Most men would rather accept lies than to believe the truth. This bias against the truth has been present as far back as the garden of Eden.
Most people view sin as a private or earthy matter. Yet, every sin is against the Lord. In truth, men can sin against the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Throughout man’s sordid history, people have mocked, rejected, and forsaken the Lord. They have chosen to look to gods that cannot save or help.
No man is to be respected above another person in a form of unrighteous judgment. However, does not infer nondiscrimination in every matter.
Each believer will, at some point, be confronted with the conflicting choice to obey God rather than to obey men’s anti-scriptural precepts.
God offers no account of anyone (apart from Jesus Christ) who ever suffered quite like Job. Job in many ways serves as an example for believers today.
Often the best way to expose one’s motives involves asking and answering the question “Why?” This question may resurface at the judgment seat of Christ.
World leaders constantly claim that they hold the solution for how to rid the world of poverty. Yet, the Lord stated that mankind would always have a problem with poverty, at least until the millennium. Believers should be willing to help the poor but must keep in mind that they will never eliminate world poverty. According to Deuteronomy 15:11, “the poor shall never cease out of the land.” In other words, regardless of man’s efforts to give and help, there will always be a group of people who struggle financially. With this in mind, believers should not ignore the physical needs of the poor but should be most concerned with offering the poor spiritual help (Acts 3:6).
Bible-believing Christians in their desire for independence have sometimes been characterized as rebels disapproving of most authority. This characterization should not be the case and our lives should reflect just the opposite mind-set and approach. Those who know the Lord should be the first to obey, submit to (Hebrews 13:17), and pray for (1 Timothy 2:1-2) those in authority. Those who walk in the flesh are the ones who“despise government” and “are not afraid to speak evil of dignities” (2 Peter 2:10; Jude 1:8). There are times when man’s authority comes into direct conflict with God’s authority. In these cases, men must choose to obey God (Acts 5:29). Yet, there are plenty of other times when the people of God need to learn a greater respect for authority.
Far too many believers today are guilty of a very dangerous practice of usurping authority that does not rightfully belong to them. As an apostle, Paul was given an elevated level of authority. As expressed in his writings, Paul understood that his authority differed from that of the other believers in Corinth. It is important to recognize that the apostles’ authority ended with their deaths. Believers only have the authority given to them in accordance to the holy scriptures. Unfortunately, many well-meaning Christians attempt to claim authority that belonged only to a special group of men that lived during the church’s infancy. This authority was given to them in order to confirm the word (Mark 16:14-20). Authority today resides within the word itself.
