Tag Archives: eternity

Love

by

0


How many books are written trying to describe that simple word?  The number is well into the billions.  If a man took time to read them all he would forfeit his time to love.  And no man will do that.  Even if all he loves is his self, he will make time for the one he loves. 

No one needs the opinions of others when it comes to love.  Every man is aware of the urgently viable power of love.  Even though there are those, we say, who are void of love.  We assess in error.  They love themselves or death.  Life, even though horribly deviant, is born of love.

Love is not open to opinion.  In this world we see shades of love because of the wickedness of man.  But love itself is pure.  Love is not diluted or diminished because we don’t understand it.  And love is not tarnished because we abuse the word.

Love is beyond common sense.  Love is beyond every other yearning we have.  It is a word that has its origin at the Holy Throne of God.  Love is from eternity and will never cease. And no man lives long enough to describe it in full.  It requires eternity to fully describe love.  It takes eternity because love is faultlessly eternal.

Love is something we believe.  For not one man is capable of a full description (Proven by the billions of books written).   If a man could write the full description he would no longer be a man.

What we do for love is part of our description.  And we keep on doing to describe what we know of love.  To turn a man away from a love for sin requires the infinite power of God.  This is why psychology is absolutely futile.  Psychology only diverts a perverse love to something less than perfect.

People love their babies.  A strong mother and father will give their life to protect the child they love.  Those who are void of love for others will give their life to protect their pleasures.  Love relentlessly demands attention! 

Love is not desire.  Perfect desire is born of perfect love and tempered with holy wisdom.  Men may refer to lust as love.  But this is desire born of love, yet void of wisdom.  Their debasement is summed up by saying, “Sex sells”.  Love is not for sale.

God is fully love, he is the origin of love.  And not the love of man, as man describes it, but the perfect and irrevocable love of the Living God.  God’s description of love is his Son, whom he gave into the hands of his enemy for the sake of love.

Jesus is purely love.  And he will never cease.  Therefore death has no hold on him.    Temptation could not bend him, even as it cannot bend love.  He is the very Living Word God uses to describe love.  By this the unity between the Father and the Son is forever.

Reject the Lord Jesus and you reject love.  Reject the Lord Jesus and you reject the Father. Reject the Lord Jesus and you keep your own tiny version of love to yourself. 

The love of man is not pure.  Therefore it cannot continue.  It is not eternal, therefore it will cease.  And the grave has every right to hold it forever.

May God have mercy on my attempt to speak of things far greater than the mind of man can grasp.   And may God have mercy on he who reads, that understanding may provoke love.

Is Jesus Trustworthy?

by

0


It is impossible for God to sin.  To sin is to deviate from perfection.  Such an action can only be done by anyone who is not God.  God himself is the standard of perfection forever (a redundant phrase for perfection and forever are synonymous).

There is one who decided perfection was too high to hold.  Both in word and deed, an accusation was made against God: “You demand too much of us.  You do not provide what is necessary for us to obey.  Therefore sin is our only alternative.  If not now, it is only a question of when.”   (Isn’t this what man is saying even today?   And by saying this aren’t we questioning the trustworthiness of Christ?)

By this he shattered the love of God.  By this pride he spit in the face of the one who made him and granted him his place.  (You can read of his demise in Ezekiel chapter 28)

The result of that choice is chaos and death.  This “other” fell from glory and took one third of the angels with him. Anywhere you find the creatures who willingly fell from perfection, (or man who has never known perfection) you will find chaos and death.  They were banished from heaven and now make their place among us.

This is the reason for the decay of the world.  Wickedness was born long before the birth of the first man at the hands of God.  And it finds its display among our words in the temptation of Eve.

But the gospel tells us of One who cannot sin.  This One has been with the Holy Father from the very beginning, and will never deviate.

How do we know we can trust Jesus?  Because he has been tested and found faultless.  He has been with the Holy Father from the beginning.  Perfection has been the mark of his character.  Unlike “the other”, the Lord Jesus has never questioned his Father’s will, nor had pride in his glorious position.

This One who is from eternity, has lived among us in this place of testing; the place where the hearts of men are tested to see if they will love God or self. 

In obedience to his Father’s desire, Jesus took on a body of flesh.  If you read the account of the gospel you will find him tested viciously in every possible way, yet it was found to be without fault.

Pride in his glory is the instrument of condemnation for the “other” who fell.  But no one will find pride in the Holy Lord Jesus, the Christ of God.  Instead we find him full of humility and obedience.  Even though he has been with the Father from the beginning.

Unlike the adversary of God, you will never find fault in the Son of God.  The test for “the other” was his life.  The pride of his own glory destroyed him.  But the test of the Son of God was in his death.  In this he arrived at a place “the other” could never hope to attain.

We can trust the Lord Jesus because he was beaten viciously by he who cannot be trusted, yet was found faultless.  Even man was incited to add his own blows to the Holy Son of God. 

He was sent to his creation to speak of the love and righteousness of God, and to endure the ultimate testing.  But instead of being received, he was horribly abused.  Still no pride rose up in him.  He submitted to their accusations, hatred, violence and rejection.  And by this his faithfulness to the father was proven.

By His love and righteousness God has granted him all power and strength and glory and honor.  “The other” will die but Christ lives on forever.

Yes you can trust the Lord Jesus! 

Good Works Thief

by

0


There are those who steal the good works of others.  They simply put their name in the place of the originator.  They look for reward from those who are able to give.  And they are determined to excel at any cost.  By this they prove they are weak and useless.

There are of course victims to this crime.  The hard work they have done is wasted on those who do not work. 

There is a word for both the perpetrator and the victim.

To the perpetrator it is said, “Those who do not work will not eat.”  You may eat well enough now, but there is a coming banquet from which you are not worthy to partake.  Either get busy and provide your own wealth, or humble yourself and accept your proper lowly position.

To the victim it is said, “Do good to those who hate you and spitefuly use you.  Bless them that they may receive.  If they are weak then bolster them with your strength.  Bless and do not curse.  Add to the Lord’s great bounty so many good works that their theft is unnoticed.”

May the name of the Lord God Almighty prosper in his Holy Son.  And may all the Lord’s people reach out to receive the strength of Eternity.

The word

by

0


The Word is life.  The Word is joy.  The Word is hope and help.  How should those who have received any portion of all that keep it to themselves?

We moan and groan at the display of wickedness among men.  Have we discharge our duty to share what we know?

The world hates God because it is blind.  A simple fearless word to them can begin the opening of the eyes.  But if we keep our mouths shut, can we truly say we see?  If we live in fear have we appropriated grace?

The House of Lies

by

0


There are millions of lies we are taught to believe in this world.  All of them have their basis in deserving. 

We deserve freedom.    We deserve to be wealthy.  We deserve healthy children.  We deserve to retire and enjoy our old age.  We deserve to be accepted by God when we die, after all he make us.  And among the most damaging is this:  We deserve to die peacefully, in our own bed and in our old age.

So when death comes unexpectedly the people are outraged.  Why are they upset?  Bereavement is expected.  But pointing blame on someone else, particularly at God, finds its roots at a lack of understanding and believing in lies.

Instead of wasting precious time and energy trying to stave off death, men would do far better to prepare.  Accidents happen.  Hearts stop beating.  Illness takes anyone it pleases.  And the murderous nature of man does not ask permission.

You would think men would give this serious consideration.  You would think they would turn to God in their youth and in their health.  But this is rarely the case.

More often people use their youth and their health to prepare for great wealth and longevity of life.  If they think of death it is because it happens to someone else.  Isn’t this ironic?

God takes souls when it pleases him.  I have never heard of a case where he appeared to someone and asked permission.  When our turn comes it is often swift and utterly devastating.

I’m not highlighting anything new here.  Contrary to popular belief, death has been around for a long long time.  It is really good at what it does.  And it never says, “I’m sorry”.

Those who died unreconciled to God, remain that way for eternity.  Now you may think that’s rather pompous of me, to exclude so many worldly ideals.  What does it matter what you think?

God has sent His Son.  That very message has been around for a long long time.  You’ve likely heard of it.  And you’ve likely covered your ears. 

Do you really think your ignorance of the will of God in Christ will nullify your condemnation for eternity?  “I didn’t know!”  Yes you did.  You simply chose not to acknowledge.  Pleasure seemed to be far more fun.

The loan

by

0


A man came up with a magnificent idea to make himself a fortune.  The potential of his idea was $500 million in 3 years.  What he planned to do was a sure thing.  There was no such item on the market.  All he needed was 1 million dollars to get started.

His credit was good.  And he had plenty of collateral.  So he gathered his papers and headed to the bank.

The banker ushered him into his office.  It was a plush office but was in need of some janitorial services.

The man presented his request to the banker and showed him the papers.  To his pleasure, the banker smiled and seemed very interested.  After about 20 minutes of study the banker looked up and gave him a broad smile.

“I need to go and take care of something but I’ll be right back.”  Said the banker.  “In the meantime, could you do me a favor and dust my office.I feel bad asking such a man as yourself to do such meanial work.  But as you can tell there is no one here to do these things for me.  I would greatly appreciate your help.  And what I must go do will take about 15 minutes.”  With that, the banker simply left his office.

The man had smiled and said yes, just before the banker left.  He thought to himself that such and gracious work would surely secure the loan.  So he grabbed the duster and went about a quick business.

The banker came back in and took a very short look around before he sat down.  “How is your wife and children?”  The banker asked.  “I would like to come in see them if I can.”

The man was taken back by the request.  But he replied it would be good to have dinner together.  So without making a judgement on the loan the banker shook his hand and they set a time.

At the appropriate time the banker showed up for the dinner.  He took note of how the yard was kept.  He noticed the disrepair of the house.  And when invited in he took very careful note of the state of the interior.

After a pleasant dinner and a chat with some rather rebellious children, the banker thanked the family for the meal, set a date and time to meet again regarding the loan, and when his way.

The man was perfectly pleased thinking he had done the very best possible that he could.  He told his wife and children they would soon be rich.  And they all went joyously to sleep.

At the time of meeting,  the banker handed the man a folder.  The first page shook the man’s nerves to the bone.  The loan was stamped “DENIED”.

Visibly shaken, the man asked the banker why.  “I have done everything you’ve asked!  I cleaned your office for you!  I even invited you to my home and gave you a wonderful meal!  But you have denied me and I need to know why.”

The banker held up his hand and calmed the man down.

“Let me reason with you for a moment.  Look around you.  Do you see the streaks of dust you missed?  When I came to your house your yard was quite unkept.  Your house is in dire need of repair.

The meal itself was good and I thank you for it.  Your wife is a generous and good cook.  But your children are unruly.  And you make no attempt to control them.

I am about to loan you a million dollars plus interest.  Don’t you think I have a right to know the caliber of a man before I give him such a large amount?”

The man had nothing to say.  After exchanging pleasantries and a handshake he simply left with half a tear in his eye.  On the way home he had plenty of time to ponder how he would break this news to his family.

——————-

If a man is not in control of his own wealth, who will give him more?  If he is not diligent with the wealth of others, who will grant him a wealth of his own?

The body is our gift from God.  This is a wealth granted to us to display our intent for eternity.  If we do not use it for holy purposes, how can we expect God to grant us wonderous things?

As a man dies so is he sealed.  The greedy and the unholy cannot expect a warm welcome. 

Let us encourage one another to do far more and better.  We do not approach a banker for a mere million dollars.  We ask for royalty for eternity.  And God does not come over for dinner.  He clearly sees the disrepair of our life without invitation.