Seasons of Life

The idea that life unfolds in seasons is a biblical and universal truth. Life is a blend of joy and sorrow, success and failure, and each season has its purpose. This perspective encourages gratitude during good times and hope during difficult ones. Let’s break this down and explore it with biblical examples:
1. Seasons of Life
The Bible explicitly acknowledges the concept of seasons in Ecclesiastes 3:1-4:
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”
This passage reminds us that life is cyclical. There are seasons of joy and growth, and there are seasons of loss and reflection. Understanding this helps us embrace life's rhythms with patience and trust in God's plan.
2. Rejoice in Good Times
When life is good, it’s an opportunity to rejoice and be grateful.
Example: King David: In 1 Chronicles 16:8-36, David celebrates God’s goodness after bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. He praises God, saying, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” David understood the importance of rejoicing and giving credit to God during times of blessing.
3. Reflect and Ponder in Difficult Times
Difficult times are opportunities for growth, reflection, and dependence on God.
Example: Job: Job suffered the loss of his wealth, health, and family. Yet, he reflected on his trials with humility, saying in Job 1:21:
“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” Job’s story teaches us to trust God in all seasons, knowing He works for our ultimate good.
4. Bad Times Will Pass
Challenges and pain are temporary. God’s promises assure us that difficult seasons will not last forever.
Example: The Israelites in the Wilderness: In Exodus 14, the Israelites faced the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army pursuing them. Though their situation seemed hopeless, God parted the sea, delivering them to safety. This shows that moments of despair can turn into triumph when we trust God.
5. Weeping May Last Through the Night, but Joy Comes in the Morning
This idea comes from Psalm 30:5, a verse that reminds us of God’s faithfulness and renewal.
Example: Jesus’ Death and Resurrection:
On the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, His disciples were devastated. It was a night of deep sorrow. However, three days later, joy came with the morning of His resurrection. This event represents the ultimate hope for believers—that no matter how dark the night, God’s light will shine again.
Application in Life
Rejoice in Blessings: Celebrate and give thanks for the good times.
Be Patient in Trials: Reflect, grow, and hold on to hope during hard times.
Trust God’s Timing: Remember that seasons change, and God’s faithfulness endures.
By recognizing the seasons of life and trusting in God’s sovereignty, we can face every moment with faith, hope, and resilien

Christ’s sufferings

Christ’s sufferings are a profound source of comfort, encouragement, and relatability for believers, offering a deep connection to Him in times of struggle. Let’s explore this fully:
1. Christ’s Suffering Demonstrates His Humanity
Christ, though fully God, became fully human (Philippians 2:6-8). By doing so, He experienced the full range of human emotions, pain, and suffering. Isaiah 53:3 describes Him as "a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief." This means He knows firsthand what it’s like to endure:
Physical Pain: Through His crucifixion and scourging, Jesus endured unimaginable physical agony.
Emotional Pain: He was rejected by His own people, betrayed by a close friend, and abandoned by His disciples.
Spiritual Pain: On the cross, He bore the weight of humanity’s sin and experienced a moment of separation from the Father (Matthew 27:46).
Because He has walked this path, He is not a distant Savior. He understands every form of suffering we endure—whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. Hebrews 4:15 reminds us, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."
2. Christ’s Suffering Gives Our Pain Meaning
Christ’s sufferings were redemptive; they had a purpose. Through His death and resurrection, He brought salvation to humanity. Similarly, our sufferings, when united with Christ, can have meaning and purpose. Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."
Though our pain may feel overwhelming, it is not wasted. God uses it to shape us, refine us, and draw us closer to Him. Moreover, our suffering can become a testimony to others, just as Christ’s suffering became the cornerstone of our faith.
3. Christ’s Suffering Makes Him Our Perfect Comforter
Because Christ suffered more than anyone else ever could, He is uniquely qualified to comfort us in our trials. He endured the full wrath of God against sin—a burden so heavy that no human could bear it. When we feel as though our pain is too much, we can remember that Christ endured even more so that we might have hope.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God." When we turn to Christ in our suffering, we find not only relief but also the ability to extend that same comfort to others.
4. Christ’s Victory Over Suffering Inspires Hope
The story of Christ’s suffering does not end with the cross—it ends with the resurrection. His triumph over death assures us that suffering is not the final chapter. In John 16:33, Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
When we endure pain, we can look to Christ’s victory as a promise of our own. Revelation 21:4 assures us that one day, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
5. Our Suffering is Small Compared to His
While our suffering is real and personal, it pales in comparison to what Christ endured. This doesn’t diminish our pain but instead puts it in perspective. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:17, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."
When we feel overwhelmed, we can remember that Christ bore not only physical pain but the weight of sin for all humanity. Because He has gone before us, we can trust that He will sustain us through our trials.
Encouragement
When you suffer, remember:
You are not alone: Christ is with you, understanding your pain and walking alongside you.
There is purpose in your pain: God uses suffering to shape us into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).
There is hope in Christ’s victory: Just as Christ’s suffering led to glory, your trials will ultimately lead to eternal joy.
Lean into His grace, find comfort in His presence, and rest in the assurance that He has already overcome the world.

Paul's "thorn in the flesh"

Paul's "thorn in the flesh," mentioned in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, is a powerful and multi-faceted lesson in humility, dependence on God, and the sufficiency of God's grace. While Paul never explicitly describes the nature of this "thorn," its meaning and application resonate deeply for Christians. Here's what we can learn:
1. God Allows Challenges for a Purpose
Paul states that the thorn was given to him "to keep [him] from becoming conceited" (v. 7). This teaches that even difficulties can serve a divine purpose, shaping our character, keeping us humble, and refining our faith.
Lesson: Challenges may prevent pride and remind us of our need for God.
2. God's Grace Is Sufficient
When Paul pleads with God to remove the thorn, the Lord responds, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (v. 9). This shows that God's grace is enough to sustain us, even if He doesn't remove the struggle.
Lesson: We may not always receive the answers we want, but God gives us the strength we need.
3. Strength in Weakness
Paul declares, "When I am weak, then I am strong" (v. 10). His reliance on God's power in his weakness exemplifies how struggles can become opportunities for God's strength to shine through us.
Lesson: Weaknesses and hardships can draw us closer to God and allow His power to work through us.
4. Persistent Prayer and Trust
Paul prayed three times for the thorn to be removed, showing his persistent faith. Though God did not take it away, Paul still trusted in God's plan.
Lesson: It's okay to ask God for relief, but we must trust His wisdom if the answer is "no" or "not yet."
5. Perspective on Suffering
Paul did not see the thorn as a punishment but as an opportunity to glorify God. This teaches us to reframe our struggles as part of God's greater plan.
Lesson: Suffering can have redemptive value when viewed through the lens of faith.
6. Empathy and Ministry
Paul's thorn likely deepened his understanding of human struggles, allowing him to minister more effectively to others.
Lesson: Our struggles can equip us to encourage and comfort others in their challenges.
Ultimately, Paul's thorn in the flesh reminds us that God's grace is sufficient, His power is made perfect in our weakness, and His purposes are always for our good and His glory. It challenges us to embrace our limitations and trust in God's sovereignty.
ChatGPT
The Bible is filled with examples of individuals who faced hardships and trusted God through their struggles. These stories teach us about perseverance, faith, and God's faithfulness. Here are some key biblical examples of hardships and the lessons they offer:
1. Job: Trusting God in the Midst of Loss
Hardship: Job lost his wealth, children, and health but remained faithful to God.
Response: Despite his suffering, Job declared, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21). He wrestled with deep questions but never abandoned his faith.
Lesson: God is sovereign, even in suffering. Hardships may test our faith, but they also refine and strengthen it (Job 42:10-17).
2. Joseph: Persevering Through Betrayal and Injustice
Hardship: Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused, and imprisoned for years (Genesis 37-50).
Response: Joseph remained faithful to God, trusting His plan. In the end, he became a ruler in Egypt and saved his family during a famine.
Lesson: God can turn even the most painful situations into blessings. Joseph told his brothers, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20).
3. Moses: Leading Through Difficulty
Hardship: Moses faced rejection from Pharaoh, complaints from the Israelites, and the burden of leading a rebellious nation (Exodus 3-40).
Response: Moses relied on God, seeking His guidance and trusting His promises.
Lesson: God equips and strengthens those He calls, even when the task is overwhelming.
4. David: Enduring Persecution and Personal Failures
Hardship: David was hunted by King Saul, betrayed by his own son (Absalom), and faced consequences for his sins (e.g., Bathsheba).
Response: David turned to God in prayer and repentance, as seen in the Psalms, especially Psalm 51.
Lesson: God is a refuge during trials, and His mercy is abundant for those who seek Him.
5. Elijah: Facing Fear and Burnout
Hardship: After a great victory over the prophets of Baal, Elijah fled in fear from Queen Jezebel and felt completely alone (1 Kings 19).
Response: God met Elijah in his despair with a gentle whisper, providing rest and reassurance.
Lesson: God cares for us in our emotional and spiritual struggles, providing what we need to continue His work.
6. Ruth: Overcoming Loss and Poverty
Hardship: Ruth lost her husband and chose to follow her mother-in-law, Naomi, to a foreign land where they faced poverty.
Response: Ruth remained loyal and hardworking, trusting God’s provision. She eventually became part of God’s plan to bring forth the Messiah (Ruth 4:13-22).
Lesson: God honors faithfulness and provides for those who trust Him.
7. Paul: Suffering for the Gospel
Hardship: Paul endured beatings, imprisonment, shipwrecks, and constant threats for preaching the gospel (2 Corinthians 11:23-28).
Response: Paul continued to rejoice, saying, "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation" (Philippians 4:12-13).
Lesson: Hardships for Christ’s sake are opportunities to glorify God and demonstrate His strength in our weakness.
8. Jesus: Suffering for the Salvation of Humanity
Hardship: Jesus faced rejection, betrayal, and crucifixion, bearing the weight of humanity's sin (Matthew 26-27).
Response: Jesus prayed, "Not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42), demonstrating perfect submission to the Father.
Lesson: Suffering can have redemptive purposes, and through Christ’s sacrifice, we find ultimate hope and victory.
Common Lessons from Hardships in the Bible:
God's Presence: God does not abandon His people in their struggles (Isaiah 41:10).
Growth Through Trials: Hardships produce perseverance, character, and hope (Romans 5:3-5).
Faith Over Fear: Trusting in God's plan brings peace amidst difficulties (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Eternal Perspective: Suffering is temporary and prepares us for eternal glory (2 Corinthians 4:17).
These examples remind us that hardship is part of life, but God is faithful to walk with us through every trial, using it for His glory and our good.

Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
The statement you've shared draws from 2 Corinthians 4:4, which speaks about Satan's role in deceiving humanity and preventing people from seeing the truth of the Gospel. It connects deeply with themes of spiritual blindness, the state of the human heart, and the challenges of modern society. Let’s break this down in depth:

1. "Satan, who is the god of this world"
Satan's Role: This phrase refers to Satan’s significant influence in the current world system. Scripture often portrays Satan as the one who exercises temporary control over the earthly systems—political, cultural, and spiritual—that oppose God (John 12:31, Ephesians 2:2).
God of This World: This doesn’t mean Satan is equal to God but that he has dominion over the fallen world due to sin's entrance into humanity (Genesis 3). Humanity’s rebellion against God has given Satan authority to deceive and manipulate.
Implications: People are led to pursue idols—things that appear fulfilling but ultimately leave them empty. This includes excessive self-worship, pride, and materialism.

2. "Blinded the minds of those who don’t believe"
Spiritual Blindness: The "blinding" described here isn’t physical but spiritual. Satan dulls people's perception of truth, making it hard for them to understand or accept the message of the Gospel. This is why people can be brilliant intellectually yet "blind" to spiritual realities.
Why Blindness Exists:
Sin: Sin distorts our understanding of God and our purpose.
Pride: Pride keeps people from acknowledging their need for God.
Distractions: The world offers countless distractions (entertainment, power, money) that keep people focused on the temporary instead of the eternal.

3. "Unable to see the glorious light of the Good News"
The Good News: This refers to the Gospel message—that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to reconcile humanity to God through His life, death, and resurrection. This message brings light, truth, and freedom to those who receive it.
Why They Can’t See: Those who are spiritually blind cannot see the beauty or relevance of Christ’s message. Spiritual blindness creates apathy, skepticism, or outright hostility toward the Gospel.
The Contrast: While the Good News is described as “light,” spiritual blindness is like darkness. This darkness keeps people trapped in their broken patterns of sin and confusion.

4. "Lovers of self, social media addict, proud, rude, vanity, and chasing materialism"
This description resonates deeply with Paul’s warning in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, where he describes people in the "last days" as being:
“Lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive...lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
Each of these traits reflects spiritual blindness and contributes to the deception Satan fosters:
Lovers of Self:
Self-love, when excessive, becomes idolatry. People prioritize their desires, feelings, and ambitions above others and above God.
Social media often amplifies self-focus—obsession with one’s image, followers, and validation from others.

Social Media Addiction:
Social media can perpetuate comparison, vanity, and an endless craving for attention. People become addicted to seeking approval and validation through likes, shares, and comments.
It distracts individuals from deeper, meaningful relationships and spiritual truths, keeping their focus on superficial realities.
Proud and Rude:
Pride leads people to reject God, as they believe they don’t need Him. It fosters an attitude of superiority, selfishness, and disregard for others.
This pride manifests in rudeness and a lack of humility, where love and kindness are replaced with arrogance and entitlement.

Vanity:
Vanity is an obsession with outward appearances—beauty, possessions, success—that are fleeting. The pursuit of vanity stems from spiritual emptiness and a desire to prove worth through external means.
Chasing Materialism:
Materialism is the belief that happiness comes from wealth, possessions, and worldly success.
Jesus warned against this mindset in Matthew 6:19-21, saying, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… but store up treasures in heaven.”
Despite its promises, materialism leaves people feeling dissatisfied, as it cannot provide lasting joy or fulfillment.

5. Modern Application and the Glory of Christ
The passage emphasizes that Christ is the “exact likeness of God.” To know Jesus is to know God. However, this truth is obscured by the distractions and deceptions of the modern world.
The Glory of Christ: Christ’s life, sacrifice, and resurrection reveal the fullness of God’s love, power, and truth. His glory contrasts sharply with the fleeting and empty “glory” of self-promotion, wealth, and vanity.

The Solution: The only way to overcome spiritual blindness is through divine intervention—God opens the eyes of those who seek Him (John 9:25). When people turn to Christ, the veil of deception is lifted.

In Conclusion
The passage warns that Satan deceives people into focusing on themselves, materialism, and worldly pleasures, which blinds them to the life-changing truth of the Gospel. Social media and modern culture amplify this problem, creating a self-centered, distracted, and spiritually blind generation. The antidote is found in turning to Christ, who reveals the truth and brings freedom from these empty pursuits.
This is both a caution and a call to seek the "glorious light" of the Good News, which can transform lives, hearts, and priorities.

The Divine Impartiality
J. Jortin, D. D.
Romans 2:11
For there is no respect of persons with God.
How is this possible, since all men are what God made them, and since no one thing can more differ from another than one person seems to differ from another?
1. As to the body, one is defective, and another well-formed; one is deprived of some of the senses, or hath them in low degree, another enjoys them all in their full vigour; one is weak and sickly, another healthy and strong; one hath length of days, another is cut off in the flower of youth.
2. As to circumstances; one is poor, and another rich; one unfortunate, another successful; one is doomed to obscurity, another is powerful and in high station.
3. As to temper; one is easily satisfied, and possesses serenity of mind; another is anxious or melancholy, and is plagued with forebodings.
4. As to the passions; they seem to be more impetuous in some, whilst others find them more compliant.
5. As to natural abilities; one hath a strong memory, a lively fancy, a good judgment, a fine taste, and a large capacity; another is deficient in all these respects.
6. As to the external advantages, of country, situation, and education, upon which so much depends; one is placed in a land of liberty, learning, religion, and good manners, and wants no helps of enlarging the mind and improving the heart; another hath his hard lot in regions quite the reverse. To clear up the Divine impartiality from objections consider —
I. WHAT IS RESPECT OF PERSONS, and distinguish between matters of favour and matters of justice.
1. Amongst men, gifts to which another person hath no claim, are free, and none can be accused as a respecter of persons who makes one rather than another the object of his kindness, if he is guided by prudence or by innocent affection. As in the choice of friends or servants, or in beneficence, we cannot keep company with, or employ, or assist everyone, and we may prefer one deserving person to another equally deserving, without being respecters of persons. But in points of justice and matters of trust, whosoever favours the guilty hurts the innocent, or gives or refuses contrary to the eternal rules of right, such an one is a respecter of persons.
2. The same distinction holds true in relation to God's dealings with His creatures. His giving them more or less, His placing them here or there, is a matter of favour, and respect of persons hath nothing to do with it. But in His behaviour to His creatures consequent to their behaviour towards Him, in this He acts by the rules of justice, and in this His justice shall be so manifest as to clear Him from all imputations of partiality.
3. If you examine the Scripture where God is said to be no respecter of persons, you will find that it is as He is Ruler and Judge, and dispenser of rewards and punishments; and so with relation to men, when they are commanded not to respect persons, they also are considered, not as doing favours, but as exercising acts of authority and justice, in a public or private character.
II. THE PRESENT DIVERSITY OF CONDITION AMONGST MEN IS SO UNCERTAIN AND VARIABLE, AND LASTS FOR SO VERY SHORT A SPACE, THAT IT BECOMES IN THIS VIEW FAR MORE INCONSIDERABLE THAN IS USUALLY IMAGINED.
1. Man is called into this world for a few years, and then to depart into eternity. One flourishes, and another struggles with adversity; and whilst we gaze with envy upon the one, and pity on the other, the scene closes, and the vision fades away. It is our future lot alone that can determine us happy or unhappy upon the whole.
2. Even the present condition of men is perpetually varying. All men, more or less, pass through the vicissitudes of what we call good and evil.
3. Even temporal happiness depends not so much upon externals. Many other circumstances are to be taken into account; and of two persons, of whom the one passes for happy, and the other for unhappy, perhaps the sum total of their pleasure and pain is nearly equal.
4. Natural evil, such as poverty, pain, and disappointments, is not always a real calamity, but rather discipline, tending to make the sufferer better, and to guide him to happiness.
III. THE EVILS OF WHICH MEN COMPLAIN ARE OFTEN OF THEIR OWN PROCURING. Virtue has a natural connection with happiness. This connection is sometimes suspended and interrupted by accidental causes; but it holds good on the whole, and vice has the same connection with misery. If the evils to which men were obnoxious were traced up to their causes, we should find that the greater part of them are the consequences either of thoughtless folly or wickedness. Therefore these sufferings are not to be charged to the Divine administration.
IV. THE IMPARTIALITY OF PROVIDENCE, WHATSOEVER DIFFICULTIES MAY ATTEND IT IN THE PRESENT STATE, WILL BE FULLY CLEARED UP IN THE NEXT; and we must wait with patience to that time for the fuller solution of some of our doubts. As to the temporals there is no reasonable objection to the Divine impartiality. It is the moral and religious difference between men that creates the main difficulty. One hath an opportunity of religious improvement, and is a good Christian; another is deprived of this advantage, by no fault of his own, but by having his hard lot in the dark regions of rudeness and of ignorance. In answer to this, the Scripture saith that God will judge the world in righteousness, and deal with everyone according to his talents, and to the use which he hath made of them.
1. All men have it in their power to do what God requires.
2. All those who in the main act suitable to their abilities have a secret influence of God to help them so far as is needful.
3. All such have Christ for their Redeemer, though He never was revealed to them.
4. All those who have thus behaved themselves shall enjoy the beneficial effects of it hereafter, according to the extent of their desires and capacities, and shall have the means of making greater progress in goodness and happiness.
5. All they who by their own perverseness have abused the talents committed to them, shall suffer for it in such manner as the Supreme Wisdom shall judge expedient. Unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required; and unto whomsoever little is given, of him little shall be required. This is the voice of reason, this is the express declaration of our Saviour.
V. MEN, IN MANY RESPECTS, AND WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS, ARE RATHER MORE UPON THE LEVEL THAN WE USUALLY IMAGINE.
1. All men have a mortal body, an immortal soul, the same senses, and much the same powers and faculties.
2. All have the same earth to feed them, the same sun and stars to shine upon them, the same air to breathe, and the same heavens to cover them.
3. All have the same ordinary means and methods to improve themselves, such as diligence, application, sobriety, civility; and all suffer by the contrary vices.
4. As they are reasonable creatures, they have the same great law of reason, or natural religion, to guide and instruct them.
5. As they stand equally in need of the Divine assistance, they all may secure it, if they behave themselves suitably to their situation and circumstances.
6. They are all subject to one supreme Governor, to whom they are answerable, not according to their rank or possessions, but according to their use or abuse of the Divine blessings.
7. Christianity, indeed, hath not been revealed to all; but this arises from other causes, and not from anything in its nature. It is plainly intended for universal use, and where revealed, it is for all classes and conditions.
VI. GOD IS AND MUST NEEDS BE IMPARTIAL, FROM HIS OWN NATURE AND PERFECTIONS.
1. All partiality arises either from vice, weakness, or ignorance; consequently it can find no access to an all-perfect Being.
2. As God is almighty, self-existing, eternal, and independent, all His creatures are at the same infinite distance below Him. Compared with each other, they differ in a vast variety of degrees; but compared with Him, they bear no proportion at all. Therefore He must behold them all as they are created beings, with the same disposition.
3. As He is perfectly wise, He must treat them according to the laws of wisdom and justice.
4. As He is perfectly good, He considers them all as His offspring. He created them to do them good, and nothing can hinder Him from exerting this beneficence, except their undutiful behaviour. Conclusion: Let us imitate God in this perfection. It is indeed extremely difficult for man to be impartial, and therefore we must divest ourselves of those qualities which lead us to unfairness, such as pride, selfishness, party zeal, anger, envy, indolence of temper, capriciousness, etc.
(J. Jortin, D. D.)
https://biblehub.com/.../jortin/the_divine_impartiality.htm
But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes.
For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
luke 12:48

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
"The devil wouldn't be attacking you so hard if there wasn't something valuable in you. Thieves don't break into empty houses." - Matthew McConaughey

 
"The devil’s greatest trick is convincing the world that he doesn’t exist."
the devil will leave you alone when you're not a threat, doing things he's happy with being consumed by the world and for selfish reasons, because you are not a threat to his kingdom. You are going straight where he wants you to be and he has no problem with that. UNLESS.

 
One of man's greatest folly is to think they still have time

TODAY is the day of salvation

The Full Armor of God
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
13Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints. 19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will boldly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it fearlessly, as I should.
The Christian Soldier's Warfare
Theological Sketchbook
Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers…
I. THE ENEMIES WITH WHOM, AS CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS, WE ARE CALLED TO CONTEND.
1. Spirits.
2. Wicked spirits.
3. Formidable spirits.
(1) On account of their strength.
(2) On account of their weapons.
(3) On account of their extensive influence.
(4) On account of their wiles.
II. IN WHAT MANNER WE ARE INSTRUCTED TO CONTEND WITH THEM.
1. In the armour of God.
(1) This must be all put on.
(2) We must retain it till our warfare be past.
(3) We must take and use it whenever assaulted.
2. In the spirit of prayer and watchfulness.
3. In the exercise of firm resistance. Let your resistance be -
(1) Early. At the first approach of the enemy.
(2) Courageous.
(3) Unwearied. Till you conquer.
III. THE REASONS BY WHICH WE SHOULD BE INDUCED THUS TO CONTEND.
1. Because the most important objects depend on this contention.
(1) Your steadfastness;
(2) your liberty;
(3) your glory;
(4) your eternal life.
2. Because victory is certain to the faithful soldiers of Christ.
(1) Victory over the world;
(2) victory over sin;
(3) victory over Satan;
(4) victory over tribulation;
(5) victory over death.
3. Because victory will be attended with certain glory.
(1) A glorious rest from all painful toil and contention;
(2) glorious exemption from all penal evil;
(3) glorious honours;
(4) a glorious throne, crown, kingdom.
(Theological Sketchbook.)
The Evil Angels
J. Parsons.
Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers…
I. HERE ARE PRESENTED BEINGS WHOSE ATTRIBUTES ARE VERY APPALLING.
1. Actual beings, possessing an angelic order of existence.
2. Beings deeply and fearfully characterized by evil.
3. Beings who possess wide power and authority over the world.
II. THE BEINGS HERE PRESENTED ARE ENGAGED IN ACTIVE AND MALIGNANT CONFLICT AGAINST THE INTERESTS OF REDEEMED MEN.
1. Notice the manner in which that conflict is conducted. These principalities, etc., fight against the children of God through the medium of their own thoughts; as those thoughts may be influenced independent of external objects, or as those thoughts may be influenced by the thoughts and passions of other men; and by the various events and occurrences which are transpiring in this sublunary and terrestrial world. It is intended by this power and instrumentality to lead to principles, to actions, and to habits which are inconsistent with the maintenance of the Christian character.
2. Mark the spirit in which that warfare is conducted. It is precisely such as we might expect from the character and attributes of the principalities, the powers, and the rulers against whom we wrestle. It is, for instance, conducted with subtlety and cunning. We find that Satan is said to transform himself into an angel of light. Hence, again, we read of "the devices of Satan" and "the rulers of Satan" as being "the old serpent." It is, further, conducted in cruelty, Hence, we read of Satan as being "the adversary"; we read of his fiery darts; and we are told that he "goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." It is, again, conducted in perseverance. All the statements which are urged with regard to subtlety on the one hand, and cruelty on the other, show that there is one incessant labour, which is perfectly unvaried and unremitting on their part, to accomplish the great designs they have in view with respect to the character and the final destiny of the soul.
3. Observe for what purpose the conflict is designed. That there may be a failure on the part of the redeemed, in their character, their consistency, and their hopes; and this, under the impulse of one dark and fearful result, as bearing both upon God and upon man. As regards God, it is intended that the purpose of the Father should be foresworn; that the atonement of the Son should be inefficacious; and that the influence of the Spirit should be thwarted. And, as bearing on man, it is intended that his life should become bereft of honour, comfort, and peace; that his death should be a scene of agitation, pain, and darkness; that his judgment should he an event of threatening and bitter condemnation; that his eternity should be the habitation of torment and woe; and that over spirits, who once had the prospects of redemption, there shall be pronounced that fearful sentence, "Depart ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."
III. THE KNOWLEDGE, ON THE PART OF REDEEMED MEN, OF SUCH A CONFLICT, OUGHT, AT ONCE, TO BIND ON THEE THOSE PRACTICAL IMPRESSIONS WHICH ARE ESSENTIAL TO THEIR PERSEVERANCE AND VICTORY.
1. The nature of the means of preservation.
(1) A constant and diligent attempt, in the strength of the living God, to live in practical conformity with the doctrines and precepts of the gospel.
(2) Watchfulness.
(3) Prayer.
2. The effect which these means, when used aright, will secure. That the Christian warrior, fighting against these mighty and invisible foes, shall, although faint, yet pursue, and although feeble, shall yet conquer.
(J. Parsons.)

From Centre to Circumference

From Centre to Circumference

Alexander Maclaren
Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me…
The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.' -- GAL. ii.20.

We have a bundle of paradoxes in this verse. First, 'I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.' The Christian life is a dying life. If we are in any real sense joined to Christ, the power of His death makes us dead to self and sin and the world. In that region, as in the physical, death is the gate of life; and, inasmuch as what we die to in Christ is itself only a living death, we live because we die, and in proportion as we die.

The next paradox is, 'Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' The Christian life is a life in which an indwelling Christ casts out, and therefore quickens, self. We gain ourselves when we lose ourselves. His abiding in us does not destroy but heightens our individuality. We then most truly live when we can say, 'Not I, but Christ liveth in me'; the soul of my soul and the self of myself.

And the last paradox is that of my text, 'The life which I live in the flesh, I live in' (not 'by') 'the faith of the Son of God.' The true Christian life moves in two spheres at once. Externally and superficially it is 'in the flesh,' really it is 'in faith.' It belongs not to the material nor is dependent upon the physical body in which we are housed. We are strangers here, and the true region and atmosphere of the Christian life is that invisible sphere of faith.

So, then, we have in these words of my text a Christian man's frank avowal of the secret of his own life. It is like a geological cutting, it goes down from the surface, where the grass and the flowers are, through the various strata, but it goes deeper than these, to the fiery heart, the flaming nucleus and centre of all things. Therefore it may do us all good to make a section of our hearts and see whether the strata there are conformable to those that are here.

I. Let us begin with the centre, and work to the surface. We have, first, the great central fact named last, but round which all the Christian life is gathered.

'The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.' These two words, the 'loving' and the 'giving,' both point backwards to some one definite historical fact, and the only fact which they can have in view is the great one of the death of Jesus Christ. That is His giving up of Himself. That is the signal and highest manifestation and proof of His love.

Notice (though I can but touch in the briefest possible manner upon the great thoughts that gather round these words) the three aspects of that transcendent fact, the centre and nucleus of the whole Christian life, which come into prominence in these words before us. Christ's death is a great act of self-surrender, of which the one motive is His own pure and perfect love. No doubt in other places of Scripture we have set forth the death of Christ as being the result of the Father's purpose, and we read that in that wondrous surrender there were two givings up The Father 'freely gave Him up to the death for us all.' That divine surrender, the Apostle ventures, in another passage, to find dimly suggested from afar, in the silent but submissive and unreluctant surrender with which Abraham yielded his only begotten son on the mountain top. But besides that ineffable giving up by the Father of the Son, Jesus Christ Himself, moved only by His love, willingly yields Himself. The whole doctrine of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ has been marred by one-sided insisting on the truth that God sent the Son, to the forgetting of the fact that the Son 'came'; and that He was bound to the Cross neither by cords of man's weaving nor by the will of the Father, but that He Himself bound Himself to that Cross with the 'cords of love and the bands of a man,' and died from no natural necessity nor from any imposition of the divine will upon Him unwilling, but because He would, and that He would because He loved. 'He loved me, and gave Himself for me.'

Then note, further, that here, most distinctly, that great act of self-surrendering love which culminates on the Cross is regarded as being for man in a special and peculiar sense. I know, of course, that from the mere wording of my text we cannot argue the atoning and substitutionary character of the death of Christ, for the preposition here does not necessarily mean 'instead of,' but 'for the behoof of.' But admitting that, I have another question. If Christ's death is for 'the behoof of' men, in what conceivable sense does it benefit them, unless it is in the place of men? The death 'for me' is only for me when I understand that it is 'instead of' me. And practically you will find that wherever the full-orbed faith in Christ Jesus as the death for all the sins of the whole world, bearing the penalty and bearing it away, has begun to falter and grow pale, men do not know what to do with Christ's death at all, and stop talking about it to a very large extent.

Unless He died as a sacrifice, I, for one, fail to see in what other than a mere sentimental sense the death of Christ is a death for men.

And lastly, about this matter, observe how here we have brought into vivid prominence the great thought that Jesus Christ in His death has regard to single souls. We preach that He died for all. If we believe in that august title which is laid here as the vindication of our faith on the one hand, and as the ground of the possibility of the benefits of His death being world-wide on the other -- viz. the Son of God -- then we shall not stumble at the thought that He died for all, because He died for each. I know that if you only regard Jesus Christ as human I am talking utter nonsense; but I know, too, that if we believe in the divinity of our Lord, there need be nothing to stumble us, but the contrary, in the thought that it was not an abstraction that He died for, that it was not a vague mass of unknown beings, clustered together, but so far away that He could not see any of their faces, for whom He gave His life on the Cross. That is the way in which, and in which alone, we can embrace the whole mass of humanity -- by losing sight of the individuals. We generalise, precisely because we do not see the individual units; but that is not God's way, and that is not Christ's way, who is divine. For Him the all is broken up into its parts, and when we say that the divine love loves all, we mean that the divine love loves each. I believe (and I commend the thought to you) that we do not fathom the depth of Christ's sufferings unless we recognise that the sins of each man were consciously adding pressure to the load beneath which He sank; nor picture the wonders of His love until we believe that on the Cross it distinguished and embraced each, and, therefore, comprehended all. Every man may say, 'He loved me, and gave Himself for me.'

II. So much, then, for the first central fact that is here. Now let me say a word, in the second place, about the faith which makes that fact the foundation of my own personal life.

'I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.' I am not going to plunge into any unnecessary dissertations about the nature of faith; but may I say that, like all other familiar conceptions, it has got worn so smooth that it glides over our mental palate without roughening any of the papillae or giving any sense or savour at all? And I do believe that dozens of people like you, who have come to church and chapel all your lives, and fancy yourselves to be fully au fait at all the Christian truth that you will ever hear from my lips, do not grasp with any clearness of apprehension the meaning of that fundamental word 'faith.'

It is a thousand pities that it is confined by the accidents of language to our attitude in reference to Jesus Christ. So some of you think that it is some kind of theological juggle which has nothing to do with, and never can be seen in operation in, common life. Suppose, instead of the threadbare, technical 'faith' we took to a new translation for a minute, and said 'trust,' do you think that would freshen up the thought to you at all? It is the very same thing which makes the sweetness of your relations to wife and husband and friend and parent, which, transferred to Jesus Christ and glorified in the process, becomes the seed of immortal life and the opener of the gate of Heaven. Trust Jesus Christ. That is the living centre of the Christian life; that is the process by which we draw the general blessing of the Gospel into our own hearts, and make the world-wide truth, our truth.

I need not insist either, I suppose, on the necessity, if our Christian life is to be modelled upon the Apostolic lines, of our faith embracing the Christ in all these aspects in which I have been speaking about His work. God forbid that I should seem to despise rudimentary and incomplete feelings after Him in any heart which may be unable to say 'Amen' to Paul's statement here. I want to insist very earnestly, and with special reference to the young, that the true Christian faith is not merely the grasp of the person, but it is the grasp of the Person who is 'declared to be the Son of God,' and whose death is the voluntary self-surrender motived by His love, for the carrying away of the sins of every single soul in the whole universe. That is the Christ, the full Christ, cleaving to whom our faith finds somewhat to grasp worthy of grasping. And I beseech you, be not contented with a partial grasp of a partial Saviour; neither shut your eyes to the divinity of His nature, nor to the efficacy of His death, but remember that the true Gospel preaches Christ and Him crucified; and that for us, saving faith is the faith that grasps the Son of God 'Who loved me and gave Himself for me.'

Note, further, that true faith is personal faith, which appropriates, and, as it were, fences in as my very own, the purpose and benefit of Christ's giving of Himself. It is always difficult for lazy people (and most of us are lazy) to transfer into their own personal lives, and to bring into actual contact with themselves and their own experience, wide, general truths. To assent to them, when we keep them in their generality, is very easy and very profitless. It does no man any good to say 'All men are mortal'; but how different it is when the blunt end of that generalisation is shaped into a point, and I say 'I have to die!' It penetrates then, and it sticks. It is easy to say 'All men are sinners.' That never yet forced anybody down on his knees. But when we shut out on either side the lateral view and look straight on, on the narrow line of our own lives, up to the Throne where the Lawgiver sits, and feel 'I am a sinful man,' that sends us to our prayers for pardon and purity. And in like manner nobody was ever wholesomely terrified by the thought of a general judgment. But when you translate it into 'I must stand there,' the terror of the Lord persuades men.

In like manner that great truth which we all of us say we believe, that Christ has died for the world, is utterly useless and profitless to us until we have translated it into Paul's world, 'loved me and gave Himself for me.' I do not say that the essence of faith is the conversion of the general statement into the particular application, but I do say that there is no faith which does not realise one's personal possession of the benefits of the death of Christ, and that until you turn the wide word into a message for yourself alone, you have not yet got within sight of the blessedness of the Christian life. The whole river may flow past me, but only so much of it as I can bring into my own garden by my own sluices, and lift in my own bucket, and put to my own lips, is of any use to me. The death of Christ for the world is a commonplace of superficial Christianity, which is no Christianity; the death of Christ for myself, as if He and I were the only beings in the universe, that is the death on which faith fastens and feeds.

And, dear brother, you have the right to exercise it. The Christ loves each, and therefore He loves all; that is the process in the divine mind. The converse is the process in the revelation of that mind; the Bible says to us, Christ loves all, and therefore we have the right to draw the inference that He loves each. You have as much right to take every 'whosoever' of the New Testament as your very own, as if on the page of your Bible that 'whosoever' was struck out, and your name, John, Thomas, Mary, Elizabeth, or whatever it is, were put in there. 'He loved me.' Can you say that? Have you ever passed from the region of universality, which is vague and profitless, into the region of personal appropriation of the person of Jesus Christ and His death?

III. And now, lastly, notice the life which is built upon this faith.

The true Christian life is dual. It is a life in the flesh, and it is also a life in faith. These two, as I have said, are like two spheres, in either of which a man's course is passed, or, rather, the one is surface and the other is central. Here is a great trailing spray of seaweed floating golden on the unquiet water, and rising and falling on each wave or ripple. Aye! but its root is away deep, deep, deep below the storms, below where there is motion, anchored upon a hidden rock that can never move. And so my life, if it be a Christian life at all, has its surface amidst the shifting mutabilities of earth, but its root in the silent eternities of the centre of all things, which is Christ in God. I live in the flesh on the outside, but if I am a Christian at all, I live in the faith in regard of my true and proper being.

This faith, which grasps the Divine Christ as the person whose love-moved death is my life, and who by my faith becomes Himself the Indwelling Guest in my heart; this faith, if it be worth anything, will mould and influence my whole being. It will give me motive, pattern, power for all noble service and all holy living. The one thing that stirs men to true obedience is that their hearts be touched with the firm assurance that Christ loved them and died for them.

We sometimes used to see men starting an engine by manual force; and what toil it was to get the great cranks to turn, and the pistons to rise! So we set ourselves to try and move our lives into holiness and beauty and nobleness, and it is dispiriting work. There is a far better, surer way than that: let the steam in, and that will do it. That is to say -- let the Christ in His dying power and the living energy of His indwelling Spirit occupy the heart, and activity becomes blessedness, and work is rest, and service is freedom and dominion.

The life that I live in the flesh is poor, limited, tortured with anxiety, weighed upon by sore distress, becomes dark and gray and dreary often as we travel nearer the end, and is always full of miseries and of pains. But if within that life in the flesh there be a life in faith, which is the life of Christ Himself brought to us through our faith, that life will be triumphant, quiet, patient, aspiring, noble, hopeful, gentle, strong, Godlike, being the life of Christ Himself within us.

So, dear friends, test your faith by these two tests, what it grasps and what it does. If it grasps a whole Christ, in all the glory of His nature and the blessedness of His work, it is genuine; and it proves its genuineness if, and only if, it works in you by love; animating all your action, bringing you ever into the conscious presence of that dear Lord, and making Him pattern, law, motive, goal, companion and reward. 'To me to live is Christ.'

If so, then we live indeed; but to live in the flesh is to die; and the death that we die when we live in Christ is the gate and the beginning of the only real life of the soul.

He stared at the angel and was terrified. Cornelius asked the angel, "What do you want, sir?" The angel answered him, "God is aware of your prayers and your gifts to the poor, and he has remembered you.

Prayers and Alms
J. Mede.
Acts 10:4

And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him…
I. THE CONJUNCTION OF ALMS DEEDS WITH PRAYER. Cornelius joined them, and he is therefore commended for "a devout man and one that feared God," and God graciously accepted them. Therefore our Saviour (Matthew 6:1-5) joins the precepts of alms and prayer together. It was also the ordinance of the Church in the apostles' times, that the first day of the week, which was the time of public prayer, should be the time also of alms (1 Corinthians 16:1). Which institution seems to be derived from the commandment of God in the law twice repeated (Exodus 23:15; Deuteronomy 16:16). The Primitive Church after the apostles followed the same precedent, and our own Reformed Church asks God "to accept our alms, and receive our prayers."
II. THE POWER AND EFFICACY WHICH PRAYER AND ALMS HAVE WITH GOD. God is said to remember our prayers when He grants them, our alms and good deeds when He rewards them, or, in a word, when He answers either of them with a blessing; as on the contrary He is said to remember iniquity when He sends some judgment for it (1 Samuel 1:19; Nehemiah 5:19).
1. Prayer. What is it that prayer hath not obtained? It hath shut and opened heaven and made the sun and moon to stand still. It is the key that openeth all God's treasures. For spiritual blessings, Cornelius we see obtained thereby illumination and instruction in God's saving truth (see James 1:5; Jeremiah 31:18-20; Psalm 32:5, 6). Prayer also obtaineth corporal blessings. When heaven was shut and it rained not, Elijah prayed for rain, and it rained. Hannah prayed for a son, and she conceived. If we be sick, "the prayer of faith shall heal the sick." Nehemiah prayed that he might find favour in the sight of King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 1:11), and found it (Nehemiah 2:4). But some man will say, If prayer have such power and efficacy, how comes it to pass that many even godly men oft pray and yet speed not? I answer —
(1) We pray not as we ought, either —
(a) We pray not heartily or constantly (Luke 18:1).
(b) We rely not upon God (James 1:6).
(c) We make not God's glory the end of what we ask (James 4:3).
(d) We may ask something that crosseth the rule of Divine providence and justice.
(2) We are indisposed for God to grant our request.
(a) When some sin unrepented of lies at the door and keeps God's blessing out (Psalm 50:16; Proverbs 28:9; Joshua 7:10-12). Or —
(b) We appear before the Lord empty; we do not as Cornelius did, send up prayers and alms together; we should have two strings to our bow when we have but one. For how can we look that God should hear us in our need, when we turn away our face from our brother in his need?
(3) Add to all these reasons of displeasure a reason of favour, because we ask that which He knows would be hurtful for us. As, therefore, a wife and loving father will not give his child a knife or some other hurtful thing, though it cries never so much unto him for it: so does God deal with His children.
(4) Moreover, we must know and believe that God often hears our prayers when we think he doth not.
(a) When He changes the means, but brings the end we desire another way to pass (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).
(b) When He defers it till some other time when He thinks best (Daniel 9:1; 2 Chronicles 36:22; Revelation 6:10, 11).
(c) When He gives us instead thereof something which is as good or better.
2. Alms. Not thy prayer only, saith the angel, but thine alms also are come up for a remembrance. For alms is a kind of prayer, namely, a visible one, and such an one as prevails as strongly with God for a blessing as any other (Psalm 41:1-3; Proverbs 19:17; Proverbs 28:27; Proverbs 11:25; Ecclesiastes 11:1). These are for corporal blessings, and of this life. But hear also for spiritual blessings, and those of the life to come (Psalm 112:9; Luke 16:9; 1 Timothy 6:17; Matthew 25:34, 35).
III. THE REASONS WHY GOD REQUIRES THEM AND WHY THEY ARE SO PLEASING UNTO HIM: which reasons when they are known, will be also strong motives.
1. Prayer. The reasons why God requires this are these —
(1) That we might acknowledge the property He hath in the gifts He bestows upon us: otherwise we would forget in what tenure we hold them.
(2) That we might be acquainted with God (Job 22:21). Now acquaintance we know grows amongst men by conversing together. So by accustoming to speak to God in prayer we grow acquainted with Him.
(3) That our hearts may be kept in order. For to come often into the presence of God breeds an holy awe, and makes us to call our sins to remembrance with sorrow. Men are afraid to offend those into whose presence they must often come to ask and sue for favours; and if they have offended, the first thing they do will be to sue for pardon.
2. Alms. We are to offer alms —
(1) To testify our acknowledgment of whom we received and of whom we hold what we have. For as by prayer we ask God's creatures before we can enjoy them; so when we have them there is another homage due for them, namely, of thanksgiving, without which the use of the creature which God gives us is unclean and unlawful to us (1 Timothy 4:4). Now our thanksgiving to God must express itself in work and deed; that is, we must yield Him a rent and tribute of what we enjoy by His favour and blessing; which if we do not, we lose our tenure. This rent is two fold: either that which is offered unto God for the maintenance of His worship and ministers; or that which is given for the relief of the poor, the orphan, and the widow, which is called alms.
(2) That we might not forget God (Matthew 6:19, 20; Luke 12:33). The proper evil of abundance is to forget God and our dependence upon Him, the remedy whereof most genuine and natural is to pay Him a rent of what we have.
(J. Mede.)

Mammon

What is the worship of mammon?
Mammon is the depiction of wealth. He became an evil influence that was worshipped in the place of God especially in the Industrial Revolution. Mammon is depicted, by Evelyn, to have a slight smirk, this makes him seem devious and devilish.
mammon, biblical term for riches, often used to describe the debasing influence of material wealth. The term was used by Jesus in his famous Sermon on the Mount and also appears in The Gospel According to Luke. Medieval writers commonly interpreted it as an evil demon or god.
What kind of spirit is mammon?
Mammon is basically the spirit of the world—and that spirit is a liar. I've noticed that the people most under the influence of the spirit of mammon tend to have the most fear about their money. As Jesus clearly suggests in today's verse, mammon tries to take the very place of God.
In Luke 16:9 and 16:11, Jesus defines mammon as ''unrighteous'' wealth and tells his followers that mammon does not represent true riches. In Luke 16:13 and Matthew 6:24, Jesus warns his followers that no one can serve both mammon and God, as worshippers will always come to loathe one but love the other.
Was mammon a fallen angel?
In John Milton's Paradise Lost, Mammon is a fallen angel, described as being "more interested in heaven's pavements" than the leader. He tells the other fallen angels to be content in Hell. In Past and Present (1843), Thomas Carlyle describes Victorian England's worship of money as the "Gospel of Mammonism".
Matthew 6:24
No man can serve two masters
Whose orders are directly contrary to one another: otherwise, if they were the same, or agreed, both might be served; but this is rarely the case, and seldom done. This is a proverbial expression, and is elsewhere used by Christ, ( Luke 16:13 ) . The Jews have sayings pretty much like it, and of the same sense as when they say F23,
``we have not found that (twnxlwv ytvl hkwz Mda lk) , "any man is fit for two tables."''
And again F24,
``that it is not proper for one man to have two governments:''
their meaning is, that two things cannot be done together:
for, either he will hate the one, and love the other;
he will have less affection and regard to the one, than to the other; as the service or orders of the one, are less agreeable to him than the others;
or else he will hold to the one;
hearken to his commands, obey his orders, and abide in his service;
and despise the other;
show disrespect to his person, neglect his orders, and desert his service:
Quotes
“ Money has no soul and no heart. It's surprising how much people attack and kill each other over this crap. „
— Mammon.
“ Mammon is the Prince of Greed and is the owner of Hell's banks. He is known as the Lord of Fools, for those who are blinded by greed are nothing more than foolish puppets under his control, no matter how hard they try to resist. He's also posed for Hell's fashion magazines several times and gives out tips for a body as sculpted like his. I tried it several times. They all failed for me but worked for other demons. There's just something hard to swallow when your entire diet consist of pure gold and blood of the innocent you know? „
— Matt Wright.
“ No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon. „
— Jesus Christ talking about Mammon and the greed he causes to men.
“ Don't worry, I'll make you so poor that the only thing you'll have is money. „
— Mammon corrupting a Human.
“ When the greed of man is exposed, the bankruptcy of his soul is exposed. „
— Mammon.
ye cannot serve God and mammon.
The word "mammon" is a Syriac word, and signifies money, wealth, riches, substance, and everything that comes under the name of worldly goods. Jerom says, that riches, in the Syriac language, are called "mammon"; and so the word is often used in the above senses, in the Chaldee paraphrases F25, and in the Talmudic writings; where F26 (twnwmm ynyd) , "pecuniary judgments", or causes relating to money affairs, in which were pecuniary mulcts, are opposed to (twvpn ynyd) , "judgment of souls", or causes relating to life and death. The account and interpretation Irenaeus F1 gives of the word, is very wide and foreign; who says, that
``Mammon, according to the Jewish way of speaking, which the Samaritans used, is one that is greedy, and would have more than he ought; but, according to the Hebrew language, it is called adjectively Mam, and signifies one that is gluttonous; that is, who cannot refrain himself from gluttony.''
Whereas it is not an Hebrew word, nor an adjective, but a substantive, and signifies riches; which are opposed to God, being by some men loved, admired, trusted in, and worshipped, as if they were God; and which is incompatible with the service of the true God: for such persons, whose hearts go after their covetousness, and are set upon earthly riches, who give up themselves to them, are eagerly and anxiously pursuing after them, and place their confidence in them; whatever pretensions they may make to the service of God, as did the Scribes and Pharisees, who are particularly struck at by this expression, both here and elsewhere, they cannot truly and heartily serve the Lord. "Mammon" is the god they serve; which word may well be thought to answer to Pluto, the god of riches, among the Heathens. The Jews, in Christ's time, were notorious for the love of "mammon"; and they themselves own, that this was the cause of the destruction of the second temple: the character they give of those, who lived under the second temple, is this:
``we know that they laboured in the law, and took care of the commandments, and of the tithes, and that their whole conversation was good; only that they (Nwmmh ta Nybhwa) , "loved the mammon", and hated one another without a cause F2.''
WHAT IS MAMMON?
CHRISTIANITY 102
NOV 9
WRITTEN BY ERIC SOMMERS
The Rich Fool. Rembrandt, 1627.
What is Mammon?
Mammon is the deification of the accumulation of wealth. One’s life becomes a quest to accumulate more and more wealth and property until it becomes a religious practice supplanting all other things, and wealth becomes an object of worship. This is why Jesus put mammon and God in stark opposition to each other. For Jesus, to serve mammon is to replace God with something else. Moreover, the pursuit of wealth displaces one’s obligation to and love of neighbor. One becomes greedy and exploitative, seeking opportunities for gain. One becomes obsessive about protecting one’s property and possessions, or guarding future interests in accumulating more.
Mammon In the Time Of Jesus
Jesus’s ministry took place within the context of the Roman Empire. The political economy of Jesus’s time was mostly agrarian. Large areas of cultivation were worked by peasants. Some of their crops were used for subsistence, but the rest were paid as tribute or as taxes. There were large towns and small cities, where craftsmen plied their trade. Jesus’s father Joseph belonged to this group. Around the Sea of Galilee, a fishing trade existed, with both fish and fish sauce becoming exports. The fishermen were not well off, patching up their boats with whatever timber they could find. Due to the conquests of both Alexander the Great and the Romans, Judea was becoming part of a vast interconnected trade zone around the Mediterranean. Yet most of the wealth went to the powers that be, whether they were rich merchants, landowners, Rome’s client kings, or the Imperial administration.
There was great hope among the Jewish people, and in particular peasants, that one day a revolt would happen that would throw Rome and its lackeys out of the land of Israel. Before Jesus began his ministry several revolts had taken place, all of them brutally put down. The hope of a divine reversal of the world and its hierarchy is epitomized in the Virgin Mary’s Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55), her song praising what God has done for her in bearing the Messiah and the expected rule that God would bring the exploited people of Israel. God would cast the mighty down from their thrones, and send the rich away empty, and lift up the lowly. Yet while most anti-Roman Jewish movements were largely focused squarely on political liberation, Jesus was not. Why this difference?
Two thousand years before Karl Marx expressed his famous philosophy analyzing the world in terms of economic relationships, Jesus too saw that there was something deeper in the human condition than merely one particular empire occupying Israel. The issue was not just the Roman Empire, but the very root that created the empire in the first place. For Jesus, it is the desire to own and the anxiety of lack, which creates the pursuit of obtaining something, even at the point of a sword. This is what creates empire. This is what Jesus referred to as mammon.
This is why Jesus tells the rich man who wanted to follow him to sell all his possessions (Mark 10:17–27; Matthew 19:16–22). Clinging on to wealth can become idolatrous in and of itself. The rich often receive Jesus’s harshest criticism. Two parables stand out which illustrate two aspects of Jesus’s attitude towards wealth. Jesus sees it as both sheer folly and as creating a class divide which neglects one’s neighbor.
The first parable is that of the rich man who wanted to build bigger storehouses once he did an inventory of his wealth. The punchline is that he died that very night, and his accumulation was pointless since he couldn’t take his riches with him in death (Luke 12:13–21). Instead, Jesus teaches us to store up “treasures in heaven”, for true wealth is not physical objects or commodities, but love and virtue.
The second is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31). Here Jesus is at his most black and white. Jesus tells us nothing about the rich man aside from the clothes he wears. His clothes infer someone of incredibly high status, perhaps the Roman emperor. This man ignores Lazarus, a poor suffering man who is outside his gate. Death takes both and their roles are reversed; the rich man suffers in Hades, while Lazarus is in heaven in the bosom of Abraham. The rich man asks for aid, which Abraham says he cannot do. A great chasm lies between the rich man and Lazarus. Nor can the rich man warn his friends of the impending doom which awaits them. For Jesus, the rich have the law and the prophets constantly preaching social and economic justice which the rich ignore. Not only has mammon become their God, but it has created a class divide which can only be overcome by the rich person’s own divestment of wealth. As Jesus simply put it in the Sermon on the Plain, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. . . . But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort” (Luke 6:20–24).
The early church took Jesus’s teachings about avoiding wealth accumulation very seriously. The book of Acts recounts: “Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need” (Acts 4:32, 34–35). Or as someone else would later say, “From each according to his ability to each according to his need.” This abandonment of private property was a requirement of the Acts church in Jerusalem. Barnabas’s sale of his own property is contrasted with the duplicity of Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5:1–11).
We see the same exhortation repeated in other New Testament texts. First Timothy goes to say, “But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains” (1 Timothy 6:9–10). The pursuit of wealth not only leads to trouble but replaces worship of God with another faith—that of mammon. The book of Hebrews says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have . . . .” (Hebrews 13:5).
James is even more emphatic in its condemnation of wealth. “But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower” (James 1:10). James is concerned with favoritism shown to rich people in Christian communities. James condemns this class favoritism which leads to antagonism against the poor. He reminds his readers, “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?” (James 2:5–6). For James, hatred of the poor is synonymous with mammon worship. Again, James condemns the rich: “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you” (James 5:1–6). Hoarding and exploitation are at the heart of James’s exhortations against wealth in his letter. The rich appear noble and are loved by the people, but are in actuality thieves. Their way of life deserves no worship or adoration.
The example of the early church continued even as the church found itself a very part of the empire it once had struggled against. As more and more wealthy Romans became Christians, less emphasis was placed on economic simplicity and refraining from wealth accumulation. This gave rise to the counterbalancing force of the monastic movement, which abolished private property within the cloister. Saint Benedict, the ancestor of most modern monks, mandated that a monk was not to own anything lest he fall into the trap of mammon. Saint Francis came from a rich noble background and also maintained a rule of poverty for his order. Francis said that poverty was the preferred way to serve Christ and avoid wealth. Saint John Chrysostom saw the wealth of the rich as nothing less than theft from the poor.
Mammon In Our Time
Whereas the disciples lived in a largely agrarian and slave economy, we live in industrial (some would say post-industrial) capitalism. Wealth is no longer “in kind,” expressed through agricultural or manufactured products or even in land itself, but through money. Capitalism has remade the world. Capitalism has infiltrated every aspect of our modern society and has transformed it according to its own principles of wealth accumulation and profit motive, to the commodification of all aspects of human life without moral judgement aside from someone profiting. Virtue and vice have no intrinsic meaning aside from the monetary value of someone making money of either behavior.
However, class hierarchy and imperialism remain as true for our lives as they were two thousand years ago. What also remains true is our misplaced worship of things over people. The commodification of life has intensified under capitalism; everything from natural resources to relationships now has a price tag and minimum rate of admission. Even our labor power is something bought by those we work for. We are bombarded with advertisements that influence our buying habits and reify our belief in the system itself. Capitalism seems on the surface amoral, with no moral judgements about what is bought or sold. And yet the continued need for growth and competition leads more often to negative outcomes. Corners are cut, wages decreased, and workers exploited. On a larger scale whole nations are subjugated by more powerful nations for resources, labor, or markets.
Workers feel pervasive alienation while they work to create something which they do not own. We are alienated from each other as actual human beings, seeing one another less as neighbors and more as potential enactors – or victims – of exploitation. We are also alienated from God, who has been displaced by mammon as the very focal part of our lives. Too often cost-benefit analysis becomes our primary mode of thinking, rather than loving God and our neighbor. Christianity has not escaped from this either. Too often churches and clergy reflect capitalist ways of thinking. The Protestant Reformation occurred during the rise of capitalism and the two have become interlinked. The prosperity gospel, with its “slot machine theology” proclaiming that God will simply hand out wealth in response to faith, is anathema to the theology and communalist practices of the earliest Christians.
Mammon is also an environmental betrayal of our faith in God. In Genesis, God calls us to be “stewards of the earth”—in other words, caretakers. Again and again, we are told that the Earth is God’s, not ours. Yet mammon would seduce us into believing that we own the Earth as our own personal property; or if not the entire world, then the parts of we control. This belief has led to wars, evictions, and suffering. Now we are on the brink of environmental annihilation. Instead of being good stewards of God’s creation, we have become its owners, but not to take care of the earth, but to ruthlessly exploit it for our own gain. We delude ourselves into thinking God gave us that right, but God has always placed provisions in the Law to take care of creation and to cease our productivity. Most notably, this was the meaning of the Sabbath: we must take time off to enjoy life (Exodus 20:8–11). A portion of one’s goods must be left for the poor (Leviticus 19:9, 23:22; Deuteronomy 24:19). The land must be replenished and redistributed fairly, and all debts must be cancelled every seven and fifty years (Leviticus 25:8–13, Deuteronomy 15:1–6).
What Is to Be Done?
Christians must return to the communalist beliefs of our ancient faith. At the very least, Christians need to advocate the restoration of the commons, that is to say services and functions that are public property (held in common by all) and not privatized (owned by the few for a price of use). This means Christians must once again enter the political sphere. Join a good political organization. Help organize and support your neighbors.
Christians must embrace simplicity when it comes to possessions, remaining content with what we have. Recently the term Bien Vivir has arisen in certain circles. The concept is “living well”— being content with what one has and focusing on being one’s best self. Life is not about what one owns but how one lives. While originating with indigenous peoples in Latin America, this concept is not unique to their culture. It is also at the foundation of our own faith. We must as a church find a way to cultivate the practice with our own members to decouple ourselves from mammon.
Christians must become more politically involved to not only struggle against mammon, but to proclaim that a better world is possible. This was the mission of the earliest Christians as they struggled against an empire where property accumulation meant everything and offered a better way, a better Kingdom. We must, as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ and members of an ancient tradition who has struggled against mammon, take up the call and banner. Whether within the church or outside political organizations, we must make sure that the reign of mammon is no longer the driving force of our lives. Mammon cannot be our true god.
The struggle against mammon is an ancient struggle, but it is one that we must with God’s help win. If there is to be a better world and the Reign of God in it, then we must create a better system where resources can be distributed. As Martin Luther King Jr. put it, “Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.”
The Jewish prophetic and Christian traditions have long imagined a world without mammon. “Hear, everyone who thirsts; come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1). The end of mammon is not simply the end of wealth as an object of value, but the end of material scarcity and anxiety but human satiation and community. As Isaiah prophesies, “They shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down, for he who has pity on them will lead them and by springs of water will guide them” (Isaiah 49:10).

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What does James 1:9 mean?
This verse begins another important teaching, explained in verses 9 through 11. This continues James' description of what it looks like for a believer to trust God.
One piece of evidence that we have placed trusting faith in God's wisdom is the ability to change our own perspective on reality. In this case, James calls Christians living in humble or lowly circumstances to take pride or boast about their truly exalted position in Christ. As the next two verses show, James is pointing out that it's not the circumstances of this short, fading life that matter most. It's the position we will hold in the life to come that is significant.

The ability for a poor Christian to declare that he or she is, in fact, the child of the king with riches beyond imagining—and to truly mean it—is evidence that Christian is trusting the Father in that moment. Taken negatively, when we as believers are consumed with sorrow and regret and envy and despair because of our limited resources, we show that we are not convinced in the reality of our God and our place with Him in eternity.

In what ways does a poor believer have a high position?
Phrase number three: “Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them” (NLT). However materially lacking life might be, James says the poor believers are to consider that God has “honored” them, which means exalted them (ESV), and given them a high position (AMP).

Believers who are poor should take pride that God has made them spiritually rich. Those who are rich should take pride that God has shown them that they are spiritually poor. The rich will die like a wild flower in the grass. The sun rises with burning heat and dries up the plants. The flower falls off, and its beauty is gone. In the same way the rich will die while they are still taking care of business.

Gill's Notes on the Bible
Let the brother of low degree,.... By "the brother" is meant, not one in a natural, but in a spiritual relation; one of Christ's brethren, and who is of that family that is named of him; of the household of faith, and is in church communion: and whereas he is said to be of "low degree", or "humble", this regards not the affection of his mind, or his conduct and deportment, he being meek and lowly, and clothed with humility, as every brother is, or ought to be; but his outward state and condition, being, as to the things of this world, poor, and mean in his outward circumstances, and so humbled and afflicted. This appears from the rich man, who, in the next verse, is opposed unto him, and distinguished from him; see

Psalms 62:9 such an one is advised to

rejoice in that he is exalted; or to "glory in his exaltation"; in that high estate, to which he is advanced; for a person may be very low and mean, as to his worldly circumstances, and yet be very high, and greatly exalted in a spiritual sense: and this height of honour and grandeur, of which he may boast and glory, amidst his outward poverty, lies in his high birth and descent, being born from above, and of God, and belonging to his family; in being an adopted Son of God, and so an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ, and of the heavenly inheritance and kingdom; in the present riches of grace he is possessed of, as justifying, pardoning, and sanctifying grace; and in the high titles he bears, as besides the new name, the name better than that of sons and daughters of the greatest potentate, even that of a Son of the Lord God Almighty, his being a King, and a priest unto God, and for whom a kingdom, crown, and throne are prepared; and also in the company he daily keeps, and is admitted to, as of God, and Christ, and the holy angels: and this height of honour have all the saints, be they ever so poor in this world, who can vie with the greatest of princes for sublimity and grandeur.

Despite it all
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
Romans 8:37

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.
John 16:33

Rejoicing in Trials
(Philippians 1:12–20)
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Allow perseverance to finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
5Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position. 10But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field. 11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.
Many will be purified, made spotless, and refined, but the wicked will continue to act wickedly. None of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand. Dan 12:10

Words of Wisdom: Malachi 3:3
Refiner and Purifier of Silver

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this
statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to
the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch
him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond
her curiosity about the process of refining silver.
As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it
heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the
middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the
impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot then she thought
again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."
She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire
the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he
had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver
was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you
know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's
easy - when I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on
you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.


Proverbs 19:17 kjv niv

Streams of Living Water

The living water that Jesus gives us flows from us and blesses others

Jesus said, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water'" (John 7:38).
To discuss this verse, let's consider "three directions" -- to us, in us, and from us to others.
To us -- God is the source, the fountain of living water (Jeremiah 2:13). That living water -- God's blessing and spiritual power -- flows from God to us (Isaiah 44:3).

In us -- The living water that Jesus gives us is a life-giving fountain that springs up in us (John 4:14). The living water that Jesus gives us completely satisfies our thirsts and endures to eternal life.

From us to others -- Jesus said that for those that believe in him, from our innermost being "will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). From God we shall receive an abundance of spiritual blessings not only to refresh us, but also so we can be instrumental in refreshing and comforting others (Ref. 5). 

As believers, we do not "end" at satisfying our own thirsts, but we become a fount, using the spiritual gifts God has given us, so others may derive refreshment (Ref. 6). As faithful stewards of God's grace, we are to use the gifts, spiritual blessings, and life-giving power that God has given us to bless others (1 Peter 4:10).




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