Early

Early Will I Seek Thee

Psalm 63:1

"O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;"

There is something about being early with everything that gives you a fresh outlook and excitement for whatever you do. When I was a boy, my parents taught me to do things early. They taught me when I had chores to do that I should do them early. They taught me that I should arrive early for appointments and church. They taught me that I should read the Scriptures early every day. When you do things early, you have a better chance of not setting them aside until it's too late or until it slips your mind.

The Psalmist said, "...early will I seek thee:..." He realized that God was worthy of being sought. When there are other endeavors and people whom he could have sought, he chose to seek God. Though seeking others may not have been bad, he realized that seeking God was the best. However, he didn't just wait to seek God after he sought everything and everyone else, he sought Him early. He knew that God deserved to be the One Who was sought first before anyone or anything else. Let me show you several times when you ought to seek God early.

First, seek God early in life. Young person, the best time to start seeking God is at a young age. Many people waste years of their lives seeking things that will not bring satisfaction when they could have used the early years of their life to seek God. The early years of your life are not filled with clutter from the world. Setting a pattern early in life to seek God will establish that pattern for the rest of your life.

Second, seek God early in the day. For many years I have been an early riser. I must confess, I was not always an early riser. I must say that I was never one to sleep in until late in the morning, but getting up early was not of great importance. It became of great importance when I realized that God's desire was for me to seek Him early in the day. Likewise, I believe you should wake up earlier so you can seek Him. You will find that the Word of God will have a greater opportunity to feed you if you seek Him early.

Third, seek God early in endeavors. Before you start any project, stop and take time to seek for God's help. Don't wait until you've tried everything else to seek God, instead before you start be sure to seek Him. Seek God before you go into business. Seek God before you start your work day. Seek God before the biggest and smallest task. Make God your first stop before you step out in any endeavor.

Fourth, seek God early in relationships. Young married couples need to be sure to seek God early in their relationship. When a child is born, the parents need to seek God for help at that child's young age. No matter what the relationship may be that you are starting, seeking God early in that relationship will establish it on the right foundation.

Finally, seek God early in troubles. Whether the troubles are something of your own doing, or maybe they are trials that have come your way, be sure to seek God early on. Don't wait until the troubles have overwhelmed you because you tried to work them out yourself, but when they first come start seeking God. He alone has the wisdom to help you through your troubles.

Christian, make your pattern of life one that always seeks God before you do anything. Seeking God early will allow you to see Him work early on in whatever you are doing. If you seek God early, then you will get Him involved earlier, which will allow you to see success more quickly in that endeavor.

Difficulty

The Difficulty of Love

2 Corinthians 2:4

"For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you."

In the verse above, the Apostle Paul explains to the church of Corinth how hard it was for him to write the previous epistle. He explained that the epistle caused him much grief, but he did it because he loved them and wanted them to correct their sinful ways. He was simply saying that his love, as difficult as it was, caused him to write the epistle in the manner that it was written.

Sometimes love is not easy. Quite often we think when we love someone that we will never hurt them, but the opposite is true. Sometimes love must be firm, and even hurtful, all for the sake of trying to salvage the one who is loved. God loves us, and yet He must punish us when we do wrong. Is it easy for God to punish His children? Absolutely not! In fact, His love pushes Him to be longsuffering with the hope that we will come back to Him before He must administer punishment.

A parent who punishes their child often finds it difficult to do so. Most parents love their children and would never want to hurt them; however, there are times when a child must be punished. A parent who never punishes their child for doing wrong does not have much love for that child. Though it is difficult, it must be done to salvage the child from doing things that will cause greater harm and bring greater punishment to them in the future.

Likewise, a leader who loves their follower will find it difficult administer punishment, but if they truly love them then punishment will be administered when a follower does wrong. For instance, a pastor who allows sin to go unpunished is a pastor who does not have much love for his church members. Likewise, a school teacher who does not administer punishment to the student who does wrong is a school teacher who does not have much love for that student. Proverbs 3:12 proves this point when it says, "For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." Love corrects those who do wrong.

True love not only is gentle, but true love is also tough at times so that in the end it may bring happiness to those whom it is placed upon. Be careful not to fall into Satan's trap of thinking that because we love someone we don't want to hurt them by administering punishment. True love will be tough at the times when it needs to be tough no matter how hard it may be on the person whom you must correct or punish.

Let me take this one step further and address the one who has been punished. Don't let punishment cause you to become bitter. Realize that punishment was administered out of a love to keep you from experiencing greater heartache down the road. Though at the present it was unpleasant, if you will realize that it was administered with love, then you will keep punishment from causing you to become bitter.

Balancing

A Balancing Act

Romans 10:2

"For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge."

Have you ever watched someone walk a tight rope? I remember years ago watching someone walk a tight rope that was several stories high. The person has a long rod in their hand to help them stay balanced. Every time they felt like they were off balanced on one side, they would tilt the rod to add a little weight so they could stay balanced. It was little adjustments that kept this person balanced.

The Christian life is a balancing act. Paul said that Israel had "...a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." Israel's mistake was that they did not balance their zeal with knowledge. Because they didn't balance their zeal, they made a foolish mistake of following false doctrine. If Israel would have balanced their zeal with knowledge, they would have understood that Christ was the end of the law.

Your Christian life is much like that person who walks a tight rope. You must be careful that you are not heavier on one grace, for if you are off balanced you will end up falling into sin or false doctrine. The Christian life will be successfully lived by small corrections in each area.

One of the areas where you must stay balanced is in the area of your zeal and knowledge. Paul condemned Israel for their lack of balance in this area. Most people would never think that you can have zeal and knowledge together, but the balanced Christian will have both.

When you think of zeal and knowledge, you can think of people who have one, but not the other. A person with zeal rarely has knowledge to balance out their zeal. You find people in churches all over the world who are zealous for God, but they often get themselves into unneeded situations because of their lack of knowledge.

On the other hand, you also find those who have knowledge without zeal. When you think of a preacher who has a lot of knowledge, you think of someone who has a very dry delivery in their sermons. You rarely find a knowledgeable preacher who is filled with zeal.

Zeal without knowledge is wasted. You can be very energetic and passionate for Christ, but if you don't have knowledge to balance your zeal, then you will waste your energy. I believe we need Christians who are filled with zeal. We need Christians who will become passionate about the things of God.

Furthermore, we also need Christians who are filled with the knowledge of the Word of God. A knowledge of God's Word will keep you from falling into false doctrine. However, if you don't add zeal to your knowledge, then your knowledge of God's Word will not help others. Zeal makes knowledge palatable. Zeal makes knowledge intriguing. Zeal makes knowledge desirous. You must be careful as you add zeal to also add knowledge.

Christian, I challenge you to walk a balancing act between zeal and knowledge. Be sure to be zealous in what you do for the LORD, but as you add zeal, be sure to add knowledge along with it. Likewise, be a student of the Word of God. The more you know about God's Word the more you can help other Christians. However, if you don't add zeal to your knowledge, then you will never be able to successfully transfer your knowledge to others. A balance of zeal and knowledge will help you reach your greatest potential.

Heresy

What is Heresy?

Acts 24:14

"But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets:"

We must be careful what we call heresy. I have found that there are many Christians who are quick to call something heresy simply because they are not comfortable with or about something of which they have never heard. In the verse above, the enemies of the Apostle Paul called what he believed in heresy. This was the easy way out for them. They had not studied the Scriptures to see if he was right or wrong. Instead, they accused him of heresy because they did not like that he took away their influence. As you can see, calling something heresy is easy to say and is the easy way to excuse away our laziness from studying the Scriptures. If we need to be careful about calling something heresy, then we need to find out what heresy is.

First, heresy is not something with which I am not comfortable. Most fundamental Baptist are uncomfortable with any change. It does not bother me that someone bristles at change, for if we get comfortable with change then we will be easily swayed into doing something that is against the Scriptures. However, just because you are not comfortable with something does not make it heresy.

Second, something that goes against your preference is not heresy. If you are not careful, you will start making preference the determination of right and wrong. You must realize that there are no two people who have the same preferences. This is why you must be careful about calling something heresy simply because it is something that you do not prefer. Your preference does not determine truth or heresy.

Third, different methods of doing things does not make something heresy. God can use different methods to accomplish His works. As long as methods do not go against the Word of God, they are not wrong. I would expect you to believe your methods are right, but just because someone else has a different method of doing something does not make them a heretic.

Fourth, heresy is something that is contrary to the Word of God. The only time something is heresy is when it is in direct contradiction to God's Word. I often tell people that they need to show me in black and white from God's Word that something is right or wrong. If we are not careful, we will fill Christianity with opinions and cause unneeded strife and separation. I am for separation when someone goes against the Word of God, but I am not for separating over methods, opinions and preferences.

Christian, I do believe you need to be careful about being caught up in heresy; however, let's be careful with what we classify as heresy. Let's be careful about turning Christianity into a bunch of opinions and preferences. Always remember that God's Word is the final authority on everything and not your preference or your way of thinking. Don't needlessly classify something as heresy without having proof from God's Word.

Compromise

A Lesson in Compromise

Acts 21:28

"Crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place."

Paul could never be accused of not having a desire to reach the lost for Christ. The mistake that Paul made was in thinking if he compromised in one area that those who stood against him would listen and get saved. Because of this thought, Paul and the men who were with him, took a Jewish oath, thus justifying the people's observance of living by the law. The problem with this is that Jesus death, burial and resurrection did away with this observance. However, we can see from the verse above that his compromise did not pay off for the same people he compromised for were the one's who eventually stood against him when he was tried in court.

Compromise never works! Far too often Christians think that if they compromise in one area that the world will accept them. Let me make this very clear to you, the world will never accept you as a Christian. Though the world may ask you to take a step towards them, they will never come towards you. The only thing they want is for you to come completely over to where they stand, thus voiding what you currently believe. You must always understand that the world is never interested in coming your way, they are only interested in keeping their power.

Christian, you must always keep in mind that compromising for the sake of reaching more people for Christ is always wrong. If doing right does not give results, then continue doing right. We have to remember that results are up to God. 1 Corinthians 3:7 says, "So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." Notice that the results is God's area. When we compromise for the sake of getting greater results, then we are trying to help God out. God doesn't need your help, for He can do His part just fine without you. You need to stay focused on standing for truth, spreading it, and leave the results up to God, even if the results are not what you think they should be.

Furthermore, whenever you compromise you always bring others down with you. Acts 21:26 says, "Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple,..." You can see that Paul caused four other people to compromise what was right. Whenever you compromise you never will do it alone. You always bring others down with you when you compromise. The sad part is that you may come back to where you are supposed to be, but rarely will those who compromise with you come back. Compromise is never worth it because you will lose your influence on those who compromise with you.

Christian, you need to determine that you will never compromise. You need to let this lesson on compromise from the life of the Apostle Paul sink into your heart and teach you that you never win when you compromise. Stand firm in the areas in which God tells you to stand. If nobody gets saved because of your stance, then that is God's business. Always determine to rightly do right.