The truth is more valuable than any earthly possession and it would be worth a man selling everything he owns just to possess the truth.
In every way, God is greater than man. A man would have to be a thief to claim equality with God. Yet, Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
Christ was no thief, but He allowed Himself to be crucified with and for thieves. Why did He allow this? Love compelled Him to bear the sins of many.
God knows everything, but this does not eliminate man’s responsibility to confess his sins. Failure to do so forfeits God’s practical forgiveness.
Very few understand that the tongue is one of the most dangerous weapons possessed by man. It is commonly used to wound, deceive, and corrupt others.
Most people assume the Lord’s actions are motivated almost solely because of His love for man. Yet, God works for His own glory and for His own name’s sake.
Interestingly, the Lord actually commands His people to be angry! This may surprise or concern some believers who fail to study the entirety of scripture within context, but the Lord admonished believers at Ephesus to be angry. No doubt this was a call for a righteous anger with a cause, but nonetheless it was a call for anger. Why? The Bible points out that a godly anger can put a stop to sin. According to Proverbs 25:23, “The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.” This directly correlates to the context of Ephesians 4:26 as the surrounding passages speak of ceasing from sin. Simultaneous to the Lord admonishing believers to be angry, He also cautioned them not to let their righteous anger turn into sin.
Man’s opinion concerning the sinfulness of sin very rarely reflects God’s holy, perfect, and righteous declarations. This is because man does not think like God. The Lord expressed these sentiments in Isaiah 55:8-9 when He said, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, . . . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Even a cursory study of rebellion verifies these truths as a man generally thinks of it more lightly than he ought. Man describes rebellion as strong willed or independent; however, God provides an accurate description as He states that “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” Because God likens rebellion to witchcraft, the Old Testament punishment for rebellion was likewise death (Deuteronomy 21:18-23). There can be no doubt as to the seriousness of this sin from God’s perspective.
With all the difficult challenges that a woman faces within the home, it should not be surprising that the Lord repeatedly gave warnings against a woman with a contentious spirit. How does the downward spiral begin? She may spend her life serving others with little to no thanks. She may honour and submit to a husband who deserves little honour or authority. If she does not continually walk with the Lord, she can become disillusioned with the Lord and with her duties as a mother and wife. She might begin to be contentious (Proverbs 21:9; Proverbs 25:24; Proverbs 27:15) causing greater problems in the home, perhaps to the point of causing those she loves to become bitter against her (Colossians 3:19).
The world constantly and consistently contradicts the truths of God. For instance, it has convinced mankind that it is manly to start a fight and cowardly to cease from strife. As is almost always the case, the world’s natural way of thinking stands in stark contrast to true scriptural teachings. According to scripture, “It is an honour for a man to cease from strife.” This reveals that the most honourable of men are those who through God-given wisdom are able to bring strife to a peaceable resolution without the need for war. A fool, however, continues to meddle until a fight breaks out. The Bible clearly states the dangers of meddling, yet a fool chooses to ignore the scriptural warning to his own hurt.
