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E.G.O. — Edging God Out

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“Ego” is not a Bible word. The Greek word egō simply means “I” or “me,” and there is nothing sinful about the word itself. Jesus used it. Paul used it. The problem is not that we have an “I.” God made us individual people with minds, wills, abilities, responsibilities, and personalities. The problem begins when the “I” starts moving into God's place. That is why “E.G.O., Edging God Out” is actually a useful way to describe something Scripture deals with repeatedly, even though those particular letters are not found in the Bible. We need to be careful with this, because it is very easy to turn “ego” into a psychological word and then start reading our own definition back into Scripture. The Bible speaks instead about pride, arrogance, boasting, self-seeking, vainglory, trusting in oneself, seeking the praise of people, forgetting God, resisting His will, and exalting oneself . Those are the things we need to examine, because that is where the Word of God actually gives us some...
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Mentoring God's Way

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The word “mentor” is not a Bible word.  It is a much later word that we use to describe someone who teaches, guides, trains, corrects, encourages, and helps another person grow .  So if we want to understand mentoring God’s way, we need to look past the modern word and see what Scripture actually shows us about how one person helps another become what God has called that person to be.  The Bible gives us quite a lot to work with.  It talks about teaching, discipling, training, correcting, encouraging, shepherding, serving, developing gifts, entrusting responsibility, and passing what we have learned on to others.  When we put all of those things together, we begin to see what Godly mentoring actually looks like. The clearest place to begin is with Jesus because He did not merely tell people what to do.  He lived with His disciples and allowed them to watch Him. Mark tells us that Jesus appointed the twelve “so that they would be with Him and so that He cou...
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Listen To The Words

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  Sometimes when I read a book, whether good or not so good, I might brush over long paragraphs to get past the “boring parts”, like descriptions. Sometimes those descriptions can take up whole pages! As I was reading God’s Word this morning, I thought about that. We cannot study God’s Word by just brushing over the paragraphs because they may be boring. Paul tells us to “Study to shew yourself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” 2 Timothy 2:15 . We often hear this verse used as an encouragement to study the Bible, and certainly it is that. But if we are going to take the verse seriously, we should not rush past its own words . Paul does not just tell Timothy to acquire information. The Greek spoudazō carries the sense of being diligent, earnest, and making every effort, while orthotomeō , translated “rightly dividing,” means handling something correctly and accurately. Paul is talking about the kind of carefulness t...
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Who Gets To Be Called An Apostle?

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  There is a question that has to be settled before anyone accepts the title “apostle”: Who gets to choose an apostle? The answer is not found in the ambition of a man, the decision of an organization, or the approval of other people. The answer is found in the Word of God. Jesus Christ chooses whom He appoints , and Scripture gives us witness after witness so that we can recognize what God has established. Jesus Himself told us where to look when He said, “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me.” , John 5:46. After His resurrection, Jesus met two disciples on the road to Emmaus and, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, explained to them the things concerning Himself throughout the Scriptures, Luke 24:27 . We therefore have Jesus' own authority to go back into Moses and look for what God was showing about Christ. We are not forcing Jesus into the Old Testament after the fact. Jesus told us that Moses wrote about Him. The Old Testament i...
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