The Bible Edge
Everyone needs an Edge, Believers can have the Bible Edge
Romans 14:5
One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
To be persuaded there must be a persuader. When the Apostle Paul wrote: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39), it was because he had lived through those things. In the second half of Acts we read of the life and death situations he faced, of the issues with the principalities he dealt with, he saw the things to come by being conveyed up into the third heaven, he was in the depth of the sea, bitten by a creature called a viper. He endured all these, and more, knowing that the Lord God in Christ loved him through it all.
He was persuaded in his own mind.
In Hebrews chapter eleven the Word of God says of the Old Testament heroes: These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13). They lived through some things which persuaded them to be persuaded in their own minds.
When a person is fully persuaded in their mind about a matter no one will change that mind. Again, consider Paul, he was on a ship headed for Jerusalem. On the way the ship stopped in Tyre to unload some cargo. While there Paul was able to find some disciples and spent seven days with them. These disciples of the Lord said to Paul through the Holy Spirit that he should not go to Jerusalem. Later on the trip Paul and his company stopped at Caesarea wherein a prophet named Agabus took Paul’s girdle, bound his hands and feet and said: …Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. (Acts 21:11) To which Paul replied: What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. The result of this impasse? And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done. (Romans 21:14)
With all this said and written the Bible Edge for today is this: Be fully persuaded in your mind, but know that others may differ. They may be fully persuaded in their mind opposite of your mind. When this takes place …Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind… and say The will of the Lord be done. Know this, the events and learning of your life will persuade you of that which you need to be persuaded. That is one of many reasons you are going through that which you are going through. God is working to persuade you of that which He wants you to be persuaded. For you, and for His will for you.
William Howe, Ph.D.
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