Category Archives: Hope

Anxious Eyes

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I look to the sky that I may see clouds rising over the sea. 

There is a drought upon the land; a vast unholy drought.

The souls of men are shriveled up with the dryness of sin, yet they do not perceive.

I look to the horizon, and my ears strain against the breeze.  Will I see the water of life give life to what is dead?

Will men fall on their shriveled knees to beg for the mercy of God?  They already stand proudly, defiantly, dead.

Where is the blazing glory of God among all men?  Where is his name first among the words of men?  Where is the boldness of life?

I look toward the rising sun. 

I watch to where it sets. 

I peer with failing eyes at where the moon will rise.

With anxious heart I wait.

The Place of No Return

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I write this as help to my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I write this as instruction to the wicked that they may understand.  I write this as admonition and hope.  If you will bear with it, there will be understanding.

A man wakes and guilt covers him.  Perhaps as he closed his eyes the guilt restrained his sleep until his flesh could fight no more.  He is aware of the holiness of God.  He is aware of his own utter lack.  This awareness has crushed multitudes, and they never rise again.

Many arrive to this place of understanding.  They perceive the nature of “good”.   They also perceive the nature of their own wickedness.  This perception can be a wall of steel brick 7000 miles high.  Here, millions have died for lack of faith.

What does a man do, before the perfect face of God, when he finds he is guilty of sin?  What repairs can be made? What action can be taken?

We are forced to consider the righteousness of God.  Regardless our sin, he is faithful and true.  His Son did not bleed for no reason.  Therefore if we believe that, what we must do becomes clear.

We approach God in prayer confessing our sins.  He responds by freeing our conscience.  Now we must rise and start the war again.  Not to believe, is to call God a liar.  Not to believe this to say: “Christ died for nothing”.  We cannot do that.   Such a saying is worse than our sin.

How useless is it to beat yourself for the things you have done?  There is a mountain to climb.  Wallowing in your pityful state does no good.  It brings no glory to Christ.  And it does not fulfill the Word of God.  Not to mention the devastating blow to our testimony.  We teach, by necessity, what we believe.

I understand how difficult it is to let go and just run.  But if we believe God, what choice is there?  He takes no pleasure in our sin.  But it is his pleasure to see us have faith and go. 

Again, the proof of his desire is in the death of his Son.  He encountered death for the will of God.  The will of God reaches to reunite what is broken.  And that he has accomplished through His Holy Son.

“The Faith” does not wallow in disrepair.   It stands as quickly as legs can find balance, and strives toward obedience.  Faith that comes through any other means than the Holy Blood of Christ is no strength of faith at all.  But understanding and strength come when we believe the Holy Word of God regarding the sacrifice of his Son.

Have you been wallowing in your frailty for years?  Isn’t it about time to believe?

The Limits of Can

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The list of limits, which restrain the life of man, is long.  He is bound up and constrained by the Holy dictates of God’s great Wisdom.  The list of “can” is shorter, yet no less sure.  The first constrains rebellion.  The second unleashes holy righteousness with the unlimited power of God himself.

Man presses against the limits of restraint.  They invent machines to push into those limits, and succeeds.  There will be no glory from God for such pernicious strivings.  How can rebellious desire be rewarded?

But who, among men, reaches to the limit of “can”?   It is written for all to read, “With God all things are possible”.   In the way of obedience, this was said.  In the way of salvation to obedience, this was said.  Who, among men, reaches to the fullness of God’s Holy words?

There are the limits of this world.  The final limit, among men, is reached at the point of death; the release of the soul from the constraints of flesh.  All men will surely reach this limit and pass through.

Many will reach the next impenetrable limit of condemnation; they will go no farther.  No rebellious striving will produce success.  But who will reach beyond that finality to the unspeakable limits of eternity?

God is a God of order.  He has placed limits for all creatures.  In this age, he has constrained.  So it will be in the next age.  In this age he constrains rebellion.  In the next he will constrain Holy order.  Yet who, among men, reaches to the limit of “can”?

Jesus offers righteousness to man now.  Jesus is the righteousness of man forever.  Yet what shall be said of the fullness of possibility in this place of testing?  Who has reached the fullness of God’s willingness to give?  Who, among men, reaches deep to become what God is willing to give?

Weariness

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Why are you tired?  You are not tired from lack of sleep.  Your soul is weary and longing to belong.

You have spent all you have on enticements.   Yet you hope to find meaning for the next breath you take.

Sleep is what wears you out; that never ending sleep of ignorance.  You do not know the things that give men strength.  So you wear yourself out searching through things that cannot give peace.

What sleep you gain is for the body.  But the soul is near delirium for sleepless days and nights.

Worry consumes you, even though you smile and laugh.  When you cry there is no release; your tears become only futile vapor.  And when you ponder the greatest of things, you find no understanding.

You purpose in your heart: “I will embrace the highest of laws; righteousness shall become my habit.  I will do the things of eternity, then I will find peace.” 

But the work is too great, habits too fleeting.   Soon what was gained is tarnished by weakness.  And no sleep has come to your soul.  You have only added more work to a weary soul.

Where then is rest?  Can any man tell you where it is found?  You search and ask and listen, but you hear no faithful sound.

Hear, my friend, I’ll tell you.  The strength to live each day lives beyond impenetrable Mountains.  A craggy mount no man can climb, bars peaceful rest for your soul.  But he who lives enthroned above, will come to help you stand your ground.

Read the words of centuries past.  Let sobriety fill your ears.  Humility sees what pride cannot.  And gains that  comfort through the years.
__________________
“Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
    Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
    and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
    not one of them is missing.
27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
    Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
    my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.”  (Isaiah 40)

Pleasing God

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Let no brother or sister in Christ believe that it is impossible to please God.  In the sum of our salvation, there is no sacrifice we can make to save our souls, for all belongs to God.  Yes, this is true.  And Jesus, the Word of God, has made the sacrifice for all men; fulfilling the entire Law of God.  Yes, this is true.

 

But God pleases God.  Isn’t that the gist of the Gospel?  And where God is, there is pleasure to God.  Isn’t that true?  And when God moves, there is pleasure in the Holy Throne Room.  Isn’t that true?  So when we learn to do the things of God willingly, doesn’t that bring pleasure to God?  So how can one intelligently say, “It is impossible to please God?”

 

I understand the confusion.  Salvational pleasure cannot be brought about by any man; fulfilling the Holy Law of God is impossible for anyone who has sinned even once.  Salvation belongs to the One who is unblemished.  But the living in the Holy Spirit gives great pleasure to the One who bought us by His Holy Blood.

 

Let us not take the words of others without giving them lengthy consideration.  They may have understood before they spoke.  And what they spoke may be faultless.  But has our perception come in line with understanding?

 

A man may think that to say it is possible to please God leads to pompous and errant thoughts of self.  Thus many deny the possibility.  But do they do God a favor by beating any possible joy from their soul?  Aren’t they trying to please God by denying that pleasing God is possible?

 

Why isn’t it better to live in the freedom of fellowship with Jesus?  Why isn’t it better to receive that Holy smile of pleasure?  Again, let us be careful what we include and disclude.

Delusion

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The hardest thing I have had to learn is to put away delusion.  I find it is wrapped up in everything I think and do.  It is a false expectation.  It is an untrue belief.  It is a false hope.  A man may think he is something, all the while he is not.

A man may think he has achieved, only to find himself having fallen short.  He may think he has understood, only to be proved wrong by another thought or action.

A man may think he has done a good deed.  But he walks away not understanding what brought the moment to him nor what happens after.

A man may go to prayer believing he is accepted before God.  In his dilution he promises himself many things.  But he walks away unblessed for he lives in a lie.

Men may praise Him, or even express hatred for him.  The delusional mind perceives it wrongly.  For the first, he thinks he is a good man.  For the second, he thinks he is persecuted.  All the while he is no more or less than any man.

Delusion is a lie.  Delusion has everything to do with perception.  The man who perceives himself outside of truth is deluded.

The sinful nature thinks of itself outside of truth.  But the Spirit of God within speak only truth.  It has been the learning to listen correctly that has been the most difficult. 

A man may well be willing to receive a beating for his wayward ways.  But is he earnestly willing to put error away and live in truth?

It has been difficult in my life to grasp the fullness of truth.  It will certainly be that for all men.  For we are raised in lies as children.  We are taught lies as we become adults.  We are expected to compromise.    we expect others to compromise for us.  And because of this expectation, we expect God to compromise for us. And all these boil over into dilution.  The man who lives like that has no right to expect to be blessed in what he does.

Transformation into a son of God is a difficult process for any man to accomplish.  And, in the end, it will require the majesty of God to complete the transformation.  For now we are given to work with diligence.  In the end it is God who will provide the transformation.

One item has been an exceedingly helpful insight in the delusion of sin.  I learned that God is, though  this learning is a constant difficulty.   He may know of the past.  He may know of the future.  But he lives in the now.  God is.

As I live in the now I find the delusion evaporating.  Living in the past is useless.  It has happened, yes.  But the past is not now.  Living with expectations for the future is also useless.  There are things that will happen, yes.  But they are not the now.  We hope in God and this is appropriate.  But we are given things to accomplish now.

The truth of God is.  The truth of God is the sum of what was and what will be.  Letting go of what was and leaving what will be to him, I find myself living in the truth.

Jesus is the perfect reflection of the Father.  Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.  Circumstances and experiences may change.  But he is truth because he never does.

This cannot be said of us.  For we were born in vile state.  And we must learn to live in what is holy.  The process can be painful, arduous and sporadic.  But if we are to learn to please the Holy Lord of all, we must learn to put away delusion.  That is to say, if we are to learn to be productive members of the family of God, then we must learn to put away dilution.