The Ultimate Teacher
Everybody needs a teacher. A baby needs to learn how to sleep, walk, and eat solid foods. A child needs to learn how to speak and write.
In every season of life, we need teachers to help us grow in knowledge and wisdom. While there’s a lot we can learn from people, we need to learn to grow spiritually as well—and God has given us the tools necessary to grow in every season.
God’s Word was given to teach us about God. As we read Scripture, we can see God’s character in how He interacts with His people over the span of history. We can learn about God’s laws and the ways in which He desires His people to live. We can also learn about ways in which we can love those around us.
We are also given the Holy Spirit who lives within us. Part of the Holy Spirit’s role in our lives is to instruct us and guide us into righteous living. Righteousness is living according to God’s way. The Spirit teaches us about God’s heart and desires for our life.
All of these things help us grow spiritually. Just as a parent uses every method possible to help their child grow, so also God uses many ways to help us grow spiritually, because He loves us.
God doesn’t grow angry with us when we mess up. He doesn’t grow tired of us when we make a mistake. He continues to teach us and counsel us because of His great love for us.
However, we can’t learn from God if we’re not spending time with Him. In order to grow spiritually, we must be in His Word daily. And we need to be talking to Him in prayer.
Take some time today to spend time with God and study His Word. Talk with God about where you are in life, and what you want to learn from your relationship with Him.
His Pain, Our Gain
Isaiah 53 is a stunning chapter in the Bible—in what is now commonly referred to as the “Old Testament.”
Approximately 700 years before Jesus walked the earth, Isaiah prophesied about a suffering servant who would also, somehow and in some way, be exalted. A coming Savior, a future Redeemer, the long-awaited Messiah—whose death would ultimately bring life.
A portion of Isaiah 53 says this:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
So, who was this man who would be pierced, crushed, and wounded because of someone else’s sins? Whose undeserved punishment would be the catalyst for healing? Whose life would be given as an offering—so that others might live?
Jesus Christ not only fits the description of the suffering servant who paid the ultimate price to buy His people back, redeem them, and set them free—He ...
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge...