Category: Bible

A good servant of Jesus Christ

February 11, 2024

In 1 Timothy 4:6-16 we find some good advice on how to be a good servant of Jesus Christ. In this passage we see four things that will help us in service to God.

Be spiritually fit – Verses 7-8 tell us to spend our time and energy in training yourself for spiritual fitness. It goes on to say that while physical exercise has benefits, spiritual fitness lasts into the next life. So read and study your Bible, pray continuously and interact with others who share your faith.

Be an example to others – Verse 12 tells us to be an “example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity”. Other people see that our faith is genuine by our words, our love and our actions. We need to ensure our lives match our words.

Use your spiritual gifts – Verse 14 says that we should not neglect our spiritual gifts, especially the ones recognised by our church. It goes on to say that we should throw ourselves completely into our tasks so everyone will see our progress. Finding and using our God given gifts is vital to be good servants.

Monitor your progress – The passage closes in verse 16 with a reminder to monitor ourselves and keep a check on how we are going. It warns us to watch our teaching and to stay true to what is right. It gives us a great promise that if we do the people who hear will be saved.

In this short passage of Scripture we can draw some simple things to help stay on track spiritually and to help us be good servants of Jesus Christ.

Great news?

February 10, 2024

You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?

What is the first thing I do? Give thanks to God. He is the source of all good things including fantastic news. His blessings flow down to us. It makes sense to thank Him first.

Four verses come to mind as I type…

Psalm 136:26 NLT – Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.

Ephesians 5:20 NLT – And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 103:2 NLT – Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me.

James 1:17 NLT – Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.

Driving with the Bible

February 9, 2024

One of the things I have been doing over the past year is listening to the Bible as I drive to and from school. I live 110km from my school I work at, so I have to find things to keep me entertained on the 75 minute drive.

I have listened to all of the New Testament in the last year and I am on my second go. The other day on my drive home I listened to Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. I turned on Galatians as I left school and as I drove down my street I finished Colossians.

Recently as I was driving it really hit me afresh that all of these books are actually letters that were read out to the churches at the time. Not everyone could read or write, but they could all listen and take it in. So in a way I am hearing the text just like the people 2000 years ago.

I actually use the YouVersion Bible app as it connects via Bluetooth to my car sound system. I set it up before I leave and I can put my phone in the glovebox, so I am not tempted to look at it while driving. We have big fines for this where I live and it is not safe too!

Next time you are going on a longer drive I would encourage you to give it a go. It is a great way to be filled up on God’s Word and renew your mind as you drive.

Just before I finish I need to make comment on the beautiful red Corvette Stingray pictured above. Yes it is me, but no it is not my car sadly. Someone drove through town and I got talking to them. He asked if I wanted to have a photo in it. I jumped at the chance!

Side by side comparison

February 4, 2024

One of the things I was taught to do at Bible college is to use side by side comparisons of biblical texts. This can be especially helpful if you are unsure of what the text is saying or you need clarification.

In the above example I have John 3:3 open in five different translations. It talks about being born again to enter God’s Kingdom but it uses slightly different wordings.

In years gone by I had to do this manually with seperate Bibles. I would go to the library at Bible college and get out a number of versions. If I was at a Bible study I would ask friends to read their versions out to compare them.

These days it is a lot easier with programs like e-Sword (pictured above) and Logos, you can just open them and easily compare them. I generally use a plain English version, a literal word for word translation, a paraphrase idea for idea translation and a devotional translation.

Using this variety sometimes helps us to understand the text and what it is saying. It gives us a wider view of things and broadens our understanding. This helps us to apply God’s Word to our hearts and our lives.