Bible League: Living His Word "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the Kingdom of heaven.We live in a culture that places a lot of importance on holding rational beliefs based strictly on evidence. In his famous 1877 essay "The Ethics of Belief," W.K. Clifford states that "it is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence." Clifford's essay is directed against all those who place value on faith and religious belief apart from evidence. Our verse for today was Jesus Christ's response to His disciples' question as to who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. His view is that unless one has the faith of a little child, one cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven. And He goes on to say that "whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:4). From Jesus' point of view, when one is confronted with the truth of the gospel and God's word, one should accept it in faith as a little child, without any attempts to determine if there is sufficient evidence to accept it. After all, one should never question God's veracity. How should the Christian who takes Jesus at His word respond to someone like Clifford? Perhaps the first thing that should be said is that Clifford himself does not escape taking a position of faith. His faith, however, is not in God's Word, but in the word of human reason. His belief that only rational beliefs based on evidence should be accepted cannot itself be a rational belief based on evidence. It is a belief born of faith---child-like faith in the ability of human reason to show us the way in the world. Everyone, then, even W.K. Clifford, has child-like faith. It's just a question of what that faith is placed in. Christians do not need to feel like second-class citizens just because they agree with Jesus that one should have child-like faith. A decision must be made. Upon whom will you place your faith? Upon whom will you entrust your present and future well-being? Will you have faith in the word of fallible and limited human beings and their human reasoning? Or will you have faith in the Word of the infallible and unlimited God of heaven and earth? Bible in a Year Old Testament Reading1 Samuel 7, 8, 9 1 Samuel 7 -- Samuel Subdues the Philistines NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 1 Samuel 8 -- Israelites Disregard Samuel's Warning and Demand a King NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 1 Samuel 9 -- Saul Anointed by Samuel NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Luke 13:1-21 Luke 13 -- Call to Repent; Healing on the Sabbath; Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast; Enter by the Narrow Door NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion The heart of the godly thinks carefully before speaking;the mouth of the wicked overflows with evil words. Insight The righteous weigh their answers; the wicked don't wait to speak because they don't care about the effects of their words. It is important to have something to say, but it is equally important to weigh it first. Challenge Do you carefully plan your words, or do you pour out your thoughts without concern for their impact? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Psalm 25:18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.It is well for us when prayers about our sorrows are linked with pleas concerning our sins--when, being under God's hand, we are not wholly taken up with our pain, but remember our offences against God. It is well, also, to take both sorrow and sin to the same place. It was to God that David carried his sorrow: it was to God that David confessed his sin. Observe, then, we must take our sorrows to God. Even your little sorrows you may roll upon God, for he counteth the hairs of your head; and your great sorrows you may commit to him, for he holdeth the ocean in the hollow of his hand. Go to him, whatever your present trouble may be, and you shall find him able and willing to relieve you. But we must take our sins to God too. We must carry them to the cross, that the blood may fall upon them, to purge away their guilt, and to destroy their defiling power. The special lesson of the text is this:--that we are to go to the Lord with sorrows and with sins in the right spirit. Note that all David asks concerning his sorrow is, "Look upon mine affliction and my pain;" but the next petition is vastly more express, definite, decided, plain--"Forgive all my sins." Many sufferers would have put it, "Remove my affliction and my pain, and look at my sins." But David does not say so; he cries, "Lord, as for my affliction and my pain, I will not dictate to thy wisdom. Lord, look at them, I will leave them to thee, I should be glad to have my pain removed, but do as thou wilt; but as for my sins, Lord, I know what I want with them; I must have them forgiven; I cannot endure to lie under their curse for a moment." A Christian counts sorrow lighter in the scale than sin; he can bear that his troubles should continue, but he cannot support the burden of his transgressions. Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 27:11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a level path Because of my foes.Psalm 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. Psalm 25:8,9 Good and upright is the LORD; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way. • He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way. John 10:9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. Hebrews 10:19-22 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, • by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, • and since we have a great priest over the house of God, • let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hosea 6:3 "So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth." Psalm 25:10 All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. 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. |
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