Archive: 2023

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 2 “Explore God” – Is there a God? (WATCH HERE)

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We have a hard time in our culture today identifying something as evil.  In fact, even mass shooters of children are at times “excused” because of mental illness or “insanity.”  Mobs of teens and young adults ransack stores and carry out 1000’s of dollars of merchandise and it is dismissed as “They needed it more than the store did.”  Even putting drag queens in front of young children is viewed as “normal” to expose them to gender “options” as youth.

Does this all give evidence of God?

Yes.

In central Texas, we have had a very long and dry summer.  Some have labeled the time as a period of drought.  When there is a drought, there is an absence of water.  The lack of water and the ramifications of it speak to the opposite of water and the benefits of it.  When water is lacking, drought occurs.  If water were not real, neither would be drought.  

Evil is the absence of true love and goodness.  It is what happens when any awareness of love and goodness disappears.  Evil is what happens when any standard of morality is thrown out.  Evil occurs when selfishness reigns as the deciding factor of what is good.  Evil is the absence of any influence by God in the hearts of people.

Goodness is from God…Evil is not.

3 John 11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God.

Love is from God…Evil is not.

1 John 4:16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 

Even though our culture has been redefining or eliminating a standard of morality, there is still a general feeling, “This isn’t right.”  When stores are moving out of cities because of crime, criminals get back on the street, and child molestation is ok under the auspices of gender exploration, people sense, “This isn’t right.”

It’s not.

Remember our conscience is evidence of God’s reality.  It’s a guide of goodness and love and eventually refined by the pages of God’s Word defining goodness and love.  When the influence of the true God is in the hearts of people, peace abounds.  When the influence of God is absent in the hearts of people, evil abounds.

Galatians 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Even if a person was not a Christian and you ask, “In which setting would you like to live?”  one filled with “hatred, discord, jealousy, etc.” or one filled with “love, joy, peace, etc.?”  I don’t think a response would take too long.  The fact that every person would want the second option testifies to the reality that the soul God created in each one of us and each one of us desires to live in the climate that mirrors the image of God…one filled with his love, mercy, grace, and peace. 

 

Apply: How does evil give evidence of God?  Do you agree or not?  Share your response.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for revealing yourself as one full of grace, goodness, love and truth.  Help me to learn and live in these realities each and every day.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 2 “Explore God” – Is there a God? (WATCH HERE)

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If God is real…we would expect to find a natural awareness of him in the hearts of people.

Often times people will reflect on the religious scene of the world and simply say, “We all worship the same God, but just call him by different names.”  

There are a few interesting things about this statement.

First, the fact that across people groups, there is a natural awareness of God.  Virtually every culture has something or someone that they identify as “god” or perhaps multiple things they designate as “god.”  The recognition of a god is an awareness that there is someone more wise and powerful than they are (see yesterday’s devotion).  

Secondly, in these manifestations of “god” there is regularly some sort of behavior that is expected of people to make the “god” happy.  If circumstances occur that are not favorable, it is assumed that something the people have done have angered the “god” and therefore they are being punished.  The solution is then the performance of the people to ins some way appease the “god” and turn the actions they are experiencing to one’s that are more favorable.

This common occurrence across the world is evidence that god is real (To be sure, it does not identify who the true God is! – more on that in a moment.)  Have you ever asked, “Why do religious systems develop around the world with some “theology” that bases the favor of the god on the performance of the people?

First, because there is a natural awareness of God instilled in the hearts of mankind.  King Solomon alluded to this in Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” 

Second, because there is a natural conscience in people that perceive right from wrong and address guilt by activities that are determined to be good and offset that guilt.  The Apostle Paul understood the reality of the conscience that naturally leads us to accountability before God.  He wrote in Romans 2:14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) 

These realities in the world cannot be ignored as evidence for the existence of God.  What people do with them varies immensely.  The Muslim appeases their god with the performance of the Five Pillars.  The Native American appeases the nature gods with their dances, rituals, and sacrifices.  The Buddhists appeases their divine with meditation and escape from the material world.  The atheists makes him or herself god. All of them are seeking to find peace with god…whoever and however they define “God.”

What makes simple all world religions, is yes, they all basically have the same “god” – some manifestation of the inner soul and conscience that seeks to be right with that god.

What makes the God of the Bible stand out over everyone and everything else called God is he is the only one that has truly made himself known to all people through the pages of the Bible and the incarnation of his Son Jesus Christ.  The guess work is removed.  The human invention is eliminated and the One who stands out above everything else called “god” is the God of the Bible who initiated the only solution to a guilty conscience: Jesus Christ.

I don’t know what all the “other gods” would say to the claim that “We all worship the same God and just call him by different names,” but I do know what the one true God would say, (Isaiah 45:5-6) 

I am the Lord, and there is no other;

    apart from me there is no God.

I will strengthen you,

    though you have not acknowledged me,

so that from the rising of the sun

    to the place of its setting

people may know there is none besides me.

    I am the Lord, and there is no other.

 

Apply: What world religions (other than Christianity) are you aware of?  Look at one or two.  What or who do they define as god?  What is the regulated performance one has to do to become right with that god?

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for revealing yourself to us so our souls can be at peace and our conscience at rest knowing you are the true God who has done all for us.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 2 “Explore God” – Is there a God? (WATCH HERE)

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If God is real…

To be clear, I have no doubt that God is real.  What the challenges of this week is being prepared to speak to the question with those that aren’t so convinced.  A tactic used in a debate I watched a while back led the Christian in the debate to give up the use of the Bible to speak to the existence of God.  That’s like disallowing a biography on a person to prove the existence of that person.  (So hint, when you discuss this question, don’t give up a primary source on the existence of God!)

Here’s the logic.

If God is real as the BIble describes, I would expect to see evidence of what the Bible speaks of in the world around me or vice-versa.  Recently our younger daughter had a pick a world leader from a long time ago.  She picked Cyrus the Great of Persia.  What was a “lightbulb” moment for her was realizing that this very king was referenced a few times in the Bible.  If Cyrus was real, not only would he appear in secular recordings of history, but since he intersected with God, he would be referenced in the Bible.  It would only make sense that the things the Bible claims of God would be noticed and seen in the world around us.

So what are those claims?

Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  The chapter then goes on to describe the six days of creation on which God spoke the world into existence and then formed and created mankind on day six.

So if God is real as the Bible assumes and claims and God’s first activity was the creation of all things, you would expect to see evidence of him in nature.  So do we?

Last night our area experienced a strong thunderstorm, winds and hail over 2” in diameter (fortunately it was a short burst and quantity of the big hail…we have no noticeable damage but need to get the roof looked at.) Even though there are those who try to seed the clouds, claim that weather is man-directed, or put the onus on humanity to change the climate, one must acknowledge the power of something greater than ourselves.  Some would explain it away, but the power seen in nature is evidence of a powerful God. 

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

When I came into church yesterday, I noticed a structure built on the table in our kids church out of the magnetic connectors and steel marbles.  It had order, pattern, and structure to it.  My observational assumption was, “Someone made something out of the marbles and connectors.  It’s pretty cool.”  Our observational conclusion when we see design, order, and structure is that it was designed by someone.  We DON’T assume the marbles and connectors just fell off the shelf and landed in the intricate pattern I saw.  If God is real and is the creator of all things, we would expect to find order, structure and design in creation.  One need not look any farther than the human body to discover an order, structure, and design.  The multiple systems that make up our body are organized, structured and design in such an amazing way that they testify to a divine designer.  When we see order in creation, it points to a divine Designer.

A third aspect of creation that speaks to the reality of God is complexity and information.  The double helix design of our DNA contains a myriad of information to instruct each cell its formation and function.  We know that the terabytes of information that can fit on a phone in your pocket is a complex design to store all that information.  We recognize there were pretty smart people in the room to design the complexity of the hardware and then program the complexity of the information.

So it is with God, when we see evidence of complexity and a storehouse of information, we must assume there is a divine being with all wisdom.

If God is real, I would expect to see him in creation…I do…in his power, in his design, and in his wisdom!

 

Apply: What aspects of nature lead you to conclude that God is real?

Prayer: Lord, thank you for giving evidence of your existence in all the work of creation you did.  The heavens truly do declare your glory and the earth the work of your hands! AMEN

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 2 “Explore God” – Is there a God? (WATCH HERE)

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A poll done in 2022 indicates that 85% would strongly agree or agree that God is real.  15% had doubts or certainty that God was not real.  Another part of that poll indicated that in the last 10 years (2012-2022) there has been a 11 percentage point drop in those that believe in God (92% to 81%)

So while perhaps the question, “Is God Real?” was not as common 10-20 years ago, the question is being asked more today, challenged by many and answered in the negative by a growing number of people.

So is God real?

What if someone asked you that?  How would you respond?

On the surface, the answer as a Bible-believing person is, “Of course, God is real.”  On the other hand, the situation that has led a person to deny or dismiss the reality of God, let alone the God revealed at the true God in the Bible becomes more complicated.

Two questions I like to use when this topic has come up in conversation are these:

1. What’s led you to question the existence/reality of God?
2. What would you need God to do to prove to you he was real?

The answer to number one is often an incongruency between what is happening life and what the person believes or feels like God should be doing in their life or the life of others.  When the incongruence is too great, instead of changing one’s understand of God and how he operates, the concept of God is dismissed an other explanations sought after.

The answer to number 2 is often challenged by specific “miracles” that are demanded of God and then the specific request isn’t granted and the reality of God is challenged in the person’s heart.

Remember the story of the person stuck on a roof during a flood and eventually drowned?  Before he drowned, two row boats and a helicopter came to his aid, but he responded to each when asked if he wanted to get aboard, “No I believe God is going to save me.”  When he died and stood before God, he asked, “So how come you didn’t save me?  I trusted  you would.”  To which God responded, “I sent you two rowboats and helicopter.  What more did you want?”

The point is sometimes we set in our minds how WE want God to prove his existence and fail to see what God IS DOING to show his reality and existence.

So we don’t miss it, where is God showing his reality?

By the fourth English word of the Bible, God shows up.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

There is not a page in Scripture that eliminates the reality of God.  Every book of the BIble is filled with references to God, God’s name, God’s activity, God’s interaction with people.  If what the Bible says is true, then we ought to find evidence of God in places he indicates he will show up.

Perhaps at times we look too hard or simply don’t want to confront the reality of God.  God is making himself plain in different venues of life.  It’s these clear manifestations of God we will explore this week so that our faith in God is strengthened.  These evidences have a purpose – so we know God is real and have no excuse to believe or say otherwise.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.  

 

Apply: If you were to make a list of things that prove God’s reality to you, what would they be?

Prayer: Lord, send your Spirit to open my eyes to the many and  varied ways you show yourself to be real in my life and the world around me.  AMEN.

This week’s devotions are based on the Week 1 “Explore God” – Does Life Have Purpose? (WATCH HERE)

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So, does life have a purpose?

This question we’ve been contemplating all week needs an answer.

Actually nearly 85% of people surveyed about this question would strongly agree or agree that life has a purpose.  However, what that purpose is varies greatly.  Some would say life is about enjoying the moment.  Some would say the purpose of life is love and relationships.  Some would focus on impact and making a difference.

The point is most people would answer the question, “Yes, life has a purpose.”

However, any purpose attached to something temporary always has opportunity to be a disappointment.

The common theme in all of these is attaching my purpose to something that is temporary.

Yes.  Life has a purpose.

However, a quote I heard this week and don’t know to whom to give credit is this, “One can’t know their purpose until they know their Creator.”

The fulness of life’s purpose is found when we know our Creator.

God gives life its fullest purpose.

Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Here’s two things that give life ultimate purpose:

First: Live each day to glorify God. 

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

When I recognize I am a creation of the almighty Creator, I ask the question, “God, what do you want me to do today?”  At the core is to live out the two greatest commandments of “Love God” and “Love neighbor.”  We do this not out of obligation or performance to earn something from God, rather we live in response to the love God has shown to us.  “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19)  We live to love because we have come to know how deeply loved each of us is.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)  We also live recognizing that all we are and have is a gift from God.  Martin Luther put it this way as he commented in the “Small Catechism” on the first article of the Apostles’ Creed:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

What does this mean? I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.

So it is only natural for us to use the unique strengths, personality, giftedness and resources to glorify God and be a blessing to others.

Second: Live each day with an eternal perspective.

Live A.L.I.V.E!  What does it mean to be alive? “Always Living In View of Eternity!”  My purpose moves beyond the temporary to the eternal.  Sure, one can enjoy relationships, advance in career, or have material blessings, but those temporary things are not our ultimate purpose.  Rather, these are gifts God gives us to carry out our eternal purpose and perspective.  Time is God’s gift for us to know him and to make him known to others.  God’s ultimate purpose for us in this life is for us to spend an eternity with him in the next.  

It’s that perspective that gives today purpose…that gives every day purpose!

 

Apply: How would you answer, “Does life have purpose?” to someone who asks?

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for creating me and giving me purpose in life.  With your help, lead me to live each day to your glory and with an eternal focus.  AMEN.