IN CHRIST'S NAME

"Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (Colossians 3:17)

What does it mean to do something "in the name of Jesus"? Generally speaking, in the Bible a person's name has to do with his or her character. So doing something in Jesus' name means to do it in His character. It means doing it as Jesus Himself would do it if He were in your place.

-- John Ortberg in The Life You've Always Wanted


#3610

REPENT AND TURN TO CHRIST

"This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus,…" (1 Timothy 2:3-5 NRSV

Repeatedly in Scripture, God calls people to repent, turn to Him, choose the path of life, and do the right thing. These calls seem to indicate that we are not mere puppets, but that human beings, by the grace of God, have the ability to choose good or evil, faith or unbelief.

[In the 1700's John] Wesley spent his life traveling by horseback, in his later years by carriage, to nearly every town and village across England and at times into Ireland, Scotland, and Wales offering Christ to sinners. During the many years when he was rejected by his colleagues and not permitted to preach in their churches, he would go to the center of town where often there stood a "market cross," and from its steps he would preach to the crowds. He preached atop gravestones, including his own father's, and on hilltops and anywhere else he could draw a crowd and be heard.  He was beaten, harassed, and at times pummeled with eggs, rotten vegetables, and even rocks. He did this for decades. Why? Because he believed that God "desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

-- Adam Hamilton in Revival: Faith as Wesley Lived It


#3609

TRANSFORMED

The whole purpose of a devotional life is to grow into what Christ wants us to be.  This means to be so much into Him, and to have Him so much into us, that we are transformed into the likeness of Christ.

-- Tony Campolo in Following Jesus Without Embarrassing God


#3608

BEING HONORABLE

True honor comes as the result of being honorable… "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you," is the first of the Ten Commandments with a promise. The children are challenged to honor parents unconditionally, but a close observation reveals that parents are expected to live by the other nine commandments. If they do, they are indeed worthy of such honor. The challenge for contemporary parents is that we will so live our lives that we will be worthy of our children's honor and thus our children will find it easy to honor us.

-- Gary Chapman in Five Signs of a Functional Family


#3607

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY OFFER

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

The pardon that God offers is an equal opportunity offer. God makes this offer to spectacular sinners, boring sinners, nasty sinners, proper sinners, secret sinners, educated sinners, uneducated sinners, religious sinners, and atheistic sinners. The truth is, God delights in offering His pardon.

-- Bill Hybels in The God You're Looking For


#3606