Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Patience”
Our Bible verse for today: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Patiently live by faith.”
This world sure is a mess. Wars are raging across the globe. Multiple millions are starving. Weather patterns have shifted causing flooding in some places, droughts in others, and widespread suffering. The global economy is weak. Political divisions in our country are more pronounced than ever.
But perhaps the greatest challenge for Christians is the fact that unbiblical values are being promoted as normal and we’re under great pressure to agree with these new cultural trends. It’s now being demanded that we embrace them and even help to perpetuate the notion that these ideas are not only normal, but good – even though they run counter to what God teaches in the Bible.
However Christians are called to view the world and all of life not from a cultural perspective, but from a Biblical perspective. Cultural norms change from place to place and from generation to generation, but the Bible never changes. Societal standards of ethics and morality change all the time, but God’s standards never change – they are the same for all people in all places at all times.
And so, despite whatever new thought or idea or behavioral patterns society is currently promoting as good and normal, as the people of God we turn to the Word of God as our sole reference for what is good and right and acceptable. Doing that will often put us at odds with whatever society we live in. That’s ok. That has always been true for God’s people. Whether we’re talking about the Israelites as they attempted to live as a holy people surrounded by pagan nations, or the early Christians living among Romans and Greeks, God’s people, in all places, at all times, in all societies, have always found themselves out of step with the worldly values and behaviors being practiced and promoted by others.
The answer has never been to give in and go along. The answer is, and always has been, to be a people apart – a people distinct and separate – a holy people who live by the Word of God regardless of current cultural trends.
As we conclude this month of devotional study on the virtue of patience, I encourage you to patiently live by faith. Trust that for God’s people, God’s Word is the only legitimate standard for how we are to live. Know it, trust it, and then patiently live by it.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 