Page 12 - The MacArthur Daily Bible

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FIFTY-TWO KEY PASSAGES OF THE BIBLE
Week 22 Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.—1 JOHN 3:2,3,
page 1232
Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit,
hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, Right now, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you are a
desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow child of God. But it hasn’t been revealed what we shall
thereby...—1 PETER 2:1,2, page 1196 be. We’re sort of hidden at this time. But there’s com-
ing a day, the glorious manifestation of the children of
Spiritual growth happens when you desire the God (Rom. 8:21), when the whole world is going to
pure milk of the Word like a newborn baby desires find out who we really are. And when that happens,
milk. A baby basically desires milk, and that’s it. we’re going to be like Him, for we shall see Him as He
Frankly, they don’t care about much of anything is. This incredible promise is our hope. Someday
except milk. It’s that singularity of life that’s so we’re going to be like Jesus Christ. We’ll not only
remarkable and so unique. experience it, but everyone will see it and the truth
As a baby grows older, life gets more complicated. will then be revealed that we are the children of God.
It’s not just milk anymore; it’s not just food anymore. If you live in the anticipation of the coming of
But Peter is saying that if you want to grow, you need Christ, it changes the way you live. How should it alter
to set aside everything else. You need to set aside all the way we live when we anticipate the imminent
malice or evil, and anything that’s deceitful. Set aside return of Jesus Christ? He could come at any time.
any hypocrisy, envy, any evil speaking. Strip yourself But the fact that we know He’s coming, and He is per-
of all those things that are wrong and focus on one fectly pure, and that when He does come, He’s going
thing—the pure milk of the Word. to make us like Himself, that should be a marvelous
That’s the challenge. If you want to grow strong in motivation for our own purity. Make sure that when
the faith, you need to be singularly focused on desir- He does come, He finds you living in a pure way.
ing the pure milk of the Word. Every time you have an
opportunity to drink that milk, you should rush to be Week 25
satisfied. That’s how you’ll grow. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
Week 23 and to present you faultless before the presence of His
glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both
on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowl- now and forever. Amen.—JUDE 24,25, page 1247
edge Him, and He shall direct your paths.—PROVERBS These verses are a doxology or benediction. There
3:5,6, page 32 are many of them scattered throughout the Bible. A
These verses get to the core of Christian living. doxology is simply a praise to God. It is a pronuncia-
Can you trust the Lord fully? “With all your heart” tion of blessing. And when we praise God and think
means with everything. No matter what comes— about the immensity of blessing that comes from
good, bad, or indifferent; no matter what the pain or Him, nothing is more wonderful than this thought:
suffering; no matter what the trial or disappointment, God is able to keep you from stumbling and to present
can you trust the Lord wholeheartedly? The alterna- you faultless before the presence of His glory with
tive is to lean on your own understanding, which is to exceeding joy. It means God is not going to lose you
interpret everything from your perspective. or let go of you. You’re never going to stumble and fall
to the temptation of abandoning the faith, to deny
You need to remember this: God loves you, and Christ. He will keep you from that.
His promise is that in all things He is working togeth-
er for your good. You have to trust Him for that. Don’t How can He do that? Well, one day when He does
lean on your own understanding and trust your own present you to Himself in the presence of His glory,
interpretation. Consider the life of Job. He lost all his your fallen humanness will have disappeared, and you
children, possessions, health, and his wife and friends will be brought into His glorious presence absolutely
failed him. But after all Job’s questions and suffering, faultless. You will literally be made a perfectly holy
when he finally encounters God, he can only say, “I person, and no wonder there will be exceeding joy.
have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now The promise of God is that, if you are Christ’s, He will
my eye sees You. Therefore I...repent.” It all came keep you. Everyone the Father gives to Christ, Christ
down to simply trusting in God and His goodness. receives and keeps and raises to eternal glory. And so
we praise our God for His keeping power.
Don’t lean on your own interpretation of the things
that go on in life. Always trust the Lord. In everything Week 26
acknowledge Him. He’ll open up a path you never
even expected. This is His promise. In this the love of God was manifested toward us,
that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world,
Week 24 that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that
we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not be the propitiation for our sins.—1 JOHN 4:9,10, page 1235
yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that
when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall The word “propitiation” means “satisfaction.” That
see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in is essentially what Jesus came to do, to be a satisfaction

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