Discipleship

Violating God’s Will

January 20, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

A couple of different thoughts have been fighting for attention in my mind for the past several days. One was sparked by reading Job 28:28, where God said, “The fear of the Lord is this: wisdom. And to turn from evil is understanding.” We’ve talked about what it means to fear the Lord before (see “The Fear of The Lord”), but this verse is so clear.

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We could take it to mean that it is wise to fear God, which is true, and we can also understand it to be a succinct definition of what fear of God looks like: to be wise. Wisdom will keep us from violating God’s will. Which brings me to the other topic that’s been on my mind: finding God’s will for your life. I’ve also written on that topic before, and if you want a deeper dive, see, “Explaining God’s Will for Your Life.” I submit you will never understand God’s will until you develop a proper fear of His holiness.

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Not Ashamed

January 13, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

Do your neighbors, co-workers, and friends know you are a Christian? Is your family aware that Jesus Christ is the most important thing in your life? Everywhere Paul traveled, the people knew he was a follower of Jesus. He wasn’t afraid to be bold in proclaiming the gospel of Christ. Against all odds, he stood firm in the faith (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

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He made the underlying reason for his boldness known when he wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17). You know the question that’s coming… Are you ashamed to proclaim the gospel?

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Your Mindset

January 9, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

I like black and white. Black and white is simple; it has no need for nuance. There is truth and there are lies. There is wrong and there is right. Paul pulls out another black-and-white issue in the eighth chapter of his letter to the Church in Rome (Romans 8:1-11). In these verses, Paul talks about how we all have one of two mindsets. We either have the mindset of life or the mindset of death.

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That’s about as black and white as it gets. On the surface, the choice seems obvious: do you want life or death? While the choice on paper is easy, aligning our lives with that choice is much more challenging. Every decision you make feeds into your mindset, so we must be careful with every decision, big or small.

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Holy Things

January 2, 2025 by Tim Sherfy

As believers in Jesus, it is our responsibility to steward holy things. We have the written Word of God to preserve and honor (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We must be diligent and zealous in not profaning the Holy Spirit within us because He is holiness personified (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Our greatest stewardship lies in what we do with the gifts God gives to us (1 Peter 4:10-11). In “God Tells the Man Who Cares”, A. W. Tozer wrote, “We should and must learn that we cannot handle holy things carelessly without suffering serious consequences.”

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The consequence of being flippant about our faith, and the exercise of that faith, may very well be a faith that is not real (James 2:17). Without a genuine faith, there is no salvation (Hebrews 11:6). It’s hard to imagine any consequence more dire than that.

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The Direction of Your Life

December 30, 2024 by Tim Sherfy

One of the wonderful things about human beings is we can change the direction of our lives any time we desire. Sometimes this involves major life changes, like switching jobs, going back to school, or retiring. At other times, the change in direction is based in its entirety on adjusting our attitude or the habits we nurture. While wrapping any of these changes in New Year’s resolutions is a popular practice, no one needs to wait until then to change the trajectory of their lives.

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No matter how near or far away the next New Year is, you can decide to change your life today. There is no greater change you can make than deciding to follow Jesus with everything you have in every area of your life (Luke 9:23-24). No decision will have a greater impact on the direction of your life (2 Corinthians 5:17).