A Biblical Blog
Why Another Blog?
Why a Biblical Approach to success? Well, the Bible is actually God’s handbook to success for His creation. It is the Owner’s manual for the human life.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Joshua 1:8
Throughout the Bible God reminds us that he loves us and is interested in our success with such verses as:
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Psalm 1:1-3
The great blessing and success that the United States has enjoyed have come about due to our leaders recognition that only the observance of God’s laws could establish and sustain an open and free society such as ours.
John Adams is recorded as saying, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
What president Adams was telling us is that our Constitution, which is the model for all free societies around the world, can only be effective when faithfully followed by a moral society. The moral code woven into our society comes from teachings of the Bible brought here by our forefathers; many who came fleeing religious persecution in their native lands.
John McLean, who was a United States Postmaster General and also a Justice of the Supreme Court, wrote: “No one can estimate or describe the salutary influence of the Bible. What would the world be without it? Compare the dark places of the earth, where the light of the Gospel has not permeated, with those where it has been proclaimed and embraced in all its purity. Life and immortality are brought to light by the Scriptures.”
A Departure from Biblical Teaching
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries our fellow countrymen drifted from the precepts of the Word of God and began to notice that something was missing in their lives. They had a spiritual void that craved a spiritual answer. Estranged from God and his teachings, these men sought out mystical revelations and answer to unlock the universe and the meaning of life. It seems they looked on every mountain top for a guru and under every rock for a sign from mother nature. Yet the void remained only to be filled with dark and harmful teachings that led them to an acceptance of evil that soon became the undoing of their homes and their society.
More recently, men began understanding that the true path to success was not to focus within, but to focus outwardly on the needs of others as a way of developing “good karma”. All this was to no avail and they soon found that the shallow stream of good works and good intentions did not lead to the river of life that they had so hoped to find.
Close but Not Quite
Then men began to use veiled references to a “creative force” or even were so bold as to admit that there was a “Divine Power” that could be called upon for enlightenment and prosperity. Coming close to an outright admission that “there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets”; but stopping short lest they offend someone with an admission to faith in God which could cost them followers and revenue.
Even today many professed Christians only pay lip service to God as they attend church once a week and then fill their days with work, soccer practice, swim lessons and a few glasses of wine. They are coddled by compromising leaders that give them what they want. I recently listened to a podcast of a well known church leader on the subject of church growth.
My take-away from a thirty minute investment of my time was “darn the traditions, full speed ahead!” This teacher of teachers basically said to find out what unchurched people wanted and give it to them. And, if any of your church members disagreed then persuade the church member to become the member of some other church.
This may be a good way to draw a crowd; but it can never build up and edify or even grow a local body of believers.
The end result of the shallow Christianity of today is a double disservice to those who might be seeking the truth. They have been told that entertainment is worship and acceptance is salvation. Neither are true.
So these well-meaning followers who want to be enlightened and who want to do what is right are fed a diet of bland messages and bright lights that do not reveal, but obscure the truth of God’s Word.
In fact, Thomas Jefferson wrote: The Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they (the clergy) have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of its benevolent instituter, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind.”
A Return to Reason
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Isaiah 1:18
The goal of this blog is to highlight the Biblical principles hidden deep from view in the teachings of modern day success coaches who, for the most part, do not even realize that what they are teaching has a Biblical precedent.
And while these charismatic teachers may from time to time step into the waters of the truth of God’s wisdom, I will attempt to encourage you to “wade out a little bit deeper” into the wonderful knowledge that God has stored up for us in the pages of His Word.
We will unashamedly explore the teachings of the God of the Holy Scriptures. And, through God’s grace and the help of the Holy Spirit we will do our best to rightly divide the message that the Father has for each of us.
The key to this understanding of God’s great book of blessings is Jesus Christ our Lord. Without the mind of Christ our efforts would be like those spoken of previously; “sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”
I am excited to tell you that with Christ God desires to “freely give us all things.” In fact the Psalmist tells us “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” The Apostle Paul records that “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”
So, it is almost impossible for me to convey the great eagerness that I have to study the Word of God together with you.
Come back and visit with me each week for a few quiet minutes. I am looking forward to growing together with each of you as we bring “forth out of his treasure things new and old.”
