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| Volume 25 Number 2 February 2023 |
Page 15 |
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| Volume 25 Number 2 February 2023 |
Page 15 |
Royce Pendergrass
At some time, probably all of us have had someone say something to the effect that they don’t understand the Bible or parts of it. Sometimes, that lack of understanding is valid if a person does not have a background in Bible knowledge or does not have a history of having studied the Bible. There is really no excuse for the lack of understanding, for God didn’t give His followers rules and guidelines to know and follow that were too difficult to comprehend. If that were the case, all of us would be worshipping Him in vain.
It is God’s will that we understand His message, for we read in 1 Timothy 1:4 that God “…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (NKJV). God loves those things and beings He created as stated in Genesis 1:31, which records, “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” He was proud of His creation and planned for all of men’s needs to be met by the things He provided for them. We know the account in Genesis 3 where Eve listened to “the serpent” – the Devil – and partook of the forbidden fruit and then shared it with Adam. The serpent even sort of warned Eve as he tempted her when he said, “…You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5). Why would anyone violate the will of God – the Creator – and think he or she could ever be as He is? God is the supreme Creator and Being!
Just as it should have been for Adam and Eve in the Garden, this fact of life should be enough for people to honor God for His creation and strive to please Him because every one of us is part of His creation. He loved us enough to give us life, and we ought to love Him enough to trust His words, obey His will and live for Him. He “…has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness…” (2 Peter 1:3). This plainly states that God, in His Word, has provided us with the information that we need to become His children, to obey Him and to gain eternal life. Without the knowledge that comes from studying and knowing the Scriptures, we have no hope. God loved us enough that He didn’t leave us without the hope of a better tomorrow.
Paul warned the Ephesian brethren, “…do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17). This one Scripture verifies God’s love and will for mankind, though knowing mankind was going to sin and to be lost, nevertheless, He provided a way out of sin and forgiveness for it. Knowing, understanding and obeying the Bible is the only way men can be forgiven of sin and can be united by love and obedience to our loving God.
It is crucial for those who want to spend eternity in the presence of their beloved Creator to read, study, know and apply His will to their daily lives. It can’t be an on-again, off-again affair. We know that God’s patience with men has worn thin in the past, and He is still capable of reaching the end of His patience. Not one of us can perform the way an employer wants us to perform on a job unless we know and understand what is expected of us. A student can’t perform in education to meet the desired standards of achievement until he or she knows, understands and meets those requirements. It’s this way with all things in life.
Perhaps Jesus approached this subject best when He said, “…Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them” (Matthew 13:14-15). Some don’t want to understand!
No one of us can perform satisfactorily on any job if we don’t know what is expected of us. The same is true with our God, and so, it is vital that we study and understand the Bible, as well as to apply it to our daily living.
Do You Really Know This
God of Whom You Speak?
Cliff Holmes
Read Acts 17:24-31. Paul characterized God in various ways, each to widen the message about God!
God is the divine Creator and the universal Lord (v. 24). The “God, who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands” (NKJV).
God is the bountiful Giver (v. 25). “Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.”
God is the Almighty Ruler (v. 26). “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.”
God is the unseen Spirit (vs. 27-28). “So that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’”
God is the tender Father (vs. 28-30). “‘…For we are also His offspring.’ Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.”
God is the righteous Judge (v. 31). “Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Let us all see every one of the attributes of God and praise Him from Whom all blessings flow!