Bible Thoughts

February 18, 2001

In order for anyone to please God, he must first "set his heart." The heart of man is the mind, the reasoning part of the human. Without clear intention, it is not possible for one to be pleasing to God. When a person desires to please the Lord, he must have a desire to learn what God desires of him and to follow that desire from the depths of one's being. Ezra was such a man and accomplished much good among the people of God in his day. Please note what Ezra set his heart to do:

1) This man of God knew that he must study the law of the Lord. How can one know what God expects unless he listens to what God reveals? No person can find the truth without the guidance of the New Testament. The truth cannot be found among the disciplines and creeds of men. If any truth is found on their pages, it is nullified by the added thoughts of uninspired humans. Only God can inspire men to reveal His will. He did so in the writings of the apostles and other inspired men. Since the final book of the New Testament, there has been no other revelations.

2) Ezra also knew that learning the word of God without applying its truth to oneself is of no avail. Hence, this man of God set his heart to practice it. Ignoring what one learns from the book of God is like refusing to take the medicine the physician prescribes for an ailment. There is no cure until it is digested! Every person who learns the truth should make it their aim to live up to the principles taught therein. To profess that one believes the New Testament and does not follow it is hypocrisy.

3) The ancient priest followed up his own faith and obedience by resolving to "teach...ordinances and statutes." The truth of God was meant to be shared with others, even in the Old Covenant. Today, the gospel of Christ is the standard for our behavior, as well as the divine rules by which we are to live. This product of God, the New Testament, is to be taught at every opportunity. It can be done by example and by word. God expects every Christian to share the good news of the gospel with others: friends, relatives, acquaintances, neighbors, and others that we meet in our day to day lives.

Let us live as Ezra: be a living example in word and deed of what it means to be a teacher of divine truth.

Walk into any laboratory and you will hear it. Purity is a word not often heard outside of science in society today despite the Bible speaking quite extensively on the subject. Why is this? What does the Bible have to say about it? Can it really be possible for man to benefit from the pursuit of purity today? The concept of purity is most often used in reference to sexual purity and in particular the abstinence from sexual relations before marriage. Being pure in God’s eyes is far more reaching than merely not committing the sin of fornication though. For the spiritually mature God demands more. Purity is the journey that the Christian walks. God is interested in not only the goal at the end of the journey but also the path taken getting there. We have a modern phrase: “The ends justify the means.” For the Christian they most certainly do not. Purity is a continual way of life that the Christian lives and is not merely a specific “thou shalt” or “thou shalt not” followed. Paul told young Timothy to be an example to the brethren by remaining pure(1 Timothy 4:12). This command entailed obeying all specific commands and even going further by following the purpose that was intended within them. Do we ever find ourselves looking for loopholes in the text? When it came time for young Timothy to make that “judgment call” or to interpret scripture, he was able to do that because he was focused upon God by pursuing purity. Matthew 5:8 states that the pure in heart “shall see God.” We see Jesus telling those who desire to follow Him that it is only through hearts purposed to obey God’s command that the individual will begin to truly realize how great God is. The more we are focused upon the path of purity, the more we will see the fruits of righteousness and the better life that results. Ultimately, for the goal of the Christian, it is only through a life filled with the quest for purity that the goal of heaven will be obtained.-Joe Cook

This is our reward: a reward we receive at the end. It’s a reward that we, as saints, are all looking for. A reward that we all want, and when you really take a look at it most men want this reward; not all are willing to work for it, but all want it. “Will it do precious lord, will it do. When I come to the end of my way, will it do?” Have you ever asked yourself this question before? If not ask it now. One day, the time is coming: will the work you have done on earth be enough to get you that tree of life? Will it be enough so that you are able to enter through those gates; will it do? Life is filled with us working, and we work in order to receive some sort of reward for it. Parents raise their children in the way they think is best because they want to see them do well, and when they do well then that is a reward for the parents. The children go to school to get an education because they want to get somewhere in life and when they do that is a reward for them. A life filled with rewards; rewards that many work hard for and receive them. But how often does it happen that your work was not sufficient enough to get you that reward? The exam that we failed, or the job that we didn’t get or maybe the child that did not live up to the expectations of the parents. In life we do not always get the rewards that we are looking for, so how is it that we can be sure that we will receive our reward in heaven one day?

“I’ve tried to be honest and I’ve tried to be true,” is how the song goes, and that is all that we as man can do, try and try again. We should not expect that we will never fall or fail at certain tasks, but all that is expected of us is that we try our best at doing what God wants. And if we give it our best, and we try our hardest then it will do. When we come to the end of the way we will receive our reward, the reward that we all worked so hard for.-Vaughn Botha