Tag Archives: eternal life

The Living Library

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Author Fair 2007

Author Fair 2007 (Photo credit: Homer Township Public Library)

We are tablets of clay in the form of a body and soul.  Apparently endless information is written upon us as we live our life.  We are witness of others.  We are testimonies to ourselves.  And if we are blessed to come to know Jesus, the Son of God Most High, we also contain that testimony of eternal life.

In this way we all write a book.  And though, from time to time, we find some who have something useful to read, we are not primarily written for man’s benefit.

I was considering this truth when a conclusion to this thought dawned within me.  There is nothing more precious about owning a book than to have met the author, conversed, and received his autograph within the binding.  The “dawning” is this:

How I desire to become one of The Author’s books in which He autographs His work with a name only He and I know.  There is a purpose to this life which reaches far beyond sky, ground, water, and blood.  And to that place we are destined to be shipped.  We are living tablets of clay which the Father will deliver to His Son as a beautiful bride.

While many are busy writing “trash rags” with their lives, there are a few who lay themselves down on the Lord’s writing-table.  They wait to be inscribed with marvelous words of living testimony.  How astoundingly beautiful it will be to read what each has brought to the wedding.  And we will have eternity to enjoy each other’s company as we read about the Lord who paid so much to purchase His Library of living books.

Responsible

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Father Ford in the fire truck

Father Ford in the fire truck (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A dead body cannot be responsible.  Neither can a fool be responsible.  It is even hard for a righteous man to be responsible.  Why?  In answer, let me take responsible apart:  Response Able.

God has given gifts to men for the sake of His Holy name.  He has given forgiveness for sins.   What is our response?   Do we dress ourselves with ability to respond?  Or do we take His Glorious gift for granted.  He has spoken in the gathering of wickedness.  He has danced a Holy dance in a body for all to see.  He endured this place of testing without sin.  And God has granted Him, (Jesus) Glory, Joy, Eternal Life as the Ruler of all.

I look at the ability of Jesus to respond to His Father as He walked in this utter black world of decayed souls.  And I am amazed that He performed perfectly!  He did not cave to the words and actions of man.  He desired only to be available to the will of His Father.  And He shunned all proposals to capitulate with the enemies of His Father.  He made Himself able to respond to the will of God.  He is perfectly Responsible to God, the Father of all Life and Righteousness.

With that in mind, I ask again, are we individually able to respond to the Grace given us?  Are we responsible Christians?  I write this with a severe anger at the sinful nature within me.  I remember what was spoken, and will not be taken out of the way, “Hate what is evil and cling to what is good.”  This is what is asked of us.  And it is not an unjust request.  For He gives us the power to over come.  What will be our response?  Are we able to be willing to work?

We retain men who have learned to put out fires.  If they are not responsible, what is the possibility that they can carry out the charge that has been laid upon them?  God has retained us through the sacrifice of His Holy Son.  Are we responsible?

1 John 3:14

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We know that we have passed from the death of this world into the eternal life of God’s Kingdom when we find ourselves joyfully obeying His commands.  Those who do not obey have not completely passed from death to life.  We know that no disobedience will remain when we are brought into the presence of God for eternity.  And we also know that when we obey God’s commands we become full of a desire to love.  As we mature this desire becomes a full bloom within us.  And we have confidence before the Most High God through Jesus.

We begin in a tiny shred of belief.  God grants us mercy to grow, according to His wisdom and mercy.  All along the way we encounter items of concern within us that need attention.  And to these encounters I say, strengthen your belief.  Retain the confidence you had at first and do not begin to doubt.

To those who have begun to rest on that shred of faith I say this:

If you do not have this love of God growing within you, you will regret horribly that you did not consider it important to fan it into flame.  I do not say this to frighten you for no reason.  The intent is to wake you from a slumber the music of sin and rebellion in the world has caused in your soul.  On the day you see Him face to face, it will be far too late to cultivate that obedience and love.  What you do here is what will be presented before Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

I urge you to consider these things.  Today is all you have.  Set your face in the direction of obedience and love.  Do not look back as sin and rebellion, so as to go back to it.  This is the day your heart is being tested.  I urge you to do all you can to pass that test.  The gift of God in Jesus is free.  But it is freedom to set you free of sin and disobedience, and rebellion.  It is not freedom to do as you please.   It is freedom to do as God pleases.  Do not allow yourself to be fooled.  He who sows to the flesh will reap destruction.  He who sows to the Holy Spirit of God will reap eternal life.

May God grant you understand, wisdom, mercy, and forgiveness as you contemplate these things.

The Ladder of Divine Ascent is an important ic...

Image via Wikipedia

Almost Home!

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...Hope...

God has granted you a soul within a body.  With this granting comes restrictions and expectations.  But also with this granting comes a wonderful promise. 

We are created to do the will of He who made us.  We are not created to seek our own pleasure.  And there is an accounting at the end of this place of testing for every soul created.  “How did you do with what you were given”?  This will be the question.  Did you seek the Lord of Life who made you?  Or did you vent your strength on everything selfish and evil?

Now, during our testing in this body of flesh, we are tempted to count our days as too much for our ability to handle.  Not one of us has gone without that thought.  But what should be our response to such a thought?  Shall we say we are too weak?  Shall we say we don’t know what to do?  Shall we say there are no answers to our deepest request for strength, wisdom, and dedication toward God’s demands?

Though we often resort to such foolishness, it is not God’s desire that we lose our hope like that.  We are born, just a few years ago.  We now live somewhere in between that initial place and our death.  Ah!  Our death.  The end of the test!  For those who commit themselves to the task of serving the Glorious God of Eternity, death is a friend and a release into a magnificent reward for service well accomplished. 

So take hope!  Lift up your eyes!  Strengthen your walk!  You are almost HOME!  Keep the faith and do not fail to give Him the Glory He deserves.

 

By His Grace.