Daily Archives: November 22, 2014

Victorious in Loss

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Among people, who are those who suffer well?  It is those who own nothing of what they own.

These are prepared to lose everything, even while they have it all.  It is the one who is determined, while in wealth and health, to die penniless and miserable.  This one cannot be held hostage to expectations full of error.  If prosperity of possessions continues to a peaceful death in his own bed, such a one will have lived his life without fear of loss.

Though all he has is taken.  Though sickness viciously tears at his body.  Though the wicked greed of man rips his belongings from his control.  This one will prosper.

Yet is it enough to be stoic in our life?  Is it necessary to pass by the loaf of bread while you have money and hunger?  Is it right to purchase the rust bucket chariot so that you will suffer the pains of upkeep?  Is it required of us to live under a pile of leaves in a part of the forest we don’t, and can’t own?  Such people are not being responsible with what has been given them.

What provokes the Responsible life?  Is it the desire of a man to become completely humble among all men?  That mind-set is produced from the pride of life.  Pride can’t, by its very nature, produce humility.  Such a man might feel pretty proud of himself, after all, he has forsaken what other people crave.   But his humility is crushed by a whisper of pride.

Jesus provokes the true strength of life.  His strength in a man is beyond ALL the things of this world.  Because His teaching and “in dwelling” comes from Heaven; a place which has never entertained the temporary wealth of this place.  And NEVER will.

If we want to be strong.  If we want to endure with stellar conviction.  If we want to live that “over coming” life, we will have to appropriate the teaching and character of the Lord Jesus.  While we live in relative peace, it is best to be prepared for the worst.  Let us not compile “things” so that we will be able to endure hardship.  Let us prepare our heart to be God’s champion, even if the entire world comes after us.

How does cancer become a trophy to be desired?  How does molestation become a crown of joy?  How does losing our job, or place in the family,  become a stepping stone to eternally born victory?  All these things, and the myriad of things that can happen to a person, become glory when we embrace failure.  We love our weakness, because it gives us an opportunity to overcome!  Even our own sins can become trophies of Grace.  Such things  can produce a certain kind of humility that cannot be manufactured by the desire of a man.  Nor can it be purchased by any of our possessions.

We encounter hardship for the sake of Christ.  We encounter hardship for the sake of testifying that God’s love and promise are vastly more, and true, than anything the world can provide.  We testify that life can be lived, even while this world has strapped us to a post in the middle of a raging fire.  We can clap our charred hands, even while the skin of our bodies walks toward becoming a lump of coal.  Thus, we encourage others to love the God who bestows such incredible strength.

Let us testify that God in us, is greater than all things.  Prosperity, health, wealth, sickness, persecution, joy, poverty, alienation, or fame,  cannot take away the riches of Christ in any man!  It is the man who counts any of these things as more valuable or stronger than the promise of God.  This is the one who will likely lose it ALL.

The Faith of Fullness

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What are you doing here?

Do you desire to desire?

Is the Love of God for doing tasks?

Or for drawing all men near?

 

We do and do but for what purpose, to spread the news or just perform?  As I look back on my days of religion, I find a man with the tiniest of faith.

My belief was not worth a mention, for if I tried to voice my faith, it would have amounted to nothing more than an inaudible peep.

And the fruit of my faith was the same.  A doing of things for the sake of the Gospel were done.  But for what end?  Where was the promise of the Holy One in what I did?

Those doings are long gone now.  They were done with good intention.  But there was no power of God in them.  I was like a trained monkey in a lab; doing as I was taught to gain that treat I desired.  This was my personal experience in the organized Church.

Where is the Fire borne Faith that Christ Jesus wondered about?   “. . .when the Son of Man comes, will he find [the] faith on the earth?”  (Luke 18:8)

There is a vast difference between the faith of a man and The Faith from God.   Atheists have faith that there is no God.  What good is that to them?  Christians may have faith that the words of God are true.  But do those words give birth to that “new creation” He promised?

I offer the concept for examination.   Each man or woman provides the answer.

Inspection of deeds, desire, and that certain becoming are necessary.

No one can know the severity of lack within, for no one has seen what God has prepared for those who love Him.  Comparing the two is necessary for clarity.  God alone knows how far short we have attained.  Yet who dares ask Him to show, lest they are provoked to do what they are not willing?

On the other hand, if we are willing to be shown, what glories await?

God and His Holy Christ are seamlessly woven together.  Isn’t that the desire of God for all His people?  Don’t tell me that isn’t possible.  Though I haven’t attained such a thing, I refuse to believe in anything less.  If I am fallen short of such a life, it is I who remain chained to unbelief.   If seamless Christianity is not possible, why did Jesus say this: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

What does the word “full” mean?  By our actions we display our interpretation of the definition.  Any child can tell you what “full” means.  Why can’t adults?