04.24.12
Posted in
General
| 17:03
We now come to the swing word of
this study of Second Chronicles 7:14. I have
been considering the “if” side of the equation but now we enter the “what if”
side. What if we do obey and conform to
all those conditions set out under the “if” side. I am sure I have stated earlier that this
verse is one of God’s conditional promises; certain conditions must be met
before the promise can be realized. “Then”
is the point we had to reach to receive the promise of God.
According to the dictionary I have
the word ‘then’ is defined as: “at that time; soon or immediately”. Let us assume for a moment that we have met
the conditions set forth previously; with the word ‘then’ we can now expect
fulfillment of the promise either soon or immediately. The most important part given in the word ‘then’
is that it is a definite; there is no ‘might’ or ‘maybe’ or ‘possibly’. We may not know the exact time for us to
receive the promise but because we know we have met the conditions we now know
for sure we will, at least, soon receive what we worked and waited to receive.
As I was thinking of how the
approach this writing on ’then’, a song of my teen years came to mind. You may never have heard the song by the
Coaster titled “Along Came Jones”. What
brought this song to mind is the repeated use of the word ‘then’. The song is similar to the old serial
cliffhangers, also on my younger years, and when something terrible was at the
point of happening the phrase is used, “and then, and then along came
Jones. Jones is the hero and he comes to
the rescue ‘then’.
To include a Biblical prospective to
this I turned to Deuteronomy 28. I will
allow you to read it for yourself but will here only summarize what God’s Word
says. Moses is making a final address to
the Israelites just prior to his death.
Moses reminds the people of the promise of God concerning them. Here we go again, another ‘if-then’
promise. Moses says that God has
promised that ‘if’ they will keep
His commandments and obey Him ‘then’ He
will bless them. Moses goes into great detail explaining the
blessings promised by God. God promises
to bless their city, country, fruit of their body, produce of their ground,
increase of their herds, offspring of their flocks, their baskets, their
kneading board, their coming in and their going out. God further promised that their enemies would
be defeated before their face and would bless their storehouses and all they
set their hand upon. To me there isn’t
much that was not to be blessed. If they
met God’s conditions then he was promising them a near perfect life.
Just as it is in Second Chronicles
7:14 there were conditions to be met and a promise offered. I won’t get into it now but the biggest part
of this chapter deals with what will happen when the conditions are not
met. I wonder if there are inferred
curses that apply to us if we fail to attain completion of the conditions of
this verse.
What I a attempting to make clear
now is that God is faithful and He did make this promise to us. Since He made it you can be sure He will live
by it. God doesn’t back away from a
promise made. If you haven’t, read this
chapter in Deuteronomy and then read how Israel responded. You will see God was completely faithful in
this promise and I am sure He will be in this promise.
Before I go further into this verse
and begin to explore what is included in the ‘then’ part of the equation, you
might wish to go back and reconsider the ‘if’ portion and be satisfied you have
attained each conditions. I know very
well that if we fail to meet the conditions then we have no reason to expect
that God will deliver positive results in the ‘then’ portion. If we fail to do what was asked of us we
should expect very negative results. “Then”
means soon or immediately and also definitely.
Time isn’t up yet; I want the positive ‘then’ portion.
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03.25.12
Posted in
General
| 18:04
Late this afternoon I was sitting on my front porch relaxing and just viewing all the beauty around me. As I sat there I could see Redbuds and Dogwoods blooming, other trees beginning to place the leaves of another year, and birds in the distance singing and chirping. The tree across the road from my house was no longer the stark skeleton of a tree as it had been throughout the winter but now it too was fleshing out with brilliantly green tender leaves.
In the sky, though mainly very clear, I watched a few puffy collections of water vapor-clouds float lazily across the range of my sight. What a beautiful world! Then I began to notice the peacefulness and serenity of the entire scene in front of me. I guess it was a rather crazy thought but I even wondered how nearly like what I was experiencing was the original garden. How much different was the Garden of Eden when God place Adam there with all the rest of His creation? As I said, maybe this was a silly thought but it was so pretty and peaceful to me that I would have trouble thinking of anything better.
As I sat there and enjoyed my thoughts and had a chat with God, expressing my thanks to Him for making such a beautiful world it began to dawn on me that I was sitting square dab in the middle of a battle field. No, my area of this world is not involved in a physical war with its bomb, artillery shells exploding and small arms fire interrupting the stillness of all around me. Even if I didn’t hear a bomb explode or aircraft make airstrike I was just as assuredly in the middle of a great battle. All around me two sides were in the heat of battle not just on my little dot of the big ball we call earth but on every other dot that makes this big ball.
This is the battle between the side of good and the side of evil. This is the battle between the forces of God and the rebellious forces of Satan. This war began years ago and didn’t even start here on earth but in heaven when Satan rebelled against God and decided he would usurp all God had created and make it his. God’s loyal angels won that battle and threw Satan and those angels that aligned with him to earth. After God created man and woman and placed them in the garden to have fellowship with Him, Satan decided to up the ante and moved his attack away from God directly but moved the focus of his attack to God’s creation-man.
Man, even though he knew what he should do chose to listen to the lie of Satan and by so doing disobeyed God and that led to mankind’s spiritual death and a break in the fellowship between the Creator and the created. God didn’t give up on mankind because of His love for His creation and to return man to his original fellowship with God, God introduce a plan to redeem mankind from their sin. It started with Adam and Eve and continues to each man and woman that inhabits this big ball called earth.
As I looked out on the small dot I inhabit I didn’t see a battle happening but I know for sure there were many very close to me. There is often a battle on the battlefield of my life. Yes, I accepted God’s plan of salvation many years ago but even today I sometimes become a traitor and accept the enticement of Satan and his hoard of demons around me. I know I should never even listen to his temptation but I must admit I do. I immediately realize I was wrong and have to seek forgiveness for my disobedience and sin. There may be a battle going on in the house across the road or maybe in one of the vehicles that were traveling up and down the road in front of my house. I am not sure house close I was to an actual battle but I know within a short distance there were many heated battles raging.
Not only on my little dot but on each of the dots that make up this big ball that floats through space under the control and guidance of the Creator is the battle being fought for the lives and souls of God’s highest creation-man. The outcome of the war has been set but there are many battles happening continually. God is the winner of the war and that was finalized when Jesus paid mankind’s debt for sin and won over death. Even with the winner establish many may be lost in these battles. Satan is determined to destroy as many of God’s creatures as possible and cause them to reject their only hope for the renewal of fellowship God desire. The Bible tells us that it isn’t God’s will that any should perish but all come to repentance.
God has a large army; all those of us that have given our allegiance to Him and have accepted His Son as Lord and Savior. We may be his army but at times it appears that we are poorly trained and poorly equipped for the battle before us. It seems that many of the troops are just happy to be enlisted on the winning side and have decided to leave the actual warfare to others to fight. It is ashamed that we who are warriors in God’s army are unwilling or so afraid to march into the heat of battle but had rather set back and watch others be swept away by the forces of evil and then if never rescued will spend eternity with Satan and all his followers in hell.
Yes there is a worldwide battle happening as I type this and many may have been eternally lost. Many of these could have been saved if God’s forces were willing to suffer the hardship of war and charge directly at the enemy with the desire to snatch any and all possible from the grips of Satan. Someday our general will evaluate our performance on the battlefield. Will we receive awards for bravery and conduct above and beyond what we now think to be is appropriate. Remember you will one day get to march down the street of heaven and celebrate the end of the war and the final victory but for now there is a battle going on.
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03.25.12
Posted in
General
| 13:37
Sometime back I wrote an article titled “Have you put Yourself Out to Pasture”. In that article I briefly discussed retirement and the decisions we make as we near that time society has established as ‘retirement’. I received a comment on my original article, requesting further thought concerning the topic covered. I reread the first article numerous times and the article and the area I have been reading in the Bible began to come together.
In the Old Testament I recently read of the death of such people as Aaron, Moses, and Joshua. Maybe it was omitted from the account of these men but in no case did I find where they stopped their work, moved to a place a good weather, and took up some new hobby or indulged more in an old hobby. Aaron was the original priest anointed by God and served in that position until God told Moses, Aaron and Aaron’s son to go into the mountains because Aaron was going to die. These three made the trip as directed by God. My translation of the Bible doesn’t mention that Aaron rode in an ambulance, I have to believe that they made the trip on foot; not a bad trip for a 123 year old man just about to die. When they reached their appointed destination the priest’s garments were removed from Aaron and placed on his son then Aaron died and was buried.
Moses continued leading the children of Israel until they finally arrived on the banks of the Jordan River across from Jericho. Moses spoke to the Israelites, reminding them of all he had previously told them from God and also reminded them of the covenant they had made with God. God then told Moses to go up onto a nearby mountain and God would allow him to see all the promise land; Moses wasn’t going to be able to cross the Jordan because of his sin against God when he was bring water from the rock. One hundred twenty year old Moses made the trip to the top of the mountain, saw all the land flowing with milk and honey then died. The difference with Moses was that God himself buried him and the location of his grave was unknown. Moses not only didn’t get to go into the promise land, he didn’t get many years to enjoy to sea coast and the fishing there or traveling to the sights around the world.
Joshua was for a while Moses’ second in command then with the death of Moses the leadership was placed on the shoulders of Joshua by God. Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan and into battle against the people of the land. Joshua led the people to claiming all that God had promised; he led them to the point that they took possession and then could rest. Before the death of Joshua, he called all the people together and refreshed with them all the commandments of God. Joshua advised them to obey God and to never embrace the gods of the people around them that they had failed to run out of the land of God’s promise. Joshua might have like to go up into the mountains around the area that was given to him and hunt or just to enjoy the scenery for the final years of his life but that was what he did. Not long after his meeting with all the Israelites, he died and was taken to his possession and buried.
I have given three examples of those that served God and worked until the time of their death. You may be saying, yes, but this was the Old Testament and things were different then. I could give as many or more of the followers mentioned in the New Testament. Consider the retirement of Paul, Peter, or John. All those we have accounts of in the Bible continued to serve God throughout their lives. None work for a pre-determined number of years, had a retirement party, then went to their retirement home to rest and enjoy their ‘golden years’.
As far as I have been able to find anywhere in the Bible retirement comes as it did for Aaron, Moses, and Joshua; when they were laid to rest. If you think of the story of creation and the placement of Adam in the garden; you hear God say that Adam is there to tend the garden. Maybe God made a mistake and forgot to tell Adam that he only had to do the work of the garden for a certain number of years then he could stop and enjoy his ‘retirement’. I doubt if this happened in that way. If Adam and Eve hadn’t sinned and if they had never been placed under the penalty of death, they would today still be working in the garden.
We were placed here originally to work and to fellowship with God. Somewhere along the way work became a dirty word and most of us spend our adult life looking forward to that time we don’t have to work again. For many years of my life I was involved in Emergency Medical Services as a Paramedic. During that time I saw many who had worked hard for forty or more years to finally reach the age of retirement. They would retire, sit down and soon I would become involved in their life as a Paramedic. We were made by God to work, to stay busy. When we suddenly change to a sedate life our bodies have a very difficult time adjusting.
Recently, someone asked me if I was retied. I responded by saying, “No, I am relaxed.” It is true I don’t work as hard as I once did but then I am not in as good shape as I once was. My doctor told me I wasn’t eighteen and would never be eighteen again so I don’t function as an eighteen year old. My way of handling life and what I feel God would have me to do now is to undergo a career change. I have changed what I once did and now stay busy doing other things I am capable of doing that God has for me to do. I write these articles at times, I raise Angus cattle and all that involves, I work when called with disaster relief through the Southern Baptist, and whatever else God brings into my life. Don’t use me as an example; just do as God leads you. I don’t have all the answers for life but I know the One that does.
Actually I am looking forward to retirement. Someday my life and my work here will be over and then I will have eternity for retirement. I don’t see my time in heaven as floating on a cloud, strumming a harp and eating angel food cake, I see eternity as a time of growing, learning and even working. Yes, I think I will have the opportunity to chat with all those there, to meet many new people. There are so many people I want the chance to talk with. I want to learn more of what their life and service included. Just think of talking with Jesus and hear Him tell what it was like to walk on water, what it was like to endure the cross. Talk with Paul and hear his story of conversion. And meet those we have influenced and didn’t even know here. I pray I have been a positive influence on many and if there is just one more that I may impact for Christ I will rest when and retire when I get to heaven.
If my goal is to receive a gold watch, I can buy one. My goal is to receive one or more crown for Jesus. I figure when I enter heaven there will be a big welcoming of friends, family, strangers, and Jesus who will present to me my retirement present of a gold crown. Hey, retirement gets more appealing each day but I have today to do all God has for me to do, maybe tomorrow will be the first day of my retirement.
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03.20.12
Posted in
General
| 14:01
I am sure I have been a bit hesitant getting to this phrase; it is hard for me write to myself. Yes, I to some degree reach the first conditions given but when this one becomes the topic of discussions I honestly had rather hide.
Maybe, and evidently I am not alone in my failure to turn from my wicked ways or shall we put it very directly and say I am not ready to give up some sin. In my last post “If WeDon’t Learn from History” I discussed how God set the groundwork for the Israelites as they prepared to walk over Jordan and possess the ‘Promised Land’. God spoke through Moses and told His people that if they would simply keep His commandments, statues, and rules then they would be abundantly blessed in every aspect of their individual and national life but if they disobeyed they would be placed under the curse of God and would suffer greatly. He did give them an ‘out’; if they feel away from God they could return when they cried out in repentance and asked forgiveness.
Even though this verse was spoken to Solomon centuries ago and was directed then to the Israelites again; it applies to His purchased people such as assuredly today as it did to His chosen people when He proclaimed these words the first time. If this verse doesn’t apply to us today I doubt God would have included it in His Word.
In previous posts concerning this verse I have tried to establish that those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior are the ones referred to as ‘My People’. Then we dealt with the fact that we march under the banner of Christian which signifies that we are followers of the One who paid our sin debt. The next phrase is the first of the conditions required by God to be qualified to receive all that He wants to shower down on us; all the blessings He has for us as He did for Israel before crossing Jordan; we like they must attain humility. The second condition we are required to meet is to pray. We should converse or pray with God whether we are in a right standing with Him or we have turned are back on Him. If we want a proper relationship with our Creator we must talk with him and be in a constant spirit of prayer. The third condition is to seek the face of God; maybe easier for all to understand is we are to desire and seek an intimate relationship with God. When you truly love a person what part of them do you wish to see; you wish to gaze into their face, their eyes and see their inner communication with you.
We are now to condition number four: turn from their wicked ways. Just to turn isn’t all that is required as it says in Isaiah 55:7 “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” When you turn from something you must turn to something; he we are told to turn from our wickedness and turn to the Lord. In Ezekiel 18:21 God says, “But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”
There are numerous verses throughout God’s Word giving the same instructions; turn form wickedness and turn to God. In sin and wickedness is death and destruction while obedience of God brings life and blessing. We are the one to make the choice. If you don’t believe the relationship of obedience with blessing and sin with destruction take some time and read just part of the history of Israel. Israel lived the life of a yo-yo; serving God and following His commandments and then moving away from God and bowing to the gods of the nations around them. In Romans 1:24-32 we have recorded a list of the sins of mankind. These weren’t exclusive to Bible times but are as prevalent and maybe more so, today as then. I won’t include the list but do take the time to read over these verses and see the many ways we can be guilty of wicked ways.
The most common, as it was with the Israelites, sin we embrace is idolatry. Even in our so called, dare I say, Christian walk; we have devised our own gods. Yes, they our patterned after the true God and even have some of the same characteristics of the Holy God of Heaven. It has a been a process and a reefing to develop our god which to the world looks identical to their concept of the true God, but our god is to our liking and demands of us only what we are quickly willing to give; never requiring any sacrifice from us. I attended a prayer breakfast recently and the one doing the devotion mentioned a club of which I had never heard; he spoke of the ‘Three Ten Club’. I sat there in a daze but then he cleared the fog away by explaining this new club: the three refers to the number of times the members attend church each week and the ten refers to the fact that the members tithe. His devotion was on the subject of self justification and he used the club as a form of self justification. Even most of us would look at these members and judge them to be devoted followers of Christ, but are they and are we if this is the extent of our service to God.
The paramount characteristic of a true follower of Christ is love; just attending church regularly and even given ten percent of you money does not of themselves demonstrate love of any of those we are to love. We are to love our neighbor as our self, we are to love our enemy, and we are to love the brethren; under one or more of these groups all of mankind fall. There is no one you are not to love. Love is an action and not just a word; love is giving with no thought of any return. Is one of the wicked ways we as God’s people need to turn from is our idolatry? Have we devised a ‘near-god’ we worship forsaking the attribute of love which is the essence of God, the True God?
I am mentioning a few of the possible things in our lives that God deems as wicked; I am sure the list could include many more. If we wish to fulfill this one steps in meeting the conditions set forth by God in this verse we must first identify those wicked ways in our individual lives. Don’t look around you around you for the sins of others each of have our own. Then if we wish to make that choice, we must confess each sin by name. Confession is simply agreeing with the charges place against us. We have another choice to make; will I repent of each of these sins? You alone can make that choice, the Holy Spirit will convict you of them but if you wish you can continue to embrace them but God desires for you to repent of them and turn to Him. I promise you will so happy when you turn and see the Lord standing with arms outstretched ready to welcome you.
If, that is the first word of this verse, we are willing to meet the conditions established by God then there are many promises waiting. With the Lord guidance I will soon complete this verse and we can all enjoy the blessing together that God will provide. Remember there are four conditions to be met and meet three is still disobedience; all four are required. You can’t do it alone but you don’t have to, God is waiting for you to ask for His help. God is so faithful and so loving and so willing to help and bless each of us when we meet His standards. Thank You Father for giving us these conditions to meet; that gives us an opportunity to grow closer to you and to reap all You have for us.
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03.18.12
Posted in
General
| 12:43
The complete phrase, as I remember it, is ‘If we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.’ Maybe this returned to my mind of this phrase is because since the first of this year I have been on a schedule to read through the Bible. This year is different; I am reading two different versions of the Bible and using two different plans to accomplish my goal. My goal is to read through the Bible twice in one year. As I read much of the books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy I asked God repeatedly to open my eyes to what I was suppose to see in much of what is included here. The first thing I saw was the awesomeness of God and the second thing is my subject here: If we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. If you know the story given of Israel, they were in Egypt serving as slaves and because of their bondage began to cry out to God for deliverance. God sent Moses to gain their freedom. The Pharaoh didn’t quickly agree to Moses’ request and God had to demonstrate His power and awesomeness to achieve His goal. The Israelites finally departed heading to the ‘Promise Land’ which God had previously given to the fathers of the Israelites-Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Within a short time they arrived at a point where they could enter the land so spies were sent and when they returned ten of the twelve gave a flawed report of the land and inhabitants. The Israelites were afraid and refused to enter the land even when God promise to go with them and to give them victory over all the nations there. God’s anger arose and he turned them back into the wilderness to walk around until all those then alive were dead; all those over twenty years of age with the exception of the two spies that gave an honest report. After the forty years had passed we find the people camped again by the Jordan River ready to embark on the task of clearing the land as God directs them. In Deuteronomy 28 God speaks through Moses to the Israelites and promises abundant blessing if they were obedient. God promises that their country would be blessed, their cities would be blessed, the fruit of their bodies would be blessed, and the produce of their ground and the offspring of their herds and flocks would be blessed. God cared His blessings far enough to include their baskets and kneading bowls. They would be blessed at their going out and at their coming in. God promised victory over all their enemies. All these blessing and all they had to do were to hold fast to God’s commandments and statues. God was promising them almost heaven on earth and all that was required of them was to obey God. But, this word is used here to flip the coin; there are two sides to every coin and what was promised to Israel had another side. The flip side of the coin reveals the curses the Israelites would experience for disobedience. Without getting into all that God said would happen to them if they failed to obey, let me summarize this way; it took fifteen verses to express all the blessings and fifty three verses to cover all the curses. Do I need to explain further; failure to obey would lead to destruction. Israel crossed Jordan as God rolled the waters back and dried the ground and then conquered all the nations that lived in God’s Promise Land. Everything went fine as long as the old folk were still around and as long as Joshua was alive but when all those that had seen God’s work in bring them to this new land were dead those remaining began to turn away from God and began to worship the gods of the peoples they had previously conquered. I am not completely sure of the relationship between what happened to Israel and what is happening to the United States of America. I was taught and have read the history of the founding of this country. From all that I have learned about the beginning of the great country, it was founded on Biblical principles. No, even our founding fathers weren’t perfect but they looked to God for guidance and sought His leadership as they laid the framework to govern those that would inhabit this great land. We have had our ups and downs and at times God has been more central in life of this people than at others. Our justice system has a foundation based on the laws given to Moses by God. We built in the ground work for freedom and the rights of the people. The people were the government and the government feared the people in the early years. As time passed and many of the stalwarts of our Christian heritage passed on those remaining began to see the allure of other gods. In America we may not bow to idols made of stone or wood but we quickly bow to idols of fame, power, fortune, pleasure and many others. We even call those in sports and entertainment that excel as our idols. Do we pick a God fearing preacher as our idol? Pleasure seems to be the most frequently worshipped idol. We spend a large portion of our time and money seeking some form of self pleasure. Pleasure isn’t bad within itself but is bad when it becomes paramount in our lives. Today we even kill our unborn babies when the expression of pleasure went sour. Not all abortions come from sex for pleasure but most does. That unborn baby being killed is like what was done by the Amorites when they burned their babies to appease the god Moloch. You may be saying that there is a vast difference; those thrown into the fires of Moloch were babies, had been born. True, they were born but they were no more a life created by God than those being killed by abortionists. Yes, a woman should have a choice and her choice is made when she decides to or not to have sex. She is intelligent enough to know that producing a life is a possibility when one has intercourse. Once the life has been created the woman has the choice now to give birth and to allow that new life to develop as God has planned. If you read further in the accounts of Israel you will find how God allowed even some of those nations that Israel had defeated to rise up and place Israel in subjection. At least for a while Israel would wake up and cry out to God, God would provide a leader and the people would again live in obedience to the commandments of God. This pattern continued for centuries until God finally, as He had promised, dispersed the people into all nations. What brought the trouble to Israel? It wasn’t that the nations around them suddenly became godly and God looked down and changed His allegiance; no it was God’s chosen people that turned their back on God and wrapped their arms around idols of wood and stone and doing all that required. What has brought about the decline in godliness in America? It is God’s people that have become apathetic and began to worship self more that God. Just as Israel cried out to God and He heard them and sent one to lead them back to the accepted path, we today have many of those leaders; they stand in pulpits each Sunday and proclaim God’s commandments. We have become a stiff-necked people as God said of Israel. We hear but we do not obey. In Second Chronicles 7:14 we have to guideline for our return to the promise land of America and to the greatness it once knew. “If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” Just as Israel had to make the choice, either to remain in subjection to the nation allowed to overtake them or to return to fellowship and followship of God. We today are heading down a very slippery slope and if we don’t return to obedience to God then we like Israel of old are headed for destruction. We can read history and know what happened to Israel, will survivors someday read the history of the downfall of America because it was too stiff-necked and proud to return to God and the multitude of blessings He has for us to enjoy. If we don’t learn from history we are doomed to repeat it. We can learn history’s lesson and we don’t have to repeat it; the choice is ours.
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01.04.12
Posted in
God's Grace
| 08:23
From man’s days in the Garden of Eden he has sought a way, a way to be equal with God or to be above God. Man has struggled to find his way to accomplish immortality and life eternal. Ever since the fall of man the search has been paramount in the hearts and minds of man. Man has endeavored to build a tower to reach to the heavens, the abode of God. Man has devised all forms of religions and rituals to meet the requirements for eternal life. Man has searched and still today searches for the way; the Bible tells us that few there be that find it.
Proverbs 14:12 says “There is a way which seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Are man’s attempts to find a way in vain? That is what the Bible seems to say. Man can look under every stone and behind every tree and the way won’t be there. Man will find ways that seem right but he will only find the path to his eventual spiritual death.
We are told that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). This is a fact, plain and simple. Someone must die for sin. There are only two choices: man can choose to die for his own sin which will take all of eternity to pay or man may choose the way that God established. Did we ever reduce the field of ways: no more being good enough, no more paying your way there, no more sacrificing enough, no more self mutilation, no more anything but these two.
Some seem to feel that this may be true for many and probably most of the world’s population but they have lived a good life and haven’t sinned; therefore they don’t have a debt to pay. Sorry, but this is wrong! Using the Bible as the authority, it says that all have sinned. If you wish to just use your senses and observe people then you know that all have sinned if you define sin as it really is. Sin is defined as the transgression of a religious or moral law. I fear that will include each and every one of us.
God didn’t want man to remain in a sinful state after the original sin in the Garden so He promised a solution (Genesis 3:15). God said that he would send His Son to die in the place of anyone that would accept that death as a substitute for the death that was required and would believe that God’s Son was truly God’s Son and that His death would pay the debt owed by the sinner. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
We are now down to the two ways of satisfying the sin debt. The choice resides within man. Man must continue as man has throughout the ages seeking his way or man may accept the way given by God. What is the first step? Are you really a sinner? To accept God’s way you must admit you are and that you have transgressed against His moral laws. Don’t be bashful, you are joining everyone else that has ever lived; we are all sinners (Romans 3:23).
Once you freely admit that you are a sinner you must make the choice of one of the two ways given. You may decide that you will just take your chances and see what happens; maybe you are good enough to make it on your own. The best choice is to choose the way provided by God. The Son of God came to earth and became a man like we are yet he didn’t sin (Hebrews 4:15), he chose to be obedient to His Father. He came for the purpose of dying for the sins of man. Jesus provided the second option. I can die for my sins or I can accept the death of Jesus as settlement or payment of my sin debt.
If my choice is to take my chances and maybe in the end die myself eternally for my sins then I have to do nothing but if I choose to accept the death of Jesus then I must ask Him to apply His death to my sins. I must ask Him to be my Savior. Jesus surrendered His life on a cross in death for me but it is not applied to me unless I request it and accept it. Once I ask He will take me as one of His own and my account is covered with His blood and my sin debt is paid in full. I am totally forgiven and cleansed of all wrong; past, present, and future.
The Bible speaks of this happening as being born again (John 3:6-7). When we accept Jesus’ substitutionary death we are born spiritually and being alive spiritually means we now have eternal life. Until that new birth all we could look forward to was eternal spiritual death. Until we were born again we were spiritually dead.
Yes, there is a way! Actually there are two ways but one is just a continuation of our present state of death but the other is the entrance into a life; a life of light and glory; a life with our Creator, our Father, and our Lord. The choice is yours to make. Many will choose to remain on the familiar wide road but that will lead to destruction (Matthew 7:13); few will choose the narrow road that will lead to eternal life. The easy way may be the wide road but the correct way is the narrow road (Matthew 7:14) led by Jesus. Yes, there is a way and you must choose. It is an important choice; it determines your eternal destiny. Choose wisely when you have the opportunity, there may never be a second chance.
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01.03.12
Posted in
General
| 13:59
After we have humbled ourselves and honestly began to pray; converse with God, we have a third condition to meet. That third condition established in the verse under consideration is ‘seek My face’. Prayer is the beginning of accomplishing this third condition but there is much more; we now must seek the face of God and not just His ear. Have you ever attended a party or gathering where people wore a mask over their face; their identity was hard to discern? How about trying to talk with a person wearing sunglasses, I get the feeling I am missing a major part of the conversation? God wants us to spiritually see His face and His eyes; to see Him ‘up close and personal’.
King David in Psalm 27:8 wrote, “When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.” I wonder how many of us can in honest earnest communication with God say what David said. David not only said it in the privacy of prayer but wrote it so even today we have a record of his words. From cover to cover in God’s word we find reference to God’s desire for mankind to seek His face and thereby seeking Him. Proverbs 8:17 says, “I love those who love Me, and those who diligently seek Me will find Me.” Jeremiah says basically the same when he wrote in Jeremiah 29:13, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Even in Matthew 7:7-8, we have these verses about seeking, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him that knocks it will be opened.”
God said for us to seek His face but is that what we really seek? I have been guilty of trying to butter God up and pretend to seek His face while all the time I was really seeking His hand and what He would do for me with that hand. I wasn’t seeking God; I was seeking things God could provide. The last thing on my mind was drawing closer to God but in obtaining the desire of my heart. Sure I played the game and prayed and asked because I was told to ask and then receive. In 2 Chronicles 12:14 we have a verse describing what I attempted; “And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.” Sure my heart was prepared to enjoy the gift I was requesting but there was no desire to draw closer to the provider of the gift.
If we concentrate our seeking on what will be provided for us then we are not seeking God but only the bounty of God. Our thoughts and our desire or self centered and that humility described as the first condition has gone flying out the window. If our desire is for any purpose other than honoring a drawing closer to God then we are guilty of doing evil. We must prepare ourselves before we seek God and test our motives. When I seek God is much of the time spent in praise and worship? If yes, then your motive is correct. Do I come to God with judgments of other people’s form of worship rather than my own form of worship? If yes, you need to come to God and ask for forgiveness and repent; you have the wrong motive. Do you give thanks to God and offer praise for the beauty and blessing of the things around you? If yes, continue, you are on the right track.
I know from human experience than see the face of that person sought is worth any effort necessary. No matter how busy my schedule may have been I could always find the time to build a relationship and to look upon that face. What did I see when I would look upon that face? First, the face shows identity; a face hidden makes absolute identity difficult, there is some room for doubt if the face is not seen. The face in general shows feelings. Maybe because of my age and my upbringing I had much rather conduct business face to face than by phone or other methods we have today. Seeing the expressions and feelings displayed on that face gives me as much if not more information as the words spoken. Have you ever seen fear, love, sadness or nay other emotion on a person’s face? That feeling may have been missed if the face were obscured.
When you are face to face whether with a person or with God you must be willing to accept what that face reveals to you. With people the face reveals feelings that the words fail to show. God wants us so close to Him that we know His face and thereby know that His words and face are revealing the same. God wants us to absolutely trust Him even in those times when we are limited to just hearing His words. Just as you have a mental vision of those you love develop such a vision of the face of God as your relationship with Him grows stronger through prayer and study of His Word. On those occasions when seeing God may be hindered then you can resort to your mental image of Him.
If you decide to turn your back on God during your life, you have lost sight of His face. He may then hide His face from you until that time when you earnestly desire to restore the relationship you once had. It is very lonely when you begin to realize your wrong and turn expecting to see God waiting and find His face isn’t there to be seen by you. Now is the time to back up to the first condition, humility and restart the process. Sure God desires the renewed relationship but wants you to be sure you do. Remember you are the one that turned away so you are the one that must wholeheartedly turn back to God. With a humble heart and with much prayer seek God and if you truly do as 1 Chronicles 22:19 says, “Now set your heart and soul to seek the Lord God.” Then you will again look upon the face of the Almighty God and see His love for you radiating from His eyes.
Francis Frangipane said this about seeking God, “There are certain times when the Lord calls us out of the routine of our daily lives. These are special seasons where the only command is, ‘seek My face’. He has something precious and vitally important to give us that the familiar pattern of our daily devotions cannot accommodate. During such times people are often delivered of sins that have plagued them for years, others discover a depth in their walk with God that leads to greater effectiveness in ministry and prayer; still others experience breakthroughs in their families and are used by God to see loved ones brought into the kingdom.” God doesn’t request us to seek him to harm us or belittle us but to lift us and love us and to develop that relationship of a loving father and his child.
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12.25.11
Posted in
God's Love
| 11:33
Maybe it is a weird title but it expresses exactly what is within me just now. Yes, today is December 25, 2011; the day of this year set aside to recognize and celebrate Christmas: the birth of Jesus, the Son of God. I have visualized the scene of the birth of Jesus many times but this year at times I feel I am there not just seeing what happens but feeling, experiencing that most glorious first Christmas. I am so thankful that Jesus was obedient and came to the earth as a baby with the predetermined task of dying for the sins of mankind. I am thankful that I was born to a family that knew the story of the birth of Jesus and began even before I can now remember to share that story with me. I was told that my first visit to church was in the arms of my Mother. For many years I don’t remember not attending services on a very regular schedule. Yes, I could have been born into a family that either never had heard of Jesus or had chosen to not accept the story given in the Bible as valid. With either of these settings I may never have heard of Jesus and His purpose for coming to earth. I may have walked a path for my life contrary to that which God had ordained before the foundation of the world then at the end of that journey died never repenting of the many sins I committed during my walk and had to pay for those sins eternally in hell. I am thankful I had a choice based on knowledge I received from my family. I am thankful for all the Christian influence in my life as I grew up. I went to Sunday school regularly and each teacher worked diligently to teach me and the others of the class of Jesus and His sacrifice for my sins. Maybe even if I hadn’t had a Christian family I would have learned in Sunday school but then I wonder why I would have ever started attending if it had not been for my family. I had many older people praying for my salvation during my younger years and some even spoke to me of my need for a savior; I am so very thankful for each prayer and for each seed that was sown. I am thankful for that time when all I had been taught for so long became real to me and on my knees in front of a pew I accepted the sacrifice that babe of Christmas made. I realized I was a sinner as the Bible said I was and that the only hope I had was in Jesus. Jesus came to this earth to die for me and He died for you too. I am thrilled I didn’t continue to reject His drawing of me to Him. I am thankful for that portion of my life when I drifted from the path I was on and began to ask questions of all that I had just accepted as true as a child. With each new discovery of the truth I took a step back to God. It wasn’t a fast trip back and for a few years I dabbled in the things of the world. I did find that my dabbling was fun but in the long run wasn’t satisfying; I missed that peace and fullness I had had when I was close to God. Don’t ever think I ran back to God, I was determined to see what was on the other side of the mountain and only if it was really like I had been told would I come back to the side where I had spent my formative years. My exploration of the route to the other side of the mountain led me along some dark and troubling paths and I made many wrong decisions as to which path to follow. After a few years of doing it my way I am thankful I return to God’s path for my life. I would never say I have walked the straight and narrow daily; there have been many times when a detour seemed to be the best way to my destination only to find I had to seek God as my guide back to His path. I am thankful that God has been patient with me and always forgiving of me. I am very thankful that God blessed me with a wonderful family and If it is His will I will share a meal with them tomorrow evening but the meal isn’t the important part; it is the love that fills the house and the joy that each one here is a blessing to me given by God. We will take a few moments to revisit that scene of the manger and then think of the sacrifice given on the cross. We as a family will bow before our creator and thank Him for the love He has for us; that love that carried His Son to Bethlehem many years ago. We will thank Jesus for His willingness to suffer and die for us when within us there is nothing worthy of such a sacrifice. I am thankful that I have been given so many opportunities to share what Jesus did for me with others and I know that God will use what He has me to share to touch others. I am thankful for those around me who are my mission field and the ones that God gives me a chance to share the story of the Babe in a manger but not only that but the story of the Savior on the cross. Yes, I am thankful there was and is a Christmas to celebrate. Without Christmas we would all be walking down that broad road with no hope of any change in direction. We would all be heading to a common destination of eternal damnation because we are all sinners in common. Oh yes think deeply on the Babe in the manger; without Him there would be no Christ on the cross and there would be all of us walking the same road to hell. I am on this day the world is celebrating Christmas celebrating Thanksgiving Christmas; thank you Jesus for coming to a lowing manger, for dying on a rugged cross, for being buried in a borrowed tomb but most of all for rising on the third day so we have a choice of destinations. Now that we know there is a choice let us busy ourselves with proclaiming that choice and as the song says, “Go tell it on the mountain.”
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