Scripture of the Week
NEW LIFE, NEW PRIORITIES-
A BIBLICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Mark 8:36-37- (Jesus) Amplified Bible
36 For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole
world [with
all its pleasures], and forfeit his soul?
37 For what will a
man give in exchange for his soul and eternal life [in God’s
kingdom]?
Philippians 3:7-9-(Apostle Paul) Living Bible
7 But all these things that I once thought very
worthwhile—now I’ve thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in
Christ alone.
8 Yes, everything else is worthless
when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have
put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can
have Christ,
9 and become one with him, no longer
counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s laws, but by
trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with himself
depends on faith—counting on Christ alone.
Philippians
3:7-9-(Apostle Paul) Amplified Bible
7 But whatever former things were
gains to me [as I thought then], these things [once regarded as advancements in
merit] I have come to consider as loss [absolutely worthless] for the sake of
Christ [and the purpose which He has given my life]. 8 But
more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless
privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my
Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy
unequaled]. For His sake I have lost everything, and I consider it all garbage,
so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in
Him [believing and relying on Him], not having any righteousness of my own
derived from [my obedience to] the Law and its rituals, but
[possessing] that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ,
the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.
Bulletin Notes
Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the Lord, the God of
hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Amos 5:14
KJV
The
Prophet Amos again repeats, that it was only owing to the Israelites themselves
that it was not well with them; for God was ready to grant them his blessing;
but they designedly sought a curse for themselves. Inasmuch, then, the
hypocrites are wont to put away from themselves the blame of every evil, and to
complain of their miseries, as though the Lord afflicted them unjustly, the
Prophet here shows, that no evil happened to the Israelites, but what they
procured by their vices: and at the same time he exhorts them to repentance,
and gives them the hope of pardon, provided they hardened not their hearts to
the last. He therefore bids them to seek good; but by adding, seek
not evil, his words are full of meaning, as though he had said, that they
were so fixed in their own wickedness, that they could not be torn away from
it. The import of the whole, then, is this — that the Israelites could not
complain of being too severely treated by God, because they suffered not
themselves to be kindly dealt with. And the Prophet assigns this as the reason
— that they were not only alienated from what was good, but that they also with
avidity and eager desire followed what was evil: in the meantime he exhorts
them to repentance and adds a promise the more to encourage them.
Seek then good, he says, that ye
may live; And then he adds, And thus God will be with you, as ye have
said. Here the wickedness of the people is reproved who sought to bind God
to themselves; for hypocrites are wont to misapply the promises: when they
presumptuously reject God himself, they still wish him to be under an
obligation to them. Thus they gloried that they were the children of Abraham,
an elect people; circumcision was to them like a royal diadem; they sought to
be superior to all other nations: and thus they abused the name of God, and at
the same time they petulantly scorned both the word of God and his Prophets.
As, then, they ever boasted that God was dwelling in the midst of them, the
Prophet says, “Then and thus will God be with you if ye seek what is
good or the doing of good;” for to seek good is nothing else than to endeavor
to do good; as though he said “Change your nature and your manners; for
hitherto iniquity has prevailed among you; you have been violent, and
rapacious, and fraudulent: begin now to do good, then God will be with you.”
“Ye boast, indeed, by your mouth that God is
in the midst of you, but see what he in his turn stipulates and requires from
you. If, then, ye respond to his call, he will not surely be wanting to his
pledged faith; but as ye willfully depart from him, he must necessarily become
alienated from you.” We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet in these
words. Calvin's Commentary on the
Bible