2020-06-25
1 Petrus 2:2 DB
Dis noodsaaklik vir jou geestelike groei om daagliks Bybelstudie te doen. Professor Howard Hendricks skryf: “Toe ons kinders klein was, het ons hulle groei met ‘n potlood agterop die kasdeur gemerk. Soos hulle groter geword het, het hulle ons gesmeek om te meet hoe lank hulle geword het en dit op die kasdeur te merk. Dit maak nie saak hoe klein die inkrimente was nie, hulle het in opwinding op en af gespring om hulle vordering te sien. Een dag nadat ek een van my dogters gemeet het, het sy my die tipe vraag gevra wat jy wens kinders nie wil vra nie: ‘Pappa, hoekom hou grootmense op groei?’ Hoe kon ek verduidelik dat grootmense nie ophou groei nie – ons groei net in ‘n ander rigting in? Ek weet nie wat ek vir haar gesê het nie, maar tot vandag toe vra die Here nog vir my: ‘Hendricks, word jy oud, of word jy groot?'” Wat van jou? Hoe lank is jy al ‘n Christen? Nege maande? Nege-en-dertig jaar? Die groot kwessie is hoe baie jy al gegroei het. Hoe vorder jy op God se maatstok? Dis wat die apostel Paulus bedoel het toe hy geskryf het: “‘n Babatjie wat pas gebore is, is dors vir ‘n bietjie melk. Net so moet julle altyd die skoon, geestelike melk wil hê. Dit sal julle geestelik groot en sterk laat word as mense wat God s’n is.” Net soos ‘n baba sy bottel gryp, gryp jy die Bybel. Die baba het melk nodig om sy fisiese lewe te onderhou, jy het die Bybel nodig om jou geestelike lewe te onderhou. Die belangrikste rede om dus die Skrif te bestudeer, is dat dit geestelike groei aanwakker. Dis God se primêre manier om jou as individu te ontwikkel.
Sielskos: Hosea 11-14; Luk 2:34-40; Ps 21; Spr 14:17-20
1 Peter 2:2 NAS
Daily Bible study is essential to your spiritual growth. Professor Howard Hendricks writes: “When our kids were youngsters growing up, we set up a growth chart on the back of a closet door. As they grew, they begged us to measure how tall they’d gotten and record it on the chart. It didn’t matter how small the increments were, they bounced up and down with excitement to see their progress. One time after I measured one of my daughters, she asked me the sort of question you wish kids wouldn’t ask: ‘Daddy, why do big people stop growing?’ How could I explain that big people don’t stop growing – we just grow in a different direction? I don’t know what I told her, but to this day the Lord is still asking me, ‘Hendricks, are you growing old, or are you growing up?'” How about you? How long have you been a Christian? Nine months? Thirty-nine years? The real issue is how much have you grown up? Step up to God’s growth chart and measure your progress. That’s what the apostle Peter meant when he wrote, ‘Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.’ Just as a baby grabs for the bottle, you grab for the Bible. The baby has to have milk to sustain its life physically; and you have to have the Scriptures to sustain your life spiritually. So the first reason for studying the Scriptures is that it’s a means of spiritual growth. It is God’s primary tool to develop you as an individual.”
Soul food: Hosea 11-14; Luke 2:34-40; Ps 21; Prov 14:17-20
1 Peter 2:2 NIV
Studying the Bible every day is essential to our spiritual growth, but we can often prioritise other things and reduce our time studying the Bible to a few minutes each day. The Bible should be like food to us. We need to consume it so that we can grow stronger and more mature in our faith. The Bible says, ‘man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD’ (Deuteronomy 8:3 NIV). Peter uses the analogy of babies and milk, saying, ‘crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.’ Babies desire and demand milk on a regular basis. In the same way, we should be desiring God’s Word. But so often we can find ourselves not reading the Bible. Maybe it’s because we don’t understand it, because we have other things we’d rather do, or we’re just too busy. But we need to be determined to feed on God’s Word each day. If we’re struggling, we can start with the basics. Paul said to the Corinthians: ‘I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready’ (1 Corinthians 3:2 NIV). If we’re not ready to get stuck into deep theological Bible studies, let’s start small. We can aim to read the Bible for ten minutes a day, choosing a passage we’re familiar with, and then researching it. We can look online for commentaries, listen to teaching on the topic, and ask the Holy Spirit to show us what it means. Then we can grow in our faith and become more like Jesus.
Hosea 11-14; Luke 2:34-40; Ps 21; Prov 14:17-20
2020-06-24
Luke 19:8 NIV
Zacchaeus got rich by taking more taxes from people than his Roman masters demanded, and pocketing the difference. But after he met Jesus, he said, “If I have cheated people…I will give them back four times as much!” (NLT). Consequently, Jesus said, “Salvation has come to this home today” (v. 9 NLT). Integrity isn’t about regret, or seeking to minimize painful consequences, or attempting to do damage control. It’s about honest repentance, making amends, and living in a way that guarantees you’ll do things differently in the future. Writing about integrity, one pastor says: “People look around them at promiscuity, abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, and mourn its passing. They see officials taking bribes, business leaders demanding kickbacks, investors parlaying inside information into untold wealth, and they lament the demise of integrity. They read about battered wives, jobless husbands, and abused children, and wonder what happened to caring.” The Bible says, “The integrity of the upright shall guide them” (Proverbs 11:3 KJV). Rebuilding your integrity means humbly acknowledging that sometimes your thoughts aren’t fit to print, or that you’ve hurt someone and need to make things right. It’s estimated that 50 percent of American Christians cheat on their tax returns; that’s roughly the same percentage as those who don’t claim to follow Christ! Integrity is who you are when nobody’s looking. Job said, “Does He not see my ways…If I have walked with falsehood, or if my foot has hastened to deceit, let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity” (Job 31:4-6 NKJV). Starting today, rebuild your integrity.
Soul food: Hosea 6-10; Luke 2:21-33; Ps 17; Prov 14:13-16
Luke 19:8 NIV
To have integrity means we do the right thing, even if nobody sees us or knows about it. It’s about who we are when no one is watching. And, as Christians, it’s about living wholly for God. The Bible says, ‘The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity’ (Proverbs 11:3 NIV). Sometimes we make mistakes, and we don’t demonstrate integrity. Zacchaeus is a great example of someone who lost and then regained his integrity. He became rich by taking more taxes from people than his Roman masters demanded, and keeping the extra for himself. But after he met Jesus, he said, ‘If I have cheated people…I will give them back four times as much!’ (NLT). Jesus said, ‘Salvation has come to this home today’ (Luke 19:9 NLT). Rebuilding our integrity means acknowledging that we’ve done something wrong, such as having ungodly thoughts or hurting someone. Then we need to repent of the mistakes we made. This goes further than just owning up to what we’ve done. It means we also make changes to our lifestyles to help us avoid making that mistake again. Zacchaeus made amends by repaying the people he had stolen from, and choosing to live differently from then on. Sometimes we can think that if the things we’re doing aren’t affecting anyone else, then it doesn’t really matter. But God always sees what we’re doing. Job said: ‘Does he not see my ways and count my every step?’ (Job 31:4 NIV). When He sees us, does He see someone with integrity? If not, let’s acknowledge what we’re doing wrong and make some changes to our lifestyles.
Hosea 6-10; Luke 2:21-33; Ps 17; Prov 14:13-16
