Galatians 2:20

Verse of the Day Devotion: Galatians 2:20 

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” – Galatians 2:20

Paul, in this passage, is laying out a distinction of our new life in Christ in opposition to our old life of sin.  In the verse just before this, he states that the law by which He lived under in his past he no longer lived under.  “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.” Galatians 2:19.  The ‘law’ referenced here is the Mosaic Law. He has come to the realization, through his conversion to The Way (Christianity) that salvation did not come through obedience to the law.  There was no hope in being saved through his own deeds.  In our focus verse, we see the reality he has come to understand.

When Christ died on the cross, it was not that we died physically with Him.  It was that He died for us, and the penalty for our sins was paid through His death.  Paul puts it this way in his letter to the Church in Rome.  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23.  When He died, our sins were paid for because He had never sinned and therefore His death was for our benefit.  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” John 3:16-17.

Because of this, we are to set aside our old life and put on our new life.  “if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” Ephesians 4:21-24. 

We are to put away those things from our old life that is sin and displeasing to God and put on those things which are good.  “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”  Ephesians 4:25-32.

It is important to understand that we are saved completely by the work of Christ on the cross: His death, burial and resurrection.  And this is purely the work of God and not by anything we could ever do.  It has nothing to do with following any rules. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:9-10. All that is required is that we accept the work He did for us. 

True acceptance of what He did is shown by loving Him above all else.  We are called to love the Lord with everything we have: all our heart, soul, mind and strength (see Luke 10:27).  And how do we show that love?  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:15.  We are not to keep His commandments because they will save us, we are to keep them to show our love for Him. And this love shown by the keeping of His commandments is proof that it is no longer we who live, but it is Christ who lives within us.  It was not us who saved ourselves, it was God’s sacrifice that saved us.  Put another way, it was not the keeping of the law, or following specific rules that saved us, it was Christ.  The keeping of His commandments is only the proof that it is no longer us who live, but Christ who lives in us.  Paul wants to make this very clear here in Galatians 2.  Remember, one sin condemns us.  We all have sinned; therefore we cannot save ourselves.  So the following of the law is of no effect, except to show our love for Jesus because of His salvation we have accepted.  What a beautiful picture of the grace and mercy of God.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries. 

Hebrews 11:6

Verse of the Day Devotion: Hebrews 11:6 

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” – Hebrews 11:6 

The writer of Hebrews lays out in a succinct manner what is pleasing to God.  It is faith in Him.  You see that clearly in the first part of the verse where is says “And without faith it is impossible to please Him Hebrews 11:6a.  Actually, this phrase is stronger that what appears here, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him at all.”  Without faith, there is no way to please Him at all. We can do all kinds of things that we believe will make Him happy, but without faith we are wasting our time.  In fact, Paul goes as far to say, “The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin.” Romans 14:22-23.  Note4 what this verse said, whatever is not from faith is sin.  This is why doing anything without faith does not please Him. 

Now, going back to verse one, we see two components of faith.  “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1   First, it is the substance of things hoped for.  Now this definition of hope is much different then how we see it.  We often say, “I really hope our team wins” or “I hope that book I ordered comes in today”.  Modern man sees hope as something they desire to come to pass.  However, hope in reference to the book of Hebrews sees it as “the assurance of things hoped for.”  This fits beautifully when we see the object of the hope here.  It is the fulfillment of things God has promised.  We know God will do what He has promised.  “For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore, also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.” 2 Corinthians 1:20.

Second, “the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1b.  As the first component deals with future items, this one address past, and present issues that we have not seen.  It says that even if we do not see it, we believe it happened as He said.  Classic examples of this is the creation of the heavens and the earth, the flood that destroyed the world, except for those in the Ark, the miraculous conception of Christ, His resurrection from the dead, His ascension to glory, His mediation at the right hand of the Father, etc.   In essence, believing everything we are told by Him without needing any other proof but His words. 

Wrapping this up, the way we please God is to have the faith to believe everything He has said, is saying and will say to us.  It also says in our focus verse that we must believe that He is.  We must believe He is who He says He is, and not that He might be.  We also must understand that He loves us and rewards those who truly seek after Him.  If we do not believe Him in one thing, it will be difficult to believe Him in all things.  And when we do believe Him, He takes great pleasure in that and will reside with us, blessing us with His presence.  What greater reward can we have than to be in His presence forever.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries. 

James 2:26

Verse of the Day Devotion: James 4:26  

“For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” – James 4:26

There are two basic ways to look at the concept of works as described in the Scriptures.  Unfortunately, we see both ideas be walked out today by those in our churches.  Many people believe that as long as they do good works, they will be OK when Jesus returns.  This was the way the Jewish people saw works.  However, this is not totally the truth.  Works is essential in our life as a Christian.  But not in becoming a Christian.

In ancient Jewish tradition, works was the way Jews believed they were able to please God.  We see this in how strictly they followed the law.  Micah lays out how this is basically flawed. “With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Micah 6:6-7.  This was how the ancient Jews believed they showed their faith to God, by keeping the law.  But Micah goes on to state this in not the case.  “He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8.  Following the law was not what pleased God, but it was how we lived our lives

The law was not meant to address our sins, but to show us what our sins are, and ultimately our need for salvation.  “What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, You shall not covet.” Romans 7:7. This shows that the law / works had nothing to do with us being declared righteous, it is faith.  In the Old Testament, we see essentially the same thing.  “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4. Those who are proud and haughty believe they themselves have addressed their sins, not realizing that it is faith in God that will address them, not anything we do. 

So, we see that the law simply shows us our sins but does not address them.  It is faith in God and the works He has done.  However, our declaration of faith is not enough.  We must live out our beliefs as well.  James lays this out perfectly.  “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?” James 2:14-16.  He then culminates this thought in the next verse, “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” James 2:17

So, faith is proved by our works.  A declaration of our faith in Christ without a change in our lives that shows our love for Christ and our fellow man: a life that brings glory to God through our works, shows we do not really have faith at all.  It turns out only to be meaningless words.  And just as our focus verse says, faith without work is dead, just like the body without the spirit is dead.  True faith is giving up our old life with its sinful ways and replacing it with God honoring works that fulfills our calling as servants and children of God.  It is only then that the world will see our faith and desire to know more.   

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries. 

2 Corinthians 5:7

Verse of the Day Devotion: 2 Corinthians 5:7 

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” – 2 Corinthians 5:7           

Growing up, I used to walk in our back woods and enjoy the trees and bushes that lined the trail taking me from the front to the back of the nine acres my dad owned.  There was not much back there but trees and lots of places where wild black and raspberries grew, which I enjoyed eating while out there.  Sometimes I would take a side path just to see where it went, however, most times it just took me to nowhere.  But I always looked where I was going because it seemed there was always a fallen tree or some hole dug by small foxes or an occasionally a coyote.

In this verse, Paul uses the term walking as another way of traveling through life.  It denotes to live and act and conduct our lives in a particular way that is normal for us.  It describes life as a pilgrimage where our journey from one type of life to another is like traveling from one country to another.

Paul is essentially saying that as we go through life, we are actually on a journey to some final destination.  We can walk it in one of two ways.  We can either walk by faith or walk by sight.  Let us look at both of these in reference to our life’s journey here.  We can walk by sight which in essence says our map is what we can see.  We look up at the stars and see the magnificence of the observable universe, but because we do not see anything that could have created it, we assume they came into existence on their own, with only the assistance of the laws we observe in the known universe.  There can be no God because we cannot see it, and therefore it is inconceivable to us that there could be one.  And so, since there is none, than all actions and behaviors are judged by the values man places on them.  And this brings into our lives a relative value system that can change based on how people change.

If we walk by faith, our map is in essence the Word of God.  We cannot see God, but we know He exists because our faith shows us that He must.  We are not guided on our journey by what we see, but what we cannot see with our eyes, but what we see by our faith.  And as the writer of Hebrews stated, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1.  We are guided by what God says and we live our lives accordingly.  We do not see what our eternal life will be like, however, we believe this unseen person and live our lives in expectation of what He tells us will be.  The big difference that I can see of these two journeys are the ultimate destinations.  Those who walk by faith follow the path laid out by our loving God, who is real though we cannot see Him.  He guides us along the only path that leads to somewhere good, where those who walk by sight have no idea where that path is but follows many paths that lead to nowhere good.  It is our job to guide people to the only one who can take them to a place of real life, not to a delusional path that eventually leads to death.  And that path is seen by faith.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.

James 2:1

Verse of the Day Devotion: James 2:1 

“My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.” – James 2:1        

In this verse, James is laying out the command that we are not to show favoritism toward anyone.  We are all one body together and we all have different functions within the body.  And none of these are more important than another.  Let us look at the next couple of verses that lays it our perfectly.  “For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, you sit here in a good place, and you say to the poor man, you stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” James 2:2-3. This is not right in any shape or form.  How can we judge someone by their appearance?  If we do, we are not judging by God’s standard but by our own.

Lets look at these two examples.  I will assume that we do not know either.  First, if we show favoritism to the rich man, it is probably because we feel it will be to our advantage.  We will be with a prominent and probably important person.  If we can develop a relationship with him, it could help lift our stature in the eyes of others.  They will see that we are with him and this may help us to gain greater esteem.  And by placing this rich man away from us at the same time we believe this will add to that advantage.  We may not think this way, but if we favor one thing over another, it is because we believe we will benefit from it.  And unfortunately it is the same with people.

Now, lets look at how these two people would take what we have done.  The rich man will see he has an advantage because we have accepted him immediately.  But what of the poor man?  Will he feel accepted?  No.  And this is probably how his whole life has been.  We just look at him and determine there is no advantage of being with him, so we set him aside and leave him alone.  How does this make the poor man feel?  Probably rejected once again.  Is this how we wish to be treated?  “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.” Luke 6:31.

Now, I am not trying to accuse anyone.  I am simply describing this idea to an extreme.  What I am saying is that all people need to know they are as accepted as anyone else.  When I was growing up, I was ostracized by most of the kids in school.  I grew up in a poor family, wore hand-me-downs or cheap versions of clothing.  I wanted friends, but many would not give me any time, but hung out with the popular ones.  Finally, I found someone in my same position and I finally had a friend.  It was hard and debasing.  No one should ever treat anyone this way.  And God does not want us to favor one person over another.  We are equal in His sight.  He loves us all equally and provided salvation to us equally.  We are to be like Christ; therefore we are to treat everyone the same.  I pray we can, as children of God, fulfill this and show love to everyone we meet.  Who knows what incredible work can be accomplished by this simple act of love.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.