Testify?


I was listening to psalm 24. Afterword I thought, “I should say something about this”. But what do I have to say about anything?

Good or bad, I looked in my mind to see how anything I might say would be received. That didn’t help.  


My mind walked away from testimony with disgust. I saw how people treat the King of Glory. I remember how people treat anyone who will speak about him with a good report. Then I saw what people praise; the strong, the beautiful, the rich, the popular, the amazing, all things Man.  


Standing before the words of God is astounding. Looking back at the filth of Man is heartbreaking.  


No! I’ve said enough.  

Three Advantages


​    The ones who love God have three things happen to them.
     They are despised on this Earth while they love the one who made them.  Somehow such open love is considered illicit.
     But when they leave this place they go to be with the one they have loved so dearly.  They are ushered into Eternal Joy with open arms.  For they have proved they love him more than these.
     And the third thing that happens to them is most fascinating.  Their name, their words, their actions, are all rolled onto a pedestal called Legend.
     Man is curious.  He will despise and kill his enemy, then he will raise his enemy to Legendary status.  With the same words he uses to lie, he now tells fanciful stories about this one who is no longer among them.  By this, the work of God’s people is multiplied many-fold.
      In these three things, the love of God is greatly glorified.  See how the wisdom of God works to glorify love, life, righteousness, Justice, compassion, grace, and mercy.  And all these things are in the being of his holy and righteous son Jesus!
So be it.

Marriage


     ​Did you know that the current divorce rate in America is 50%?
     I was thinking this morning about how I want my life to matter.  In the end, I came to the conclusion that I want to bring gifts to the Lord’s wedding.  It didn’t take a heartbeat for my mind to compare gifts at a wedding today with gifts at the wedding of the Lord.  
     People marry for their lifetime, at best.  The Lord’s wedding to his people will be a “once in eternity” event.  Never has it happened before, and never will it happen again.  It would be good to let that sink in.
     With divorce at 50%, what is the value of any gift we might bring to a wedding?  There’s a 50-50 chance they will only be useful in the division of things.  Our token of love might well become a token of division.
     But then it dawned on me, the importance of the Lord’s wedding to his people.  When the Lord marries us, it will be forever without the slightest chance of disillusionment.  What then is the value of the things I bring him on that Holy day?
     How do I bring him gifts?  What can my hands invent that I can bring him in my soul?  The Flesh, and all I can do,  will be nothing  on that day .  Nothing.  What then are these gifts I’m talking about?  Simply put, the gifts we bring the Lord are born of obedience to him today.  We bring honor to his wedding because we have let him do the work in us that brings his Father Glory.
     We know what he wants.  We know who he is.  And we know who he wants us to be.  I’m really not sure I need to say anymore.

In the Blink of an Eye


Have you looked into the coming future of Man?   Do you know about the utter devastation of all wickedness?  Do you know how sure it is?  

At the very moment of Eternity when God lips cease speaking the command, a devastating and eternal blow will be sent to all this darkened the creation.  Like a lightning bolt that strikes a pea, the earth and all this black universe will be no more.
Everything man currently loves will become nothing more than a floating ember of ash.  Absolutely nothing, of even the dust, will remain.  
Heaven will move, taking its rightful place.  This place of testing will be no more.  The joy and righteousness of God will prevail forever.
When this happens it will be as if this place has never existed.  All the things men love will be gone.  And it will happen in the blink of an eye.
It will happen faster than it takes an atheist to remember he has said there is no God.  Have you considered these things with serious and vibrant desire?  Or have you been like so many others?
Lashed to a portion of the ship, the man proclaims there is no storm.  The ship is tossed 45 degrees to the left, then is forced the other direction 90 degrees.  All the while he stupidly proclaims, “There is no storm”.  
It’s easy to see there is no common sense in such a man.  Are you living your life like that?  Or are you letting common sense cause you panic?
Such realization ought to send us to the words of God.  Truly believing this ought to make our fingers tremble as we turn the pages.  Is this the way you see people reacting to this News?
It doesn’t matter how we respond, does it?  It doesn’t matter what comes of us when God puts an end to all the things men have loved. 

Heaven will gain its rightful place, that place that this place of wickedness has consumed for so long.  And it won’t matter whether we believed this or not.
I urge you because I love you, think about this.  If I despised you I would say nothing.   Please let your mind think this through.

From Peace to Murder


​The rest stop was full.  But I’d driven as far as I could for the day.  I have to stop somewhere.  So I parked on the shoulder of the off-ramp.
I was exhausted.  A little bit of winding down, and sleep came pretty easily.  The noise of the traffic going by hardly reached my ears.  But now I’m awake, the sun is coming up, and the noise gets louder and louder.  It’s hard to believe that tires on asphalt can be so loud.
I know there’s a measurement called decibel.  But I don’t know how to quantify that.  If I hear an explosion I know that it’s a lot of decibels.  If I hear a whisper, indeed if I could hear a whisper, I’d know it was very few decibels.
I sit here thinking about my family and all the people who rush about everyday.  I wonder if there is a decibel measurement for anxiety.  I’m thinking about the anxiety called desire, or greed.  While the world sleeps, there’s a few who make those anxious noises.  But on the whole, it’s barely more than a whisper in this world.  If greed wasn’t quieted down during the night no one would sleep.
Then I wonder something useful.  Does man even know what peace is?  Only Adam and Eve knew peace.  Apparently that didn’t last very long  Days, months, years, decades, who knows?  I don’t know for sure, perhaps it lasted more than a hundred years.  But once peace was gone, it is as though it never existed among us at all.  And the proof of it’s leaving lay in the ground with their son Abel.  And the proof of their realization ran down their cheeks as tears.  Peace was forever gone, replaced by something new – horror.
Greed’s particular name that the time was Cain.  But his mindset goes about in this world today under the use of a billion different names.  Now, all we know is murder and chaos.  But you could easily refer to all of us as Cain.
Cain committed the first murder; The taking of life from his brother.  But I have committed murder.  Haven’t I taken away hope from hundreds of people?  In that sense, haven’t we all committed murder? 
In those days I was not peace and I did not know peace.  But ignorance is no excuse is it?  Once a life is shattered, how can any words of Man (or excuses) fill the void?  Whatever hope of peace and trust there was I ripped away with a rock called greed.  I guess we could say there’s a murder of death as well as the murder of life.  The latter, by the way, is legal in this place.
But let’s get back to the theme here .
Peace is an individual.  He withdrew from this place because of sin.  But he is peace.  He is not disturbed by the death of Abel.  And he is not disturbed by this wasting disease called sin.  And he is not disturbed by the volume of noise greed makes in this wicked place.  He is not disturbed by what we do.  In the blink of an eye he will shut it all down.  But he is very concerned to come and give us peace.  He is very concerned about teaching us how to stop murdering life.
We may get some quiet time from here and there.  But do we know He who is Peace?  I asked that because even while I sit among all this increasing noise,  my soul is not disquieted.  My body perceives the chaos.  But my soul is in his hands.  Where does your soul find itself today?  Do you know Peace?  

Loyalty Supreme!


For reasons only known in heaven, God began a creation.  He spun with Invisible thread, creating something from absolutely nothing.

A Blackness was born in The Kingdom of Light.  He speckled the Blackness with fiery balls.  Appearing from nothing were little places of special interest.  They were darkened little globes that we’re not like the fires at all.

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Imagine, if you can, the wonder of the angels as they did the bidding of their Father.  And their wonder kept expanding.  The work went on for a very long time. 

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Every item in the darkness was placed precisely where The Father said to put it.  Joy and wonderment filled all Heaven as the creation took shape before their very eyes.  It was an intricate dance of tiny objects, all floating in the blackness.  A precise ballet of love.  Every item spun precisely around another.

Then, amazement upon amazement, God spoke a word unheard before.  “Let us create Man in our image”.  Adam, he was called.  The meaning of the word is “First Blood”.

In his hands, The Holy Word of God began the work of The Father.  A handful of dust took shape.  An unspeakable perfect work of art lay on the ground.  “Let the Breath of Life enter.”  The man’s breath began.  His eyes opened.  And from a perspective only capable in this creature of dust, he saw his surroundings for the first time.

Love and joy filled the servants of God as they were Witnesses to this amazing Work.  Unquestioning, innocent obedience bore the fruit the Living God intended.  And now they would watch that same obedience flow through the blood of this creation.

Blood!  The first of its kind.  Never before was there a creature with such exquisite limitation.  How unspeakably beautiful was the work of The Father.  What great tender care was given to their new brother.

But press forward in time with me.  Witness the history of decay.  See the frustrated Beauty become ragged edged and hideously vile.  Read the history of man in the Bible and weep.

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Look at the horror which we have become.  Not only have we murdered the love of God, we joyfully toss him in the cesspool of unbelief.  And the people despise anyone who speaks His Holy Name.

Dare to tell me that God has no right to destroy his enemies of this filthy place! 

But this is not the end of the story, for amazement fills the servants of God still.  As by that same innocent obedience, they reach into the Blackness of sin and create a people of light. 

For now, the tiny lights glow in the Darkness.  But the day will surely come when the darkness will be swallowed up by the place from which it was created.  That which is abhorrent to man will rule with Christ for eternity. 

Something from nothing became blackness.  But something from Blackness will become dazzling, bright and brilliant Lights of Life.

Join in the building celebration; the Symphony of redemption is a beautiful song, being played by those who love Him.  And the Beautiful song is played against the backdrop of hisses, boos jeers, wailings, screams, and violent intent.  Make all the noise you want, you hideous creatures of hatred.  Your silence is moving toward you now.

I will love the God who made me!  I will adore the one who fashioned me from nothing!  Stand with me or not, what difference can it possibly make?

By His Grace.