A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation.
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to this ministry"But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil" (Hebrews 5:14).
Ever since I can remember I have enjoyed solid food. I certainly inherited from my dad the joy of eating. Any of you that ever met Gene Weber recall he loved to eat. Brooksyne has done a very fine job of keeping me fed and I can really only recall one meal she ever made in our nearly 30 years of marriage I didn't like. We both still get a laugh out of that failed attempt!
Like many families we like to get together to eat. Here's a photo taken before a big holiday meal about 18 years ago. I especially like it because my Mom and Dad are both in the photo.
We eat out as well but tend to favor restaurants that feature home style cooking like "Gus's Keystone Diner" and "The Country Table" here in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania where we live. (I know they both sound like fancy, sophisticated places but they're really not.) I'm told people really need distinguishing taste buds to appreciate the "fine" food so I am really not sure just how trained my taste buds are.
In my life I want to keep training another type of "taste bud". The writer of Hebrews speaks of this in our daily verse. In the context he is speaking of the Word of God. "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." Read it again and ponder a moment with me on the phrase "by constant use have trained themselves."
What a privilege to have God's written revelation in the Bible. As a maturing believer I want to be able to distinguish good from evil and I have a part in this as I choose to regularly feed on God's Word. This is the sense of the phrase "by constant use have trained themselves." Another version (NASV) translates this "because of practice have their senses trained."
The need "to distinguish good from evil" is ongoing and will surely increase. Our source and guide needs to be the unchangeable standards of God's Holy Word, not the fickle opinions of man.
How are we doing today? Are we in regular training? Are we actively practicing our faith? Are we distinguishing good from evil?
Be encouraged today,
Stephen C. Weber
Brooksyne's prayer: Jesus, even as we hunger and thirst for physical substance intensify our hunger and thirst for spiritual knowledge and righteous living. You declare "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness." Only as we regularly nurture our spiritual appetite will we delve into the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Through the daily grind of life the inexhaustible truths revealed in Your Word brighten our outlook and make certain our eternal hope. Jesus, You are the living bread for hungry souls. Satisfy our hunger today, we pray. Amen.
Hebrews 5:11-14 (the context of today's message)
Technical note: Each morning we prepare these messages and update them to the website as well as use listserve software which sends the message out all at once to the entire list (several thousand). Consistent delivery to all addresses has been a challenge even though each address on this list is voluntary. Due to the nefarious work of those that send massive amounts of unsolicited email it's a real challenge for those of us who have legitimate lists. Several weeks ago all Yahoo addresses were blocked, but that has been resolved. More recently Juno and Netzero were also blocked and hopefully these addresses will get through today. Yesterday another part of the list was affected by a block! These blocks are due to efforts by ISP's to filter out unsolicited bulk email but far too easily also snag legitimate mail as well. I have a very cooperative listserv company I use and they work hard to get these blocking issues resolved. Many ISPs use e-mail filtering software that allows you to add e-mail addresses to your 'buddy', 'safe', or 'approved' list. To insure delivery (at least on your part) please add our address to this list. On many filters you can also "whitelist" a specific phrase in the subject line. Our daily message always uses the phrase "Daily Encouragement" in the subject line. However these steps won't help if it's being blocked by your ISP before it gets to your machine! A reminder that the messages are also posted on the website each day if for some reason you did not get it through email. www.dailyencouragement.net
Here's another perspective I came across related to yesterday's message: The president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, is pressing alarm over the large number of young Christians who accept what the Bible clearly condemns. Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr., says one of the problems today is that too many Christians seem to think that other religions are equally valid paths to God -- and that is especially true of young Christians, he says, noting that many see nothing wrong with homosexuality or same-sex "marriage." "Compromise on the exclusivity of the Gospel is just a huge issue," says Mohler, "and the younger you go, the more troublesome that really becomes." Mohler says the views of many young Christians are skewed by modern culture. "The evangelical teenager today -- the young adult raised in the dominant educational establishment -- has an understanding of truth," he says, "[but] it's just not compatible with scripture, unless he or she has had that concept of truth shaped by the pulpit." And if they are not getting it from the pulpit, he continues, they are going to have an "ambient cultural understanding" of truth -- "and that is not consistent with the One who said, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me.'" Mohler says Christianity needs preachers to correct widespread ignorance -- or defiance -- of biblical teaching. [AP] Source Amen, I agree!
Recommended resource
The Four Seasons of Marriage: Which Season of Marriage are You in? By Gary Chapman
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; and the King James Version.
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