Teaching by Our Lives

By Jeff Curtis

The prophet Hosea was required by God to marry a prostitute. “When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry
by departing from the Lord” (Hosea 1:2), and then to take her back again to be his wife after she had left him (3:1-3). Hosea’s experience was intended to demonstrate God’s great love for His people Israel, who had played the harlot by going after other gods. Hosea’s life was used to teach God’s people a lesson. Allen R. Guenther made this point:

The prophet has become the message. Hosea’s marriage and family life carry a distinctive word to Israel. Hosea’s story is a metaphor, but it is also reality. It symbolizes God’s relation to Israel, but it also participates in the shattered relationship to which it points.

After citing Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel as examples of prophets whose lives were used as lessons, Guenther noted that the New Testament likewise “presents the apostles and ministers of the Word as a message. They are not merely the medium; they are also the content.”

In a similar way, Christians are to live so as to teach others what it means to serve God. We are to be lights in a world of darkness (Matthew 5:14-16), which implies that people watching us will learn from what they see. Paul described how the lives of Christians should be teaching tools when he wrote, “The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9). He also wrote to Timothy, “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1Timothy 4:12).

In a manner of speaking, we could say that everyone is teaching a lesson by his or her life. What do our lives teach?

How Many Legs?

by Al Diestelkamp

The story is told of a young boy who came home from school one day with a merit badge. His father beamed with pride to think that his son was so honored. He proudly asked the boy what it was he had done to earn this reward. The boy replied, “The teacher asked the class how many legs an ostrich has, and I said, ‘three.’” “But an ostrich has only two legs” the father objected. “Why were you rewarded for a wrong answer?” “The rest of the class said four, so I came closer,” was the boy’s explanation.

I fear too much of the time this is the way we think in spiritual matters. We think the Lord is pleased and will reward us as long as we are closer to the truth than those around us. In matters of truth and error, we cannot be satisfied to be merely “closer.” We must seek the whole truth (John 8:32).

Meditate on this:

Proverbs 3:5-8

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil.
⁸ It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.

Nothing New Under the Sun

By Jeff Curtis

The wise man Solomon observed, “There is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl.1:9). He had noted that generations come and go, as they always have (1:4); that the sun rises and sets as it always has (:5); and that the wind continues to blow (1:6) and rivers to flow (1:7) as they always have.

The fact that “there is nothing new under the sun” can be viewed in two ways. First, we might consider it proof of a hopeless monotony in life, seeing life as being boring, unchanging, and wearisome. Second, we might find the idea that “there is nothing new” to be a comforting, stabilizing truth. There are some things we can count on.

Solomon wanted to teach a very important point: Life without God is wearisome, repetitive, and hopeless. But life with God is comforting, exciting, stable and filled with hope.

Let’s consider the statement that “there is nothing new under the sun,” and think about a few truths related to God that are not new.

The nature of God is not new: He is still the all-powerful God of the universe. In the New Testament, this idea is comforting because we know that God (and Jesus) will never change (Heb.13:8).

God’s work is not new: (Eccl.3:14), it will remain forever and not be added to or taken away from. False teachers may misrepresent the gospel or the plan of salvation, but they cannot change any part of the unchangeable will of God.

God’s plan for man is not new: God wants people to fear Him (3:14), to live holy lives ((3:12), and to prepare to face Him in eternity (He has “set eternity” in man’s heart, 3:11).

The nature of man is not new: God created people upright, but they have sought out many devices. The truth teaches us that it is not “natural” for men to sin, in other words, God didn’t create man so that he would sin. This would have been against the basic character of God, “¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. ¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed” (James 1:13-4). Rather, man was created good. Yet, all have sinned (Rom.3:23). This was true in Solomon’s day and remains true in our time.

Meditate on this:

2 Kings 20:15

And he said, “What have they seen in your house?”

So, Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.”