Devotional Guide For the week of April 13, 2008
ETERNAL LIFE IS REALLY REAL
About faith
To read the Bible in one year, today read Psalms 49-51
To Know:
³Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. Do not be led
away by diverse and strange teachings; for it is well that the heart be
strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited their
adherents.² (Heb. 13:8,9)
³The more things change the more they stay the same.² ³What has been is
what
will be.² These folk sayings are true. God changes not. Jesus Christ is
the
same, generation after generation. What we call new is inevitably nothing
more than the latest version of something ancient. Really, ³there is
nothing
new under the sun.²
The study of scripture is vital. The Bible is an ancient archive. This
world
has gone wrong and Holy writ discloses Godıs way. The Bible opens by
telling
us that our human race went wrong back in Eden. Our first parents defied
Godıs revealed will and plunged us all into this era of spiritual
darkness.
The Bible also reveals the wonder of Godıs grace. In every era, grace
prevailed over sin and evil. The story of Israel is the story of their
continuing rescue from the dread consequences of their sin.
To Do:
Faith keeps alive the knowledge of the grace of God that was in the life
of
those who were faithful in the past. As Americans we exalt in our
individuality. Too often we ignore history and behave as if the world
began
with us. Scripture orients us to the ongoing work of God in the world. We
are invited to identify with those who walked by faith long ages before we
lived. Abraham was the father of the faith. God called and Abraham
answered
by leaving the way of life inherited from his fathers and traveling to the
land that he was promised. Our faith is meant to be like his. We who
believe
in the Lord are to leave the way of life inherited from our fathers and
live
from now on in undying appreciation for the grace of God toward us.
04178$-04178
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