5-30-21 Today in the Word

A REMINDER TO DO GOOD In the city of Joppa in the days of the early church, a believer named Dorcas (also called Tabitha) “was always doing good and helping the poor.” The poor in that time and culture included many widows. When she fell sick and died, they mourned greatly. But Peter prayed, and by God’s power Dorcas was raised back to life. “Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive” (Acts 9:36–42). Dorcas was a godly woman who lived out the title of today’s devotional, in contrast to the Thessalonian slackers condemned by Paul. He’d commanded the church not to condone the slothful behavior of certain believers (see yesterday’s study). “They are not busy; they are busybodies” (v. 11), he joked, but with serious intent. They must change their ways (v. 12)! Imagine this letter being read aloud to the whole congregation . . . everyone was probably looking at the guilty persons. This public shaming, though,was lovingly done in order to spur them on to better behavior. The key principle is found in today’s title, as well as reinforced by today’s verse. We should “never tire of doing what is good” (v. 13). If that sounds impossible, you’re right! Only with God’s love and in God’s strength can we live righteous lives and do good deeds that bring glory to God. If the Thessalonian idlers did not heed Paul’s command and rebuke (from the public reading of the letter), the other believers should stop associating with them (vv. 14–15). As we’ve mentioned, this was a temporary measure to push them to repentance. In this case, their change of heart would be clear to all, because they’d start working and providing for themselves (v. 12). The underlying purpose of all church discipline is restoration (Gal. 6:1). >> We live busy lives. But are we busy doing good? Consider how you spend your days and ask yourself if the truth found in this passage should reorder your schedule. PRAY WITH US Search our hearts, Lord, and unveil all motives that do not come from you. Show us any “busybody” tendencies in our lives so that we can repent. We want to be busy instead with works of righteousness.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

9-18-23 Rage Against Jesus And His People — The Ominous Trend Of 2022

Rage Against Jesus And His People — The Ominous Trend Of 2022 – By Hal Lindsey - https://harbingersdaily.com/rage-against-jesus-and-his-people-the-ominous-trend-of-2022/ By the end of 2022, eight billion people lived on the earth. They were besieged by a series of plagues, droughts, false prophets, war, the threat of greater war, hatred, rage, theft, and violence. The eight billion were fragmented in a variety of ways — according to their nations, level of income, race, gender, various understandings of gender and human sexuality, along with religion or the lack thereof. Change became overwhelming to most of the eight billion. For those over 40, it was almost unfathomable that by the end of 2022, not even half the students at Cambridge University identified as heterosexual. In 2022, deception ruled the day. Trust in government, educational institutions, and the news media had been largely obliterated. Trust in health officials and doctors had become severely damaged. In suc
Read more

9-17-23 Now It Is Obvious Why

Now It Is Obvious Why :: By Dennis Huebshman Published on: December 24, 2022 by RR10 Category:General Articles Once again, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, “But understand this, that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (ESV – all emphasis mine) Going from cover to cover in the Bible, we see many countries mentioned as being in the end-time activities. However, the once most powerful nation on earth, America, is not specifically mentioned. One would think that this country would be listed because of all it has accomplished up to now. The possibility here could be found in Genesis 12:3; “I will bless those wh
Read more

9-16-23 Little-Known Prophecies of Christmas, Pt 3: Genesis 17:19

Little-Known Prophecies of Christmas, Pt 3: Genesis 17:19 :: By Paul J. Scharf Published on: December 24, 2022 by RR10 Category:General Articles The Messiah was a descendant of Abraham. More than that, we considered last time how He was, in fact, promised within the covenant that God made with Abram (Gen. 12:1-3). According to the Apostle Paul in Gal. 3:16 and 19, He is the ultimate recipient of that covenant! Our Savior Jesus Christ is finally the One through whom “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). Paul also quoted and discussed that portion of the covenant in Gal. 3:8-9. We ended last time with the realization that the promised Messiah would be the final Davidic king over Israel. As declared then, however, there are several intermediate steps, with accompanying prophecies, which are given between the times of Abraham and David and speak about His coming and the offices He would hold as the greatest prophet, priest, and king. And there are also more ance
Read more