in our hearts it brings healing with its rays (Malachi 4:2). This stubborn, relentless faith and attempt to let God's power in our lives would not ever be in vain. Sometime God is seemingly hiding but not for long.

Then we touch the life-giving mantle of Jesus and quite naturally His life flows through us and renews and rejuvenates us.

Jesus wants to feel how His generous power goes out of Him to His children. He did not complain from, but He praised the woman, who strived so much towards Him. He is so giving and so desiring to bless us. So let's keep on seeking, keep on knocking and keep on asking and drawing closer to God in faith. He is willing and able to respond and change the seeds in us into a beautiful and fruitful garden.

Prayer: 

Dear Father,

Your nature is of a life-giver who generously lavishes His goodness and love on us.

Please, hear my voice and help me be this person, who would ready himself to receive from you. I want to be the person, who would touch you and your power would flow freely trough me. 
I pray in Jesus' Name. Amen!

Love never fails

"Love never fails . As for prophecies, they will become obsolete; as for tongues, they will have to stop; as for knowledge, it will pass away in its current remit."

1 Corinthians 13:8

Sometimes I wonder how could the most sung about emotion  be so little understood in practice.
We hear about friends and acquaintances, who got divorced, in spite of being so much in love before. We see  parents, who barely have any relationship with their grown up children. Brothers and sisters, who fight each other over material stuff is a bad sight too. 
As Christians  we would be wise to bear in mind that the measure we allowed the love of God to work in us and change us would determine how close to God we would be in this life. If we want God to be on our side we  need to excel in love. A sign, that the love from God is in us, is its presence, when our interests or ego are challenged. Can I be happy for the fellow minister, Christian or even unbeliever who acted selfishly and arrogantly, but there is something good that has happened to them? Can I be sad, when they experience serious set backs? Surely they need to change something in their ways, but love does not rely on one changing in  order  to wish him/her good. It never fails to be itself. Prophecy can encourage you and guide you towards God's best  in your life, but once fulfilled - its obsolete. At some point in eternity, prophecy as a practice would be made redundant because it has achieved its goal on Earth. Speaking in tongues also benefits us  for the moment, but it is not a goal in itself. It is means towards a goal: to build up ourselves in Christ and we know that means love in the first place. Christ is loving one above anything else. Knowledge, although useful now, would stop because the full knowledge would be available to us, when we are in and with God in heaven. The only distinctly enduring trait and characteristic that would remain with us is our ability to love. 
May be you can sit down and think: do I show enough love to my spouse, children, brother, sister and others? How can I be more loving? The moment you ask these questions you tap into God's nature and demonstrate desire  to be like God. At that very moment your prayer is listened to and fulfilled.

My heavenly Father, 
I did not and still don't love the way I should. I know it is not my merely human effort that makes it happen but your work in me. Please, work in me and bring me to love more as Christ does: fully, unconditionally, bravely and transformingly enough for me and the world around me . 
In Jesus' Name! Amen!