So many think it is admirable to wield a good argument. Just as many more think it is wise to shut your mouth and offer no good advice. What they are saying by these things boils down to this: “Either kill them or let them die”.
What’s that mean to you?
I said to a man, “I have prayed often that the Lord would cause you to see and to hear”. What is his best response? “I see just fine.”
I know the man meant to be truthful. And I don’t doubt that he does see. For he was asking me questions in regard to the Living God. But what does he see?
Earlier he referred to me as a religious man. He does not yet make the distinction between religion and faith, lawful and holy. He does not yet see any differently than any man who ever lived.
We have spoken together about the things of Christ hundreds of times before. But he has not heard my words. He still thinks he is a religious man. He has not yet comprehend it the Eternal meaning of righteous.
Jesus heard the Father clearly, for he is the very Word of the Living God. And he saw all things from the perspective of Eternity. For he was sent from eternity into time. There never was a man who could be said to have accomplished that in his life.
What locks us in such a place that our eyes and ears can only see and hear the things of man? Simply put, it is the pride of man; that somehow he is able to save himself. Perhaps we estimate by percentage; “I am more good than evil. I am as compassionate as I can be. And I give to others what I think I can afford. I strive hard to restrict judgement of others within myself. All of this because I know God is watching”.
Is that how we find ourselves perceiving the things of salvation? Is that how we see and hear?
The warnings for sin have gone out since man was first made. Sin is death. When you have committed sin there will be consequences to follow.
Such consequences as Sin rears up will often charge you with horrifying and utterly devastating sadness. Eventually, hopefully in this life, you will cry great tears of sadness for the things you have done.
But when you cry because you have broken life’s rule, do not expect others to give you a loving embrace. You have no right to expect them to cry with you. Those tears belong to you. They are not tears of suffering for the name of Christ. They are not tears a man may cry when unjustly persecuted. They are tears that you have brought death upon yourself.
Face reality. Seek strength. Strive to understand. All the while, get up on your shaky legs and start walking.
The Lord loves mercy, yes. But mercy comes in a variety of forms. Our need may not be as we perceive it.
A man doesn’t look at his watch to see what time it was. His watch can only tell him what time it is. It doesn’t tell him what time it’s going to be. It tells him what time it is. You can’t lay hold of the past. And you can’t lay hold of the future.
Regret reminds him of what time it was. Perhaps we regret that we cannot have the good times we had. Or we may regret that we have destroyed joy, for ourselves or others.
What is regret but a knowledge of what is right. A knowledge of appropriate restraint. Truth restrains us in “the now”. You’re not going back my friend. And as you reach the future you bring the old man with you. What you did back then, you are doing now. You need a change of heart, not a change of time.
We may look at the past desiring some pleasant time. Or we may look at the past, regretting abject folly. But we can only do this looking from “the now”. The man who lives in Nostalgia does not know what time it is. Regrettably, this is to his constant loss.
Nostalgia will always be beyond our grasp. But regret can happily thrive in our house. All the while, truth says something imperative. “I am here. Come live with me. I am here to offer you life.”
It is impossible to fix a misdeed. The best we can possibly do is offer reparation. And the cost of repair is vastly more than a man’s resources will ever afford. You can’t undo anything, whether good or bad!
Man thinks that by paying for his horrible mistakes, he becomes a righteous man. Perhaps he thinks if he regrets his past enough, there is some reparation made. As if suffering produces anything of value. But no action on our part undoes the death we have born.
Christ Jesus is in the now. No matter what clock you look at, there is the Lord holding out his hand to help stop the engine of regret. Will you reach out and take his help?
________________
One thing I will say about regret, it is a useful tool. It teaches humility. And in an odd way, it gives validity to the warnings we offer to those who are as blind as we.
____________________
The man who climbs out of an open cesspool is happy to warn those who are walking toward disrepair. Blinded by the darkness of their mind, they stagger toward loss. And isn’t such a man rather frantic as he tries to help his brother?
Their response doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if they hate him. It doesn’t matter if they give him some superficial glory. He knows from experience they are about to encounter regret. He busies himself to remind his brother of the now.
Christ is in the now. And he alone is The Living pure truth. Listen to him. His wisdom and strength are ever-present.
As the blind are walking toward the pit. As they are falling into it. As the shock of their disrepair dawns on their dull minds. As they thrash about to release themselves from their present aberration. As their hands lay hold of solid ground. As they pull themselves out, covered with stench. And as they sit perplexed on the edge of the pit, wondering what to do next, or how they could possibly have been so stupid.
Christ is in the now.
Christ is in the now.
He is not just a historical figure. He is the now.
If you have freed yourself from a certain pit, I promise you, without Christ there’s another one waiting just in front of you.
Answer to yourself, what time is it?
__________________
The usefulness of this post depends entirely on the reaction of those who read it.
Where is God? Why have the godless triumphed? Why is everything “body”, and nothing Soul? Why is death relegated to whispers in some inner room?
Eutopia is not something Man will ever grasp! So why is everything Eutopia bound?
We live. We die. We will ALL stand judgment before the Beautiful One we are all trying so hard so hard to ignore. How can that possibly go well for people who obviously despise the desires of He who has made all things for His own purposes?
Rethink! Rethink! Rethink!
It is impossible that anyone should write the book of another one’s life, either before it begins or as it is in full swing (not even their own). The only accurate substance of that book might be that the individual was born and died. Everything else in between is beyond our understanding. Vastly distant from our grasp. Thus beyond our ability to quantify and lay in order. Who can even say, with certain clarity, why he has done what he just did?
John Forbes Nash went crazy trying to predict Human Nature. We can’t even come close to predicting the next 5 seconds of our lives, let alone the injected will of God among men.
I didn’t want to become the man I am. When I was a child, I was just like everyone else, full of fantasies to be a good man and perfect. But my personal history is so fraught with folly; tossed about as it was, in the frothing wake caused by Humanity’s struggle. Ignorance appeared to be my best friend. The wisdom of God was to me nothing more then falling and glowing embers raining all about me. And righteousness seemed to hide just behind every coming corner. Still Jesus is King and able to save. He is the singular reason this fool has hope.
But who can predict where chaos will go? Who can deny that man is loaded to the Grave with chaos? And why would we waste time with tears of remorse, when we are fully destined as food for destruction without Him? It is useless to pine away and cry for the things that cannot be changed. Far better to seek the perfect place. Far better to seek with all the strength we own!
It is awesome how we are misunderstood. It is as if every man is an entirely different language all his own. If I could summon a string of pure and perfect words, deliver them with absolute integrity, and sit to wait for the response, no doubt I would be blown away by what came back to me. “Oh, now I see what you mean.” And they would deliver to me a perfectly wrong interpretation. The words of Man, by himself, are uselessly full of fault.
Salvation belongs to God and to the worthy lamb, Jesus the Christ. Man does not own truth, because our ways are so very full of chaos and destruction. If a man wants help, it is impossible that he should turn to anything man-made. It is only through the power of God in Christ that we affect any eternal good at all.
In the way of religions: if you want to know the truth about the object of unfailing faith, I advise you not to fall for the things that make human sense. God is utterly unlike us. His ways and his salvation will, by His very nature, be more than we can imagine. There is no chaos in God. There is no unfaithfulness in Jesus. Death has no place in the personnage of God and His Holy Son. The power of God’s Holy Spirit among us is the only source of Truth.
I say these words: Christianity is the only means to eternal life. But I know these simple words will be interpreted in such a variety that no one could possibly count the variations. I shrug my shoulders. What is that to me?
You don’t have to believe me. Simply do what God has said, “Humble yourself before me, seek my face, and I will be found by you. But keep your pride and your desire for autonomy and you will die. Sacrifice and offerings I have not desired. But I prepared a body to be sacrificed on your behalf I have delivered among you. He has appeared among you and done my perfect will. My salvation stands ready to receive you. Therefore come and let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall become white as wool.”
God has loved us with a perfect love. He is not a man that he should change his mind. He has written his promised salvation in the very blood of his Holy and Righteous Son. God’s promise you can predict, because he makes no mistake and he cannot lie. Man you should suspect.
How this is received by anyone is not my responsibility. But to have spoken these things is a distinct privilege. It is forever right to offer hope to my brothers and sisters of flesh. It is also forever right that every man, woman and child should consider such things as these as indelible truth.
We: Live, Die, Face Judgment. Jesus or die twice.
My new buddy
Stubborn And Courageous Adventures Reflecting the Father's Heart to The People.
History Repeating Chronicles
Words From There 