Evening, January 24
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Bible League: Living His Word
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

We live in a world where many people are being taken captive by "hollow and deceptive philosophy". This is primarily true of young students who attend secular universities. Many of them grow up in Christian homes only to give up the faith of their parents after attending university.

This is especially tragic because the secular philosophies they are being captured by are, indeed, hollow and deceptive. They are deceptive, because the answers to life's big questions they propose are not based as advertised on philosophy per se, but on philosophy guided by deeply secular religious beliefs. They are also hollow, because these secular beliefs are born of mere "human tradition" inspired by the "elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ."

The problem, then, is not philosophy itself, for it is an inescapable part of the academic enterprise. You can't do any of the special sciences without also doing philosophy. The problem is, as the Apostle Paul makes clear, hollow and deceptive philosophy. The problem is philosophy practiced apart from the Christian faith and practiced instead from a secular perspective. The problem is philosophy guided by the limited perspective of mere human beings and human traditions under the malign influence of the elemental spiritual forces of this world.

The Christian faith has an overall perspective and specific teachings that have implications for every area of life. The academic life is no exception to the rule. It is incumbent upon Christians who are called to the academic life, therefore, to work out these implications for philosophy and the sciences and to challenge the hollow and deceptive philosophies of our day.

Our light must shine in academia, like everywhere else.

Bible in a Year
Old Testament Reading
Exodus 7, 8


Exodus 7 -- Aaron's Staff; Plague of Blood

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Exodus 8 -- Plagues of Frogs, Gnats and Flies

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


New Testament Reading
Matthew 17


Matthew 17 -- The Transfiguration of Christ; Healing a Boy with a Demon; Paying the Temple Tax

  NIV   NLT   ESV   NAS   GWT   KJV   ASV   ERV   DRB


Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library.
Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion
But will God really live on earth among people? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built!
Insight
Solomon marveled that God would be willing to live on this earth among sinful people. We marvel that God, through his Son, Jesus, lived among us in human form to reveal his eternal purposes to us. In doing so, God was reaching out to us in love.
Challenge
God wants us to reach out to him in return in order to know him and to love him with all our hearts. Don't simply marvel at his power; take time to get to know him.
Morning and Evening by Spurgeon
Luke 10:40  Martha was cumbered about much serving.

Her fault was not that she served: the condition of a servant well becomes every Christian. "I serve," should be the motto of all the princes of the royal family of heaven. Nor was it her fault that she had "much serving." We cannot do too much. Let us do all that we possibly can; let head, and heart, and hands, be engaged in the Master's service. It was no fault of hers that she was busy preparing a feast for the Master. Happy Martha, to have an opportunity of entertaining so blessed a guest; and happy, too, to have the spirit to throw her whole soul so heartily into the engagement. Her fault was that she grew "cumbered with much serving," so that she forgot him, and only remembered the service. She allowed service to override communion, and so presented one duty stained with the blood of another. We ought to be Martha and Mary in one: we should do much service, and have much communion at the same time. For this we need great grace. It is easier to serve than to commune. Joshua never grew weary in fighting with the Amalekites; but Moses, on the top of the mountain in prayer, needed two helpers to sustain his hands. The more spiritual the exercise, the sooner we tire in it. The choicest fruits are the hardest to rear: the most heavenly graces are the most difficult to cultivate. Beloved, while we do not neglect external things, which are good enough in themselves, we ought also to see to it that we enjoy living, personal fellowship with Jesus. See to it that sitting at the Saviour's feet is not neglected, even though it be under the specious pretext of doing him service. The first thing for our soul's health, the first thing for his glory, and the first thing for our own usefulness, is to keep ourselves in perpetual communion with the Lord Jesus, and to see that the vital spirituality of our religion is maintained over and above everything else in the world.

Daily Light on the Daily Path
Genesis 49:11  "He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey's colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes.

Isaiah 5:1,2  Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. • He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.

Jeremiah 2:21  "Yet I planted you a choice vine, A completely faithful seed. How then have you turned yourself before Me Into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?

Galatians 5:19,21-23  Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, • envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. • But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, • gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

John 15:1,2,4,8  "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. • "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. • "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. • "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org.

Morning January 24
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