We read in Philippians 4:8, Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (ESV)
In the above mentioned verse Paul is giving us counsel on the things that we should fill our thoughts with. Oftentimes the importance we give to actions, we do not give to our words, and so also the significance we give to words, we do not give to our thoughts. Strangely our thoughts are reflected through words, and then one day it is evident through our actions. The word of God therefore cautions us that we must safeguard the kind of thoughts that we entertain.
Set your mind on things that are true
We must firstly decide to think about those things that are true. We live in a world that is so mixed up, that there is more falsehood than truth that is freely being circulated. Hence, most people end up believing these lies, rather than the truth. We need to be careful about the things that we accept, for when we trust these lies, they become actions that can have an adverse effect on our lives.
Our minds are constantly bombarded by so much of false information, and the world is constantly trying to vie for our attention. I will give you an example of how people often believe a lie, and are then cheated. Let’s say we go to purchase an item at a store. We may then check out the price online to find that the item is priced far less, and also appears the same as the one we have checked out in the store. The online purchase is then made and when we receive the product, sometimes it could be completely different from the one we ordered. Now that the item has been delivered to us, we may feel cheated, but may not be able to rectify our mistake. So often, we are get sucked in by lies and the decisions we take based on them prove detrimental to us.
We live in times when there are numerous advertisements, some of them covering entire pages of our newspapers which are constantly alluring us. Most of these commercials are aimed at our thoughts to make us desire to have these things that are being advertised. There has been so much of financial strain these days, but the announcements for sales in stores has not decreased in any way. The advertising agencies are willing to spend loads of money, which they know they will be able to recover from their customers through their sales, thereby making enormous gains.
The truth about creation
We read in Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (ESV)
• Created in God’s image
God created man in His own image and likeness. God created the world and everything in this world and created man as the crown of all His creation. This is the truth that the bible declares.
Generally when a baby is born, those who come to visit will often notice the resemblance of the dad or mom and when this is mentioned to the parents, they feel elated. If we as human beings are so joyous about this resemblance we share with our children, how much more delighted and ecstatic should we be that God has created us in His own image and likeness. Not only did God create man in His own image, He also endowed Him with the authority to rule over all that He has created. We should never complain about our looks, or compare ourselves with others, but rather realize and rejoice that we have been created in God’s image. We were created to thank Him, praise Him and worship Him.
• Created to rule
Everything that is in this world can be brought under the control and authority of man. Any wild animal on land or sea that may be huge and wild, can still be brought under the control of man.
Oftentimes, many are unwilling to accept this creator God, and reject his Lordship simply because they want to escape the thought of having to stand before Him and give an account for their lives. In order to do so, they deviate others by the distorted theories they promulgate. Many scientists have been involved in this research as to the origin of the world and of human beings. One of these theories is the one that declares that human beings came from apes. If human beings evolved from monkeys, then the question is ‘why do we still have these monkeys and how come they have not all evolved into humans?’ There is no answer to this question, and so they try to justify the theory of evolution in various other ways.
The word of God is categorical that God made man and woman in His image and likeness and also with the authority to rule over His creation. The fundamental truth that we must hold on to is that we have been created by God in His own image and likeness. We must accept this truth that we have a God who created us or else we will be engulfed with myriad questions for which we will have no answers. As we seek the Lord earnestly in prayer, He alone will give us the grace to overcome the lies that are aimed at us, and to think and live by the truth that is declared in His word.
The truth about our life
Once we accept this truth we realize that the life that we live on this earth is a gift from God. How we use this life while here on earth is of vital importance because all of us have to give an account to God for this life that we have received from Him. There are many who think they could live any way they want, and by doing so they assert that there is nothing to look forward to after death.
However, these are God’s words as found in Hebrew 9:27, And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, (ESV)
God’s word admonishes us that it is appointed for men to die once, and then we will all have to face judgement. If there is a judgement, then it implies that there are two places that we could end up in. The ones who stand justified before God who will end up in heaven, and those who are condemned who will end up in hell. The truth here is the fact that we will all die only once, and will have to give an account to God who gave us this life. God’s word declared in Matthew 24:35, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. (ESV)
The one prohibition
God created man and woman and placed them in the Garden of Eden. God gave them two commands. One was that they could eat from all the trees in the garden, except the one tree which had the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. The second one was to tend and keep the garden that God had entrusted to him.
Many people have the thought that God could have avoided keeping that one tree in the garden where He placed man. If that was not placed in the garden there would be nothing there for man to choose from. God had created man in His image and part of this characteristic, is the ability to choose for himself. However, there is the enemy who is a liar and deceiver, whose only goal is to twist the truth that God has established.
Even today we have a big group of people who make good people look bad, make bad things appear good and thereby deceive many. We have to be extremely cautious, as we will have to face consequences for every decision we make. You might have observed on the internet, when someone shares a message, there will be one group who will attest and applaud while the other group will do the opposite. If we get too caught up in these things, we will find ourselves being so perplexed and confused. It is therefore with utmost discretion that we should make every decision or we too will be deceived.
The enemy’s deception
God placed Adam and Eve in this most perfectly beautiful garden, and only forbade them from eating from one tree. However, Satan the master deceiver, who craftily calls all that God calls good as evil and vice versa entered that garden. The serpent subtly turned the attention of Eve to the fruit that God had so categorically forbidden for them.
We read in Genesis 3:5, For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (ESV)
The lies that the serpent told Eve that day, was that the day they ate of the fruit, their eyes would be opened and that they would become like God, able to discern what’s good and what is evil. Basically the enemy was trying to give the impression to them that their position was not enough and that a higher position could be attained if they ate of the forbidden fruit. He made them forget who they were already, and offered them something that was not meant to be theirs by his craftiness. When Adam and Eve gave in to this deceitfulness, the aftermath was nothing but chaos and confusion for all of mankind. The greatest consequence was that sin entered the world for the first time. This sin led to sickness, curse, poverty, misery and unimaginable grief on mankind.
For instance the bible clearly teaches us that divorce is not God’s will. It is never the plan of God that a husband and wife who have been united in marriage should be separated for any reason. Nonetheless, there are so many who have chosen to opt out of their marriages for various reasons and have gone ahead and married someone else. If you observe the lives of these people, they will be constantly searching for something to satisfy, and will never find it till the end of their lives. God’s word is always truth, and we should never swerve from that truth.
If challenged with situations like these we need to ask for God’s grace to differentiate between what is good and what is evil. There are so many lies that we are confronted with every day. All that God calls good, is presented as evil and those things God terms evil, is cleverly portrayed as good.
Let me give you one more practice that is so prevalent these days. God’s word is straightforward to condemn homosexuality. At one time this was something that was thought of as despicable and unacceptable behavior. Sadly, nowadays these practices are not only being accepted but are being approved of as the norm. God’s word does not change with time, and what God has declared as bad will remain so. When man chooses to go against God’s word and His principles, the repercussions will affect the family and society as a whole. This is the reason why we must be extremely careful about the choices that we make, for the effects of it will be felt for generations to come.
Jesus changed it all
The good news we have is that it was to this sin stricken world that God decided to send a redeemer who could be a propitiation for the sins of all mankind. In order to have man’s sins atoned for, God sent His only begotten son Jesus, who took on flesh and blood, became a man just like us, but led a sinless life. Jesus’ words, teachings and life was a challenge to everyone. When we look at Jesus, we get a glimpse of how Adam would have been. Jesus had authority over sickness, demons, nature, seasons and death itself. Jesus lived His life on earth to demonstrate to us what God’s original plan was, when He first created Adam and Eve.
The people of this world who are in bondage to sin, took the sinless Jesus and had Him hung on a cruel cross. The sinless Lamb of God hung on a cross as though He was a criminal. When Jesus was taken for trial to the governor Pilate who declared that He found no fault in Jesus, it was the crowd that wanted Jesus to be crucified. As was the practice in those days, they would release a criminal on the day of the festival. Pilate brought before the crowed Barabbas who was a criminal condemned to die and Jesus the one whom he found guiltless, and presented them to the crowd. The crowd were well informed about Jesus as well as Barabbas, but having been instigated by the chief priests they begged for Barabbas to be released and shouted to have Jesus crucified. Wanting to prevent an uncontrollable riot, Pilate washed his hands in front of that great assembly and declared that ‘he was innocent of the blood of Jesus’.
If we look at this from Barabbas’ perspective, he was caught for his criminal atrocities and was condemned to die. He had no hope of escape, but it was only because Jesus was brought that day did Barabbas escape punishment and death. It was because of Jesus that a man without hope received hope, and one who had no future was gifted with a future to look forward to.
As children of God we are constantly faced with choices that demand us to make decisions. For every one of our sins and transgressions Jesus the sinless Son of God, took our place on the cruel cross. If we can accept this truth, the bible says in John 1:12, But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, (ESV). Anyone who accepts this and puts their faith in Jesus will be rid of all their sins, and the Lord promises us a glorious hope and a future.
The day that Jesus was crucified two criminals were hung on either side. While one said in Luke 23:39, One of the criminals hanging there insulted Jesus by saying, “So you’re really the Messiah, are you? Well, save yourself and us!” (GW)
There was another man on the other side who said, in Luke 23:41-42, Our punishment is fair. We’re getting what we deserve. But this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.” (GW)
While the first man was not even feeling remorse for what he was going through and had the audacity to jeer at Jesus, the other criminal in his final hours recognized who Jesus was and sought His mercy.
Here are Jesus’ words to this man as found in Luke 23:43, Jesus said to him, “I can guarantee this truth: Today you will be with me in paradise.” (GW)
Let us choose today if we will go with the lies of this world or follow the truth that Jesus declares. We must be reminded that our lives and our future will be a result of the kind of choices we make every day. May God grant us grace to put our trust in Jesus who is ‘the Truth, the Way, the Life,’ so that our future is secure not only in this world, but for all eternity.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
Transcribed by: Sis. Esther Collins
