Anticipating Easter - Strangely Comforting Words from Jesus

"Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her?....She did what she could. She poured perfume beforehand to prepare for My burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."  (Mark 14:6-9)

Jesus was at Bethany, just a few days away from Passover, having dinner at the home of Simon.

The woman brought her alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on His head....

Some were indignant at the lavish display (and waste?) of her wealth -- why didn't she just sell what she had and give the money to the poor? they said.


"She did what she could," the Master said.

Were some of them jealous of her intimate act of devotion? Greedy? Self-righteous? Did they really want the money for the poor, or did they just want to extend judgment over the woman, and in doing so were they trying to steal the attention and gain approval from Jesus?

Motives are hard to determine. So often I seek approval, even as I am demeaning someone else....
but this is not about me....or is it?

When I was (much) younger, I read the words: "She did what she could" differently than I read them now.

I understood them as "She did what she could."
As a child explains away his low grade by saying, "But, I did the best I could!"

Or, since she couldn't do anything else, 'she gave Me her perfume and showed Me she loved Me....'

Now that I am older, I understand them to mean, "She did what (all) that she could."  Out of largess and love she poured all she had on Jesus, just as He poured out all for us. She performed a simple act, and in the words of T. S. Eliot, a condition of complete simplicity, costing not less than everything.


But no matter what His voice inflection, I find the words strangely comforting. He never asks us to do more than we can. But He does ask us to do all that we can.

He asks for no more. He asks for no less.

But Mary (and we find her name in John's account) had also discernment and understanding -- was she the only one who realized what He was saying? was she the only one who really understood?

She, this small woman, outside the man's world, was anointing His body for burial. She wanted Him to know she understood.There was a silent message given there -- unexpressed words -- (no words of hers are recorded in this incident) -- to let the Savior know she knew what was happening!

The fragrance of that heavily perfumed ointment (nard) on the head of Christ - it would have lasted a long time. Did He perhaps still smell its fragrance after the crown of thorns was placed on His head? As He was gasping for breath, nailed and bound to that cross...could He still smell the aroma of her final gift?

From Mary...the one who understood His mission.

Its pleasant aroma has wafted down the generations until we today can almost breathe it in ourselves as we read the story....and we do remember her memorial act, just as He said we would for centuries, as well as we remember the gifts the wise men brought to the baby...gold, frankincense and myrrh ..gifts for a dying King...

Have we broken our treasured alabaster jars for Jesus? Has the fragrance of His spirit filled our lives?

Are we doing all that we can do?... are we really doing all that we can do?

The Mary who "sat at the feet of Jesus, listening to what He said" (in Luke 10:39)...was the same Mary who, "when Mary reached the place where Jesus was, she fell at His feet" (in John 11:32)...she spent time at His feet....is this her spiritual secret?

Anticipating Easter - Every Sunday!

                                      REMEMBER EASTER

What do we celebrate?

"The angel said...then go and tell His disciples: He has
risen from the dead and is going ahead of  you into Galilee.  
There you will see Him." Matthew 28:6

YOU WILL SEE HIM!

Yes, He has risen...and yes! you will actually see Him!


What extraordinary news! 

And it was to be announced to the disciples;  not to Pilate, not to Herod, not to the prestigious religious leaders. 

But to the disciples, because it had serious implications for them. They now knew He was who He said He was all along. 

And they remembered His words: "Because I live you shall live also."

What a miracle - IT WAS ALL TRUE!!! 

So this Sunday, and every Sunday (because every Sunday is a celebration of that first resurrection Sunday) we celebrate two resurrections...His and ours!

But also we celebrate every day! Every morning we wake up...

every glorious sunrise, every miracle we experience all day -

it's all a celebration of His resurrection..because it is also a celebration of our redemption and restoration to His special family to live with Him forever!

Let's go celebrate!

Anticipating Easter - Charles Spurgeon - Substitution

The foundation upon which our faith rests is this: that "in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19).

The great fact upon which genuine faith relies is that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us," (John 1:14) and that "Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18).

"Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

In one word, the great pillar of the Christian's hope is substitution.

The vicarious sacrifice of Christ for the guilty. Christ made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him....

If this foundation were removed, what could we do?

But it stands firm as the throne of God.

We know it; we rest on it; we rejoice in it; and our delight is to hold it, to meditate upon it, and to proclaim it, while we desire to be stirred and moved by gratitude for it in every part of our life and conversations.

In these days a direct attack is made upon the doctrine of the Atonement. Men cannot bear substitution. They gnash their teeth at the thought of the Lamb of God bearing the sin of man.

But we, who know by experience the preciousness of this truth, will proclaim it confidently and unceasingly and in defiance of them.

We will neither dilute it nor change it, nor desire to distort it in any shape or fashion.

It shall still be Christ, a positive substitute, bearing human guilt and suffering in the place of man.

We cannot, dare not give it up, for it is our life, and despite every controversy we affirm that "God's firm foundation stands."

    -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Anticipating Easter - Pesach

The word pesach means Passover, and it commemorates God's mercy toward the Jewish people on the night of the Passover in Egypt, for He took the lives of the Egyptian firstborn, but He passed over the homes where Jews were eating their pesach offering because they had placed lamb's blood on their door frames.

This just preceded their exodus from Egypt and slavery, led by Moses, and their journey toward the Promised Land.

From Exodus 12:1-7

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 'This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.

'Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

'If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are...

'The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.

'Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.

'Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs...'


Notes:

1. The Hebrew word for lamb and kid (baby goat) are the same. There is no one-word translation in English.

2.  The Hebrew word we translate "community" or "assembly" refers to a society united by their common calling. This is the first time the word is found in the Torah, implying that the commandment of the pesach-offering ushered in a new era. The Jewish people were now a nation, united by its common calling as God's Chosen People.

3. The animals were to be chosen on the tenth day of the month and then brought for sacrifice on the late afternoon of the fourteenth day.

4. The animals were to be inspected for blemishes.

5. Lambs and kids were worshipped by the Egyptians as part of their religion. When God chose these animals as acceptable sacrifices, He was showing the Egyptians that He, the LORD God Almighty, was in control of world events.

6. The four-day interval was part of the miracle of redemption, according to Hebrew rabbinical scholars.

     The Egyptians would see their gods -- the lambs and goats -- tethered to the beds of the Jews and would ask, "What is the purpose of this?" The Jews would explain that the animals were being prepared as sacrifices and offerings for God. The Egyptians would be furious, but at least would know what was happening.

7. Because this happened on the tenth day of Nissan, which was the Sabboth that year, the Sabbath before Passover is called Shabbos HaGadol (The Great Sabboth), in commemoration of that great miracle.


8. The household would be the extended family: grandparents and their families.

Those participating in the meal must be counted and designated in advance and the appropriate amount of meat provided for each. (The minimum required for each person eating the meal was the volume of an olive, according to Hebrew commentaries.)

"Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world," John the Baptist declared of Christ.

(John 1:29)

"For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed."

(1 Corinthians 5:7)

Christ was crucified at the time of the Passover celebration.

Anticipating Easter - It's About the Cross!

 

                                          It's About the Cross!

A reminder - No matter how beautiful and glorious Easter morning is - how joyous and how hopeful - how beautiful and sparkling - it was not that day that brought us back to God.

It was the bloody, gruesome, ugly events  of Friday that did that miracle!

The early Christians understood this. Read through the gospels and see how much space they give to the suffering of our Lord - His beatings, His humiliations, and finally His crucifixion: may pages and great detail.

But only a chapter or two about His resurrection.

Many of my non-believer friends are bothered by this. They want to know why we focus so much on the blood and horrifying gore.

That's easy to answer. All sin is such an act of disobedience and rebellion against our holy God - the penalty required to remove those sins is high indeed. In fact, only a perfect substitute could take our place and bear that guilt and penalty for us. By taking our place and paying the cost to clear us, Christ was able to bring us back into a relationship  with God. - that is, achieve our salvation and giving us access again to our Father - restoring us to the position God intended for us all along.

And Christ came to do this! He came to die! It was His blood that saved us. It was His sufferings that brought us peace with God. "By His stripes we are healed the prophet Isaiah, predicted.

So it's not about Christmas. It's not about Easter Sunday. 

It's about the cross!

Anticipating Easter - - Jerry Bridges - The Goats

[In the Old Testament, The Day of Atonement featured two goats - one to be sacrificed and its blood sprinkled on the mercy seat (the golden cover of the Ark of the Covenant) inside the Most Holy Place, and the other to be sent out into the wilderness to function as a living scapegoat.]

The First Goat

Put yourself in the shoes of a devout Jew on the Day of Atonement.

He sees the High Priest slay the first goat as a propitiatory sacrifice. He watches as the priest disappears into the Tent of Meeting, knowing he is going into the Most Holy Place to sprinkle the blood of the slain goat on and before the mercy seat.

He knows that only the High Priest is allowed to enter that room, and even then only once a year, and only with the blood of the sacrificial animal.

Very conscious that atonement for his sins is conditioned on God's acceptance of the High Priest's ministry, he waits with some anxiety for the High Priest to return.                 

The Second Goat

Finally, after sprinkling the  blood on the mercy seat, the High Priest comes out and, in view of all the people, lays his hand on the live goat's head and confesses over it all the sins of the people. (In this act he symbolically transfers their sins to the goat.)

All Israel hears his voice as he solemnly confesses, perhaps with weeping, all their wickedness and rebellion--all their sins.

Then those devout Jews watch as the goat is led away into the desert bearing their sins.

Two things were necessary for the scapegoat ritual to be meaningful to an individual Jew.

First, he must identify with the sins the High Priest is confessing. He must acknowledge them as his own personal sins, not just the sins of the nation as a whole.

Then he must by faith believe that the goat did indeed carry away those sins he acknowledged. He probably did not understand how a goat could carry away his sins, but he believed that God had ordained this rite, and that somehow his sins had been removed from the presence of God and were no longer counted against him.

His faith was not in the goat but in God, who had ordained the ritual of the goat....

    From The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges



The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ not only took away the guilt of our sin, but also removed our sins from us, as the Scriptures tell us:

   He does not treat us as our sins deserve or give us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:10-12


(Note: The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is celebrated in the fall of the year   -  The 10th day of the 7th month, as described in the Old Testament  -- see Numbers Chapter 29 for more information.)

An Extraordinary Attitude

Today I am thinking about a well-known passage: 

Philippians 4:11-13

"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me...."

Such familiar words  ... we memorized them as children in Sunday School and VBS and cheered when the characters of the Midford Series proclaimed them all over town!

Maybe these words are so familiar we have become immune to their meaning. 

What we see here is that Paul is talking about not just extraordinary times, but an extraordinary attitude. Being content in every circumstance, and that is extraordinary!

We also learn:  (1) that is is not common or easy to feel this way. He had  to learn it - it is not one of the gifts bestowed so generously by the Holy Spirit and (2) it is a secret. It is not obvious. It has to be searched out. That's where the Holy Spirit comes in - He teaches us that precious secret. 

As I look around at people these days I am aware more than ever how blessed we are!  We can face everything that comes before us - we find contentment in Jesus, because He is with us! We know He is leading us on this journey, and it is for our good and for His glory. Those two ideas that are attached like Siamese twins to our hearts: His glory and our good!

How to Defeat Satan - From Screwtape

When I was a young Christian, my pastor introduced me to "The Screwtape Letters" by C S Lewis. These writings are really helpful in understanding how Satan works to deceive and manipulate us to to do HIS will, not the will of our Father God!

(Screwtape refers to our Father God was 'our enemy' in his letters.)

Screwtape is a senior demon in Satan's kingdom and has certain new interns he is training to become full demons. One of this trainees is his nephew, Wormwood. Here is one of Screwtape letters to Wormwood:

"Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks around upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and then still obeys."

(Read that paragraph again......)

So when we obey our Father, no matter what is happening in our lives, we make Satan's work much harder - We endanger his cause! We quench his deadening work in our lives! We defeat him!

Sounds like a good project for today, right? 

Let's obey our Father God and destroy Satan's plan for us!

Let's keep trusting God, no matter what!

P S - Remember Job 13:15? 'Though He slay me, still I will trust Him!'

What Actually Took Place - From The Message

 

What Actually Took Place

                                               - from The Message

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man.

Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with Him. 

Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am  no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me.

The life you see me living is not "mine" but it is lived by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

I am not going back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God?

I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace.

If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

                                             -- Galatians 2:19-21, The Message

Creation or Redemption? Bernard of Clairvaux

                                                   Creation or Redemption?

Which is the greater miracle? Creation or redemption?

Some thoughts from Bernard of Clairvaux:

"Creation was not so vast a work as redemption, for it is written of man and all things that were made, 'He spoke the word and they were made' (Psalm 148:5).

But to redeem that creation that sprang into being at His word, how much He spake, what wonders He wrought, what hardships He endured, and what shames He suffered!

In the first creation He gave me myself,  but in His new creation He gave me Himself, and by that gift restored me to the self that I had lost.

Created first and then restored. I owe Him myself twice over in return for myself.

But what have I to offer Him for the gift of Himself? Could I multiply myself a thousand-fold and then give Him all, what would that be in comparison with God?"

These words from Bernard of Clairvaux, written 1000 years ago, challenge me, especially that line, "In the first creation He gave me myself, but in His new creation He gave me Himself"! WOW!

What is He Praising Me For?

If all our "good" responses to God -- our faith, our love, our praises and thanksgiving to Him, even our repentance -- if all these come from Him --
then why does He praise us for doing them? Why does He say, "Your faith has made you well," "Well done, My good and faithful servant"?

Isn't that sort of playing games and "cheating"? Nothing a holy God should do!

No....because we have the option of disobedience at each step.

We can refuse to thank Him. We can look away when He speaks to us. We can ignore His warnings and drift away. We can "quench the spirit."

We can try to hide sin in our hearts and reject repentance. 

But when we choose to shower our thanks and praises on Him for His so-obvious goodness; when we eagerly reach out to read and ponder His Word; when we extend grace and forgiveness (when though we may not feel like it) -- this pleases Him.

So when He praises us for our love and obedience, He is reminding us that He knows we are bent and broken human beings who acknowledge our need for Him and who choose to take the straight path right to His heart even though many around us are encouraging us to take the other path away from Him.

He knows how hard it is!

So His compliments to us are highest blessings!

                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even the best Christian that ever lived is not acting on his own steam--he is only nourishing or protecting a life that he could never have acquired by his own efforts.  And that has practical consequences.

As long as the natural life is in your body, it will do a lot towards repairing that body. Cut it, and up to a point, it will heal, as a dead body will not. A live body is not one that never gets hurt, but one that can to some extent repair itself.

In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble--because the Christ-life in inside him, repairing him all the time; enabling him to repeat (in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out.

That is why the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one--if they think there is not--at least they hope to deserve approval from some good men.

But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines on it.

---From Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis

Thoughts and Meditations - It's Not Easy

 

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart 

be pleasing in Your sight, 

O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. 

                                                                                                              -- Psalm 19:14

What a challenge!

We want so much to please Him -- the feel the glory of His smile -- to know we have brought Him pleasure -- as surely as a child eagerly rushes to their parents to demonstrate some new accomplishment and see their looks of joy and approval!

We can watch our tongues and begin speaking words that uplift others and please Him -- and refrain from words that displease Him. It is a battle, but we can gain some ground.

But what about our thoughts and meditations? That seems a little too much for me. Do you think He really meant it?

But then there is that verse in Philippians that tells to "let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.'

So if we have His mind, we will, like Jesus did, always please the Father.

That's a good prayer to start this day: that the mind of Christ will enter our mind and become one with Him.

A song we used to sing: 

May the mind of Christ, my Savior,

Live in me from day to day,

By His love and power controlling

All I do and say.

May the Word of God dwell richly 

In my heart from hour to hour

So that all may see I triumph

Only through His power.

May the peace of God my Father

Rule  my life in everything

That I may be calm to comfort

Sick and sorrowing.

May the love of Jesus fill me

As the waters fill the sea

Him exalting, self abasing

This is victory.

May I run the race before me

Strong and brave to face the foe

Looking only unto Jesus 

As I onward go.

May His beauty rest upon me

As I seek the lost to win,

And may they forget the channel

Seeing only Him.

Words by Kate B Wilkinson, written about 100 years ago.

Flying Horses and Other New Creatures - C S Lewis

 

                                Flying Horses and Other New Creatures

                                                                                         --  C S Lewis

"God became man to turn creatures into sons, not simply to produce better men of the old kind but to produce a new kind of man.

It is not like teaching a horse to jump better and better, but like turning a horse into a winged creature.

Of course, once it gets its wings, it will soar over fences which could have never been jumped before and thus beat the natural horse at its own game.

But there may be a period, while the wings are just beginning to grow, when it cannot do so, and at that stage the bumps on the shoulders -- no one could tell by looking at them that they were going to be wings -- may even give it an awkward appearance."

This how C S Lewis describes that God is making us into special creatures.

We used to say, "Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet!"

It's true! We must be patient with each other...we are still a work in progress...and we are destined for much greater things! 

All of us!

Good Morning! It's a Hallelujah Day!

 

                                          

                                         Good Morning - It's a Hallelujah Day!

"I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing of Your mercy in the morning. For You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble" (Psalm 58:16).

My voice You shall hear in the morning; O LORD, in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up" (Psalm 5:3).

Remember this old hymn? --  When morning gilds the skies, my heart, awakening, cries, 'May Jesus Christ be praised!'  (and this morning the sky was truly gilded with golden tones of glorious reminders of our Creator God)

And a newer song:  In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus! Give me Jesus, give me Jesus, in the morning when I rise, give me Jesus!

How else would we start our day? 

In other words, my friend, have a hallelujah day!

The Miracle of Creation - Another clue given to us by our Creator Savior

             

               What important body part are babies born without?

Strangely enough, scientists tell us, babies are born without kneecaps.

In place of the bony kneecaps we adults have, babies are born with a tough piece of cartilage.

Why?  those who believe in our Creator God have the answer:

(1) The flexibility of the cartilage makes the birth process much easier for mother and child, and

(2) The softer, more pliable cartilage also makes it easier for the baby to learn to walk.

So God designed His human creatures to start out with no kneecaps.

Between the ages of 2 and 6 years, however, the cartilage slowly turns to bone and becomes the patella, or kneecaps that adults have.

So it was all part of His original Design from the very beginning.

You created my inmost being; 

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

-- Psalm 119:14

Men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering.

                                             -- Saint Augustine

We need to stop and wonder...to marvel...at the way we were specially designed and created....

What's wrong with God? James M Boice

When we say that God has revealed Himself in nature and that men and women have nevertheless not sought Him on the basis of that revelation, the question immediately arises, 'Why have men and women not done this?'

This is a fascinating question, because the reason is not that God cannot be known....

Nature does not merely admit the God-hypothesis, it forcefully and conclusively proclaims God's existence.

So no one -- not a child, not a scientist, not an American, not a European -- has any excuse for failing to seek God.

God has made Himself so clear in nature -- so clear in a snowflake, a fingerprint, a grain of sand, a star, a quasar, anything you can think of -- that all people who do not seek Him out on the basis of His general revelation are foolish and rebellious.


Why don't we seek Him?

Obviously, the problem is not intellectual. It is moral.

We do not seek God out, not because God cannot be found or because the evidence does not point to Him, but because we do not like the God who is to be found.

He is an offense to us, and therefore we run away from Him and suppress the truth.

Why is the wrath of God revealed against men and women? Because they "suppress the truth" concerning Him.

In other words, the truth of God is like a big spring. It threatens to leap up, change our lifestyle, and alter the way we think.

It is because we don't want to do this that we hold it down, denying and ignoring the obvious revelation of His sovereignty.

We don't want to give up control of our lives.

  -- From Standing on the Rock,
            by James Montgomery Boice, Chapter 2






The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -- His eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles..

They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator -- who is forever praised. Amen.

Romans 1:18-25

And God saw that it was all good.....from James Boice

An important note in our creation account in Genesis is: And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:25).

This was God's moral evaluation, His pronouncement over what He had made.

He considered it good.



From James Boice's Foundation of the Christian Faith...

This pronouncement is not made in reference to some object because we in a pragmatic way can point to it and say, "This thing is useful to me."

God's pronouncement upon the goodness of the rest of creation came before we were even made.

And that means that a tree, to give an example, is not good only because we can cut it down and make a house out of it or because we can burn it in order to get heat.

It is good because God made it and pronounced it good.

It is good, because like everything else in creation, it conforms to God's nature.

Francis Schaeffer calls these words -- and God saw that it was good -- the divine benediction.


"This is not a relative judgment, but a judgment of the holy God who has a character and whose character is the law of the universe.

"His conclusion: every step and every sphere of creation, and the whole thing put together--man himself and his total environment, the heavens and the earth--conforms to Myself."


God's evaluation in Genesis 1 is confirmed by God's covenant with the human race and the earth given at the time of Noah--after the fall.


Then God says, "Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as come out of the ark...I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth" (Genesis 9:9-10, 13).


God's covenant: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. (Genesis 9:11)



Here God's concern is expressed, not just for Noah and those human beings who were with him in the ark, but for the birds and cattle and even the earth itself. His whole creation is "good."

And so in Romans 8 we again see the value of all God has made.

He intends to redeem the whole earth afflicted by the Fall.

"The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies"
(Romans 8:21-23).

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Glorify Him -- Now and Forever!

 

"To Him be glory, both now and forever" (2 Peter 3:18).

"Believer, you are anticipating the time when you will join the saints above in ascribing all glory to Jesus; but are you glorifying Him now?

Peter says, "both now and forever."

Make it your prayer: 

'Lord, help me to glorify You now. I am poor; help me to glorify You by contentment. I am sick; help me to honor You by my patience. I have talents; help me to extol You by spending them for You. Lord, I have time; help me to redeem it that I may serve You. I have a heart to feel; let that heart feel no love but Yours and glow with no flame but love for You.

You have put me in this world for something. Lord, show me what that is and help me to work out my life-purpose. I cannot do much, but as the widow put in her two copper coins, which were all she had, so, Lord, I am all Yours. Take me and enable me to glorify You today in all that I say, all that I do, and with all I have.'"

                                                       -- Charles Spurgeon

Good News - At The Last Minute!

 

The man sat on the floor of his cell. He head was buried in his hands and his shoulders quivered as he sobbed.

The time was approaching -- either very quickly or very slowly -- he couldn't tell which.

But soon the jailor would arrive to take him to the site of his execution.

He was more grief-stricken and hopeless than afraid. He was guilty for sure. But he had tried everything to stop the process. He had contacted the governor begging for a pardon He had exhausted his appeals. Had a re-trial -- But the verdict was the same: "Guilty as charged!"

And so he waited now for the jailor to come and take him. No possibility of another chance.

He heard someone coming. Sounded like the jailor. Then he heard the sound of the keys clanging loudly at the cell door.

Yes, the jailor was there.

"Yes, I came to get you," he said. "But it's good news -- they took Jesus instead. You are free to go! Right now! You are free to go!"

What happened? GRACE!

Refresh your memory every day  of that certain day Grace appeared and paid your debt and set you. Now: You are free to go!

I cried out and He heard Me!

                               

                                                 I Cried Out and He Heard Me!

"You, O LORD, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head.

I cried to the LORD with my voice, and He heard me from His holy hill."  

                                                                      Psalm 3:3-4

Dear Father God, You are the holy and mighty One. Every morning I am still amazed by Your inexplicable love! May my first thought always be of You. 

Sometimes voices around me tell me I am not good enough. That I always fall short. That no one could ever love me -- the saddest sentence I could ever hear! 

But You have written another script for me. You DO love me and have demonstrated that love over and over again.

You are faithful and true. You are the One who lifts my broken, crushed sprit so that I can gaze on Your loving face.

Help me explain this to those around me who are bruised and hurting, too. I want to be to others what You have been to me.

Nothing means as much as being in Your family, my dear Abba Father.

Amen

Eric Metaxas - That Strange Look

Conversion to faith in God is one of the great mysteries.

The signs of conversion are difficult to pinpoint, but one of them is this: Many of those who have experienced it seem now and again to have a curious, distracted look, as though as they have glimpsed something so beautiful they can never forget it, as though they've glimpsed the thing behind all things.

And they have, and now they are turned toward it forever, toward that glorious faraway country that is their true home.

---From Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God....
by Eric Metaxas

Where did it come from?

What Paul told his friends in Galatia --

"I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin.  I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ."  Galatians 1:11-12.

A good thing to remember, and it is our story, too.

We received the message..... not because someone talked us into it, or argued with us til our futile objections were exposed, or exhausted our patience, but because of the work of God through the Holy Spirit, who broke down our reservations and  revealed the truth to our hungry hearts. 

And for that we will praise God forever!

And we'll remember when we talk to others about how Jesus has saved us, the same pattern is at work -- it is not our clever arguments, our persuasive explanation, or our skillful well-thought-out observations that leads to their acceptance of the message -- it is because the Holy Spirit has been at work revealing the truth of the gospel to their hungry hearts!

We are just conduits -- lowly servants delivering a message.

Or as someone has said, 'just one hungry beggar telling another one where to find bread'!

Praise God forever!

What Is Jesus Doing Right Now?

 

"Because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them" (Hebrews 7:25).

  Jesus is always praying for us -- even when we forget to pray!

  Jesus is always praying for us -- even when we can't find words!

  Jesus is always praying for us -- even when we don't feel like praying!

  Jesus is always praying for us -- even when we don't feel like our prayers are being    heard!

  Jesus is always praying for us -- even when we are sobbing too hard to pray!

  Jesus is always praying for us -- even when we are ready to give up!

"Jesus, who died -- more than that, who was raised to life, is also interceding for us" (Romans 8:34-35).

                    Jesus is always praying for us -- always there for us!

TIred of being just an egg? C S Lewis

                                                 Tired of Being Just an Egg?

"...a new sort of life will be spreading through our system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us. It is the differences between paint, which is merely laid on the surface, and a dye or stain which soaks right through.

He never talked vague, idealistic gas. When He said, 'Be perfect,' He meant it.

He meant that we must go in for the full treatment.

It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering for is much harder -- in fact, it is impossible.

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly when remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg.

We must be hatched or go bad."       

                                               C S Lewis, from Mere Christianity