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Gleanings From The Word

Tag: Devotional

  • The Calling

    Image of a wayerfall with the text "THE CALLING"

    Every human being has a purpose. Above and beyond that, every Christian believer has a divine calling from God. We are literally on a mission from God. There are specific callings to certain ministries, but every believer has a calling on their life.

    In Ephesians, Paul speaks of our calling. Ephesians 1:3-12 is a blessing that traces salvation from God’s eternal plan to its realization in Christ.

    In the balance of chapter one, Paul prays that we will understand the depth of our calling. In chapter two, Paul speaks of our calling into one nation, Jews and Gentiles alike, saved by grace and faith in what Christ has done.

    In chapter three he asks that believers be strengthened inwardly, rooted in love, and able to comprehend the vast dimensions of Christ’s love that surpass knowledge. The section closes with a doxology, affirming that God’s power is able to accomplish far more than human expectation.

    It is God’s power that enables us to deal with the practicalities of the calling.

    Starting in verse 4, Paul reminds us how to live out our calling as children of God, called to serve Him and bring Him glory.

    Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond Ephesians 4:1-3

    In a short list, reminiscent of the Fruit of the Spirit, Paul reminds us of how we are to live. It’s Spirit-powered and impossible under our flesh to do.

    It’s a more powerful list than any checklist of dos and don’ts. It cuts right to the heart of the matter, our changed nature. Walking in a way worthy of our calling causes us to evaluate every situation through the lens of Jesus and live appropriately.

    It runs counter culturally to everything the world declares. It’s radical, upside-down thinking. It stands out in a crowd, pointing people to the God who changes us.

    None of us has yet reached the point of living this way every moment, but it is a process that’s being worked in us. God promises to finish it.

    Are you living a life worthy of your great calling from God?

    Be blessed
    Kevin

    A related post: Our quest, a holy calling

     

    Key Takeaways

    • Every Christian has a divine calling from God, as outlined in Ephesians.
    • Paul emphasizes understanding our calling and living it out in unity and love.
    • The calling requires humility, gentleness, and patience while reflecting Christ’s love.
    • Living worthy of our calling is a transformative process that God will complete.
    • Evaluate your life: Are you living in a manner consistent with your calling?

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  • Knowing the Bible like the back of my hand

    Knowing the Bible like the back of my hand

    Knowing the bible like the back of your hand

    If I said to you that I know something like the back of my hand, you would understand what I meant. It’s an English language idiom that means “to have very good and detailed knowledge of something.”

    If someone said to you, “I know the bible like the back of my hand,” you would understand them to mean a deep understanding of the Scriptures, likely with large portions memorized, a more-than-average understanding of the various books, their contexts and how they come together. Honestly, it’s a pretty bold claim.

    While the Bible doesn’t use that idiom, it could be said of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law in Jesus day. They knew what we call the Old Testament backward and forward and could likely recite at least the first five books word for word. They also understood all the rabbinical interpretations and applications. I would love to have their knowledge.

    The man we come to know as Paul the Apostle was once known as Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was highly regarded as a zealot, a teacher and a persecutor of the Christian faith. He stood by and held Stephen’s cloak as Stephen was being stoned to death for his beliefs. No one doubted his sincerity, his knowledge or his passion.

    Despite all that, Saul was missing something. He didn’t yet know Jesus. That would come later in a divine encounter on the Damascus Road.

    Without Christ, all his knowledge, his years of study, the sincerity of his beliefs and his zeal were meaningless. He was doomed to eternal damnation.

    In Acts, Paul says; I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but having been brought up in this city, having been instructed at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strictness of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. Acts 2:3

    Throughout Paul’s writings, we see that he came to understand that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that we are saved by faith through God’s grace and mercy, bought by the shed blood of Jesus.

    For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

    Paul also teaches that we need to know the Word, to understand what it teaches and apply it to our lives. To be a Christian takes faith, but that doesn’t exclude knowledge.

    All the “head knowledge” in the world, even if you can say you know the Bible, church history and theology like “the back of my hand”, without that moving to your heart and manifesting as faith, it’s useless.

    Faith isn’t a blind leap. You have to have enough knowledge to know you are a sinner and what you need to be reconciled to God. Our walk isn’t a question of faith versus knowledge. It’s faith and knowledge. 

    Faith saves you, and the knowledge and its application deepen your relationship. With Christ. The way to reconciliation with God

    I pray you have the faith to be saved, and the head knowledge to understand. I pray that your love for Jesus and knowledge of what He requires move you to application (works)

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God) 

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone) 

    SUMMARY

    Knowing Scripture deeply is admirable, but even the most profound biblical knowledge is worthless without personal faith in Jesus Christ. True Christian living requires both — faith that saves and knowledge that deepens the relationship.

    KEY POINTS

    Saul of Tarsus had unmatched scriptural knowledge yet was lost without Christ, proving that head knowledge alone cannot save. 

     Salvation comes by grace through faith — not works or intellectual achievement — as Paul himself came to understand after his Damascus Road encounter. 

     Faith and knowledge are not opposites; faith saves us, while growing in the Word deepens our walk with Christ and moves us toward application.

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    All contents, “Gleanings From the Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2026 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, “Gleanings From the Word.” All rights reserved.

    Scripture quotations are from the Legacy Standard Bible® (LSB®), Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. 

    From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.

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