Dear readers,
Some of you know that I have been facing some very difficult challenges with my eyesight over the last several months. This problem has made it difficult to do many things, including writing this blog. I apologize for the spotty production during this time. I will be having surgery on my left eye on July 14 that I pray will fix the issue and enable me to function much more effectively that I am right now. Please hold me up in prayer over the next few weeks as I prepare for surgery, and as I recuperate from it. Thank you. And with that, here is today’s blog:
Read with Me
James 1:16-18 (HCSB)
Don’t be deceived, my dearly loved brothers. Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning. By His own choice, He gave us a new birth by the message of truth so that we would be the firstfruits of His creatures.
Listen with Me
Some people were teaching that God is the source for all things, including the temptations which people faced. But as James pointed out in verses 13-15, if people are looking for a source of temptation to do evil, they need to look first at their own hearts, their own worldly desires.
Instead, James assures his readers that God is the source of every good and perfect gift. He is the one who causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and who sends the nourishing rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45). God sends evil only as a punishment on those who do evil, protecting the righteous in the process (Psalm 91).
As James points out very clearly, God does not change. What he commands His people today is what will be required of them tomorrow as well. No one has to worry that the rules will change and shift as they do under human regimes. God’s Kingdom is rooted in His eternity and in His immutability. So, every one of His people can be confident in their own stability. Once we know what God requires, we simply have to live in it. And God will even help us and empower us to do so (Ezekiel 36:27).
Among the many good gifts with which God showers his people is the new birth, being born anew from above, being made spiritually alive so that we can know God and live consciously in His presence. That new birth comes through the word of truth, not just the Scriptures, although they definitely point the way and help us to know who God is and what Je requires. The word of truth also refers to Jesus Himself. It is only through faith in Him that a person can enter God’s Kingdom and receive all He has for them, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
And by receiving that rebirth and the spiritual life that comes through it, the people of God’s Kingdom become the first fruits of the harvest which He is orchestrating. The first fruits are the very beginning of the harvest, not the end. They are offered to God with the assurance that He will bring the rest of the harvest to completion. And those who receive that new life from God are not only the firstfruits, but are themselves the means by which the next phase of the harvest is brought in.
Pray with Me
Father, I remember well the day I surrendered to You and was transformed, receiving not just forgiveness, but new spiritual life which enabled me to have a real relationship with You, and to hear Your voice and see Your hand working all around me. Help me, Lord, to continue to walk in that new life each day. Help me to see myself not as an end product, but as a firstfruit, and the means and the method You can use to bring more and more people into Your Kingdom. Amen.
God bless you!
Pastor Will