Many people believe that they only have to be good to enter heaven when they die. That is a false belief. Man tries to do what they can to get to heaven and many religions are based on people doing good to get to heaven. They are being misled.
In Mathew 19:16-30 (and Luke 18:18-30), a rich young ruler comes to Jesus and asks Him what good deed must he do to have eternal life. Continue reading
In Ephesians chapter 6, we see Paul talking about wearing the full armor of God so we may be able to withstand Satan’s schemes. As I was reading Ephesians recently, it struck me that I often heard people talking about the full armor of God, but not necessarily when it should be worn. I usually pictured David as he put on the armor to fight Goliath, needing to put on the armor of God when going out “into the world” to defend against the evils it held.
As I looked at Ephesians chapters 5 and 6, I noticed the leading up to where Paul talks about wearing the full armor of God he is talking about something very important: families!
Ephesians 5:22-33 talks of how husbands and wives should treat one another. Paul begins chapter 6 continuing the thought of family with children obeying their parents and fathers not provoking their children. Paul then goes into the workplace (it is translated as slaves and master which has a bad connotation in U.S. culture and other nations, and could refer to employers and employees, supervises and workers, etc). It is after that where Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God!
If Satan is going to attack, where is the best place? In our closest relationships. That is usually when we have our “guard down” because we are with people we trust and are comfortable. That makes the family and our workplace easy targets. Maybe that is why many “christians” get divorced or their families “fall apart”. They are not wearing the full armor of God at home. It gets heavy, it can be hard and we need a place to relax.
Another place I would add to this is in the church. We think that Satan cannot enter the church because it is “holy”. The truth is that we have all sinned and have yielded to Satan’s temptations and so as we, yes that’s you and I, enter the church, we bring that sinful nature with us.
May we remember to wear the full armor of God in our homes, in our workplace, in our churches and out in the world.
Finally, be strong in the Lord, where ever you may be.
It seems so often that we segment Scripture into nice little sound bytes or groups of verses when in reality, most Scripture is much more than that. Sometimes I wonder if assigning chapters and verses did more harm then good when it comes to reading the Bible.
Most of the New Testament was written as a letter to individuals or churches and yet we so often read portions of the letter based on chapters instead of the entire letter. When was the last time someone sent you a letter and you only read a portion of it, then picked it up the next day and read another portion? Seems kind of “disjointed”, doesn’t it? Yet that is how we are often encouraged to read the Bible, a chapter at a time.
May I encourage you, especially as you read through the letters in the New Testament, to not read by chapter or verse, but as a letter you have received from a good friend, or confidant. You may find you understand it a little more than just reading portions at a time.
The account of Lazarus’ death in John 11 tells us that Jesus wept. Jesus got word that Lazarus was sick and noted that the sickness would not end in death, but would be for God’s glory (v. 3 & 4). Jesus knew this and so He stayed where he was another two days. When we hear that a loved one is sick and possibly near death, we drop what we are doing and rush to their side, yet Jesus stayed where He was, he didn’t see an urgency.
In verse 11, we see that Jesus tells his disciples that Lazarus had died, but He was going to “wake him” (raise him from the dead). Continue reading