by Don Ruhl

Read First Corinthians Chapter Eight

There are scholars sitting on ice in their ivory towers, who shall feel the heat of eternal fire, and there are common folk working in the heat of the day, showing love, who shall feel the comfort of eternal joy in the halls of heaven. What is the difference? Think today on the following sentence from First Corinthians 8:1,

"Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up" (1 Corinthians 8:1, NIV).

To see the difference between knowledge without love and love that comes from knowledge, picture Paul's metaphors. Do you want someone to puff your house up or to build it up? Do you want a friend who puffs himself up or builds you up? Therefore, knowledge is good, but only as a means to an end, and the end is love. Knowledge by itself only makes me arrogant, but knowledge with a view to growing in love that I might help others with what I have learned, makes others better. God is very impressed with someone who does the latter, but is turned off by the former.

by Don Ruhl

Read First Corinthians 10:1-18

What does God think about murmuring, grumbling and complaining? Paul warns,

"... nor murmur, as some of [Israel] also murmured, and were destroyed by the destroyer" (1 Corinthians 10:10, NKJV).

Murmuring is the end of a list of sins Israel committed in the wilderness. Paul says they lusted after evil things, were idolaters, committed sexual immorality, tempted the Lord and murmured. God killed Israelites for each of these sins!

Do you have a murmuring spirit? Listen to yourself. It is probably easier to hear it in others first by noticing how often they say, "I like..." and "I don't like..." Then observe how often those words come out of your own mouth. Those words do not necessarily mean you are complaining, but often they do. Be discerning with your words.

Murmuring arises because we think of ourselves first rather than the Lord's will first, because we live by our personal tastes more than the Lord's personal tastes. Let us die to ourselves, but live for the Lord.

Gracious and merciful Lord, you provide food for those who fear you, not only physical food, but spiritual as well. Each of us has needs that, because of upbringing, present situations, or personality deficiencies, seem to overwhelm us. Those needs cry out for immediate gratification.

Let your sufficiency penetrate our hearts. May your fullness provide where we are empty. Fill us with your presence and make us satisfied with your blessing.

If our specific need must go unsatisfied, we will sate ourselves with your salvation. Because our food is Jesus himself. Amen.

[Pertinent passages: Psalm 111:4-5]

by Don Ruhl

Read First Corinthians Chapter Three

The Only Foundation

 I may have mentioned this in a past e-mail devotional, but the truth is important enough to write it again. Please give your full attention to this verse, 

 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:11, NKJV). 

 Many things bring people to Christ, but if He is not laid quickly as the foundation in a person's life, something will arise that will drive that person away from Christ and the church. I knew a man, who witnessed a murder, and immediately he wanted to become a Christian, but as the memory of the murder faded, so did his devotion, until he fell away completely. Another man rededicated himself to Christ after discovering that he had a brain tumor. The surgery frightened him greatly. Before and after the surgery he was a faithful Christian, but as he recovered and did well, we saw him less and less, until he fell away. 

 Therefore, friends, please be sure that Jesus Christ is the foundation of your life. Any other foundation will fail you.

Don Ruhl Church of Christ 220 NE Savage Street Grants Pass, Oregon 97526-1310 541-476-3100

by J. Randal Matheny

September 11th. The third anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. After three years, the difficult war on terrorism continues.

The difficult war of THINKING also continues.

Philippians 4:8 points the way:

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."

Dwell on these things. Why is the proper use of the mind so important? Three truths suggest themselves.

First, everything STARTS in the mind.

We thrill with the stories of those who trekked upriver to find the source of the Amazon, the Nile, and other important rivers. That knowledge may have been useful. But to those who want to steer true in life, no fact is more important than knowing where it all starts. In the mind.

The Contemporary English Version translates Proverbs 4:23 this way: "Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life." The original Hebrew word usually translated "heart" is properly translated "thoughts" here because the Hebrews thought of the heart as encompassing the whole of man's interior life.

The thoughts are the wellspring of life. From the thoughts bubble up the life-essence. From the mind spring actions, feelings, purposes, decisions.

The beginning of Christian life starts with faith and repentance, two actions of the mind. Conversion to Christ is first of all a mental action, a decision to believe in the message presented through facts, arguments, appeals, and promises.

Jesus said sin starts in the mind. "For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man" (Mark 7:21-23, NASU).

So the mind produces the actions. That is why John Stott can say, "Self-control is primarily mind-control."

If we want to produce good actions, we must first think good thoughts, "dwell on these things."

Second, the mind is the primary spiritual BATTLEFIELD.

Satan's principle strategy is to gain control of my mind. And his tactics and methods are more perverse than those of the terrorists.

Before Eve sinned, the devil set up a trap to substitute God's positives with evil thoughts. Doubts about his word: "Has God said ...?" Lies about God: "For God knows ..." The devil attacked Eve's mind.

Likewise, Paul's great concern is for the mind. To the Corinthians he wrote, "But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3).

Paul wants us to have a one-track mind. And a closed mind, at that. He continues ironically in verse 4: "For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully."

When the mind is closed around the true Christ and the true gospel, it should not be open to other influences.

The one-track, closed mind uses spiritual weapons to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). This net must not let a single one escape to damage the Christian thought-life.

The thought patterns of Christ are our best weapon in this war. "Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose [literally, "mind"], because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin" (1 Peter 4:1).

Third, thinking is the EFFORT of meditation.

The information glut and the speed of the Internet are keeping us from the slow work of meditation. We don't stop and think anymore, we skip and scan. Instead of dwelling on these things, we dash to the next item.

Though none is wrong in and of itself, you can with difficulty dwell on these things while you

• watch TV or films
• listen to worldly music
• play videogames
• surf the Internet
• chat on the phone or messenger
• party
• play or watch sports

The problem is permitting these activities to occupy our time and mind space, rather than mulling over the truths, principles, promises, facts, and commands of the gospel as we let them slowly soak into the fabric of our thoughts and establish strong neural patterns in our brain.

Such an effort requires constant attention, exactly like the successful righteous man who "meditates day and night" in the law of the Lord (Psalm 1:2). Only in this way will the mind be prepared for action as its hope is fixed "completely on the grace that is to be brought you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:13).

September 11th. The day the long war began.

And when did you start to "dwell on these things?" Keep dwelling. To win the war.