Wisdom Matters

Jesus left the glory of heaven so that he could live among people and help them know God as their Father. He was a living example of the perfect power of God, at work in human flesh. We have been filled with the power and presence of Christ, through his Holy Spirit. We are capable of a righteous life that is Spirit filled and Spirit led.

God authored everything we need to know about him and his will for us, his children. We live in a generation that can access God’s biblical truth with ease and understanding. There has never been a time in history when this many people had access to God’s word in their own language.

The apostle John told his church, “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” The Bible was given to us so that we could learn from the stories of others, their successes and failures. We were given every word so that we could know how to be saved and live for God’s glory. We were given God’s perfect wisdom and word so that we would know how to keep ourselves from sin. But, we don’t always walk in God’s wisdom, according to his word.

So, God provided us an advocate, one who could take the punishment for our sins and justify our place in the Kingdom of God. God gave us his Son. Jesus pleads our case. Jesus defends our holiness. Jesus stands beside us in heaven as our brother and says, “This person belongs in our family.” Jesus is our advocate because God knew we needed more than his word in order to be made righteous.

Jesus is the model for our own faith, and the pathway for our eternal relationship with God. When we stand before the Father, we will stand with his Son. Jesus modeled how a faithful life should be lived. God made sure we would have Scripture to teach us his perfect truth. And God knew we would need even more. God watched Jesus suffer and die for our sinful choices and then promised Jesus could serve as our advocate in heaven.

We have been carefully taught and we have been promised eternal protection. Never doubt that you have been greatly and completely loved by God your Father. If you do doubt, turn to your advocate and hear his assurance that you are part of God’s family forever.

How long will we wait for Jesus to return? We can only wonder. Jesus is redeeming and purifying for himself a people who will belong to him, a people who are zealous for good works. He will not return until his eternal family is complete.

People have speculated about the return of Christ since his ascension to heaven. So far, everyone who has predicted the imminent return of Christ has been mistaken. We are still waiting for our blessed hope. But we aren’t waiting to hope. Every Christian lives with a certainty. We don’t know when Christ will return, but we know that he will. 

Jesus never promised we would know when he would return.n fact, he promised that he would come at a time we weren’t expecting him. Our hope is promised, not predicted. We look at the sinful directions we see the culture going and imagine Christ’s return is soon. So did our grandparents and great grandparents. Every generation has had reasons to suspect Christ would step back into the world for the final time.

Yet, we are still waiting. There are still people Jesus plans to redeem and purify for himself. The family isn’t complete. There is still time, and the great need for God’s children to be “zealous for good works.”

The word zealous is usually used to describe someone who seems out of control. Spiritually zealous means submitting our right to control our lives to the One who can control our lives rightly. Jesus wants us to be zealous for good works, those works that lead to faith and righteousness with God.

Jesus has given us the time, energy, and zeal we need to serve him. He still has family out there who haven’t come to faith. He died for all of them and won’t leave them behind. One day, the last member of our eternal family will be born again. One generation will be the last generation of Christians. One generation will witness the glory of the returning Christ.

Jesus wants to complete his family. Jesus is the model for our own faith, and the pathway for our eternal relationship with God. There is an eternal path to God and one day, his last child will take that path. Until then we are called to serve Christ with zealous commitment and good works.

The apostle John knew Jesus well. When John wrote his gospel, the first thing John wanted people to understand is that Jesus was God, was with God, and had created all things as God. John said there was nothing that Jesus was not or that Jesus did not create.

How does it change our perception of the world to know that Jesus was there in the beginning, designing what we see. We cannot separate Jesus from his Father because they are One. And they created man in their own image.

Our creativity is a reflection of theirs. We were created to imagine and manufacture. We were created to create. But, human beings can’t create perfectly, and we can only create using what has been created. We can use what God has given to create according to our ideas, or his. 

The apostle John wanted people to understand who Jesus truly was. He was God, living as a man on earth. God and Christ created the cave where the baby Jesus was born. They created the Sea of Galilee where Jesus would walk on water. They created the flock of sheep where Jesus would cast out the demons. They created the tree that would one day be made into a cross.

The Holy Trinity created everything and then created people in their image. We were given the ability to be creative and the ability to choose what we would create. People can create amazing things using what we have been given. Noah created the ark by following God’s directions. Someone else used trees to create a home, a synagogue, a fishing boat, and a cross. Jesus was a carpenter on earth and modeled what it meant to create things from what had been created.

Jesus continues to create today through each of our lives. Our lives can produce what Christ wants to create, and we can also create what Jesus would not. We are made in God’s image, but we were never created to be gods. Only Jesus was with God from the beginning. Only Jesus is God. 

What can Jesus create from your life? Anything. 

Jesus is the model for our own faith, and the pathway for our eternal relationship with God. What does Jesus want to create through your life? Follow his lead, walk his path, and Jesus will continue to create his ideas in you.

Everyday people do their jobs knowing it could cost them their lives. We are protected by people, most of whom we will never know. Somewhere, right now, doctors have stepped away from their plans in order to use their talents to save a life. Missionaries are risking their safety to help someone know Jesus. There are people in our world who have given up their comforts for the sake of someone else. 

The greatest love in this world is sacrificial love, which is loving someone else more than we love ourselves. Parents understand what it is to love their children more than their own lives. Pastors care more about a hurting church member than they do themselves. Friends know how to put their friends’ needs ahead of their own. 

We understand what it means to love someone else as Jesus loves them. But only Jesus could truly love everyone like that. 

As Christians, we are commanded to “love one another,” but, like every other command, it is impossible to obey apart from the power of God. We shouldn’t feel guilty when we realize we are unable to love others as Jesus loved them. Guilt defeats God’s purpose. Instead, we should recognize and admit that we can’t love as Jesus loved. We won’t ask for Jesus to fill us with his love if we think we can accomplish that ourselves.

The best way for us to love other people is to realize we can’t love them as Jesus loves them. We need to receive the love of Christ before we have it to give.

We can’t love our spouse as well as Jesus can love them through us.

We can’t love our children as unconditionally as Jesus can love them.

We can’t love our friends as sacrificially as Jesus would sacrifice for them.

We can’t love our enemies as we love ourselves. But Jesus can.

Jesus is the model for our own faith and the pathway for our eternal relationship with God. Jesus is the model for our love and the source of the love we need to have for others. Jesus has the greater love. Through his love, we can lay down our lives for our friends.

We all find ourselves in circumstances that make us uncomfortable or cause us to feel out of place. No one fits into every circle, and no one agrees with everyone else. When we find ourselves in those uncomfortable moments, it is good to remember Paul’s words: “our citizenship is in heaven.” We shouldn’t be surprised to realize that we don’t always feel at home here on earth.

Christians mature, both physically and spiritually. Priorities change and usually become more like the Lord’s. Our values shift from those of the world around us to things we will value eternally. 

Many in our culture are fighting for the right to do wrong. They disagree with our values because they believe this life is the only life they will ever have and they want to make it whatever they want it to be. We can watch the evening news and feel like strangers in our own cities. We want things to be like they once were, but that can never be true. Time and cultures are always moving forward. That is how God planned it.

The Apostle Paul rarely felt at home. He was a Roman citizen but didn’t fit the Roman culture. He described himself as a “Pharisee of Pharisees” (Philippians 3:5) but was persecuted by those in the synagogues. Paul spent his life and ministry establishing churches and helping their members learn to “get along.” 

Paul knew where he belonged. His citizenship was in heaven. Christians shouldn’t be surprised to feel that same way. We don’t feel at home in our cities any more than Paul felt at home in Rome. We don’t even feel at home in every church. No place on earth is completely perfect.

Every Christian is a foreigner in this world because we have placed our citizenship in heaven. We are waiting to see our “Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” face-to-face. Christians belong in heaven. Our mansion in glory is the first place we will feel truly and completely home. Our time on earth is simply our journey there. The scenery changes and our paths go through hills and valleys. And, while most days are warm and bright, there are also storms. 

God is moving us forward because he wants us home, with him. That is how Jesus lived on earth. He is the model for our own faith, and he defines the pathway for our eternal relationship with God. 

Jesus lived on earth but was never a citizen of the earth. We shouldn’t be surprised when we feel like we don’t belong to this world. Because of Jesus, we no longer do. Our lives have great value, and we should enjoy our journey, but we shouldn’t expect to feel at home until we get there. We belong to God and with God.

When we became children of God through our salvation in Christ, we were born again. We were “created in Christ Jesus” to do good works. You received the gift of the Holy Spirit upon your salvation so that you would be fully equipped to accomplish the work God has already planned for your life. 

How did you serve God’s purpose today? That depends on the moments you walked with him, obedient to his leadership.

God has planned your journey, which is filled with opportunities to allow Jesus to accomplish his good work through your life. God already knows the good works we will be called to accomplish tomorrow. We simply need to spend the day walking with God’s purpose instead of our own.

Every Christian has spiritual gifts God has given. He wanted you to be equipped for your calling, your “good works.” He knew which gifts you would need because the Lord is the architect of your journey. God wants you to take his prepared journey because he has provided you with countless opportunities to serve him. Why does God give us this calling? Because God wants to be able to bless you abundantly and eternally with his treasure in heaven.

God doesn’t need you to serve him. He knows you need to serve him for the sake of your eternity. Serving God is an opportunity for blessing, not an obligation of your salvation.

You are “God’s workmanship.” You are perfectly gifted to do good works for his kingdom purpose. Walking this journey of life with God enables you to accomplish all that he has prepared for you to accomplish so he can reward you eternally.

Does your path need adjusting? Tomorrow can be about following God’s plan instead of your own. Choose to walk with Jesus tomorrow and remain on his path for the days that will come. 

Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (John 5:19). Jesus followed God’s plan for his earthly life so he could be an example for us to follow. 

Jesus is the model for our own faith and the pathway for our eternal relationship with God. May our lives be God’s workmanship, filled with the good works he has already planned and gifted us to accomplish.

(Today’s devotional was originally run on February 2, and is being re-run for leap year.)

Paul told the church in Ephesus, “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:10–11a). It’s always been a challenge and a choice for God’s people to live according to his truth rather than our own. 

God’s word is the wisdom and discernment we need to make our daily choices. Scripture is our armor, our personal protection against the ideas and opinions the world imposes that can weaken our faith. We are called to stand firm against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:11). It’s so important to remember that we never stand alone or without God’s protection. 

We can stand firm, confident of our values and our calling, when we trust God’s word as our truth because it's the truth. 

The polls and predictions are interesting and often valuable information. The opinions of others are born from their God-given right to choose. The caution and protection of Scripture is understanding that our right to choose doesn’t guarantee our choices are right. We have to fasten on the belt of truth for it to serve as our protection. 

Do you truly believe something that is contrary to God’s truth? Has the culture become more convincing than Christ? Sometimes our right to choose truth becomes more important to us than choosing what is right. God’s word isn’t always popular, but it's always true. 

The Lord gives wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. The Lord gives us the ability to stand firmly each day when we choose to trust his word as our truth.