Daily Bible Verses for 9/2/2016
Bible Verse
Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
Reading Notes
God has established that mankind cannot come to know Him by the wisdom of our own intellect. Rather, we come to know God through His grace offered freely to us, by our faith in Christ. Because of God’s love for us, He has given us His mercy and grace in order that through our faith in Christ, we can spend eternity with Him. Therefore, it’s the work of the Holy Spirit, which brings us to salvation through faith in Jesus, because He first changes our hearts to receive and understand the Gospel message. And because of that, true wisdom can only be gained through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, along with the study and remembrance of God’s Word. Moreover, with our salvation comes the work of “sanctification.” Sanctification is God’s process of spiritual growth carried out in the lives of all believers by the Holy Spirit. And because of the changes carried out by God in our hearts and minds, we develop and attitude of joy, peace and especially love. Love for the Lord, love for those around us and love for the lost, those who do not know Christ Jesus our Lord.
And that’s what Paul is speaking about here in these passages, the supernatural love given to us because of God’s work in our hearts and minds. Because of the love and joy we have in Christ, we earnestly seek and desire to help those around us, love one another and seek out those who do not know Jesus. We cannot do the things Paul asks of us, unless the Holy Spirit is dwelling within us. We are called by Jesus to love one another, knowing that how we conduct ourselves and how we present ourselves to the world affects those who do not know Jesus. We should never forget God is the creator and we are the workmanship of His hands and because of our salvation, we have become a new creation in Christ Jesus our Lord. And with our salvation comes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who will help us “redeem the time” we have in this world. The phrase “redeeming the time” refers to understanding that our time here is short and the return of Christ is near. Therefore, we understand that we have to use every moment earnestly for the kingdom of God. As followers of Christ, we do this by following the guidance of the Holy Spirit using our time, talents and resources to help those in need and love those around us, including those who do not have a relationship with God through Christ.