July 14 – Groaning for Better Accommodations

“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked.” – 2 Corinthians 5:1-3 (NASB)

We need first to reflect back to the last verses in chapter 4. Paul writes of our physical body which is constantly in the process of decay and will eventually die. While he was referring to the normal aging process, he adds the emphasis that his lifestyle sped up that process. Sometimes it does. Perhaps we need to check and see if the activity that is speeding up the decay of our bodies is something of eternal value in the Kingdom? Or, is our effort amounting to nothing that brings glory to God? Paul’s metaphor for the physical body is understandable because many people were nomadic tent dwellers, and Paul the tentmaker knew much about tents. Paul had a passionate longing to be free and good reason to be eager of when he would be separated from his earthly body; its accompanying sins, frustrations, and relentless weaknesses. But what will be next for us? Unlike the pagans who thought the spirit is released into a nebulous infinity of nothingness, Paul makes clear that the as believers our hope for the next life is not a disembodied spiritual life, but a real, eternal, resurrection body in heaven with God.

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January 31 – Building With Faith

“ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” Jude 20-21 (ESV)

The letter by Jude is short with only 25 verses. It’s not one of the most read books in the New Testament yet it’s message is necessary for building our faith. Jude, a half-brother of Jesus Christ, wrote this letter to believers urging them to contend for the faith and to guard against and condemn the apostates. He called for discernment on the part of the church and for a rigorous defense of biblical truth.  The basis for our Christian life is our faith which is a gift from God. We became members of God's family by His grace when we believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior. It is God's desire that our faith grow stronger as it should be constantly increasing. This happens as we trust God in more and more areas of our lives. This growth in faith is the point of these verses. It is our responsibility to build ourselves up in our most holy faith. As we pay attention to what God teaches us about Himself through the Holy Spirit from what we hear taught in the Bible taught by preaching and study, we will be building ourselves up in our faith. 

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January 15 – Out of Mercy, Life

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.”  Jude 20-21 (NASB)

This verse is from the letter by Jude which is itself so short there are no chapter divisions given to it.  This verse encourages God's people to live by faith.  We all remember that it is by faith in Jesus as our Savior that we are saved and become children of God.  It is also true that we live our own Christian lives by faith and therefore faith is the basis for our living each day.  We are encouraged today to increase our faith every day.  We need to recognize that this is possible.  The more we know about God's promises to care for our needs the more we will trust Him.  We do this by praying in the Holy Spirit.  God has promised us eternal life is ours through our merciful and loving Lord Jesus Christ.  And, all this is what is happening as we build ourselves up in faith as our verse today encourages us to do.    

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January 15 - Building Ourselves Up in Faith

“But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,” Jude 20 (NIV)

The letter by Jude is short and has no chapter breaks. We realize that the basis for our Christian life is our faith. We became members of God's family when we believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior. After being saved by faith we continue on believing and living by faith. It is God's desire that our faith become stronger and it should be constantly growing. This happens as we trust God for more and more aspects of our lives. This growth in faith is what our verse talks about. It is our privilege and our responsibility to build ourselves up in our faith. God gives us many opportunities to exercise our faith to help it grow. One way to do this is to pay attention to what God teaches us about Himself in the Bible. It is a promise that as we hear the Bible taught and preached and we pay attention, we will be building ourselves up in our faith. God is with us and His Holy Spirit is in us to teach us.