[b]JUNE 7[/b]

[u]WHO IS YOUR EXAMPLE?[/u]

[i]Be thou an example in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12)[/i]

The Christian churches of our day have suffered a great loss in rejecting the example of good men, choosing instead the “celebrity of the hour” for their pattern.

We must agree that it is altogether unlikely that we know who our “greatest” men are.

One thing is sure, however—the greatest man alive today is the best man alive today. That is not open to debate.

Spiritual virtues run deep and silent. The holy and humble man will not advertise himself nor allow others to do it for him.

The Christian who is zealous to promote the cause of Christ can begin by living in the power of God’s Spirit, and so reproducing the life of Christ in the sight of men. In deep humility and without ostentation he can let his light shine.

To sum it all up: the most effective argument for Christianity is still the good lives of those who profess it!

AWT

_________________
Mike Balog

[b]JUNE 8[/b]

[u]MAKE GOD’S WILL OUR WILL[/u]

[i]And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? (Acts 9:6)[/i]

The mystery of man’s free will is far too great for us!

God said to Adam and Eve: “Thou shalt not eat from this tree.” Here was a divine requirement calling for obedience on the part of those who had the power of choice and will. When they disobeyed they usurped the right that was not theirs!

The poet Tennyson must have thought about this for he wrote in his In Memoriam: “our wills are ours, we know not how; our wills are ours to make them Thine!”

“We know not how;” then Tennyson girds himself and continues, “Yes, our wills are ours to make them Thine.”

As created beings, that is our only right—to make our wills the will of God, to make the will of God our will!

God is sovereign, and we are the creatures. He is the Creator and therefore His is the right to command us with the obligation that we should obey.

It is a happy obligation, I might say, for “His yoke is easy and His burden is light!” It is important to agree that true salvation restores the right of a Creator-creature relationship, acknowledging God’s right to our fellowship and communion!

AWT

_________________
Mike Balog

[b]JUNE 9[/b]

[u]WHY SETTLE DOWN?[/u]

[i]That ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:19)[/i]

Why should a Christian “settle down” as soon as he has come to know the Lord?

I blame faulty exposition of the New Testament for stopping many Christians dead in their tracks, causing them to shrug off any suggestion that there is still spiritual advance and progress beckoning them on.

It is the position of some would-be teachers that everyone who comes into the kingdom of God by faith immediately obtains all there is of God’s spiritual provision.

I believe that such a teaching is as deadly as cyanide to the individual Christian life. It kills all hope of spiritual advance and causes many believers to adopt what I call “the creed of contentment.”

I am sure you agree with me that there is always real joy in the heart of the person who has become a child of God. Sound teaching of the Word will then hold out the goal of moving forward, emulating the Apostle Paul’s desire to become a special kind of Christian!

AWT

_________________
Mike Balog

[b]JUNE 10[/b]

[u]FALSE PRETENDERS[/u]

[i]When the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions. (Matthew 19:22)[/i]

All persons who are alienated from God and outside of Christ are part and parcel of a mighty deception!

They are called upon to pretend that they can have peace of mind within and that they can be relatively happy and make a big success of their human lives if they have youth and wealth and morality and high position.

In that sense of what is going on all around us, David never had to apologize for writing that “every man is a liar!” The whole human concept of success and happiness and inner peace, based upon who we are and what we have, is completely false.

The rich young ruler who came to question Jesus had wealth, morality, position and youth. But his very first question gave the clue to his own inner emptiness of life: “What good thing should I do, that I may have eternal life?”

He knew very well that there is not a person alive who has eternal youth or eternal position or eternal righteousness. So, like every other man, he had to make a choice!

AWT

_________________
Mike Balog

[b]JUNE 11[/b]

[u]COMPROMISE IS COSTLY[/u]

[i]I pray that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. (John 17:15)[/i]

Christianity today is so entangled with this present world that millions never guess how radically they have missed the New Testament pattern.

Compromise is everywhere—but actually no real union between the world and the Church is possible. When the Church joins up with the world it is the true Church no longer but only a pitiful hybrid thing, an object of smiling contempt to the world, and an abomination to the Lord!

Nothing could be clearer than the pronouncements of the Scriptures on the Christian’s relation to the world. The confusion which gathers around this matter results from the unwillingness of professing Christians to take the Word of the Lord seriously.

This whole thing is spiritual in its essence. A Christian is what he is not by ecclesiastical manipulation but by the new birth. He is a Christian because of a Spirit which dwells in him. Only that which is born by the Spirit is spirit, no matter how many church dignitaries work on it!

AWT

_________________
Mike Balog

[b]JUNE 12[/b]

[u]CHRIST MADE THE WORLD[/u]

[i]God hath spoken unto us by his Son by whom he made the worlds. (Hebrews 1:12)[/i]

Think about the world into which our Lord Jesus Christ came—it is actually Christ’s world!

Every section of this earth that we buy and sell and kick around and take by force of arms is a part of Christ’s world. He made it all and He owns it all.

Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, made the world. He made the very atoms of which Mary was made; the atoms of which His own body was made. He made the straw in the manger upon which He was laid as a new-born baby.

Let me digress here. I hear an occasional devotional exercise on the radio, in which the participants ask: “Mary, mother of God, pray for us!” It is only right that we should express our position based on the Word of God, and the truth is that Mary is dead and she is not the “mother of God.”

Mary was the mother of that tiny babe, for God in His loving and wise plan of redemption used the body of the virgin Mary as the matrix to give the eternal Son a human body. We join in giving her proper honor when we refer to her as Mary, mother of Christ.

AWT

_________________
Mike Balog

[b]JUNE 13[/b]

[u]LOVING GOD ONLY[/u]

[i]And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Matthew 24:12)[/i]

The first and greatest commandment is to love God with every power of our entire being. Where love like that exists, there can be no place for a second object.

Yet popular Christianity has as one of its most effective talking points the idea that God exists to help people to get ahead in this world! The God of the poor has become the God of an affluent society. We hear that Christ no longer refuses to be a judge or a divider between money-hungry brothers. He can now be persuaded to assist the brother that has accepted Him to get the better of the brother who has not!

Whoever seeks God as a means toward desired ends will not find God. God will not be one of many treasures. His mercy and grace are infinite and His patient understanding is beyond measure, but He will not aid men in selfish striving after personal gain. If we love God as much as we should, surely we cannot dream of a loved object beyond Him which He might help us to obtain!

AWT

_________________
Mike Balog

[b]JUNE 14[/b]

[u]NO ONE CHANGES GOD’S LAW[/u]

[i]I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:8)[/i]

Because we live in a period known as the age of God’s grace, it has become a popular thing to declare that the Ten Commandments are no longer valid, no longer relevant in our society.

With that context, it has become apparent that Christian churches are not paying attention to the Ten Commandments.

But Dwight L. Moody preached often in the commandments. John Wesley said he preached the commands of the Law to prepare the way for the gospel. R. A. Torrey told ministers if they did not preach the Law they would have no response to the preaching of the gospel. It is the Law that shows us our need for the gospel of salvation and forgiveness!

It is accurate to say that our binding obligation is not to the Old Testament Law. As sincere Christians we are under Christ’s higher law—that which is represented in His love and grace. But everything that is morally commanded in the Ten Commandments still comprises the moral principles that are the will of God for His people. God’s basic moral will for His people has not changed!

AWT

_________________
Mike Balog

[b]JUNE 15[/b]

[u]ASCRIPTION OF GLORY[/u]

[i]Yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. (1 Peter 1:18)[/i]

I am discovering that many Christians are not really comfortable with the holy attributes of God. In such cases, I am forced to wonder about the quality of their worship.

The word “holy” is much more than an adjective saying that God is a holy God. It is an ecstatic ascription of glory to the triune God. Everything that appears to be good among men and women must be discounted, for we are humans. Abraham, David and Elijah, Moses, Peter and Paul—all were good men, but each had his human flaws and weaknesses as members of Adam’s race. Each had to find his own place of humble repentance. Because God knows our hearts and our intentions, He is able to restore His believing children in the faith!

So, we should be honest and confess that much of our problem in continuing fellowship with a holy God is that many Christians only repent for what they do, rather than for what they are!

AWT

_________________
Mike Balog

[b]JUNE 16[/b]

[u]THE MYSTERY IN WORSHIP[/u]

[i]Behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. (Exodus 3:2)[/i]

Consider the experience of Moses in the desert as he beheld the fire that burned in the bush without consuming it. Moses had no hesitation in kneeling before the bush and worshiping God. Moses was not worshiping a bush; it was God and His glory dwelling in the bush whom Moses worshiped!

This is an imperfect illustration, for when the fire departed from that bush, it was a bush again.

But this Man, Christ Jesus, is eternally the Son. In the fullness of this mystery, there has never been any departure, except for that awful moment when Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). The Father turned His back for a moment when the Son took on Himself that putrefying mass of sin and guilt, dying on the cross not for His own sin, but for ours.

The deity and the humanity never parted, and to this day, they remain united in that one Man.

When we kneel before Him and say, “My Lord and my God, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever,” we are talking to God!

AWT

_________________
Mike Balog