|
||||||||||||||
Commentary on "From Complaints to Apostasy"
Day 4: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Today’s lesson is titled “Family Nastiness.” It is true that in familial relationships, we can sometimes become nasty to one another in ways that we would often condemn in others. Aaron and Miriam’s jealousy are definitely grown from a root of bitterness. The lesson author is correct in directing our attention to the difference between Moses, and Aaron and Miriam. Moses was a man of God, the most humble man on earth, and a type of Christ who would continually intercede for his people.
The author compares the complaints of Aaron and Miriam to similar racial attitudes amongst our own cultures. Whether here in the United States, Europe, Australia, Africa, India or Asia, there is a natural desire to differentiate ourselves from others. The author then asks the question at the bottom of the page, “What bad attitudes need to be purged from you before they lead to your own spiritual ruin?” It is not the purging of bad attitudes that will lead to our spiritual ruin; it is the condition of our spirit. If we have not been born again, our spirits are separated from God and regardless of the attitudes we hold, we are lost.
If we have been born again by the Spirit of God, only then can we allow him to purify our hearts and cleanse our minds. If we fight our own fleshly desires with our flesh, we will lose every time. If we fight our fleshly desires with a born again spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit we will be more than conquerors in Christ.
Let’s allow the power of God the Holy Spirit to purge the “family nastiness” from among us and show us how to love one another in the power of the risen Christ.
Summary
GO TO DAY 5
Copyright 2009 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised October 22, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
Official Adventist Resources
Standard Edition Study Guide Week 5
Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 5
Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Week 5
Search the Complete Published Ellen G. White Writings