Above Rubies Daily Encouragement Blogs

These Gadites, whose faces had a lion-like look about them must have indeed been bold men. All these mighty bold men came to help King David. But our King Jesus, who is the heavenly David, is surely worth nothing less than the earthly David.

Don’t you agree?

Let’s be bold in this hour to stand up for truth.

Be encouraged, men.

Colin Campbell

Although the King James Version uses the word “unseemly,” most translations use the word “rude.” The Strong’s concordance says this word means “indecency, shame, unbecoming.”

I believe it is important for all Christian parents to repeatedly teach their children this truth so that it enters deeply within them that God’s love flowing through them will not allow them to behave unseemly, rudely, indecently, or shamefully.

We are living in a generation that is far too disrespectful in their behavior and speech towards their parents, elders, peers, the elderly, and those who have rule and authority over them.

There was a time in our culture when we were taught to stand up, bow down, and kneel in the presence of those whose position rightfully deserved our honor and respect.

Proverbs 25:6; “Put not thyself forward in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men. For better is it that it be said of thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen.”

To put oneself forward into an honored position in someone else’s home without being invited is rude and unseemly. Do not take the chair of honor in the dining room nor at the dinner table unless you are asked.

Leviticus 19;32 (NET): “You must stand up in the presence of the aged, honor the presence of an elder and fear your God. I am the LORD.”

This appropriate behavior is not only for special occasions, but for normal everyday life. Many of our English-speaking nations have departed from our Judeo /Christian culture norms to our own discredit. We no longer address an older stranger whose name we do not know as Sir or Mister, or an older lady we do not know as Ma’am or Madam.

It is now normal to be uncouth, brash, arrogant, and down right disrespectful in the presence of the opposite sex and innocent children.

Freedom of speech does not give us the right to say whatever we like for God will judge every man according to what comes out of his mouth. Even when we share a testimony or a word before God’s people at church or a Christian gathering, we must be careful to be honorable with our words.

Matthew 12:36, 36: “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words that shalt be condemned.”

Ephesians 4:29, 30: “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your nouth but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

Colossians 4:6; “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”

James 3:8-10: “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith cruse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceeded blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.”

Unseemly speech will be judged at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Unseemly words or behavior do not promote the love of God nor are they motivated by the loved of God.

To be continued.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

To permit a son or a daughter to have their homosexual partner living and sleeping together in your home is a false love and a false grace. Even to allow unmarried couples of the opposite sex to sleep together in your home is a false love and a false grace. This is happening in Christian homes across America and I am saddened by it.

Whatever the world accepts as acceptable and normal behavior when it comes to morals is now becoming the norm of the church.

I am not saying that we should not actively, as Christians, love those who are committing sin. God loved us while we were yet sinners so much that he sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die a horrible death for our sins. Romans 5:8 says: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

We must actively show our love toward sinners and yet at the same time let them understand that we actively reject their sin.

Under the guise of love and grace many so-called Christians will not judge abortion as murdering innocent lives and yet at the same time they will actively stand up against those who murder innocent people on our streets, schools, and Walmart’s. What hypocrisy. This is false love and grace and we fail to discern what is right from wrong. Murdering unborn, innocent children is just as evil as murdering people in Walmart.

Under the guise of love and grace we must not allow your children to have uncontrolled use of Internet games and programs that pervert their innocent minds and lives. This is false love for your children and false grace. Christian parents have a God-given mandate to protect their children from watching the wrong things.

God’s grace should never be treated as a band aid to cover sin so that sin doesn’t look so bad.

Many Christians allow this to happen so their children will not be bored with nothing to entertain them. They think that one day they will grow out of it. This is a false love and a false grace.

Hebrews 12:28, 29: “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.” This is the love and grace that is acceptable to God.

Titus 2;11, 12 explains more of what it means to walk in grace: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.”

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

God judged all our sins with the crucifixion of His sinless and only Beloved Son. God forgave us all our sins through the terrible judgment that Jesus Christ vicariously bore in our place on that rugged cross.

Jesus Christ now lives in us by His spirit to give us the victory over all sin. Every type of sin that seeks to dominate our lives must be judged for what it is. Sin is sin whether it was before we became a Christian or after we became a Christian.

If God calls all wrong-doing sin, so should we.

Even though sin was judged at the cross, it is still sin if we continue in it.

Romans 6:1, 2: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any loner therein?”

We must examine ourselves and judge our actions before we partake of the Lord’s Supper lest we eat and drink damnation to ourselves. 1 Corinthians 11:29, 30 says: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.”

God’s amazing grace does not cover a lifestyle of unrepentant sin.

Much of the church is under a false grace that permits sin to be unjudged and unrepented of, both in our homes and in the churches.

To be continued.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

LOVE IS NOT PUFFED UP

Love dies to oneself rather than increasing oneself with pride and self-fame.

Paul speaks about being puffed up in 1 Corinthians 4:6 (NET): “So that none of you will be puffed up in favor of the one against the other.” Sadly verses 18 and 19 say: “Now some of you are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.” Paul is saying that there were people amongst them that were favoring some and not others. They were respecters of persons.

Acts 10:34 says: “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.”

James 2:1: “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.”

1 Corinthians 5:2: “Ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this dead might be taken away from among you.”

The Corinthians church were allowing fornication of a very serious nature to remain in the church. This type of sin is being committed all over our modern-day Christian church and yet they allow it in the name of love. We lovingly tolerate the things God abhors. We are puffed up with false love for we allow people to continue in sin who do things God hates. God’s love deals with sin and applies the necessary discipline.

We think we should not judge sin in the church on the basis of “Judge not that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). This is not talking about not dealing with sin in the church, but rather to not be a critical person who is always looking for faults in others.

1 Corinthians 6:3 says: “Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?”

To be continued.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

Proverbs 31:26 says of the virtuous woman: “She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.”

Ephesians 4:23 “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

LOVE DOES NOT ENVY

Love is not jealous of others. The word envy means “a passion or zeal to move against someone because of envy.” Envy is divisive. It blocks fellowship and hinders the flow of the spirit of love. Envy causes one to argue and resist others even when they are more righteous.

When judging Jesus at the time of His crucifixion Pilate asked the people if they would prefer Barabbas, a notable prisoner who was a murderer (Mark 15:7-15). Matthew 27:18 tells us that Pilate “knew that for envy they had delivered him.”

The priests were envious of Jesus because the multitudes followed Him. Or was it because of the mighty miracles He performed? They were not performing miracles.

Jesus told the disciples to tell John the Baptist: “Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me” (Matthew 11:4-6).

Why did Jesus tell John tell John the Baptist not to be offended at Him? Great miracles were happening with Jesus. Multitudes were following Him and yet John the Baptist’s ministry was fading. Even John the Baptist said himself: “He must increase but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

We read in John 1:35-42 of two of John’s disciples who left John and followed Jesus. Sometimes this kind of thing can cause an offense and offense can lead to envy. I am not saying that John the Baptist was offended. However, Jesus certainly cautioned him about it.

We will not envy if we are filled with love.

To be continued.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell

There Is nothing greater than love except God because God is love!

1 John 4:8: “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

1 Corinthians 13;13: “But the greatest of these is love.”

The question is: how great is the love of God in us?

Love is the principle doctrine of the three abiding truths which are faith, hope, and love.

1 Corinthians 13:1: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.”

Speaking in tongues is not forbidden in the New Testament church (1 Corinthians 14:39), whether it be the tongues of men or of angels. However, in the church it must be interpreted, otherwise it is out of order. But even if we have a powerful gift of speaking in tongues and yet are not exercising the fruit of love we are as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.

Every gift must be exercised from a heart that is filled with the love of Christ otherwise it will not profit the giver or hearer.

1 Corinthians 13:2; “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.”

Prophecy is a great gift because it edifies the church, but if the individual who prophesies is not filed with the love of God it prophets them or the hearers nothing.

Jonah was told to go and prophecy to the people of Nineveh. However, he was definitely not filled with the love of God. He had no love at all for the people of Nineveh. He wanted them to be destroyed and God did not reward him for his failure to love, even though he was miraculously delivered from spending three days and three nights in the belly of a whale.

Because of this Jonah became a prophetic sign of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:40, 41: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and , behold, a greater than Solomon is here.”

To be filled with wisdom and to understand all mysteries and knowledge would be a very powerful gift and could draw crowds of people desperately seeking answers to their problems and important questions. However, from God’s perspective, it would profit the individual nothing if not motivated by the love of God that is shed abroad in the believer’s heart (Romans 5:5). Such a gift, though given by God’s love could easily promote pride.

The user of the gift must at all times give all the glory to God and seek to be always filled with God‘s love. Otherwise this powerful gift will profit him nothing.

Jesus Christ made it very clear that the supernatural gifts give us no credence, nor do they give us God’s acceptance or reward.

Although supernatural gifts of God will attract people’s attention and people will flock to be blessed by these gifts, they can only bring reward to the stewards of these gifts if they operate in the love of God.

I am most certainly not downplaying any of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but merely saying that every steward of every gift must make sure the fruit of love is flowing from their lives.

Be encouraged.

Colin Campbell