Devotions for Dieters

1 Peter 1:16
...it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Too often we think that holiness is merely a matter of the spirit. We feel that if we read our Bible, pray regularly, and attend wor-ship, we are being holy. But holiness requires that we tend to our physical health as well as our spiritual health. Early Christians realized that they were more alert and better able to concentrate on God when they felt good. Tending to the body made them better at their spiritual pursuits. Dieting may make us look better, but it will also make us feel better, and it will enable us to pursue God in deeper and more meaningful ways.

Today's thought: We please God when we try to be the best we can be!

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When Adam and Eve sinned, God made it very clear that they could no longer stay around Him. They had been enjoying the warmth of His fellowship in the Garden of Eden--talking with Him, learning about Him and treasuring the wonders of His perfect creation.

But all those benefits came to a heartrending end on the day God thrust the disobedient couple out of the Garden, posted angels with flaming sword at the entrance and warned them that they had no right to be in His presence or have access to the Tree of Life. (See Genesis 3:22-24.)

That was the day Adam and Eve first tasted the misery of being unholy and no longer capable of living with a holy God. They embarked on mankind's long journey in sin, separated from the life of God. They began learning the hard way that without holiness, no person will see God. (See Hebrews 12:14.)

How can people ever be restored? Well, God has an amazing plan.

What Does God Say?

God's plan for your restoration to fellowship with Him doesn't include anything you can do in order to make Him accept you. We are all unholy, remember? Symbolically speaking, we just can't get past the angels with the flaming sword to enjoy the Tree of Life.

Read Romans 3:10-12.

1. How many are righteous?

2. How many understand and seek for God?

3. How many have turned aside and become useless?

4. How many do good?

The Lord's answer for this hopelessness was to come to this world as a man and die for our sin on the cross. He opened the way for unholy humans to be declared holy and acceptable to Him again by providing forgiveness and new life to all who believe.

John 1:12 (ESV) says, "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."

Your becoming a child of God means that God now accepts you back into His presence, and that you have a home in heaven forever. Christ took on Himself the judgment you deserved for your sin. That's God's plan for your salvation! You will never be lost because the price of your salvation has been fully paid.

My Thoughts

If the above is true, then why does the Bible say in Hebrews 4:13 (ESV), "And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account"? Why do Christians need to appear before Christ [the Judgment Seat of Christ] after their death to be judged by Him for their performance as God's children? (See 2 Corinthians 5:10).

Read 1 Corinthians 3:11-15.

1. What is revealed by fire at Christ's Judgment Seat?

2. What determines whether or not a Christian receives a reward?

3. If a believer's work is burned up, what happens to the believer?

Why is such a judgment necessary?

The Bible shows you that salvation is a gift of God to the believer, but it also shows that, as a believer, you have a responsibility to serve God and glorify Him by your life. (See Ephesians 2:8-10.) Christians who fail in this responsibility have remnants of ungodliness that need to be burned up. Heaven will contain no taint of sin. On the other hand, Christians who have shown their faithfulness to the Lord will be fully rewarded. (See Ephesians 6:7-8.)

My Part

A New Year is here. The time of Christ's return is drawing nearer. You don't know when that may happen, but Philippians 3:12-14 contains some wisdom from the apostle Paul that you might want to make your own for the future. It's a recipe for living a holy life, pleasing to God, ready for the Judgment Seat of Christ.

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Out of Eden

Genesis 4-6, Matthew 2
Key Verses: Genesis 6:6-8

After the first sin, more sins followed. That's the way it is with sin, a pattern seen right from the beginning.

God told Cain that sin was like a beast ready to destroy him (4:7). Cain, however, ignored this warning and murdered his brother. But that was only the beginning. As the race of men increased in number, some did seek the Lord, but man's wickedness increased all the more (6:5).

Sin brings not only the pain of its effects now but also the judgment of God. Noah lived a righteous life; "he walked with God" (6:9). By God's favor, not by his own merit, Noah was given the promise that he would be delivered from the flood that God would use to punish the sinful world.

Sin is nothing with which to trifle. It is like a beast that wants to destroy. It is not something done once but is a pattern, a lifestyle, that grows and spreads. The sin of an individual affects others who sometimes are the victims and at other times co-participants.

Escape from the consequences is possible, but it is found only in God's favor and in His way. Noah lived by accepting God's way for his deliverance. We live eternally by accepting God's way for deliverance from our sins-Jesus.

Job 1:5

A Family Man

In her book Formations, Kay Shurden observes that a family is more than a collection of human beings related by blood. It is more than the sum of its parts. A family is a living, shaping, powerful unit that teaches us our most important lessons. It teaches us who we are, how to act, whom we relate to and what is important in life.

Job was a busy man. He was a man of great wealth and responsibility. But his first priority, after his personal relationship with God, was his family. He rose "early in the morning" and brought his children before the Lord. He demonstrated his love for his family not only by providing for their physical well-being but also by interceding for them at God’s throne of grace. Job modeled for his family the importance of a spiritual life and how to maintain that relationship with the Lord. And he did it on a regular basis.

Our lives are filled with stress and strain. The pressure to provide for the physical needs of our family is great. Yet to fulfill our complete responsibility to our loved ones, it is absolutely essential that we model an outstanding spiritual life as well. Without a role model to point the way, our children are at risk to falter in their personal walk with the Lord.

Are you providing more than a roof over your family’s head and clothes on their back? These are vital, of course, but if you take your family responsibilities seriously, your spiritual responsibilities also will be important to you. Daily pray for each member of your family. Pay specific attention to their spiritual needs. Be a spiritual giant in their life. Provide for their spirit as diligently as you provide for their body.

Separated and Saturated

Read Psalm 1:1,2

Two of the most popular words in the Christian vocabulary are bless and blessing. God wants to bless His people. He wants them to be recipients and channels of blessing. God blesses us to make us a blessing to others, but He has given us certain conditions for receiving blessings.

First, we must be separated from the world (v. 1). The world is anything that separates us from God or causes us to disobey Him. Separation is not isolation but contact without contamination. Sin is usually a gradual process. Notice the gradual decline of the sinner in verse 1. He is walking (Mark 14:54), standing (John 18:18) and then sitting (Luke 22:55). Becoming worldly is progressive; it happens by degrees. We make friends with the world; we become spotted by the world; we love the world, become confirmed to it and end up condemned with it. Lot is an example of someone who became worldly. He looked toward Sodom, pitched his tent toward Sodom, lived there, lost everything and ended in sin.

Second, we must be saturated with the Word (v. 2). Whatever delights us directs us. We saturate ourselves with the Word by meditating on it. Meditation is to the spirit what digestion is to the body. When we meditate on the Word, we allow the Spirit of God within us to "digest" the Word of God for us. So not only do we delight in the Word, it becomes a source of spiritual nourishment for us.

Enjoy the blessings God has for you and allow Him to make you a blessing to others. (A third condition, being situated by the waters, is the topic of our next devotional.)

God desires to bless us, but we must meet His conditions for receiving blessings. By staying separate from the world and keeping saturated in the Word, we may expect God's blessings. Resolve to meditate on the Word of God and obey it. He will make you a blessing to others.

Wanted: Faithful Servants

Hebrews 11:8-18

Have you ever thought about the fact that you and I have the Gospel today because Abraham and others who were chosen of God were faithful?

God has chosen to work through men; therefore, the future of God's work rests on what He is able to motivate men to do.

In Old Testament times the work of God depended on men such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In New Testament times Jesus Christ made His future program dependent on the apostles. He spent time with these men and properly trained them for the work they had to do.

Not only was faithfulness required of the patriarchs and the disciples, but it is also required of us because God has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation.

Paul wrote: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:19,20).

There is no choice in the matter. We are the sovereign appointees of God to represent Him to others. Abraham was faithful. The disciples were faithful. Are we faithful?

"Without faith it is impossible to please him [God]" (Heb. 11:6).

Waiting on God

Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman's part: but if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to thee, as the Lord liveth: lie down until the morning.

DURING OUR DARK MOMENTS frequently we become impatient and ask God to speak to us immediately. But sometimes God is silent, and we must be silent as well. When the tears of frustration stream down our cheeks, when defeat and despair hang around us like a shroud, when we don't know which way to turn, we must heed God's advice to the psalmist, "Be still, and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10).

Perhaps this divine stillness in the midst of the storm is best illustrated in the story of Ruth. A severe famine in Palestine drove Elimelech and Naomi, Ephrathites of Bethlehem, to Moab with their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Here the sons married Moabite girls named Ruth and Orpah. After ten years the father and sons died leaving three childless widows. Naomi decided to return to her homeland. Realizing the lonely life ahead for her daughters-in-law in a foreign country, she entreated them to remain behind in Moab. After some persuasion Orpah returned but Ruth requested, "Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodges, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people and thy God my God"(Ruth 1:16). Hence, Ruth and Naomi traveled on together.

It was springtime during the barley harvest when Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem. Immediately Ruth went to glean in the field of a wealthy Ephrathite named Boaz, a relative of Elimelech, her father-in-law. Boaz showed kindness to Ruth, allowing her to eat with the Jews, contrary to the Hebrew custom, and eventually came to love her. Full of gratitude to God, Naomi instructed Ruth to claim her rights under the levirate law of marriage. This law, similar to those of the Assyrians and the Hittites, permitted a childless widow to marry her husband's brother or nearest kinsman in order to perpetuate the dead husband's name.

That night, when Boaz went to sleep, Ruth softly came and laid at his feet. During the night Boaz awoke and was startled to see Ruth. She identified herself and asked him to perform the duties of the near kinsman. Apparently Boaz's interest in Ruth had blossomed. However, he knew there was a kinsman nearer than he who must first be given the opportunity to perform this custom. Thus Boaz instructed Ruth, "Tarry this night, and it shall be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of the kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman's part; but if he will not do the part of the kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of the kinsman to thee, as the LORD liveth: lie down until the morning"(Ruth 3:13).

In the morning Ruth arose, was given six measures of barley by Boaz, and returned to the house of Naomi. Filled with anxiety over her future, Naomi instructed Ruth in the lesson of quiet faith. She said, "Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall." Boaz kept his word. He called ten witnesses of the elders to take their seats in the gate of the city to ratify his negotiations with the nearest kinsman to Ruth. When the kinsman refused to redeem his possession, that transferred the right of redemption legally to Boaz. Boaz and Ruth were married; she bore a son named Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David. Good things happen to us when we sit still and wait on God.

Like Ruth, we must learn that no one who trusts God is ever forgotten by our Saviour. He is ever praying for us (Hebrews 7:25). We may feel forsaken and forlorn, but our High Priest is always touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15-16). He catches the tears of our anxiety and anguish alike "in [His] bottle"(Psalm 56:8). He is fully aware of our situation. In the meantime, we must simply sit still until we see how the matter will fall and learn the glorious lesson that, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength" (Isaiah 40:31).

MORNING HYMN
Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.