On September 25th, 2016, golfer Arnold Palmer passed away. Reaction poured in from those who knew him personally, and from those who admired him from a distance. It is generally accepted that Palmer did more to popularize the sport of golf than anyone else in history. Someone said, “He’s the defining figure in golf.” His identity was so intertwined with golf that one could scarcely think of the game without also thinking of Arnold Palmer.

On a much higher and nobler plain, all who have trusted in the finished work of Christ alone for eternal life have become indelibly linked with the Savior. The Apostle Paul described it this way: “For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” (Ephesians 5:30). Becoming spiritually part of His flesh and bones speaks to several things. It is associated with our forgiveness of sins. When God the Father see us now, even in our present imperfections, He sees only His Son and our righteous standing in Christ. Second Corinthians 5:21 explains, we have been “…made the righteousness of God in Him.” Our spiritual union with the flesh and bones of Christ is associated with our eternal security. None us can hardly imagine losing an eye, a leg, an arm, fingers, or an ear. We might say, “I’m attached to those things and plan to keep them.” Similarly, our connection with the Lord Jesus Christ is so purely close and intimate that He will not sever us from His body. He is attached to us and we to Him in an eternal oneness. Thank God nothing can separate us from Him. No matter what we say, do, think or even if we neglect Christ, we are still part of Him. Being members of His flesh and bones implies a close identification. It’s like a child being adopted into a family. That child is given a home, love, daily provisions, security, and a name that completely identifies him with the ones who gave him so much. Christians were given these many things in the spiritual realm because we are so closely identified with Christ. There is no closer, purer, or more valuable relationship than the connection that Christians have with their Savior.

Beyond rejoicing in this truth, there is a practical application to remember. Wherever we go, and whatever we do, Christ is with us always. Therefore, we must purpose today to abstain from sinful behavior and walk worthy of Him.

Does this sound familiar? You can’t find your keys, so you’re sure someone must have moved or hidden them somewhere. Then, your wife finds them immediately, because they were literally right in front of you. Your brain just didn’t process it.

Sadly, many view the will of God as a dark, hidden secret or a riddle we must solve. But it is neither. God wants you to know, understand, and follow His will with great certainty. Moreover, His will is in plain sight, right in front of us. That’s why Paul tells us two important things about the will of God in Ephesians Chapter Five. First, Paul writes, “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17). In other words, any saint can absolutely understand the will of God with certainty! Secondly, God’s will is provable! Paul’s instructions to the saints at Ephesus were to continually prove “what is acceptable unto the Lord” (Ephesians 5:10). That means that finding God’s will is NOT a subjective “feeling” or potentially errant advice; nor is it interpreting our circumstances as His will. No one can “prove” such things to be God’s will, even though many make such claims. The only genuine, reliable, undeniable way to prove God’s will is to find His clear and unmistakable instructions in His Word.

Here’s a worthwhile project to consider: accumulate a list of verses from Paul’s epistles that clearly identify God’s will for every believer. For instance, it is His will for us to constantly “rejoice,” “pray without ceasing,” “in everything give thanks,” “quench not the Spirit,” and “abstain from all appearance of evil,” (I Thessalonians 5:16-22). From Titus we know God wants us to deny ourselves “worldly lusts,” live “righteously” (2:12), and “be careful to maintain good works” (3:8). We know from Ephesians it is God’s will for us to endeavor to maintain unity with other believers (4:3) and forgive their wrongs (4:32). We are never to allow ourselves any kind of immorality (5:3); but we are to live “circumspectly”, use our time wisely, and be controlled by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:15-18). You can make your own, more complete, list.

The knowledge of God’s will is right in front of us. By remembering unmistakable biblical principles from the Apostle Paul, we can readily understand what God’s will is for our lives, prove it to be so, and then go forward in genuine confidence. Whatever decisions you may consider, put it to the test of God’s Word.

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Most of us feel like we’re in a real-life Pac-Man game. Our responsibilities are constantly chasing us, threatening to gobble us. While engaged in many things, we know that we must carefully manage our time and then quickly scurry off in another direction. The real trick is knowing where to place our energies and for how long.

The Lord knows we are often conflicted with multiple responsibilities that vie for our time: work, parenting, extended family, house or yard work, paying bills, grocery shopping, schooling, laundry, cooking and exercising for health reasons. These are only the beginning. Then, we also add optional interests such as sports, social outings, volunteer organizations, hobbies, and leisure activities. The Lord knows that managing our time and responsibilities can become difficult to balance. To help us put everything into perspective, He gives us one prominent principle to remember in Ephesians 5:16. We must be continually “redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The word “redeeming” means “to buy.” In other words, we must be wisely buying, or using, the time God has given us for things that will matter in eternity. This must be among our very top priorities! There is a very limited amount of time to reach our children with the truths of God’s Word, including salvation, while their hearts are tender. We must buy back, or seize, this opportunity. We may have only a small window of opportunity to speak to a lost soul at work before we, or they, are suddenly gone. We must buy the opportunity. If our local church is to survive, it needs our regular commitment to be involved in ministry however we can. We must buy the time to serve in our church while our health still permits us to do so. The truth is that our life will near its end, even in old age, in what seems like a flash. We must buy the opportunities to leave a spiritual impact and earn eternal reward. How tragic that, for many, life will be squandered in selfish, temporal, forgettable things that are of no eternal value. At the Bema Seat we will wish we had chosen to redeem our time with spiritual priorities.

Like sands in an hourglass, our time is running out and may end soon. A wise believer once said, “Only one life, Twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” Look at your life carefully. Starting today, what can you do to better redeem the time?

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The ancient city of Babylon was considered impregnable because it had a mighty wall so broad that three chariots could ride abreast. From these walls, archers could decimate invaders. However, Babylon had an Achilles’ heel. The Euphrates River ran under the wall providing drinking water and irrigation for crops. Nonetheless, God pronounced the destruction of Babylon due to the sinfulness of the King. Some historians believe that the invading Medes diverted the Euphrates. However, God promised He would intervene by creating “a drought…upon her waters; and they shall be dried up” (Jeremiah 50:38), “…and I will dry up her sea” (51:36). This could describe the invading Medes entering the city under the wall where the water previously flowed, and subsequently conquering the city.

The Apostle Paul warns believers in Ephesians 4:27, “Neither give place to the devil.” By this he means we are to leave no open place in our defenses where Satan can gain an easy entry into our lives and destroy our walk with the Lord. Once within the inner walls of our lives, Satan can begin to erect walls, or patterns of behavior, that can readily enslave us. Some of his strongholds include the chains of errant doctrines inflicted by “the sleight of men” (vs. 14) upon those not grounded in God’s Word. It includes luring believers into imitating the lost (vs. 17), habits of anger (vs. 26), thievery (vs. 28), filthy language (vs. 29), bitterness and malice (vs. 31). It can include outright immorality, or simply neglecting the things of the Lord. The point Paul is making about not giving place to Satan is that we have a choice. We can either fortify our spiritual defenses against the devil, or leave ourselves vulnerable to his attack.

If you have allowed Satan an open door where he can easily defeat you, there is still hope. But victory can’t be achieved in the power of the flesh. “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds: Casting down…every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:4-5). This simply means the walls of our defenses against Satan will have to be repaired with the mortar of God’s Word in our minds, the bricks of continual prayer, and built on the foundation of reliance on the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. If your defenses have been compromised, begin a diligent rebuilding project today.

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A 1978 television documentary narrated by Peter Falk showed juvenile delinquents on a three-hour tour of Rahway State Prison in Georgia. These teens were brought face to face with hardened criminals who screamed, berated, and cursed at these young people as they described what prison life was really like. This program was initiated, as a last-ditch effort, with hardened youth, who were already engaged in criminal behavior, attempting to “scare them straight.”

It has always been the will of God for His children to live in a godly way that becomes a testimony to the lost. Israel was told she was “…the salt of the earth…” and to “…let your light shine before men…” (Matthew 5:13,16). Similarly, Paul told believers to “…walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4), and to “…shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). Sadly, the pull of the world, the flesh, and the devil is so strong that it often pulls many blood-bought Christians into the path of a very sinful lifestyle. The words of Ephesians 4:17-32 are, in effect, God’s effort to “scare them straight.” We are told we are to “walk not as other Gentiles (or the un- saved) walk, in the vanity of their mind” (vs. 17). We are to be different, godly, and tenderhearted toward the Lord. Therefore, we are told to “put off…the old man (or nature)…and be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (vss. 22-23). That means to put away lying, anger, stealing, immorality, and filthy language from us. Such things “grieve…the Holy Spirit of God…” (vss. 25-30). The scary thing to realize is that refusing to implement these instructions will gradually harden our hearts and bring dire consequences while we are here on Earth. For those who willfully choose to live as sinfully as the unsaved, Paul explains that their spiritual “understanding (becomes) darkened,” they become “alienated from the life of God” as they drift further away from the Lord; and, worst of all, they can become “past feeling” (vss. 18-19). There can come a point were a Christian becomes so hardened that they no longer feel any sensitivity toward the Lord, nor have any interest in the things of God. One can become a self-exiled, spiritual castaway while still possessing eternal life.

Believer, don’t let this happen to you! If you’re flirting with an ungodly path, allow these verses to scare you straight back into the path of a close, daily walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. If you wait too long, it may be too late.

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A January 24th, 2005, Time Magazine article entitled, “Twixters,” is an investigative analysis of a troubling trend in America. Author Lev Grossman explains that many, aged twenty to twenty-nine, are not kids anymore, but they’re not adults either. By looking at a host of statistics, he concludes that “twixters” just resist responsibility and maturity. They party several nights a week, take five or six years to graduate from college, then often don’t use their degree in the marketplace, they change jobs frequently, are not married, nor do they have children; and they live in a state of perpetual adolescence. Grossman concludes that this lack of maturity is having profound negative sociological and economic implications.

Similarly, Christians today often do not grow up spiritually. Many have matured very little years after trusting in Christ as their Savior. Paul ad- dressed this problem when he urged the believers in the church at Ephesus to cultivate the practice of “…speaking the truth in love, (that you) may grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). Just as parents yearn for their child to grow into full adulthood, character, and responsibility, our Heavenly Father yearns to have His children mature spiritually. Paul’s testimony in I Corinthians 13:11 was this, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” In order for us to grow up spiritually, we must first make the decision to get rid of worldly philosophies, habits, and practices, and then we must replace them with standards that are consistent with God’s Word. But how can I do this successfully so that I might grow in Christ? It can be summed up by the acronym G-R-O-W. We must Get on our knees in prayer, asking for His enablement; Read God’s Word daily; embrace that Others need our service for Christ; and Work selflessly to further the cause of Christ.2 Each of these will help us to grow up in our Savior.

Let me ask you several important questions. Are you growing spiritually? Do you read your Bible, pray, and work for the cause of Christ more in recent weeks than you did a year or two ago? If not, then ask yourself why not? It is time to “awake out of sleep” and begin to grow into a lifestyle that truly pleases the Lord? Will you make a decision to do so right now?

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Een in our permissive and casual world, there are strict protocols for conduct when one meets Queen Elizabeth, the Queen of England. British subjects are expected to bow, or curtsy, as the Queen approaches. One is never to initiate physical contact, a kiss, hug, or even a vigorous handshake. Only if the Queen extends her hand may a subject gently place their hand in her hand. She is also to be addressed as “Your Majesty;” and she is never to be engaged in long dialogue unless the Queen prompts the conversation.

In biblical days, being in the presence of a king was far more restrictive and fearful. When Nehemiah was a servant to King Artaxerxes, and sorrowful after hearing that Jerusalem had been destroyed, the king noticed and enquired why he was sad. Nehemiah wrote, “Then I was very sore afraid” (Nehemiah 2:2). Subjects were expected to be perfectly content in the presence of their Persian king. To do otherwise could be fatal. Similarly, Queen Esther knew, as did all in the realm of the King of Babylon, that if one entered the presence of the king without being summoned, the law of the land required an immediate death sentence, unless the king held out his scepter to extend mercy (Esther 4:11). Thankfully, the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ, and God the Father, rule over their subjects today far differently than ancient human kings. Love and grace are the standard of God. The Apostle Paul described it this way: “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him (Ephesians 3:12). Believers do not have to wait to be summoned into the presence of God. We are free to “…come boldly unto the throne of grace (at any time), that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Believers today do not have to fear wrath, nor retribution, when we enter the presence of God in prayer. We are to come with boldness and confidence, knowing we have been both invited and instructed to do so. The basis of our confidence is solely in the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, welcomes us to come to Him continually with unfettered access.

Every believer should be extremely thankful for this kind of liberty and use it continuously. Thank God today for His loving availability, and go to Him frequently for sweet communion. He’s waiting for you.

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