Category Archives: Bible Insights

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Exerting Eternal Influence

Just Be Faithful and Available to God

Getting Closer to Jesus: I would argue that Andrew is one of the most inspiring and important figures in the New Testament because of his simple, non-threatening, doable example of bringing lost people into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. The cumulative effect, compounded through history, of his simple but winsome witness ranks him among the greatest in terms of exerting eternal influence.

Andrew didn’t have any special skills or advanced evangelism training; he just simply brought people to meet Jesus and then let Jesus do the rest.

Even though Andrew was the first disciple Jesus enlisted, and even though he was the first to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, he never achieved the fame that his brother Peter did. Jesus never included Andrew in his inner circle, like Peter. Andrew wasn’t there at the Transfiguration, like Peter. Andrew wasn’t there when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, like Peter. Andrew never preached like Peter, never wrote a letter that got included in the New Testament, like Peter, and was never recognized as a key leader in the early church, like Peter.

Peter’s name appears close to 200 times in the New Testament, 96 times in the four gospels—only Jesus is mentioned more often. We find Andrew in only 11 different places, 10 of them in the Gospels—mostly in a list of the disciples, and 5 of those were as “Peter’s brother.” Only 3 times do these passages tell us any details about Andrew—and even that is minimal. Someone once asked a conductor what the most difficult instrument to play in the orchestra was. He said, “second fiddle.” That was Andrew!

Yet beneath everybody’s radar, Andrew was being used in the most powerful way of all—to bring people to Christ. Andrew not only brought Peter to Jesus, but in John 6:8, we find it was Andrew who brought the boy with the loaves and fish to Jesus, and then one of the outstanding miracles of the Bible took place: The feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. On account of Andrew, we have a story preserved that has helped millions to understand that Jesus is the true and only Bread of Life. Then, in John 12:20, some Greeks came to Philip and said, “We want to see Jesus.” Philip took them to Andrew, and what did Andrew do? He hooked them up with Jesus.

Andrew became both the first home missionary—when he led Peter to Christ and the first foreign missionary—when he led these Gentiles to Jesus.

In Andrew, you don’t find any special skills, or an incredibly charismatic personality, or an extremely articulate speaker. You just found a guy who is faithful, available, and useful. He just kept bringing everybody who got near him to Jesus.

 

Tradition tells us that Andrew just kept on introducing people to Jesus for the rest of his life. He was finally put to death at a ripe old age in Greece. His death came after he befriended Maximilla, the wife of the Roman proconsul Aegeas, and led her to faith in Christ. Aegeas became so enraged over this that he ordered Andrew to offer sacrifices to a heathen god. When Andrew refused, he was severely beaten, tied to a cross, and crucified. That cross, shaped like an X is today called St. Andrew’s cross. It is said that he lingered for two whole days before dying, but the whole painful time, he preached the Gospel to everyone who came by. Andrew never stopped introducing people to Jesus, even to his last breath.

Every time Andrew is mentioned, he’s bringing someone to Jesus—then Jesus does the rest, and lives get transformed. His single talent seems to have been leveraging his earthly relationships to introduce seekers to eternal life through Christ. He doesn’t lay the “Four Spiritual Laws” on people; he doesn’t whip out a “Roman Road” tract on them. He just says, “Hey, come with me; I’ve got someone I want you to meet.”

That’s exerting eternal influence, which is as simple as inviting family, friends, and acquaintances into your spiritual environment—your church, your small group, your ministry team—and letting God do the rest.

Take the Next Step: Following Andrew’s example, exert some eternal influence this week by bringing someone to church with you.

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Grace and Truth

That Is What God Is

Getting Closer to Jesus: There is a cute story about a family who brought their newborn daughter home from the hospital for the first time. The mom was a little concerned how the baby’s 4-year-old sister—who had been the only child to that point—would handle this new addition to the family. So, mom and dad instructed “big sister” that she could be around the baby only when they were there, and that she had to be very loving and very gentle.

It wasn’t long after that mom walked by the baby’s room only to discover the sister hovering over the crib. Mom was alarmed, so she snuck up behind the little girl to see what was going on, and noticed she was gently stroking the baby’s hair with her hand and whispering, “Baby, can you tell me what God is like…I’ve forgotten.”

That’s one of the deepest cries of the human heart, you know: To know what God is like.

Bible teacher R.C. Sproul was once asked, “What, in your opinion, is the greatest need in the world today?” His answer was that people needed “to discover the identity of God.” He was then asked, “What is the greatest spiritual need in the lives of church people?” His answer was much the same: “To discover the true identity of God. If believers really understood the character and the personality of God, it would revolutionize their lives.”

The good news is that God has made himself knowable. He is not some unapproachable deity way out there in a galaxy far, far away. He is the God who is here, who is near, and who will reveal himself to those who long to know him.

Jesus, the one who knew the heart and nature of God better than anyone, taught us in the opening line of the Lord’s prayer to approach God as “Our Father in heaven,” which literally means, “Our Father, who is as close as the air we breathe.” Moses exclaimed in Deuteronomy 4:7. “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?”

What does God want us to know? He is near and he is knowable, that’s what. Furthermore, he has made himself knowable in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. And what do we know of God through Jesus? Primarily, God is the perfect blend of grace and truth!

Grace and truth are what Jesus perfectly modeled. Remember Jesus’s interaction in John 8 with the woman caught in the act of adultery who was about to be stoned? After embarrassing her executioners into inaction, he gently asked this guilty woman, “Where are your accusers? Has no one judged you guilty?”

She replied, “No one, Sir.”

At that, Jesus offered these grace-truth words that would utterly right this sinner’s upside-down life: “Then I don’t either. Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Behind this amazing display of grace and truth, as Walter Trobisch said, what we find is that Jesus “accepts us as we are but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are.” Jesus brings our sin to the surface, and when we acknowledge it by confession and repentance, he totally, graciously, and forever forgives it. The adulteress went away forgiven, with a new clean heart and a brand-new chance at life.

Only grace and truth can do that for sinners.

Becoming a Christian—not just in name only, but placing life-altering, radical trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior—is predicated upon forgiveness. God’s forgiveness of our sins is the pivot point of authentic faith. When we accept Jesus, Jesus accepts us—just as we are but when he accepts us, we cannot remain as we are. Jesus brings our sin to the surface, and when we acknowledge that sin by confession and repentance, he totally, graciously, and forever forgives it. That’s why, when you read the Gospels, prostitutes, publicans, and other big-time sinners responded to Jesus so readily. At some level, they recognized their sin. That was why forgiveness was so appealing to them—and still is!

What does the world need more than anything right now? What does your sinful next-door neighbor so desperately need? The same thing you need: God’s forgiveness! And when you meet Jesus, you meet God’s full forgiveness—given freely but costing you a changed life.

And when you meet Jesus, you meet God. And when you meet God, you get a whole lot of truth and a big dose of grace—and it completely revolutionizes your life.

Take the Next Step: As best as you can, examine your life from the point of view of those who know you best. Would they say that you are completely truthful but at the same time overflowing with grace? If not, offer your life to God today and, if you dare, ask him to do whatever it takes to make you more like him.

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How To Save Planet Earth

Let Your Little Light Shine

Getting Closer to Jesus: An insightful person pointed out that some people change their ways when they see the light, others only when they feel the heat.

First, some good news: God is in control. He has an unstoppable plan—and if you are a fully devoted follower of his Son, Jesus Christ, you are in the very center of that plan. Good things are in store for you. Hang on to that as you read on.

Now a dose of reality: Most people would agree that Planet Earth is in serious trouble; it is rapidly, steadily being engulfed in moral, cultural, and spiritual darkness. We don’t need a prophet of doom to tell us that; we are reminded of it every time we open our eyes. Ask the average man or woman on the street and they will tell you that humanity is headed in the wrong direction.

Obviously, this present world has a growing list of seemingly unsolvable needs—poverty, ignorance, climate upheaval, famine, disease, political instability, crime, violence, the threat of war, war, drug abuse, human trafficking, intolerance, religious persecution, the breakdown of the family, and on and on the list goes. Though these problems are nothing new to the world scene, there is now a sense of foreboding in both high officials and ordinary citizens around the globe that these problems are swallowing up any chance for progress toward civility and stability that we might have been moving toward at some point.

 

 

The writer of Judges prophetically summed up our twenty-first-century world in the last verse of his book when he wrote, “There was no controlling moral authority to govern people’s lives, so everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) Unfortunately, in the day of the Judges, and in our day, “what was right,” with no presence of the “Controlling Moral Authority”, without fail produces moral, cultural, economic, and global chaos. Predictably, as Alexander Solzhenitsyn famously lamented, “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.” Yes, what we see and sense today is what happens when humanity forgets God. In his famous Templeton Address, “Men Have Forgotten God”, Solzhenitsyn said

The failings of human consciousness, deprived of its divine dimension, have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century…Yet we have grown used to this kind of world; we even feel at home in it.

Don’t get used to it! Don’t ever feel at home in this present world. Don’t accept the growing darkness as inevitable. Why? The light that has come into this dark world, and while most reject the light for the growing darkness, you can live in that light and even be a reflector of that light in the darkened corner of the world in which you live.

Take the Next Step: The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:27, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Since Christ Jesus lives in you by his Holy Spirit, how about you let his light shine through your life in the darkened corner of the world to which he has assigned you? How? Re-read Matthew 5:1-16 where the Lord calls us to let our lights shine. I think you might come up with a few ways to turn on your high beams for Jesus.

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You Are Not Your Own—You Are Owned

Jesus Owns Every Square Inch and Every Split Second

Getting Closer to Jesus: Think for a moment about the significance of the words found in John 1:3: “Jesus created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make.”

Now if you hold the Bible to be true—that it is God’s authentic, inspired, authoritative Word—then there is no more significant chapter in the Bible than John 1. And there are no words that have greater bearing on your life than what you find in verse 3.

“He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make.”

What does that mean for you simply, yet profoundly, this: You are not your own; you are owned. God created you, and as your Creator, he has a right to rule over you. You are not the god of your life. You are not the king of you. You have no rights of godship, no authority to sit on the throne of your kingdom, no grounds for demanding your way, getting what you want, fulfilling your wishes, achieving your dreams, or tickling your fancy.

Yes, you are owned. Therefore, self must be dethroned. Actually, it must be obliterated!

Since God created you, along with everything else that you see and don’t see, he therefore owns everything. Since he designed everything in the universe, then everything exists for his pleasure and his purpose. Moreover, John 1 tells us that since Jesus was with God from the beginning, and is God, and was the agent of creation, then he holds the deed of ownership over you. And that ownership is honored through his Lordship over your life. As Abraham Kuyper said,

There is not an inch of any sphere of life of which Jesus Christ the Lord does not say, ‘Mine.’

Now, the good news is that his ownership is not grievous or burdensome. God is no tyrant, even though he has every right to be. In fact, it is just the opposite with God: It is an ownership that is loving, generous, and gracious. John says this is clearly demonstrated in the life of Jesus, who came to earth in human form to reveal in living color the God who was previously revealed in his created order and by his written law (John 1:10-11) yet now is revealed as the God who is full of glory, grace and truth (John 1:14). Furthermore, to all who surrender and reorder their lives to God’s rightful ownership, he gives them the right to enter into a relationship with God in the same way that Jesus lived in relationship with God: as child with Father (John 1:12).

 

Yes, you are owned. And as self is dethroned, even obliterated, ownership becomes relationship. Then, through relationship, you will witness his glory, you will discover his truth and you will experience his grace. You will now be living in the loving care of the eternal Father as his dearly loved child.

Abraham Kuyper was right: “There is not an inch of any sphere of life of which Jesus Christ the Lord does not say, ‘Mine.’” If you claim Jesus as Lord of your life, then he holds the deed of ownership over you. And as you take steps to dethrone self and enthrone Jesus as your sole owner, you will personally and powerfully experience this beautiful reality declared throughout the Gospel of John: Light that can never be extinguished—the abundant life now and eternal life forever.

With that in mind, it is imperative that you realign everything about your life—words, relationships, thoughts, wishes, plans, actions, patterns—to the fact that Jesus is Lord of you. Everything else must become a distant second to that. Truly, since he created you, anything that doesn’t fall under his absolute Lordship over your life doesn’t deserve to exist at all. As William Barclay said,

The essence of Christianity is not the enthronement but the obliteration of self.

Obviously, you will need the help of the Holy Spirit to achieve complete surrender to his utter ownership—which is a subject that much of the rest of Scripture fleshes out. But as you take the step to dethrone self and enthrone Jesus as the owner of you, you will experience this beautiful reality of John’s Gospel: the light of life (John 8:12); a light that can never be extinguished—the abundant life now (John 10:10) and eternal life forever (John 3:16).

Take the Next Step: Perhaps you may want to join me in offering this heartfelt prayer, “Jesus, you are the rightful ruler of me. I surrender everything I am and trying to become to your Lordship. Take me over, clean me up, set me on a course that will only and always bring glory to you, and demonstrate your ownership of me to the world. I cannot do this on my own—obviously—so thank you for making this a reality by the same power that created me. In Jesus name, amen!”

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Just a Closer Walk

A Devotional Journey Through John’s Gospel in 2025

Getting Closer to Jesus: More than anything, we were created for an intimate relationship with God. Now, there are undoubtedly other things that will please God and bring glory to him through our lives, but nothing is more honoring to the Creator than to walk in a close, personal, and loving relationship with him.

According to the Bible, the only way that gets expressed is by knowing Jesus: by being in an all-consuming, life-altering journey that comes from persistently hanging out with Jesus as his devotee. The Apostle John, the one who knew and loved Jesus as much as any human being ever, said this was, in itself, eternal life.

Acts 4:13 shows us the inevitable outcome of being in that kind of intimate, persistent, loving relationship: “When the Jewish council saw Peter and John’s courage and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

Peter and John had simply “been with Jesus” until they looked and acted increasingly like him—they had assumed his mindset, absorbed his characteristics, and expressed his behavior. They had hung out so intensely with Jesus that they had absorbed him to the point they were now exuding him without even thinking about it. They had been transformed through that relationship and conformed to that relationship!

That is what you and I were created to experience: A relationship with Jesus whereby his life gets transmitted to us and through us so that we begin to communicate the infectious DNA of Jesus Christ.

You may not have a religious pedigree or be well-versed in theology. You may not be naturally winsome, or articulate, or even all that likeable. Your “cool factor” may be pretty much non-existent. Maybe you lack more than you have. That doesn’t matter! What you do have trumps all you don’t have: You have every possibility that Peter and John had to “be with Jesus”.

That is the greatest goal you can have—that at the end of the day, the only thing people can do with you is to take note that you have been with Jesus. They may not like you or be impressed with you, and they may wish you would just go away. But when it is all said and done, all they can do with you is to admit, “Obviously, you have been hanging out with Jesus!”

Make that your goal today. And then start hanging with Jesus. Pure and simple—that is eternal life!

You were made for that! The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:29, “From the beginning God decided that those who came to Him should become like His Son.” That is God’s inexorable plan: to make you like Jesus! He is orchestrating everything in your life right now for that purpose—circumstances, disappointments, temptations, opportunities, blessings. At this very moment, God is leveraging heaven’s resources to conform your character to Christ’s. That ought to give you confidence. As A.W. Tozer noted,

When I understand that everything happening to me is to make me more Christlike, it resolves a great deal of anxiety.

So your journey into Christlikeness is not all up to you! God is rearranging heaven and moving earth to give you the opportunity to be with Jesus—and to become like Jesus.

Yet divine transformation needs human collaboration. In a way, being with Jesus is on you! It is not just a mindset or a good intention. It is an intentional posture. As much as anything, to get intentional with your growth toward Christlikeness will require of you the daily practice of being with Jesus.

I would simply suggest that each day—and throughout the day—you literally invite Jesus to join you in what is in front of you. Literally ask Jesus, “How would you handle this situation? What do you think about this opportunity? What should I do about this challenge? How would you respond to this person?” Just practice being with Jesus in the ordinary moments of your daily life.

To get practical with this, think about it this way: If you were to literally spend time with Jesus, what three attributes, attitudes, and or actions would you witness in him? Here is what I think Jesus would be doing on any one of his ordinary days:

  1. Jesus would be unbendingly truthful yet incredibly gracious with people.
  2. Jesus would serve people—especially those we would consider the least worthy of his service.
  3. Jesus, even when he was treated unfairly, would never retaliate; he would only offer love and grace in return.

Gracious, serving, forgiving—there are thousands of descriptives I could come up with—you too. So take a moment and write down the first three qualities of Jesus that come to your mind. Then your assignment this week will be to intentionally hang out with Jesus, consciously and consistently doing those three things you wrote down that you believe Jesus would do. Give that your best shot, and most likely, you will look a little more like Christ by this time next week!

And maybe people will take note that you have been with Jesus.

Take the Next Step: There are several spiritual disciplines that are obvious and essential to being with and becoming like Jesus: Consistent quiet times, Bible reading, Scripture memory, prayer, and church attendance. I can’t encourage you enough to commit to those spiritual routines! One of the things I will be doing in 2025—and I would like to invite you to join me—is to slowly and intentionally read through the writings of the Apostle John, the one who knew and loved Jesus as much as anyone. So, start with me on January 1 in the Gospel of John, and let the journey toward Christlikeness begin.

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God Never Forgets

He May Be Slow, But He Is Never Late

SYNOPSIS: God keeps his promises—every one of them. He can’t help himself; it is just his nature. He had promised through the prophets a redeemer for Israel hundreds of years before, and 400 silent years had passed since the last prophet Malachi had uttered the oracles of God until the time the angel Gabriel revealed the Lord’s plan to Zechariah. Though God’s promise had been ever so slow in coming, it was nonetheless fulfilled. He hasn’t forgotten you either. While his promises to you may be slow in coming, they won’t be late!

God Never Forget... He may be slow, but He is never late. - Ray Noah

Moments With God // Luke 1:67-73

Then Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant.”

Over the years the church has given Zechariah’s song the title, “The Benedictus,” or “The Blessing.” The lyrics of this brief song, which we read in Luke 1:67-79, were sung by one of the proudest and oldest first-time fathers of all time. But more than being just a happy little ditty from a happy old daddy, Zechariah proclaims two timeless and timely truths about God’s character that you and I probably need to hear again today.

First, we are reminded that God never breaks a promise! John’s birth was living proof of God’s faithfulness. In His song, Zechariah belts out to all who will listen, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people.” (Luke 1:68)

God keeps his promises—every one of them. He can’t help himself; it is just his nature. He had promised through the prophets a redeemer for Israel hundreds of years before, and 400 silent years had passed since the last prophet Malachi had uttered the oracles of God until the time the angel Gabriel revealed God’s plan to Zechariah. Though God’s promise had been ever so slow in coming, it was nonetheless fulfilled.

Zechariah’s song reminds us that even though God may be slow, he is never late!

Second, God never forgets. Zechariah’s name meant “God remembers.” And in his song, Zechariah exploded with the joyful realization that God does remember: “God has remembered his oath…” (Luke 1:72-73)

Zechariah must have been discouraged. He was a priest of a nation that had turned its back on God. He and Elizabeth, whose name meant “the promise of God,” had been faithful to God all their lives—they lived up to the meaning of their names. Yet God had not blessed them with a son, and wayward Israel continued to be oppressed by its pagan enemies.

But Zechariah clung to this truth: Our Creator remembers! God knows who we are, where we are, and what we need. He remembers us. He remembers his promises, and God graciously acts at the proper time.

Isaiah 49:15-16 offers this critical truth to which we must fiercely cling, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.”

Zechariah’s song reminds us that God can’t forget!

If you are reading these words today and feeling a little forgotten by God, thank God you’re wrong! Zechariah reminds you from first-hand experience through his song that God remembers you and will fulfill every single one of his promises to you at the proper time!

So be faithful!

Take A Moment: Take a moment to thank the Lord for his unfailing faithfulness. He remembers his promises to you and he will fulfill them all. Rejoice in him today, then offer your life faithfully back to him and his purposes.

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God’s Capacity for Anger Reveals His Capacity for Love

Things That Really Tick God Off

SYNOPSIS: God is love, yet he experiences the emotions of hate, abhorrence, and anger without having his goodness or graciousness diminished in the least. In fact, God’s capacity to become incensed over certain things is an appropriate and vital part of his love. Love, for instance, demands the emotion of anger and even hate over injustice, neglect, or abuse. Goodness gets upset over evil. Grace presupposes the need for itself, recognizing the need to compensate for disgrace. So, the hatred and disgust of God should not be surprising to anyone who truly understands God’s loving character. Rather, it should be expected, desired, and even appreciated. In fact, to love what God loves requires us to hate what God hates.

To love what God loves means... - Ray Noah

Moments With God // Proverbs 6:16-19

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up conflict in the community.

Hate! Detest! Those are words we don’t normally associate with God. After all, God is love. Right?

The fact is, God is love, and yet he experiences the emotions of hate, abhorrence, and anger without having his goodness or graciousness diminished in the least. In fact, God’s capacity to become incensed over certain things is an appropriate and vital part of love.

Love, for instance, demands the emotion of anger and even hate over injustice, neglect, or abuse. Goodness gets upset over evil. Grace presupposes the need for itself, recognizing the need to compensate for disgrace. So, the hatred and disgust of God should not be surprising to anyone who truly understands God’s character. Rather, it should be expected, desired, and even appreciated.

What is it that causes God such deep displeasure? Seven things, according to this proverb: 1) a prideful look, 2) deceitful words, 3) bloody hands, 4) wicked plotting, 5) evil ambitions, 6) false witnessing, and 7) shalom-breaking divisiveness. Interestingly, these seven things listed in verses 16-19 are a recap of Solomon’s warnings given earlier in the chapter in verses 12-14:

  1. Arrogance (v. 13): Solomon refers to one who “winks with his eyes.” It pictures someone who has a proud heart, is haughty, or prideful.
  2. A lying tongue (v. 12): Solomon calls it a “perverse mouth.” Since lying is prohibited in the Top 10 List of Divine Prohibitions, it is no wonder that God detests lies and liars.
  3. Hands that shed innocent blood (v. 13): Solomon speaks of “fingers” that slyly signal deceit, showing that bloody hands can also refer to one who personally, deliberately, and strategically profits at the expense or misfortune of another.
  4. A heart that devises wicked schemes (v.14): This is a person who “plots evil with deceit in the heart”. It is a conniving person who is completely out of step with the loving heart of God.
  5. Feet that are quick to evil (v. 13): It is “one who shuffles his feet” or a person whose first inclination is toward evil. Their initial tendency is always and aggressively sinful.
  6. A false witness that pours out lies (v. 12): It refers to a “corrupt mouth.” It is one who violates the ninth commandment, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”
  7. One who stirs up dissension in the comunity (v. 14): Solomon calls out the one who “always stirs up trouble” (NLT). This one is an agitator who thrives on discord.

Make no mistake, the God of love and grace we know expresses hatred toward those whose hearts are habitually inclined toward these kinds of wicked and destructive behaviors.

But this list of seven things God hates is also interesting in that it tells us a lot about the character of God. If you know what someone passionately dislikes then you know the inner passions of that person. What does God’s hatred tell us about his character?

  • He is a God who values true humility (clearly demonstrated in Jesus, who being in very nature, God, humbled himself—Philippians 2).
  • He is a God of truth (God is not prone to human weakness that he would lie—Numbers 23:19).
  • He is a protector and advocate of the downtrodden and disadvantaged (He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing—Deuteronomy 10:18).
  • He is a God whose motives are pure (with him there is no shadow of turning—James 1:17).
  • He is a God who is quick to do good (How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts—Matthew 7:11).
  • He is a God of justice (The Lord is known by his justice—Psalm 9:16).
  • He is a God of unity (Jesus’ most urgent prayer was that his followers would be one, just as he and the Father were one—John 17:12).

Living within God’s pleasure means avoiding his anger and his wrath, particularly by avoiding these seven no-nos. But it is more than that. It is also understanding his character and cultivating his qualities in our lives until we are conformed to the very image of his Son. When we truly understand what God hates, we will hate it too, and will passionately avoid those kinds of behaviors. And when we truly understand what God loves, we will passionately pursue those qualities.

Hmmm, a love-hate relationship; Maybe there’s something to it!

Take A Moment: Honestly ask yourself if any of those seven sins are habitually present in your life. Ask someone who knows you if they are characteristic of you in any way. Be ready to listen to their honest answer. If you are weak in any one of the seven areas, take a moment to prayerfully write down an action plan to eliminate that weakness from your life.