2024-01-12
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Let me begin by giving the reference citations for Christ’s Atonement and its aftermath: His arrest and trial [LK 23: 1-25]; His crucifixion [LK 23: 26-43]; His death and burial [LK 23: 44-49 & 50-56]; His rising [LK 24: 1-14]; On the road to Emmaus [LK 24: 15-35]; Christ’s appearance to the disciples [LK 24: 36-49]; His Ascension [LK 24: 50-53].
The lessons discussed so far are: getting God’s perspective; coming closer to Him; our understanding of God; God judges all on a fair, equitable, and even standard; the consistency of His teaching throughout the Scriptures; faith in the supernatural qualities God has; the value of the gifts of the Holy Spirit; God’s benevolent use of His power. Today, I’m commanded to discuss the benefits of truth and God’s omniscience. Admittedly, this is a tough subject and often misunderstood. In my generation, parenting youngsters was very different than it is today. I must leave the question if it is better or worse now or then. Consider the case of one parent who was military strict and the other who was often negligent. It made for delivering mixed and often confusing messages to children. Giving a child a spanking for misdeeds was acceptable in the past; it no longer is. The same can be said for making a child skip dinner due to his/her wanderlust and irresponsibility about calling home or showing up at the appointed deadline. Backtalking [sassing] a parent was also not acceptable, nor was cursing. The punishment for the latter was to suck on a bar of soap or of broken promises when a weekly allowance was promised and then supposedly forgotten. That money was supposed to be used for carfare (on our city bus/street car system and hot lunches at school). In high school, that money was made up by tutoring other students before and after school. The hope of flute and ice skating lessons, for example, evaporated. A middle school aged child could be so angered that he/she acted out. Hitching rides on a garbage truck and running around with the wrong crowd doing vandalism are so of the ways this was manifested. Only burgeoning academic interests can cause such anger to die away. Mothers that work leave kids coming home to an empty house, making them latchkey children. The practice of families eating together dissolve into a mishmash of different eating schedules. Making God a central Resident in households is rapidly disappearing. All of this is sad indeed!
Without faith in Jesus Christ in our home, I was not exposed to the NT until I finally accept Him as my personal Savior at age 25. It was then, that I read EPH 6: 1-4, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. ‘Honor your father and your mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise—so that it may go well with you and you may enjoy a long life on this earth. Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” Of course, I knew the commandment about “Honor your mother and your father,” memorizing it from an early age [EX 20: 12]. But at that age, I had no idea what that really meant. The idea of raising children to have self-esteem was unheard of in the past. Parents raised their children the way they were raised; it’s all they knew. If the family convened for dinner, conversations at the table were a series of debates in which the youngest child was always, being the low person on the totem pole.
Stories from the Bible, which I didn’t really know when very young, depict the favoritism of one child over another. The quintessential example of that was the story of Jacob’s 12 sons and tragedy of the loss of his daughter, Dinah [GN 30: 14-21; GN 34: 1-31]. In a Jewish family, the culture was to favor boys over girls. Jacob’s favoritism of Joseph and Benjamin also led to some difficult relationships in that family. Such things have been going on throughout mankind’s history ever since.
Now to the issue of truth and God’s omniscience: We must understand what we learn in HE 4: 12-13, “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitude of the heart. Nothing in all creations his hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Those who are sinning and refuse to stop or accept their behavior as wrongdoing have plenty to fear. But the rest of us who are actively participating in the Covenant of Grace, don’t have such worries. This is not to generate self-righteousness, but to take sinners and motivate them to confess to God and stop whatever the sin is. As for truth, when we tell it and live it, we avoid many of the pitfalls we can experience in our lives and relationships.
PRAYER: Living as You live, Lord –in truth and welcoming Your omniscience—allows us to avoid the negative consequences of sinful lives. As you live, there would be no adultery, fornication, unloved children, and each member of Your family would be equally loved and judged. We would obey You, Lord, and not take Your name in vain or worship other gods. Instead, we would take the time to note Your blessings, and always welcome Your presence in our lives. We would take a lesson from IS 26: 8-9 and seek Your example of righteousness. You listen to our prayers and hear what plucks the strings of our hearts. We praise and thank You for showing us what truth and righteousness are. We welcome Your presence in our lives. In the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded to take up the subject of societal fracture, hate-mongering, and failure to accept cultural differences. In preparing today’s devotion, I read from the Bible, as usual, but I also read from the Apocrypha and the Talmud. Both of the latter books are human-crafted, and the Talmud story of Dinah is a series of theories, which don’t have God-inspired origins. They point to the necessity of truth in understanding lessons from true faith that lead to righteousness. While these human stories are entertaining, even thought-provoking at times, they are only stories and not the truth that comes as a blessing from God. We need to learn from reading history because mankind’s actual experiences have the lessons we need to build faith and to live godly lives. As for avoiding trouble, these lessons are of great value. Thanks and praise to God for sharing them with us in the Scriptures!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2023. All Rights Reserved.
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