This word will hold - trust it!
Welcome to “Word from The Center” MONDAY, a devotional word from the Center of our faith, Jesus Christ, with reflections on His Word. I’m Gregory Seltz. Today’s verses are Isaiah 55:10-12, where the LORD says,
10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
There are a lot of words being bantered about today. It seems like everyone is talking, but very few people are making real sense. On top of that, very few people are speaking words that really do bless us all. Most words today aim to divide and conquer. Most words today are used to grab or grant power, rather than to direct and bless. The movements in our country which concern me the most are those which are intolerant of God’s moral word in Holy Scripture. For without hearing God’s moral word which brings us to repentance, one can’t even comprehend the need for God’s good news of life and salvation in Christ alone as a gift. Words matter, but the Bible is the only Word from God that can save and give life.
Thank God we still hear God’s Word today. It gives us direction. It defines ethical and moral boundaries. It disciplines, rebukes, and corrects. It judges, forgives, empowers, and blesses. God’s Word still holds. Even more wonderfully, God’s Word of promise holds us. And that’s especially good news today because we live in a society that is confused, a culture whose answers to its perceived problems merely cause more confusion and destruction. Who would have imagined that sexual libertinism, which used to be thought of as an immoral or at least an amoral way of life, is now not merely tolerated, but put forth to be celebrated and embraced? Intact families and monogamous relationships which pledge “till death do us part” are ridiculed. Children are put at risk. Families don’t even try to stay together. Loneliness and despair are on the rise. In all of this, we are falsely advised to find comfort in our own hubris, our own “self-embracing” words, and our own wisdom unmoored from God’s enduring Word.
That's why I laugh a bit inside when people ask me, "Dr. Seltz, do you think that the message of the Bible is still relevant today?" WOW! It’s not only relevant. It’s necessary. We need God’s Word like never before. Of course, I’m not referring to some watered-down type of word manipulated to pander to cultural whims, but a concrete word from God that has the power to bring life and salvation where there is only despair, death, and destruction. We need a message from God that comes all the way to us because we can never find our way back to God. We need His Word because it brings real joy, peace, and change amidst all of the “white noise” of useless words that distract us from a meaningful relationship with God and with each other.
God’s Word in the Bible gives us God’s “No” and God’s “Yes,” not a message of “tolerance of sin,” NO, a message of redemption and reconciliation! His Word GIVES life and MAKES life worth living now and forever. His is the only Word powerful enough both to condemn justly and to create faith graciously, to judge and to save. The Apostle Peter reminds us that there is no other name under heaven given among all of humanity by which we might be saved (Acts 4:12). The name? The “Word made flesh,” Jesus the Christ (John 1:14). Amidst all the challenges of today, get back to God’s Word! It holds and it upholds you like it always has and always will.
PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, give me confidence in Your Word in all things, especially now. AMEN.
“The true Church on earth will never concede the public square to the pluralism that posits coexisting realms of ‘truth.’ But deep confusion has been sown by the false doctrine of ‘separation between Church and state.’ Perverting the scriptural doctrine of the two kingdoms, the old, evil Foe lied about a godless, secular realm unworthy of the Church’s attention. There never was such a realm. Where we were promised a religion-less public square, we found in its place an ever-growing list of topics deemed ‘political’ and off-limits.”
God uses Caeser (representing temporal authorities) to preserve the temporal world. God uses the church to broadcast His saving work for now and all eternity. When Christians (and others) are faithful in their vocations, they promote God’s good order. How can you do this well and be encouraging to others in the temporal realm? That is what we work through in our Champion’s for Religious Liberty work.
