Daily Meditations on the Bible / We stand with Israel
What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.
Summary: Paul restates his argument using a different tack. How are belief in God and faith in the law related?
Continue reading “Galatians 3:17 – Faith and Action”[But among you there must not be even a hint] … of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.
Summary: Paul sets the goal for the Christian life impossibly high. Yet, he seems to expect that God’s people are capable of becoming a “holy people.” Fortunately, what is impossible for man is possible for God.
Continue reading “Ephesians 5:3c – The Power of Believing”When you believed …
Summary: The topic of belief is a very deep well. Paul’s use of the word in Ephesians is directly related to the gospel of salvation. This is the “message of truth” Paul is talking about.
Continue reading “Ephesians 1:13d – A Reason to Believe”
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious.
Yesterday we talked about Jesus being the “cornerstone of reality.” In today’s passage, Peter points us to the people who believe.
Something interesting is going on here. The “stone” Peter talks about looks different depending on belief. We will talk more about the unbeliever’s view tomorrow (Lord willing!). The believer’s view alters everything.
Continue reading “1 Peter 2:7 (a) — New Eyes”
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him …
This is truly one of the great mysteries of our Modern Age. How is it possible that two thousand years after a man named Jesus walked this earth, people still to this day believe that he is alive?
In Acts chapter 5, there is a story about the Jewish Council (called the Sanhedrin) who condemned Jesus to death for claiming to be the Messiah. Two months after they had rid themselves of Jesus they expected things to go back to normal. But they didn’t. Instead, the disciples of Jesus, now called Apostles, kept talking about Jesus like he was alive. To complicate things, they did miracles of healing in the name of Jesus. Thousands of people were coming to believe that Jesus was, in fact, the Messiah.
Continue reading “1 Peter 1:8 (a) — Testimony”
Then Jesus cried out, ”Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me.”
In the early days of personal computing (This would have been late 80’s or early 90’s in my world) computers were sort of a glorified typewriter. Getting a paper printout that looked like a professionally typeset page was next to impossible. Even if the software you had was good enough, there was another level of frustration waiting in getting a printer to print what you wanted.
Then some genius came up with WYSIWYG. This stands for “What You See Is What You Get.” It was the beginning of being able to print what you saw on your computer screen and have it look exactly the same way on the printed page.
People in Jesus’ day were used to hearing what righteousness was supposed to be about. They just never seemed to see it in real life. Until Jesus. When Jesus started His ministry, people caught a glimpse of the Real Deal. God incarnate talked the talk and walked the walk. He forgave sins, he healed infirmities, he cast out demons and he confronted the phony-baloney establishment.
Continue reading “WYSIWYG – John 12: 44-45”
Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
There is an old expression that goes, “Seeing is believing.” It means that people will believe what they see, even if they don’t believe what they are told. It is an interesting standard because sometimes we see things that we shouldn’t believe, like a magician’s tricks or a movie that presents something as real that is actually a deception.
However, in this case, Jesus left no room for doubt. Lazarus was dead; buried, and like the old joke about what Mozart and Beethoven are doing these days, he was decomposing. Jesus called him back to life and people saw it happen. Not just a few people, either. John tells us that “many” of the Jews believed in Jesus after seeing this demonstration of God’s power.
Continue reading “Seeing is Believing – John 11: 45”
“Yes, Lord,” she replied, ‘’I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
Martha’s response to Jesus is concise and succinct.
“I believe…” She states clearly what she believes. This is not an opinion of hers or wishful thinking, but a belief.
Continue reading “Yes, Lord – John 11: 27”
After he had said this, he went on to tell them, ”Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”
His disciples replied, ”Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
So then he told them plainly, ”Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
Belief is an odd thing. Certain beliefs are accepted without question. In many cases, we believe what our parents believed, for no other reason than wanting to be part of the family. Sometimes, less often, we arrive at a belief as the result of a personal journey; a research project or extended study of some sort.
Continue reading “So You May Believe – John 11: 11-15”