Reward

Prov 11:31 If the righteous will be rewarded in the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!(NAS)

This verse could mean a few different things. First of all, it definitely implies that there is a judgement outside of this earth. I first took it to mean that on this earth, it often seems like the wicked prosper more than the righteous, but in the judgement to come, the righteous will finally receive their reward, and the sinners will receive their judgement. Another spot in the scripture that talks about earthly rewards versus heavenly rewards is Matthew 6. One spot being Matthew 6:1-2.

Matt 6:1-2

1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.2 "When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.(NAS)

The other possibility that this proverb could signify is that the righteous get some reward on earth for their good deads, but the unrighteous get part of their punishment here on earth. The reward of the righteous is to come more often after the judgement, and the punishment for sin more often is seen in this life as well as the next. This second possiblility is the opinion of Matthew Henry in his commentary, and both could be possible meanings of the verse. It's hard for me to say for sure which it might be.

In either case, one thing remains true: the reward of the righteous may come early on occasion, but the bulk of the reward comes later. This should be an encouragement to believers to pursue righteousness and a closer walk with God, as we can look forward to a reward at Jesus' second coming.

The Heart of a Servant

Luke 4:38-39
38 And He arose and {left} the synagogue, and entered Simon's home. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever; and they made request of Him on her behalf.39 And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately arose and waited on them.(NAS)

In these two verses the obviously amazing thing is what Jesus did, He instantly healed Simon's mother-in-law of a severe fever. With the amount of medical care available at that time, who knows what a bad fever could mean. It may be possible that she was in danger of dying. On the other hand, in other places where those Jesus healed were in danger of death, they were said to be dying, not suffering from a fever. In either case, we see another example of Jesus' authority over disease.

The thing that strikes me in this verse is the last part: "...and she immediately arose and waited on them." This woman had just been in bed with a fever, and yet as soon as she was out of bed what did she do? She started waiting on those present! Now that's a spirit of servant-hood!

With guests Friday, today was a house-cleaning day. I did better than last time in the complaint department, but I've still neglected to take out the two bags of garbage in the kitchen. I pray that I can have a more willing (and perhaps less "forgetful") attitude.

Losing My Marbles?

If you see someone sitting with their laptop in the cafeteria looking very bored and irritated and talking in a foreign language to their computer, don't worry, I'm just working on online Spanish homework.

For my Spanish class, I have to go online and practice pronunciation by repeating words to the computer through a headset microphone. This wouldn't be too bad except that at our house we have dial-up, which means that I can't work on all of my Spanish homework in the privacy of my home (where people already know that I'm crazy, so it doesn't matter as much).

But no matter how you slice it, other people around or not, it's hard not to feel foolish when you're saying little random words in Spanish to your computer and wearing a rather ridiculous little headset, especially when you have to try multiple times to get the pronunciation right.

Wait, what was that again?

Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, {it is} the gift of God;(NAS)

I know this verse was in the passage from yesterday, but it kind of got neglected. Actually, I think I've had a previous blog on this verse. In fact, it may just be that this is one of my favorite verses. Salvation as absolutely nothing to do with us. We live because of God's grace through faith in what Jesus did for us. On top of that, the faith to believe is a gift of God as well. It goes on to explain that all the credit belongs to God, not what we've done, but what He's done:

Eph 2:9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.(NAS)

WOO-HOO

Eph 2:1-8
1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly {places} in Christ Jesus,7 in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, {it is} the gift of God;(NAS)

The message in church today was out of this passage. For believers, it shows where we were before we were saved, now, and where we will be in the future. As unbelievers, we were hopeless failures, spiritually dead, objects of God's wrath. But God showed His mercy by raising us up with His son so that through eternity He could show us His grace. THROUGH ETERNITY. God's grace, brought to us throughout all eternity. As our pastor said: WOO-HOO!

Simon Peter

In Twelve Ordinary Men, MacArthur points out an interesting fact about Peter.

Jesus not only gave him a new name when He called Simon, but He continued to use the old name as well. When Peter was doing right, Jesus called him Peter, but when Peter messed up, Jesus reminded him by calling him Simon again.

Sometimes Peter did a good job, and sometimes he didn't.

According to MacArthur:
"Peter was exactly like most Christians--both carnal and spiritual. He succumbed to the habits of the flesh sometimes; he functioned in the Spirit other times. He was sinful sometimes, but other times he acted the way a righteous man ought to act. This vacillating man--sometimes Simon, sometimes Peter--was the leader of the Twelve."

¡Hola!

Today in Spanish class, we finally reached a consensus on a grading scheme (with the help of the professor). That means we actually started learning some Spanish.

Having heard some slightly scary stories about very quick moving Spanish classes, I was a little apprehensive. Honestly, I think it will be just fine. The only part I'm not going to like is the online portion of the class. The idea of reciting Spanish to the computer doesn't sound very fun to me.

Spiritual Warfare

In talking about the Armor of God, the main point was obviously spiritual warfare and the tools used.

The battle for truth has raged on earth ever since Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the garden. Satan's first recorded words are seen here:

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"(NAS)

Satan's first recorded words were questioning God's truth. And this has been going on ever since. With the Exodus, God proved that he was God and the "gods" of Egypt were not. Through Elijah, God showed that Baal was not the true God.

In fact, truth is so vital that when Jesus was asked why He came, this is what He said:

John 18:37 Pilate therefore said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say {correctly} that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Of all the answers Jesus could have given, He said the reason He came was to testify to the truth. Something about that makes me think it's important.