Bible League: Living His Word I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.— 3 John 4 NKJV This verse came to my mind this weekend because my newest grandson is being baptized on Sunday. He will be among the fourth generation to wear a baptismal gown hand-made by my great aunt in the 1940s. Some who see such a display (it is a long, fancy, lacy thing) comment that it is a very nice family tradition. To me, it means much more than tradition. To me, it is a symbol, a little bit like that of baptism itself, of the covenant faithfulness of God to generations of my biological family. God intended for fathers to pass down the knowledge of God to their children (Deuteronomy 6:7). We have the examples of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah; and when our children take up the faith of their parents as their own, we praise the Lord. I rejoice and thank the Lord that my biological family has a history of faith. I treasure it. John, the beloved disciple and gospel writer, was not speaking of his biological children when he penned this verse in a letter to Gaius. John also references children in his other two letters (1 John 2:1, 2 John 1). Whose children is he talking about? Just as Paul called Titus "a true son in our common faith," I believe John is referring to his spiritual children. He is using this endearing term for the members of the Church. He has taught them and discipled them as a father would, and now he rejoices more than anything else that they have taken up the faith as their own and walk in the truth. But are they really John's children, and then whose child is John? All believers are heirs together with Christ, the Son of God. That means we are all God's children. And we know He rejoices to see His children walk in truth. "Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels and of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:10). We are adopted sons of God, not begotten like Jesus, but that did not make us less in God's sight. In fact, He gave His only begotten Son up to death on a cross so that the adopted sons could join the family. And Jesus did not scorn this task either. He did not resent that He had to suffer for a motley crew of adopted sinners. No, but "Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross..." (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus saw it as joy that His Father was adopting all of these children at His expense. Those of us who are parents (or have been children raised by parents) know that raising children in the Lord is a high calling and difficult task, and at the end of it, true faith is not guaranteed. However, when by the grace of God it comes through, it's brilliant! By Grace Barnes, Bible League International volunteer, Michigan U.S. Bible in a Year Old Testament Reading1 Kings 12, 13 1 Kings 12 -- Israelites Rebel against Rehoboam; Kingdom Divided; Jeroboam begins Idol Worship NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB 1 Kings 13 -- Jeroboam's Hand Withered and Restored; Prophet Reproved NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Luke 24:36-53 Luke 24 -- The Resurrection; Road to Emmaus; Appearances to disciples, Ascension NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion But for those who are righteous,the way is not steep and rough. You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them. LORD, we show our trust in you by obeying your laws; our heart's desire is to glorify your name. Insight At times the path of the righteous doesn't seem smooth and it isn't easy to do God's will, but we are never alone when we face tough times. God is there to help us through difficulties, to comfort us, and to lead us. God does this by giving us a purpose and giving us provisions as we travel. God provides us with relationships of family, friends, and mentors. God gives us wisdom to make decisions and faith to trust him. Challenge Don't despair; stay on God's path. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Job 14:14 All the days of my appointed time will I wait.A little stay on earth will make heaven more heavenly. Nothing makes rest so sweet as toil; nothing renders security so pleasant as exposure to alarms. The bitter quassia cups of earth will give a relish to the new wine which sparkles in the golden bowls of glory. Our battered armour and scarred countenances will render more illustrious our victory above, when we are welcomed to the seats of those who have overcome the world. We should not have full fellowship with Christ if we did not for awhile sojourn below, for he was baptized with a baptism of suffering among men, and we must be baptized with the same if we would share his kingdom. Fellowship with Christ is so honorable that the sorest sorrow is a light price by which to procure it. Another reason for our lingering here is for the good of others. We would not wish to enter heaven till our work is done, and it may be that we are yet ordained to minister light to souls benighted in the wilderness of sin. Our prolonged stay here is doubtless for God's glory. A tried saint, like a well-cut diamond, glitters much in the King's crown. Nothing reflects so much honor on a workman as a protracted and severe trial of his work, and its triumphant endurance of the ordeal without giving way in any part. We are God's workmanship, in whom he will be glorified by our afflictions. It is for the honor of Jesus that we endure the trial of our faith with sacred joy. Let each man surrender his own longings to the glory of Jesus, and feel, "If my lying in the dust would elevate my Lord by so much as an inch, let me still lie among the pots of earth. If to live on earth forever would make my Lord more glorious, it should be my heaven to be shut out of heaven." Our time is fixed and settled by eternal decree. Let us not be anxious about it, but wait with patience till the gates of pearl shall open. Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 Corinthians 15:35 But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?"1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 1 Corinthians 15:49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. Philippians 3:20,21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; • who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. Luke 24:36,37 While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be to you." • But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:5,6 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. • After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 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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