Tag Archives: Christ

The Great Gift!

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Christ Healing the Blind Man c 1640

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Two blind men heard that Jesus was passing by.  They shouted, “Son of David!  Have mercy on us.”  The people told them to be quiet.  Evidently the people wanted a ceremony of pomp and revere.  Perhaps they were thinking, “Silence, a great teacher is passing by.”  But the men with no sight knew their only hope for working eyes lay in the man who had done such greater things than anyone before him.  So they shouted all the more.  For if there was any hope, this was the moment!  How could a blind man hope to chase after the man of such power?  This slice of time was all they were going to get.  Hope was NOW!

Have you any hope from the moment of time when you shouted to the Lord for sight?  Do you now know that Jesus is the Christ of God?  Do you believe that Jesus is Glorified and Lord of all things?  Is your life laced with a particular hope that non-believers cannot own?  Regardless how much faith you have, it is as if you have received working eyes.

The two blind men received their sight.  Now they saw shapes, colors, shadows, and light.  What did they do in response to this great gift from the Lord?  They followed Him.  They considered that they had nothing before He touched them.  Now they had all they had ever wanted.  They didn’t consider that they could now go out and earn a living, create a household, and perhaps marry and have children and a social purpose.  They left behind all the things the people around them craved.  They forsook this world and all it offers and bent their will and lives around the Son of God.

Far too often, people who receive an understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven receive this gift as if it is owed to them.  Many are indifferent to the gift given them in the Gospel.  They receive this gift as if it is some kind of social rite of passage, not realizing that this gift is precious and glorious.  The gift of salvation is the beginning of the central reason for life here.  But it is not often perceived as such.

What have we forsaken after receiving our sight?  I recognize that not everyone is called to forsake their households, land, income, social status, and position in life.  But surely, before we received our sight we held dear the things the people in that crowd desired.  It should not be that the Gospel makes no permanent and radical change in our lives.  It is not a rite of social passage.  It is a soul shattering change from death to life.  It is not religious ceremony and a particular belonging to a social club called the church.  It requests and requires a vibrant following after the Glory of God in Jesus the Christ.

Christianity is Not a Religion

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Detail - Glory of the New Born Christ in prese...

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The foolish look on Christianity as a religion; just a single example of man’s contrivances toward pleasing his version of God.  The wise, those led by the Spirit of God, encounter Christianity with a fearful and understanding heart.  They know that they are approaching the Living God.  And they consider their ways with great trembling; aware that they will certainly give account of their lives to the Lord Most High, Jesus.

I have pity for those who live as foolish men.  I was one of them.  I have pity for those who consider religion simply a contrivance of man.  In one fashion they are correct.  There is but one way to the Father in Heaven.  While there are thousands of religions toward gods who are not gods at all.  The religion of man will worship anything from a rock to a cow, from a snake to a star.  But God calls us to the Holy and consuming fire of “The Faith”.  This faith is not born of the mind of man.  And should not be considered as part of the definition of the word “Religion” which man holds so very dearly (either with a loving embrace or with a drawling hatred).

We serve the Living God through Jesus the Christ.   We are not of those who worship God through a religion.  Our religion is the spawn, or child, of The Faith.  It should never be the other way around.  The Faith is first, as it is given and not contrived.  Religion is our response to this gift.  This is the sum of the dynamics of Christianity.  This is how it works.  Yet man would confuse the issue by reversing the blessing.  They contend that religion spawns faith.  They morph the truth of God in Jesus into something evil.   And this should not surprise us.  For the eye of the evil one sees everything as evil.  While the eye of he who loves truth seeks to envision everything lovely, true, wholesome, and vividly alive.

May God grant insight into what has been said here for everyone who reads these words.  Your soul is at stake in understanding this concept.  We do not believe so that we can be saved.  We are saved so that we will believe.  Faith comes from God so that no man can boast.  And it is because of that gift that we come to believe.

Foster Love for the “I AM”

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English: Scroll of the Psalms

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The end of a man’s life is the greatest point of importance.  Regardless what he has done in his life, what he grasps to do according to the will of God for man is far more important.  We take our lessons from the Lord Jesus in the days of His flesh.  We read the Psalms and see that He loved the law of God more than anything on earth.  And we see that God raised Him up to Great glory because of His love for God’s ways.

This is the sum of our lesson, to learn to love the ways of God more than the things of this earth.  Whether this happens at the beginning of our days, or comes upon us in our last years.  To learn to love God and His law is of the utmost importance in the end.

Strive with regret.  It is appropriate.  But also strive to learn to love God’s ways in that you learn to do them.  In this way our days are ended in a holy striving.

The Tested Stone

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Holiness unto the Lord

Holiness unto the Lord (Photo credit: Leonard John Matthews)

I have come to refer to the world as a “place of testing”.  Once a woman said to me that she didn’t agree with that.  I forget what she offered up as an alternative.  But what matters is that God also sees this as a “place of testing”.  How do I know that?  Isaiah 28:16 refers to Jesus as a “tested stone”.  Where was this Mighty Lord tested?  Why, in this “place of testing”, of course.

The Cleansing Fire of Testing

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Isaiah, as directed by the Spirit of God, said, “See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong.” (Isa. 28: 2)

In the all the days before Christ’s appearance in flesh the Lord God, God Most High, knew the One who would enter our world to rescue His people.  Since before the foundation of the universe Jesus was known as God’s Right Hand.  All creation was groaning under the oppression of man’s wickedness.  All heaven had put up with the wickedness of a few.  And God knew the end of the story, just as He knows it now.

Take heart, you who moan with the burden of this world’s testings.  We are not removed from His plans.  We are a fruit of Grace.  And what He has promised and known from the beginning He will fulfill!  He is not slow as men count slowness.  He is deliberate and knowing in His ways.  Be patient, therefore, the way is provided.  The path is cleared.  Light marks “The Way” for all who would travel it.  We are being called through a cleansing fire of testing.  Hold your head up and walk like men, like men of God.

English: A scroll of the Book of Isaiah

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The Mighty Building

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Cornerstone on south side of , located at 3105...

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A mighty building is being constructed.  Brick by brick the building is constructed: soul by soul, work by work.  The corner-stone was laid and by its dimensions the walls jut out and up.  This mighty building is the kingdom of God in Christ Jesus.  And each brick is the soul and work of a man according to the will of God.

However, many are preparing themselves to be part of walls which are attached to the corner-stone yet not according to its dimensions and form.  They construct their lives as they will; not according to the will of God.  And they expect that the wall they are a part of will endure the proof of God.

Picture a four walled building.  Consider that the architect has in mind a four walled building.  Now picture that some construction crews came in and attached a few walls which extend in various ways from the desired plan.  Do you think those walls will be allowed to remain when the architect comes to inspect his work?  Won’t they be torn down?

Why would you desire to live your life according to your own mind?  Why wouldn’t you consult the plan of the One who hired you?  If you were not sure of your contract of hire, wouldn’t you go seek out the one who drew up the plan and ask for direction?  Yet millions continue stubbornly on a path of their own.  Happily they hammer and saw to build what they think will provide a pleasing sight to the God who called them from wickedness.  They will be shown for what their work proves them to be.  And what they have done will be disconnected from the mighty building of God.  All their work will surely be utterly destroyed.  All that will remain is powdery ashes which the hurricane of Holiness from God’s throne will blow away eternally far from His Holy City.

Do not be fooled.  A man reaps what he sows.  God will NEVER be mocked.  A man’s work will be tested against the Holy will of God in Jesus, His Christ.  Wake and consider who’s you are.  Educate yourself by reading the Bible.  Listen to the Spirit of God within you.  Put away pride and humble yourself before the Most High God.  Learn!  Learn!  Learn!  Before you drive one more nail or saw one more board, learn!  Remember, there is a “quitting time”.  The whistle will blow and the time for building will be over.  Surely you don’t want to be found having wasted your time doing what should not be done.  On this earth, such shoddy workmanship would cause great shame in the one who doesn’t follow the plan.  Shame will be the least of your concerns when you face utter destruction.  Come on now, LIVE!