Verse of the Day 6/8

Through the Bible - Jeremiah 9-11, Matthew 22:1-22

 

Good morning,

I would think that most of you who read these devotionals are also involved in a small group, Bible study group, or Sunday school class for the purpose of learning more about the Bible.  Those are good things in which to be involved.  But is knowledge the desired goal?

 

For today's verse we'll go to 1 Corinthians 8 where Paul speaks of knowledge that "puffs up".  When you read those words it is easy to picture a balloon being blown up.  Its not too much of a stretch to think of an inflated ego, which knowledge itself may produce.

 

Some study groups and Sunday school classes will "take a break" for the summer. It is a time when we should spend more time in personal study, not just for knowledge but to apply what we learn from God, the Bible, Jesus to love.

 

1 Corinthians 8:1b -3  We know that "we all have knowledge." Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up. ² If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know it as he ought to know it. ³ But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him. (HCSB)

 

 I've heard John Maxwell say, "people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care".  It is a simple saying with profound implications.

 

As we read and study this summer, let's do so with the intention of learning to love more. I recently listened to a sermon by Francis Chan on this passage, he said

"It's so easy to seclude ourselves from the world of lost people. We step out of it for a season to think hard about the Scriptures and keep going on in school to learn more, and we eventually get to the point where we realize that we don't love the lost like we should. The point isn't that we shouldn't pursue learning, but we ought to be able to do both, to love people and know the Bible better."

 

As we read, may our prayer be "Lord, teach me to love".  Read a few of the lines from the Steve Green/Larnell Harris song "Teach Me to Love"

 

Lord, teach me to love
Show me how to care for others
Cause my soul to burn within
For the fellowship of my brother
Only You can break the chains
That have held me for so long
Lord, You're my hope, my only hope
Teach me to love

So daily I seek to know the Christ
Who suffered for all men
For in Him I find the courage
To ask again and again

 

Lord teach me to love.

Blessings,
Mike
Follow the verse of the day at mikesvotd.blogspot.com

1 Corinthians 8

Be Sensitive to Conscience

 ¹ Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. ² And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. ³ But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
⁴ Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. ⁵ For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), ⁶ yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.  NKJV