Spiritual Nuggets

To Ponder For 3-16-08

26. Jesus is called the true light (John 1:9); true bread from heaven (John 6:32,33) and the true vine (John 15:1). In other words, he is the real and genuine amidst many counterfeits who have walked the earth.

27. Jesus is the truth (John 14:6); the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth (John 14:17) and God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). Also, the God of the Bible is the God of truth:

Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth. (Psa 31:5)

In contrast, the evil one is the father of lies and there is no truth in him (John 8:44). Through lies and deception the devil spreads sin and souls are damned. By coming into contact with God’s truth, people are given the facts and a chance to repent and find salvation, etc. They must, however, receive the message and act upon it.

28. A euphemism is a word substituted for profanity or a curse word. New Christians especially seem to be unaware of these and need to clean up this part of their speech, if saying these words. Because many don’t know about euphemisms, they should be mentioned here. The following are all words that are sometimes substituted for the more common curse words and should be eliminated from your vocabulary: heck, darn it, shucks, shoot, dang, jeez, etc.

Furthermore, good Lord, oh my God, good God and other such expressions would be under the category of misusing God’s name. All of this needs to be cleaned up.

29. Things and people are not always as they seem. Consider Mt. 7:15. The only way that we can detect a ravenous wolf in sheep’s clothing is to examine their fruit. Remember, the Word is a judge of the thoughts and attitudes of the heart (Heb. 4:12). We are commanded to test everything (1 Thess. 5:21) and test everyone (1 John 4:1) for our own good.

30. A true Christian is both a peacemaker and a troublemaker. A Christian will help others make peace with God (Mt. 5:9) when they repent, but will also be a starter of conflicts by their witness and life resulting in persecution for them (Mt. 5:10,11). This is similar to Jesus who came to be our peace with God (Col. 1:20; Eph. 2:14) yet did not come to bring peace but a sword and divide families (Mt. 10:34).

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