The Word For Today

More than a hundred years ago, William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, said, 'The chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, Heaven without hell.' That's as true now as it was then.

Paul exhorted the leaders of the Ephesian church to declare, 'The whole plan of God' (Acts 20:27 GWT). He said: 'Look after yourselves and everyone the Holy Spirit has placed in your care. Be like shepherds to God's church. It is the flock he bought with the blood of his own Son. I know that after I am gone, others will come like fierce wolves to attack you. Some of your own people will tell lies to win over the Lord's followers. Be on your guard! Remember how...I kept warning you with tears in my eyes' (Acts 20:28-31 CEV).

On the eve of Paul's execution, he passed the baton to his successor Timothy with these words: 'Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine...they will turn their ears away from the truth, and turn aside to myths...keep your head in all situations...duties of your ministry' (2 Timothy 4:2-5 NIV).

The Bible says, 'A tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And...the tongue is a flame of fire' (James 3:5-6 NLT). People living in warmer climates know the danger of ravaging bushfires driven by desert winds and can readily identify with these words: 'See how great a forest a little fire kindles' (James 3:5 NKJV)! A single spark from a match has started many massive fires. Spreading faster and farther than we might ever imagine, that kind of fire destroys homes and businesses worth millions of dollars, leaving a scorched landscape and devastated lives.

Similarly, how many reputations have been ruined by a careless word? The impact of our words spreads far and fast, especially in our digital age. A word tweeted anywhere can be retweeted all over the world in seconds. Like a fire, that word can get out of control and do irreparable damage. Hence James wrote: 'No man can tame the tongue' (James 3:8 NKJV). But God can. 'The fruit of the Spirit is...self-control' (Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV).

The Holy Spirit can take a tongue that peddles gossip and turn it into one that brings glory to God. He can take a tongue that spews bitterness and turn it into one that speaks blessing. Gossip is saying something behind someone's back that you would never say to that person's face. Flattery is saying something to someone's face that you would never say behind the person's back. And both are wrong. So let's join the psalmist in praying: 'May these words of my mouth...be pleasing in your sight, Lord' (Psalm 19:14 NIV).

The Bible tells us: 'If we could control our tongues, we...could also control ourselves in every other way. We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth' (James 3:2-3 NLT). If you've ever bridled a horse, you know the bridle that slips over the horse's head and behind its ears has a 'bit', a metal bar that goes in its mouth and lies on top of its tongue. When the rider wants the horse to stop, he pulls back on the reins and the bit presses down on its tongue. The rider who controls the horse's tongue can actually control the horse's whole body - steer it to the right or left and bring it to a stop with a simple pull of the reins.

Likewise, your tongue needs to come under the control of the Holy Spirit. A horse can't bridle itself; the one who masters it puts on the bridle. Try as you might, you can't control your tongue through your own efforts. Haven't you said things you wish you could take back? Haven't you caused trouble for yourself and others by some of the things you've said? And haven't you said things that, in hindsight, you can't believe actually came out of your mouth?

The trouble is that what you say does not originate in your mouth but in your heart: 'Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks' (Matthew 12:34 NKJV). So having a Spirit-controlled tongue is the result of being Spirit-filled and having a heart committed to doing God's will in every circumstance.

There is a saying in baseball: 'Three strikes and you're out.' We tend to play life the same way. We give people two or three chances, but no more. But God never gives up on us; it's not in his nature.

When Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother, Peter presumed, 'Seven times?' But Jesus set the gold standard: he upped it to 'seventy times seven' (Matthew 18:22 NLT). Then he ups the ante even more with a story of a master who forgave his servant a 10,000-talent debt. Let's do a currency exchange. One talent totalled 180 months' wages - that's fifteen years! And that's just one talent. So a 10,000-talent debt totalled 150,000 years of wages. Using today's average life expectancy, it would have taken his servant 2,232 lifetimes to pay off the debt. Of course, the average life expectancy in the first century was less than half than now, so it would have taken twice as many lifetimes to pay off the debt. Let's put this debt into dollar value. Using a minimum wage of $23.50, for a nine-to-five job, Monday to Friday, that's an annual income of about $48,000. This may not seem like much, but when you multiply it by 150,000 years, it totals about $7,200,000,000. That's a huge debt paid off!

Through what Jesus accomplished on the cross, your sin debt - past, present and future - is paid in full. That's a truth you can be confident in and stand on.

Several men went on a mission trip to Haiti where they met a nineteen-year-old young man who loved Jesus deeply. So they invited him to visit them in America and paid for his trip. The young Haitian felt as if he were in another world. He'd never slept between sheets, had three meals a day, used indoor plumbing or tasted a hamburger. When it was time to return to Haiti, they asked him for his impressions of what he'd experienced, and he replied: 'I have really enjoyed my time here with you. But I am also very glad to be going home. You have so much in America that I'm beginning to lose my grip on my day-to-day dependency on Christ.'

Paul spoke of a time of trouble in Asia in which he was 'crushed and overwhelmed' (2 Corinthians 1:8 NLT). Then he wrote: 'As a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God' (2 Corinthians 1:9 NLT). And God wants to bring you to that place also. Yes, he wants you to use the gifts and resources he has provided, but his desire is that you rely completely on him. Only then can he provide everything he desires to give you, because then you will be open, ready and mature enough to receive it.

Remember this: 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear [reverence, respect, obey] the Lord' (Proverbs 3:5-7 NLT).

Several men went on a mission trip to Haiti where they met a nineteen-year-old young man who loved Jesus deeply. So they invited him to visit them in America and paid for his trip. The young Haitian felt as if he were in another world. He'd never slept between sheets, had three meals a day, used indoor plumbing or tasted a hamburger. When it was time to return to Haiti, they asked him for his impressions of what he'd experienced, and he replied: 'I have really enjoyed my time here with you. But I am also very glad to be going home. You have so much in America that I'm beginning to lose my grip on my day-to-day dependency on Christ.'

Paul spoke of a time of trouble in Asia in which he was 'crushed and overwhelmed' (2 Corinthians 1:8 NLT). Then he wrote: 'As a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God' (2 Corinthians 1:9 NLT). And God wants to bring you to that place also. Yes, he wants you to use the gifts and resources he has provided, but his desire is that you rely completely on him. Only then can he provide everything he desires to give you, because then you will be open, ready and mature enough to receive it.

Remember this: 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear [reverence, respect, obey] the Lord' (Proverbs 3:5-7 NLT).