Daily Lesson for Thursday 23rd of January 2025

The God of the Bible is compassionate and passionate, and these divine emotions are supremely exemplified in Jesus Christ. God is sympathetic (compare with Isaiah 63:9, Hebrews 4:15), deeply affected by the sorrows of His people (Judges 10:16, Luke 19:41), and willing to hear, answer, and comfort (Isaiah 49:10,15; Matthew 9:36; Matthew 14:14).

Image © Review & Herald Publishing from GoodSalt.com

We long to be in relationship with persons who exemplify the kind of love described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. But how often do we seek to become this kind of person toward others? We cannot make ourselves long-suffering and kind; we cannot make ourselves not be envious, conceited, rude, or self-seeking. We cannot muster a love in ourselves that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things,” and “never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:7-8, NKJV). Such love can be exemplified in our lives only as the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And praise God that the Holy Spirit pours the love of God into the hearts of those who, by faith, are in Christ Jesus (Romans 5:5).

By the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, in what practical ways might we respond to, and reflect, God’s profoundly emotional, but always perfectly righteous and rational, love? First, the only appropriate response is to worship the God who is love. Second, we should respond to God’s love by actively showing compassion and benevolent love to others. We should not simply be comforted in our Christian faith but should be motivated to comfort others. Finally, we should recognize that we cannot change our hearts, but that only God can.

So, let us ask God to give us a new heart for Him and for others—a pure and purifying love that elevates what is good and removes the chaff from within.

Let our prayer be: “may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, . . . so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, NKJV).

<–Wednesday Friday–>

(0)

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-04-compassion-and-passionate/

Join It Is Written Sabbath School host Eric Flickinger and this quarter’s author, John C. Peckham, as they provide additional insights into this week’s Sabbath School lesson.”

(0)

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/4-god-is-passionate-and-compassionate-it-is-written-discussions-with-the-author/

View an in-depth discussion of God is Passionate and Compassionate in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris.
Click on the image below to view the video:

With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.

(0)

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/4-god-is-passionate-and-compassionate-hope-sabbath-school-video-discussion/

The Bible clearly teaches us not to be envious or jealous. 

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s. Genesis 20:17 NKJV

 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies.... Galatians 5:19-20 NKJV

Then why does the Bible portray God as being jealous?

You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, Exodus 20:4-5  NKJV

For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images. Psalm 78:58 NKJV

There are different kinds of jealousy. Paul spoke of a godly jealousy.

For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:2 NKJV 

The jealousy that is spoken against in the Bible is wanting something that does not belong to us. If a man lusts after another man’s wife, that is wrong because the woman is not his but belongs to another man. However if the husband loses his wife to another man, he has godly jealousy because his wife actually belongs to him and not the other man. (By the way, this still does not justify a husband getting jealous every time his wife speaks cordially to another brother in church etc., but I digress.)

Carnal jealousy is wanting what does not belong to us. Godly jealousy is wanting what does belong to us but is taken by someone else. 

God is jealous when His own people choose another god. He is both jealous and passionate because not only do we belong to Him and not the world, but He also knows the world will not love and care for us the way He does. This is why God tells us in Exodus 20:3 that we are not to have any other gods. God knows no other god will love and care for us the way He does. His passion for our welfare demands we have no other gods besides Him. Only He can love us the way we were designed to be loved. We do not belong to the world. We belong to God. See Psalm 24:1.

God’s jealousy is not a carnal jealousy of wanting what does not belong to us so we can use it to satisfy our lustful passions. God’s jealousy is a godly jealousy where He does not want to lose what is rightfully His, and His passion is a godly passion for our well-being.

God wants us to stay faithful to Him for our own well-being and not because of some carnal jealous ego. The reason we are to have no other gods before us is that  God is the only God who can give us the love and well-being we need. He is jealous for our welfare and not for Himself. 

(2)

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/godly-passion-and-jealousy/

Daily Lesson for Tuesday 21st of January 2025

In the New Testament, the same kind of imagery as in the Old is used to depict God’s compassion. Paul refers to the Father as the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3, NKJV). Further, Paul explains in Ephesians 2:4 that God is “rich in mercy” and redeems humans “because of His great love with which He loved us” (NKJV).

Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com

In various parables, Christ Himself repeatedly uses terms of visceral, gut-wrenching emotion to depict the Father’s compassion (Matthew 18:27, Luke 10:33, Luke 15:20). And the same language that depicts divine compassion in the Old Testament and New Testament also is used in the Gospels to depict Jesus’ compassionate responses to those in distress.

Again and again in the Gospels, Christ was said to be moved to compas­sion by people in distress or in need. And He not only felt compas­sion, He addressed the people’s needs, as well.

And yes, Jesus also lamented over His people. One might imagine the tears in Christ’s eyes as He looks out over the city—“ ‘How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!’ ” (Matthew 23:37, NKJV). Here, we see that the lament of Christ matches closely with that depicted of God throughout the Old Testament. In fact, many biblical scholars note that the imagery of a bird taking care of her young is imagery only used of divinity in the ancient Near East. Here, many see an allusion to the imagery in Deuteronomy 32:11, of God as a bird hovering over, protecting, and taking care of its young.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

(0)

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-04-the-compassion-of-jesus/