Meditation: “Love one Another” (1 Corinthians 13)

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Steve Husting

First Corinthians 13:1-8 has been oft quoted at weddings simply because its topic is love. But Paul the apostle did not have marriage in mind when he wrote this. He had church gatherings in view. First Corinthians 13 is the middle of three chapters addressing this church’s lack of order in their gatherings.

We display this love to our brothers and sisters in the meetings when we all have a work to do, a contribution to make. This particular love to one another creates an orderly meeting. “Let all things be done decently and in order” is the summation of these three chapters (1 Cor. 14:40). Love promotes order.

The point of this love is to let every member of the church shine with the gift they brought in to build up the body. We are not to grab the ball and try to do everything ourselves to dunk it. Harmonious teamwork wins the game. By myself, I’m just dribbling around. Without the teamwork of love, we are nothing (1 Cor. 13:2).

Let’s look afresh at this passage with the aim of loving our fellow believers in the church.

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Politics and the Christian

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Steve Husting

The problem with political parties is not their individual takes on the nation’s issues. The problem is that they are filled with sinners, people who too frequently are without God’s level-headed wisdom and guidance.

The problem with the politicians in office is that they were all voted in by sinners.

God removes kings and sets up kings (Dan. 2:21). Whoever is in authority in the government has been set there by God (Rom. 13:1-7). Therefore Christians should be civil toward them, even if they do not like their policies. Nevertheless, we are free to impeach, recall, or vote in a replacement; to use any lawful means at hand to replace them or their laws if they usurp the commandments of God.

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“Why do we do that?”

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Steve Husting

John’s disciples came to Jesus with a question. They asked, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” (Matthew 9:14-17). The implications of this question are relevant to us today.

First, I can imagine church-goers today asking similar questions. “Why do we wear suits while you dress casual?”

“Why do we we quote our denomination’s founder to make a point, but you don’t quote yours?”

“How come we pray to the saints for help, but you don’t?”

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The Unintuitive Gospel

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Steve Husting

Paul the apostle received the gospel as a revelation from God. No man taught him the Good News. The Spirit showed it to him (Galatians 1:11-12).

Therefore, it’s not intuitive that God so loved the world that He gave us His Son.
It’s not apparent that the Son of God gave up His life for us.
You can’t use logic to conclude that Jesus gave Himself to save the world.

The churches have many people who don’t know that God loved them with a self-sacrificial love. Let me put it in another way. Many of us don’t live our lives with this act of love in the forefront of our minds. Rather, our minds are often filled with the emptiness or foolishness of the world.

The gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of the Kingdom of God, is not intuitive. It needs the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to bring it home to us.

It’s more intuitive that life is ugly, death and destruction is prevalent, and God must hate us. No one needs to explain these things to us. Anybody can conclude these things by looking around.

God reveals His love to us through the Good News of Jesus Christ. He uses the simple method of preaching to communicate His sacrificial love (1 Corinthians 1:21). Then the Holy Spirit directs the hearing heart to believe in Jesus for salvation from sin. Then His love is made plain. The eyes of the blind are opened to see Jesus.

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Your God is Too Small

Posted on December 28, 2020 by Steve Husting

I’ve been reading a book for the second time since I rediscovered it in the bargain bin: Your God Is Too Small, by J.B. Phillips. What he wrote about Christians and their small love applies to what I’ve been reading in the political news for months.

First, some background. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Who did God love so much? The world. But that’s not what I’ve been reading in the news. The verse has been twisted by Christians to say that God only loves the conservatives, not the liberals. The Republican party, not the Democratic party. And vice versa, for Christians are scattered across the spectrum of political ideology.

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The Incarnation of the Son of God

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Steve Husting

Before we can address the theme of the Son of God becoming flesh, we should remind ourselves of why he came to be born here in the first place.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam chose the way of disobedience and passed that sin on to all of us (Romans 5:12-14). All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We were slaves of sin and could neither restrain nor free ourselves.

When God chose to dwell among the children of Abraham in Israel, the Holy One set up a system of animal sacrifices to deal with sinners. When any sinned, breaking the commandments, he or she could bring a prescribed, blemish-free animal to put away the sin (Leviticus 1-7). Man was not blemish-free, so he could not die for another’s sin, not even his own.

We needed a blemish-free man to undo Adam’s sin nature. He needed to be sinless so he could die for the sins of others.

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Come Before His Presence with Thanksgiving

Posted on November 27, 2020 by Steve Husting

The first three verses of Psalm 95 call us to sing, give thanks, and worship the LORD, Yahweh, the Rock of salvation, the great God, the great King above all gods. This God is distinct among all the man-made gods of the earth. We call Him Jesus and acknowledge that no other god had the love for us than that shown by the Rock of salvation who died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead to take His rightful place by the Father over all creation.

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Overcoming Sin

Posted on November 23, 2020 by Steve Husting

Are you dealing with sin in your life? The angel told Joseph that he was to name the baby JESUS, “for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).

So, are you dealing with sin? Are you increasingly getting the victory over your sins?

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NOTW

Posted on September 26, 2020 by Steve Husting

Now and then I see a sticker with “NOTW” in an unusual lettering style. It stands for “Not Of The World,” taken from the words of Jesus in John 17:14, “I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”

Jesus is not of this world. And because we are joined to Him, we share this trait with Him. What does this say about the world and our relationship to it?

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Last Days Timeline

Posted on September 18, 2020 by Steve Husting
Last Days Timeline

I created a last days timeline based on the 500+ page book, The Sign (3rd revised edition, 2000), by the late Robert Van Kampen. Take a quick look at it here, then tap on Home to return to this page.

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