2020-04-10
Good Morning Dear Ones,
The Holy Spirit commands me to continue furnishing support Scriptures for the book of Colossians. At the same time, He wants me to keep conveying what He is giving me to write about our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationships with other people. There is a truth that stuns me. It is that such a small epistle, compared to some other books, can have so many fundamental and important things to say. Today, the Holy Spirit wants us to know what “grace seasoned with salt” means in the spiritual sense. Grace is defined as unmerited favor, i.e. favor granted by God that none of us deserve. EPH 2: 8-10, “For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that no one can boast about it. God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus He has created us for a life of good deeds, which He has already prepared for us to do.” Those words are like a sweet-smelling shower of fresh, cool water over oneself on a boiling hot day! The Lord’s unconditional love defies complete description. The words, “salt and light,” are used in MT 5: 13-16 to indicate faithfulness and the act of being obediently faithful to the Lord. We all know that small amounts of salt added to certain foods makes them tastier. In this metaphor, saltiness is obedience to the Lord’s teaching, and light means His beneficial effect on the people around us. “You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl. Instead, it is put on a lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way, your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven” [MT 5: 14-16].
Last week, I discussed COL 4: 5-6, “Be wise in the way you act toward those who are not believers, making good use of every opportunity you have. Your speech should always be pleasant and interesting, and you should know how to give the right answer to everyone.” This statement covers a lot of ground. It begins with the understanding that we will study God’s word (the Bible) well enough that we have understood what we’ve read and can convey it to those who ask questions of us about it. It implies that we are living the Christian life taught in it. We must train ourselves to look for His work around us and the blessings inherent in it. It also demands respectful and polite behavior, even patience toward those who question us. The speech of a spiritually mature believer will be pleasant and interesting. Since none of us who are believers knows which non-believing listener will become committed to the Christian faith, we must treat all who question us and listen to our answers, as if they are potential believers. Our Father in heaven gives us just enough information to keep our faith fueled, but not so much that we would know the future or spend our lives afraid of it.
Do you remember DT 6: 4-5? “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your soul, all your heart, and all your might.” This is the statement of the existence of one and only one God. Later, He is defined as “one God in three personalities,” the Trinity. He is God, the Father, the One Who makes all the decisions. God, the Son, “the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the Firstborn Son, superior to all created things” [COL 1: 15]. God, the Holy Spirit-once Christ returned to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit, the Counselor Who must be present in our lives for us to belong to the Father [RO 8: 9]. The Father condemned sin, which is why we need the Trinity in the first place, so that we can be saved.
We are encouraged to examine our lives and answer the question: How does my life match up with all the principles that please God? Long ago, the Psalmist made this request: PS 139: 23-24, “Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts. Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way.” It takes courage and strength of faith to ask this question, but it matters to the Lord that He has our trust. God knows ahead of time how many days are “recorded in His book” it will take before we are ready for Him to take us up into heaven. Yet we are not told how many are in it. Once again, the Lord is asking us to trust in Him and to be honest in our dealings with Him. It is Christ, Who will be the final Judge of our fate, and He loves us with every fiber of His being.
PRAYER: O Lord, many kinds of people have learned Your will and acted to fulfill it. Some were born free; others were enslaved. Some were male and others female. Some were Jews and other were not. Their circumstances didn’t matter, but their practice of faith in Christ did. We were told, in RO 11: 25 that the “stubbornness of the Jews is only temporary, until the time comes when all the Gentiles who will come to faith do so.” It is not our right, but Yours to decide the fate of any individual. You have told us to treat other people as we would want Christ to treat us. We are to forgive others who wrong us, as God has forgiven us [COL 3: 13]. Only one sin, the sin of serial unbelief against the Holy Spirit, is unforgivable [LK 12: 10]. When we confess our sins with openness and honesty before the Lord, He will forgive us. We must stop the sinful attitude and/or behavior from that point on. You brought the gifts of the Holy Spirit to us and have shown us the need to act on them. With unparalleled love, You opened Your storehouse of wisdom to us, thus giving us a way out from under the weight of our sinfulness. We praise and thank You with all our hearts, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: Paul greeted several people at the end of COL 4. The Holy Spirit guides me to describe these people, so we can know who they were and, if possible, what they did. The idea is for us to realize some of the relationships that Paul had with those believers around him. As I examine some of the friendships in my own life, ones that God has clearly forged, I recognize just how blessed He has made me. I’ve learned a lot about what God’s reasonable expectations are for His servants from the examples they have set. My life without those friendships would have been empty and useless indeed! The Lord placed me among these people, because He was making true, PS 40: 1-3. “I waited patiently for the Lord’s help; then He listened to me and heard my cry. He pulled me out of a dangerous pit, out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a Rock and made me secure. He taught me to sing a new song, a song of praise to our God. Many who see this will take warning and will put their trust in the Lord.” We must remember, PS 145: 17-19, “The Lord is righteous in all He does, merciful in all His acts. He is near to those who call to Him, who call to Him with sincerity. He supplies the needs of those who honor Him; He hears their cries and saves them.” Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2020. All Rights Reserved.
<-- Back to Archives