Tag: wisdom

Wise Enough to Know We are Not Wise Enough on Our Own

1 Kings 3 9

Yesterday, we looked at the relationship between King David and Bathsheba that led to the birth of Solomon.  When King David died, Solomon became king.  “Solomon son of David established himself firmly over his kingdom, for the LORD his God was with him and made him exceedingly great.” (2 Chronicles 1:1)

God appeared to King Solomon in a dream and asked Solomon what he would most like to receive.  Solomon could have asked for remarkable good looks, great bravery in battle, a large loving family, or great riches.  However, Solomon instead asked for wisdom and knowledge.  God replied to Solomon, “Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth, possessions or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you.”  God was very pleased that Solomon chose wisdom as the gift he most wanted to receive from God.  So, He not only agreed to give Solomon wisdom, but He also said, “I will also give you wealth, possessions and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.”  (2 Chronicles 1:11-12)   Later in that same chapter we read that Solomon had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses and that “he made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones”. God blessed Solomon not only with wisdom, but also with fame, riches and prestige.

Especially during the beginning of King Solomon’s reign, he used his great wisdom and discernment to help govern his people.  One such instance is recorded in 2 Kings 3:16-28.  Two prostitutes came before Solomon asking him to solve a dispute.  Both women claimed to be the mother of the same baby boy.  Solomon said he would cut the baby in two and give each woman half of the baby.  One woman quickly offered that the baby should be given to the other woman.  Solomon determined that the woman who was willing to give the baby up, rather than have him cut in half, must be the true mother for she loved the son too much to have him harmed.

Today you may be contemplating important plans for your future.  Maybe you are struggling with how to deal with a difficult person in your life.  Or possibly you are dealing with a family crisis. When you are faced with difficult choices in your life, how reassuring to know that the Creator of the universe can grant you the wisdom and discernment needed to make sound decisions.  Will you ask Him to? Will you search out the wisdom He has already shared with you in the Bible?

Jill McClain

Just Two Choices

A Free Theme Week into the Book of Psalms

Psalm 1 6

Greetings!  I’m introducing a week of devotions based on the Psalms.  There are 150 psalms in the Bible. (Note there are Protestant Bible translations and Catholic Bible translations.  The psalm number has a variation in Catholic translations.  I’ll be following the psalm numbering in Protestant versions ie. NIV, KJV, NRSV etc…)

The word psalm comes from the Hebrew word “mizmor” and means melody.  When translated into Greek it is “psalmos” which means song for the harp or the plucking of strings.  The key is that they are musical pieces.  Just as we sing hymns and praise and worship songs in church, the psalms were written to be sung as part of worship.  Most of the Psalms have been used in Jewish and later Christian worship settings for over 3,000 years (and you thought Frank Sinatra or the Beatles was old music).

Not all psalms are alike.  Different commentators call them different things and they are grouped differently.  I like the following 7 groupings:  1.Wisdom, 2. Royal, 3. Lament, 4.Imprecatory, 5.Thanksgiving, 6. Pilgrimage, 7. Enthronement.  During this week I’ll focus on a different type of Psalm and give the description and brief example each day.

Let me also talk to you a bit about how I incorporate psalms into my daily worship.  For hundreds of years men who live in monastic communities or monks have used the psalms as part of their daily worship.  In many communities they sing/pray/chant through the entire Book of Psalms every month.

A few years ago I came across an idea for going through the entire Book of Psalms every month using 5 psalms a day.  On the first day of the month read Psalm 1, 31, 61,91 and 121, the next day read Psalm 2,32,62,92,122.  Whatever day of the month you are on, read that, and then add 30 and keep going up by 30.  That way, in 30 days you will read all 150 psalms.  I break this up during the day: one when I first get up, one mid-morning, one at lunch time, one at supper time and one at the end of the day.  This way I surround my day and fill my day with these prayers and songs to God.  You don’t have to do it that way, but you might want to try it, or whatever way works for you. (On months with 31 days I just pick a few of my favorites for day 31).

The first type of psalm is a wisdom psalm.  It’s a kind of teaching psalm pointing out the way to live a Godly life.  An example of a wisdom Psalm is Psalm 1.

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

 

This psalm is a simple but clear message about the choices we have in life.  This theme has been taken up by many through history.  Robert Frost talked about having a choice to take one of two paths and he took “the road less travelled” and that it made all the difference.  Jesus talked about wide gates and narrow gates and the importance of following his path “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  Even the classic rock band Led Zeppelin sang “yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there’s still time to change the road you’re on.”

This psalm teaches us that we do have choices.  We can follow the path of the righteous or we can follow the path of the wicked.  The path of the righteous is the “right or correct path.”  This path is the path of one who follows God’s instructions.  The law of the Lord is not so much a law like a legal code as much as an instruction about the way to live.  Jesus showed his disciples/students how to live a life that was faithful to God.  Those who follow this path delight in following God’s instructions for life and spend time meditating upon, praying about, thinking about God’s instructions.  What do you spend your time thinking about, focusing on, absorbing?  The person who is fully absorbed in God’s ways will live a fruitful and prosperous life.  That doesn’t necessarily mean they will be financially wealthy, but they will be successful in the way that God defines success, they will be godly, they will have life.

The other path is the path that leads to destruction.  This is the path that does not end well.  If I told you that there was a fork in the road: if you go right, you’ll end up at Disney World and a lifetime of fun and adventure, if you go to the left, you’ll be at the garbage dump and there’s no turning back.  I’m guessing you’d choose Mickey over a trash heap.  It all boils down to a simple choice.  If you feel like you’re currently heading on the wrong path, there’s good news “there’s still time to change the road you’re on.”

-Jeff Fletcher

To Judge or Not to Judge

1 Corinthians 5

1 Corinthians 5 12

We are going to take a look today at 1 Corinthians 5.

Paul has talked a lot up until now about how immature and unwise the Corinthians are, and we start to see here what he is talking about.  There is some really weird sexual immorality going on in the church at Corinth, and they were bragging about it. Paul is very critical of this and tells them “I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this”.  Because they have accepted Jesus they should have his wisdom and the Holy Spirit guiding their lives and they should know that these things are wrong, and therefore have no excuse in allowing this to go on.

“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”’ 1 Corinthians 5:12-13

Paul clarifies though, that he is not judging their culture, which finds this practice acceptable, but he can judge them because they have committed themselves to a higher standard and are falling short.  Many Christians today need to be reminded of this. We need to hold other Christians to the standard that Christ has set. It may make us uncomfortable, but if we see sin in the Church it is our responsibility to help fix it.  Confronting people is not easy, but if we love them then we will want them to be right with God.

On the other side we cannot judge the sins of non-believers because they have not committed themselves to Christ, and they do not understand that what they do is sinful.  It is not our place to judge the sin in the world, but it is our job to spread the good news that Jesus died for our sins, and then we can let the Holy Spirit convict that person of their sin, and hope that they make the right decision.  If we start by judging them for their sins we will only push them away, and that will not help the Kingdom to grow. We can see a widespread rejection of Christianity in our culture today partly because of a cultural backlash towards Christians that openly judge non-Christians.  So let us remember that our message is one of life and hope, not judgement and condemnation.

 

Thanks for reading,

Chris Mattison

How to Avoid Unpleasant Consequences

Prov 1 8

 

When I was in high school I remember my friend and I sneaking out of his house to go hang out with some friends. We left his house about 11:30pm and didn’t get back in until 5:45am  which was 15 minutes before his alarm would go off for school that morning. We were tired and exhausted and couldn’t really function at school. Staying up and sneaking out all night left us at a great disadvantage the next day.
I have made many bad decisions in my life. Many like this story could have been avoided if I had listened to the advice others had given me.  They say you need at least 8 hours of sleep as a teenager.  Well, I got about 15 minutes and it was not enough. 
Proverbs 1:8-16 talks about how fools and sinners bear the fruit of there own actions. I definitely deserved a hard day at school for not listening to the wisdom that was set in front of me.  
 
What wisdom has been told to you that you might need to listen to more carefully? Remember, the consequences may not be worth it.
-Jesse Allen

What We Deserve

eccles 9 10

Ecclesiastes 8:2-9:12

Solomon begins here with examples of improper decorum before a king. In his great authority he can do whatever he pleases, his word is law. So who in their right mind would say to him. “What are you doing?” We see this same idea applied to God in Job 9:12 and Isaiah 45:9. So Solomon says to obey the king, be loyal and not rebellious. Do not do something that is bad or wrong just because you do not like or agree with someone. Seems like common sense but we see it every day on the street level all the way up to those with the greatest wealth, power, and influence. There is even a saying that goes with it, “You cut off your nose to spite your face.”

So do not ask, “What are you doing?” but submit, for “whoever obeys will come to no harm.” This is the way of the wise. The wise person has a better chance of knowing the best course of action and when to act, knowing the proper time and procedure. And yet they still find misery as none knows what the future holds. Misery because we do know that there are consequences for our wickedness. And just as no one can control the wind or delay death, no one can escape the consequences for our wicked, sinful ways.

Life is not fair! … Solomon talks about the wicked being buried. In this context it implies that they receive undeserved respect. A proper burial given to an undeserving wretch. False believers who say the words and make a show of faith. So much so that they receive praise, but they are wicked none the less. They reach this status when justice is not dealt out in proper time. He may commit a hundred crimes and yet live a long life. Worse, he is adored by others who wallow in their own sin, rejoicing that this glorious example has been set for them to work towards. But there will be judgment! The righteous, God-fearing man will have life and the wicked … death!

Life is not fair! … Righteous men get what the wicked deserve and the wicked get what the righteous deserve. Circumstances and choices can lead to what might appear to be unrighteous judgment. Verse 13 tells us that justice will come … in time. Until then, verse 15 points to the wisdom of trusting God and enjoying the many ways in which we are blessed. See, we do not see the “big picture” that God does so we cannot fully understand why things happen when and in the ways that they do. It is better to accept what we are capable of and not stress ourselves with what we are not.

We are in God’s hands. He alone knows what awaits the righteous and the wise and all that they do. “All share a common destiny – the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.” … Death! Death is the destiny we share and the answer to the question, “What does the future hold, what awaits us?” Solomon refers to this as “the evil in everything.” It cuts down the young and old alike. Death does not care whether you are good or bad. Some believe that because death is so arbitrary that it is excusable to rush into sin, to relish in it all their days. It is where we get sayings like, “Live like there is no tomorrow, live life to the fullest” and of course the most popular one in recent years, “YOLO, you only live once.”

For the wicked I guess this is pretty much true. They have no hope for the eternal life promised by God through His son Jesus so this is all that they have. But the living, those who have life through Jesus, they have hope. But in death we will know nothing. No longer able to learn or grow and in time we will be forgotten. God will not forget you though. We can believe this, we can trust it. He did not forget Saul who became Paul. He did not forget Peter, who denied Jesus. He did not forget Ezra, Nehemiah, Joseph or Job. He will not forget you!

Life is not fair! … I hear this all the time from people of all ages. I used to say this myself in frustration, thinking of the ways that I have been hurt or wronged. I stopped saying it when I took Romans 6:23 to heart, “For the wages of sin is death.” If life was fair and was as immediate as our impatience would hope it was, we would be dead the moment we sinned for the first time. In other words, man-kind would be extinct! If we got what we deserved we would not exist! Instead we have received mercy and compassion that goes beyond our comprehension and that we do not deserve.

I for one am grateful, not for what I deserve but for what I do not.

-Jeff Ransom

Wisdom In…Wisdom

Eccles 7 2

Ecclesiastes 7:1-8:1

In Solomon’s time, perfume or oil was a symbol of joy and prosperity and often used as a metaphor for one’s reputation. Solomon combines these ideas with birth and death. He suggests that it is better to have a good name or reputation at the end of your life than to have a joyful and favorable beginning which, by one’s own actions could result in nothing. “The day of death is better”, in his second letter to Corinth and in his letter to Philippi, Paul reminds us of how true this is for those found in Christ. But Solomon’s point is valid for everyone as he explains that we generally learn less from the good times than the bad.

Solomon was pretty big on wisdom so he wrote about the wisdom of reflecting on the brevity of life, “Death is the destiny of every man.” He said that the “living should take this to heart.” or reflect on it. The heart was considered the seat of reflection and of moral decision and action. Seems like the opposite of what most people think today. Anyway, here he recommends that we not only reflect but do so soberly rather than delving into foolish pleasures. Through serious reflection we may achieve some level of moral and spiritual growth or maturity. Moses understood this as he said “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” These words, this message, is desperately needed in this day that emphasizes and encourages self-centeredness. It is common for us to laugh at troubles rather than face them, to joke about what we should take seriously. People are living life like it is an all-you-can-eat buffet that will never run out. This is the fool’s way but the wise live life in light of life’s brevity. Not cautiously or in excess but with purpose and meaning. There is also wisdom in listening to and taking to heart the warnings, corrections, and rebukes of the wise. It is in this that we learn and grow.

With that being said, let us heed the words of a wise man. Solomon warns against adversity and prosperity bringing temptations – temptations that draw us away from wisdom and God. Drawing us into foolishness. Adversity and prosperity alike may lead one to become impatient or be provoked to anger, or complain about where they are, longing for the “good old days.” Each of these is contrary to the trust we ought to have in God. But he was not condemning either of these. He had already made a case for how we can learn more from adversity than times of plenty and he was also in favor of prosperity. In both cases though, wisdom is present. The wise learn from adversity and enjoy the fruits of their prosperity.

It is the wise who would “consider what God has done.” Some try to find fault in God’s ways. The fool is blinded to the ways in which God works through the good and the bad. It is a matter of perspective and … ours is limited. Solomon warned against depending on our perceived righteousness while living wickedly. Those who become “holier-than-thou”, the “high and mighty”, are often the first to fall. Over righteousness occurs when we begin to think too highly of ourselves. We lose the humility that helps balance our relationships … with God, Jesus, and each other. He suggests that we try to strike a balance in life. “Did Solomon just tell us to be a little wicked?” not at all. He is just acknowledging that we are already wicked by our fallen nature. We cannot escape it but we can work to counteract it.

We are not righteous in and of ourselves. The great part about being on this side of the cross is that we know that we can be made righteous through the blood of Jesus. This knowledge brings wisdom. Wisdom makes one powerful but it does have limitations. In itself, wisdom is inadequate to provide us protection or offer salvation. Additionally, we are not able to gain full wisdom. Solomon, yes that Solomon, said that true wisdom was far beyond him.

What he did discover though is that true righteousness and true wisdom does not exist among men. In his searching he finds that there is only one upright man among a thousand it says and none among women. This speaks to the rarity of such a person but if Scripture and experience have taught us anything it is that such a person is all but nonexistent. In fact I question whether this statement was more prophetic than observational. Could Solomon’s one upright man have been speaking of the coming Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus the Christ? The reason for man’s universal depravity is his own doing, not God’s. “God made men upright.” He made us perfect and we screwed it up. We follow our own schemes thus we lack true uprightness, true righteousness, and true wisdom. And we fail to please God.

Solomon asks many questions in this book. Some that we find in this reading will be answered when Jesus returns. At his return we will have true righteousness, true wisdom. Then we will be changed and made new. Into the glorious creations that He intended us to be. In knowing God, pleasing Him, we gain wisdom but in growing closer to Him through His Son we gain life everlasting. Do you see the wisdom in this?

To be continued …

Jeff Ransom

Under the Sun

Eccles 1_9

Ecclesiastes 1:1-2:16

Ecclesiastes does not exactly seem like the perfect book for uplifting and encouraging one another but let us take a look at it anyway.

We can assume from the titles the author gives himself and other clues that Solomon wrote this book. The wisest man, excluding Jesus, to walk the earth and he begins by saying that “everything is meaningless!” What is meaningless? From the third verse of chapter one and a number of arguments made throughout the book, we can understand Solomon to mean that all human endeavors are meaningless. With the number of times he repeats the word meaningless several translations/versions read as “utterly meaningless”. Our labors are totally and completely useless. So he asks the question, “What does man gain from all his labor?” It is almost like he is daring us to give a positive answer to that question.

He argues in broad strokes that our efforts can have no permanent value. “Generations come and generations go” speaks of how short life is and the insignificance of our efforts. He contrasts our efforts with the earth which will remain and yet even the things that happen on earth are without meaning. Solomon gives examples of the sun, wind, and water to illustrate his point. Each of these cycling around in ceaseless activity. But what does the sun, wind, or water gain from their activities? Nothing! It is all monotonous and wearisome without effecting any progress or reaching some goal.

“But there are so many advances every day. In technology, medicine, industry, you name it. With everything we have and what is coming, Solomon obviously had no idea what he was talking about when he said there is nothing new under the sun.”

Cell phones – just an update on old technology which in turn is just two people talking only over greater distances. The computer – just a dumbed down version of our own brains. If you know me you will find it difficult to believe that a computer is a dumbed down version of my brain but it is true. Computers only mimic the pathways and impulses of our brains. Space travel – it is still just traveling from one place to another, adventuring into the unknown. So Solomon is correct, there really is nothing new under the sun.

Let’s not forget either that Solomon was not only incredibly wise but he was insanely rich and powerful. With all of that he tried to discover something, anything that had not been done before. He even sunk into madness and folly. The conundrum to this endeavor however is that he did so under the guidance of wisdom. He did not indulge blindly or in uncontrolled excess. He denied himself nothing and undoubtedly gained some measure of satisfaction from his experiences but he discovered that it was all fleeting, gone in an instant. Nothing was truly gained from any of it.

Solomon’s verdict on all of this is that wisdom enabled him to enjoy both pleasure and the fruits of his labor sensibly, to cherish them rather than to pass numbly through them. So there is an advantage to wisdom over foolishness. Yet both the wise and foolish share the same fate. So what does wisdom gain us? What is the point?

Paraphrasing Proverbs 2:1-8, “my son, if you accept my words, turning your ear to wisdom, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom, He holds victory in store for the upright, He is a shield, He guards and protects the way of His faithful ones.”

There is a glorious purpose; Trust in Him and His plan, His power. We can gain knowledge and understanding from God’s Word but it only becomes wisdom when we apply it to our lives. When we live out what we have learned from Scripture we will be able to enjoy this life and all of our “meaningless” endeavors. Without God, everything is meaningless.

To be continued…

Jeff Ransom

The Wisdom of Solomon?

wisdom

When you read about the Kings of Israel or Judah, their life is always summed up in one sentence, as a kind of Eulogy: King ­___ did right/evil in the sight of the Lord. That’s really all it boils down to, if we do right or we do evil in the sight of the Lord. None of the other things that they did matter. Take King Solomon for example. The wisest man who ever lived, the Lord appeared to him twice. Once he told him, “Ask what you wish me to give you.” He asked for wisdom to be able to lead the Israelites. God was so pleased with his answer that he said he would give him wisdom, riches, and honor, and if he followed his commandments that he would prolong his days. Solomon went on to build the temple for the Lord in Jerusalem.

It sounds like he lived his life to bring God glory, but Solomon had one small problem.  Chapter 3:3 “Now Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.” And in chapter 11 vs.1-6 it says (paraphrase), “King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women.  They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites ‘You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.’  As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord….”  Contrast this to Ch.15:11&14 “And Asa did what was right in the sight of the Lord.” “The high places were not taken away, nevertheless the heart of Asa was wholly devoted to the Lord all his days.” You do not want your epithet to read:  He loved the Lord, EXCEPT….. We need to make sure that we keep our hearts wholly devoted to God. Solomon started out loving God, but then he put other people before him and his heart was pulled away.

Sherry Alcumbrack

The Wisdom of the Kingdom

matt 11 19b

Matthew 11:16-17

“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, 17‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’”

After his disciples depart from him, Jesus turns to the crowds and begins to address them and tell them about the ministry of John the Baptist (v. 7ff). He chastises them for their dismissal of John’s ministry and their false expectations for who John was as a prophet. Jesus praises the ministry of John and acknowledges his preeminent place as the greatest prophet, yet this is not the way the people viewed the ministry of John.

Transitioning into a caricature of the crowds to whom he was speaking, Jesus says, “to what shall I compare this generation?” (v. 16). This “generation” was Jesus and John’s contemporaries who heard them preach and who should pay attention to them. But Jesus describes them as “little children” who are in the “marketplace.” The similitude with which Jesus draws upon is how children play with each other in public and respond to each other by playacting. They engage with each other and are influenced by what each person is doing.

But the people Jesus is speaking to are not like that. Instead, they are like children when their friends call to them and play the flute, do not dance; or when their friend sings a sad song, they do not mourn (v. 17). What this analogy is pointing out is that the present generation surrounding Jesus does not care to respond to what John and he are doing. They are not interested in the kingdom or the message of repentance. Their reluctance to embrace the ministry of John demonstrated their unreasonableness and refusal to hear his words.

Our generation today is not much different than in the time of Jesus. Even though we have a message of grace and truth that exceeds that of John, people will still be disinterested in those words. We might play a flute or sing a dirge, but by and large, our generation still resists the wisdom contained in those words. Not our wisdom, but the wisdom coming from the one who the message is about—Jesus.

Jesus concludes this section by saying “Wisdom is justified by her deeds” (v. 19). The wisdom that Jesus taught and which we proclaim today is something not aimed at competing with what is so called “wisdom” but is proved right by the results it produces when it is lived. The wisdom of the kingdom is not to be found in the eloquence of the message but in the actions that accompany the one who follows it, for wisdom is shown to be right according to the deeds that she accomplishes. If our deeds demonstrate the wisdom of our Master, then even if no one dances or mourns, we can be confident that we are not failing to fulfill the mission given to us. We must remember that this generation too will resist the message that brings hope and delivers people from the darkness of this age. So don’t be dismayed at the world’s refusal or their ridicule of you but be encouraged knowing that you are bearing the light in a dark place, and there are few who are willing to carry that torch.

-Jerry Wierwille

Bold

If you want to leave a lasting impact on this world, you must first learn to be different than the rest of the world. Boldness rejects popularity for the truth, and comfort for the cross.

When Jesus died, the world saw him as a criminal. After Jesus ascended into heaven, the apostles were tasked with changing the world’s hearts, from yelling “Crucify!” to calling Jesus Savior. This was no easy job, yet they went forward with boldness.  They rejected popularity for the truth, and comfort for the cross. They persevered through persecution and hardship.

As Peter and John, two of Jesus’ closest friends, were speaking to the people at the temple about Jesus and even healed a crippled man, they received great opposition. They were approached by the priests and Sadducees, who “were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead” (Acts 4:2). Peter and John were thrown in jail and met before the rulers, elders, and teachers of the law that made up the Sanhedrin the next day. The Sanhedrin poses the question, “by what power or what name did you do this?” (Acts 4: 7). Peter responds with such a boldness we should imitate today,

“Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:8-12).

The rulers, elders, and teachers of the law were astonished by the courage of Peter and John, who were just ordinary men. Before Jesus called them, they were lowly fisherman, yet they approached the courts with such assurance and strength. After the hearing, Peter and John were commanded “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:18). Despite the opposition, they answered with confidence in their Savior, “judge for yourself whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:19 & 20).

You, too, have seen and heard all that Jesus has done. The Kingdom message, which is compared to a pearl of great value, has been revealed to you. Will you shamefully keep your pearl hidden, or will you unashamedly share that pearl with the world who so desperately needs it?

Just like in the times right after Jesus’ death, believing that Jesus is Lord and Savior is an unpopular opinion, yet the Great Commission still stands: “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19 & 20). Spoiler alert, God’s side is going to win the war when He establishes His Kingdom on the earth. In the meantime, fight this battle to win over hearts for that Kingdom. You may receive opposition, but do not be afraid because you already know the outcome of the war. Go forward with the same confidence Peter and John had. Be bold.

~Mackenzie McClain