Gossip abounds.  Slander paves the roads of man.  Lies are grease to  financial prosperity.  Power is wielded without tenderness.  And order is kept at the point of a gun.  The way of man appears before us gilded by violence.  Little wonder many support the accusation that there is no God.

What little peace a man might grasp jostles in his hand.  In his clamor to attain, he will grasp at anything above him.  Not caring whose skin he tears, his hands claw to find release.  This is the way of man.

All this he does while he broadcasts that he loves.  But the love of man is  thoroughly conditional.   “I’m a nice guy till ya mess with me.”  Then, kind sir, you are no nice guy at all.

God is Love.  In His love He willingly reaches into this chaotic slime of man’s “best”.  “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)  But who will endure His message?

Hundreds and thousands of men (perhaps millions of millions) have shunned His offer.  “His law is too high for us”, they complain.  So they turn again to their vicious clamoring.  They do not realize that this law is God’s personal law.  He is subject to His own ways.  If the law speaks of mercy, then God is merciful.  If it speaks of righteous behavior, He is righteous.

It is so curious to me that we tend to throw away His law because we realize we can’t fulfill it.  All the while we miss the fact that the law of God is perfection and love.

Those who know the Father through the Son, soon realize that this law which condemns us is the very vehicle which saves us.  How I desire to be able to speak plainly into the heart of man.  “God is Love.”

The chaos of the morning news is no place to seek the Lord of Life.  On the other hand, such chaos might jar a wayward soul into looking up.   If in that looking up, the wayward soul finds salvation, I guess we could give thanks for the absolute horror that is man.

“. . . the people living in darkness

have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of the shadow of death

a light has dawned.” (Matt 4: 16)

“Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.”  (Ecclesiastes 7:10)  Righteous does not belong to a day.  It remains a timeless present.

The disease of sin has tainted every day of man.  Sickness abounds regardless the advances of technology.  Poverty may be chased into a corner.  But it remains a cancer among us.  And the folly of man’s greatest striving radiates a dark light.

The day we pine for is not within our grasp.  Even if it were possible to travel in time we would not find a day that is better than another.  The very moment you have is best.  For in that moment choices abound.  In that moment we encounter possibilities.  Attitude, placement, actions, and hope surround “The Moment” in which we currently live.

Learn to cease complaining.   Strive to accept.  The moment passes and another takes its place.  Good or bad, it is the only moment of time we are blessed to inhabit.  Greed can be defined as a deep desire to contain what is not rightfully ours.  There is no greed in holy righteousness.

How many times in your life were you pretty sure you were about to die?  Yet you’re still here to read this.   But what if the Lord came to warn you that your time was nearly finished here?  What a great kindness.  Who can testify that this has happened to them?  I suspect a few have received such grace from Jesus.  But where are they to ask?

Hezekiah found out that the Lord’s words are promise of surety.   “In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

² Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto Jehovah. . .”  (Isaiah 38)

What a blessing if we were living until we heard those words.  We would have time to set things right.  But that isn’t the case, is it.  Most of the time, death comes unannounced and unwelcome.   What a blessing to encounter the end of this world prepared to enter eternity.  I write this to praise the Lord’s kindness.  But I also write this to help others wake to the reality of this temporary place of testing.

It is no great difficulty to parade as a Christian when times go rather well.  Tiny set backs can be surmounted by the slightest reserve.  And when our possessions are confiscated, we have little difficulty perceiving that we are being counted as one of His children.  For we know that the world strives to retain what is rightfully theirs.  We have heard and believed that we are counted as heirs of God’s things.  So joy can be found in persecution of various sorts.

But what if we are the ones who have plundered our own treasures?  What if our unwillingness to obey His commands has ripped our faith?  What then?  We are the thief.  We are the murderer.  We find ourselves in a prison of our own making.  What then?

How should it be different when we are set upon by ourselves?  We are commanded to endure even such foolishness and treachery.  Consider what the writer of Hebrews wrote:  “Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.” (Heb. 10:35)

I write this for the sake of encouragement.  I know how devastating rebellion can be.  Our faith wanes horribly; even to the point of unbelief.  But our God is wise.  He has known us from the beginning.  He knows what reward He holds in His hand for all His people.

We are commanded to obey.  But we are also commanded to have faith.  Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

I walked among the “beautiful”.  Bodies displayed in all their filthy radiance.  Their shame covered by the tiniest of rags.  As fully attractive to the eye of lust as they could muster, women danced to entice.  I saw and heard things which would have brought the fire of Sodom in ages past.  Yet they call it normal.

Where is the familiar isolation I have come to thrive within?  Where is my private altar of prayer and consideration of what is Holy?  It is far away.  I am caused to pray incognito.  I am forced to lower my eyes to the floor or the heavens above.  Yet I must endure the onslaught of sin present before me.  I am caught in a whirlwind of man’s rebellion gone wild.  Propriety?  Where is propriety?  Where is restraint?  Where is consideration of what we are doing?  Where are thoughts of the Holy Angels?  They are far from this place.

He is faithful.  He alone gives endurance.  He was tested as are we, yet remains faithful to His Holy Father.  He causes endurance by loving us to understanding.  He reminds.  He guides, and we overcome.

I return to the familiar with little filth clinging.  Yet there is filth upon me.  “Forgive me, O God!  I have seen and perceived the things men do before Your Holy eyes.  Yet Your love embraces my yearning heart.”

To the work.  Let my soul propel the flesh into the things more pleasing.  I will search and listen with more ease now.  For our God and Lord Jesus is faithful.

By His Grace.