Tag Archives: God

Preventive Maintenance

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He was up at the top of the ladder cleaning the gutters.  The ladder slipped sideways then twisted to the right.  Down he went, full speed.  Two stories down is a long way to fall.

He lay there with a broken arm, bruised leg, muscle spasms in his back, and a severe ache in his head.  Do you think he was wishing he had tied the ladder secure?

When you appear before the Holy Lord what will you be wishing you had done?  Why not do it now?

And when you come up with all your excuses, will they amount to anything on that day?

The Sprout of Salvation

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It is not frustrating.  And it is not in vain.

It is frustrating when we perceive the things of God from our own mind and heart.  For then, our work for the Living God seems fruitless.

We speak to our brother about Christ, but he casts us away as if we are insane.  He goes about his business of death with a smile on his face, as if he has just vanquished a foolish enemy.  Calling us names in his mind, heart, and words, he considers us vile and useless.

He happily goes back to his useless gods:  “To these I am familiar.  I understand when they speak about my dreams and ambitions.  They are set concretely by the evidence of History.  This nation or that has relied heavily on the traditions I love so much.  The after life is mysterious.  But these gods give me consolation in my sorrow.  They speak well of my potential.”

With the sleight-of-hand that belongs to death, he throws away our testimony for Christ.  Our words are full of fault in his eyes.  For they give no praise or quarter to man.  The testimony of Christ is foolishness to such people.

I consider this with sober mind.  I want his salvation.  I want to hear the praise of Christ on his lips.  I want to see a changed heart that is willing to learn and love.

But I am caught up in frustration.  The very thing I do not have a right to own.  For salvation does not belong to me.  It is not within my grasp to grant or to take away.  I cannot open the eyes of his heart.  I cannot open his ears that he should hear.  And I cannot manipulate his heart that he should learn to love and to be humble.

Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb.  For he dispenses his wisdom from heaven.  What he gives, when he gives, and how he gives, is dictated by eternity.  And he does not speak the Gospel to us in words that can be spoken or perceived by Man. 

God speaks his Gospel to us in the faithfulness that surrounds us.  He speaks in a language that never ceases.  He speaks vast volumes of books in a short and poignant sentence. 

All the while Man looks for the key.  But his hands are not big enough to handle the object of release which God offers from heaven.

What is the summation of this?  I confess I do not know. 

I have spoken to my brother.  I have acted toward him in a godly fashion, full of love and desire to understand.  I have prayed for him consistently.  And I strive, with all I have, to be patient.  Still the sun has not risen in his heart.  And now he has ordered me to stop speaking to him about such things.  In fact, he has vowed to stop speaking to me altogether. The door to him is now slammed shut.

Here I sit, just outside his door, wondering and perplexed.

Let the wisdom of God be the wisdom of God.  What more can I say?  It is not mine to wield the mystery of salvation.  It is simply mine to cast the seeds about, letting the wind of God direct their fall.

I cannot give the Living God counsel.  It is mine simply to be faithful.  In war we can watch as others are killed.  And there is nothing we can do to stop it.  In life, some will live and some will die.  Who are we to say no to the One who has made all things perfectly well?

But I wonder.  What are we learning through all this?  What are we gaining through the loss that is so prevalent about us?  Who are we, as we stand in the midst of a Slaughter?  Hip deep in spiritual blood, what is the value is our life in Christ to those who die?

The answer lies in a language I have never heard.  This puzzle piece fits perfectly in the vast array of God’s glorious eternity.  God is not anxious about such a question.  For he has had the answer long before the world was ever made.

Does this give me peace?  The peace this gives me lives in the place I cannot translate.  For still I am anxious to see Christ appear in my brother.  And doesn’t every Christian feel the same?

Holy Father, we leave these things in your hand for that is where your wisdom has dictated it shall be.  Salvation is yours.  Still we pray in earnest that your love should appear. 

“By Your Grace”, you have taught me.  And I am convinced there is no other answer.  Your strength is Christ Jesus.  Still we beg you to move, yet according to your wisdom.

Lessons From Creation

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Will you do as the world demands, “Cast the past away”?
Will you join with them in the frenzy of NEW?

When it comes to explaining the person you are,
What, under heaven, will you do?

Take a lesson from creation.
Abandon that fruitless libation.
Visit that place where your roots dug in deep.
See all your sins . . .
And weep.

Now Look to Him;
The Great Wondrous Dawn!
Look to the place
Where your horror is gone.

What is Christ to us?
The Eternal Great Hope,
Toward which we long.

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What is the heat of summer to me?

The cold of winter cannot freeze.

Winds will blow and threaten me.

Calm presides my royalty.

What sounds I’ve heard.

Nests of little birds.

Moss and bugs to me absurd.

I stand my ground unnerved.

At dawn I wave to light yet born.

Come color me, Eternal Morn.

“Wake with me, sleep to scorn.

And stand your ground with darkness torn!”

A Liberal Disciple of Christ

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Do you consider yourself a liberal, either politically or socially?  Do you realize that the definition of liberal means someone who takes the truth in a functional sense;  how does this apply to the incapable nature of man?

Personally, other than this, I don’t have much to say.  But what “much” I do have to say is coming from God.  He strongly suggests (That’s as liberal as I care to get) that we look into the deep truth of the Gospel of Christ.

Liberalism has to do with compromise.  I find the Gospel of Christ absolutely void of compromise.  If you look at it with open eyes you will see the same.  There is no such thing as a liberal disciple of Christ.

The Sad Songs, Sans-Joy

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THE SAD SONGS:

Listen to the pace and the melody of a sad song.  As far as I can tell, I am not educated in music, all the notes are arranged in minor scale.  I suppose there’s a technical name for that, but it escapes my mind.  For it escapes my desire to learn.

It is a melody slow and deliberate.  It is a melody that defies dance.  It is more a melody of atrophic limbs.  It is not a melody that gives our legs that leap you see in those who are presently joyful.  It is far more a malady to our body than a melody.

But the soul.  The soul stands still.  The eyes of the soul are not shut, while its ears listen attentively..  It looks around with longing.  It looks around for eternal hope.  The soul sings along with sighs and groanings, imperceptible to the ears and eyes of man.  And if it could be heard, Man would not understand the sounds.

The response to sad music is in full light of God’s eyes.  No man can see that response.  No one dances lightly down the street to a dirge.  They plod along with careful steps.  Introspection, for a time, is their king.  Balancing their lifeless frame atop helpless hips.

From point A to point B, that is their only need.  Sadly and deliberately, we live in point A.  Point B is too far removed from our perception even in the best of days.  How much farther when trouble attends our every waking moment?

The sad song is not the solution.  It is a manifestation of the symptoms.  Christ is the solution, my friends.  He is the One who watches for the broken hearted.  The joyful often elude his sight, even while they receive his sustaining.

Are you broken hearted?  Then listen to a sad song and let your souls eyes look up.  From the hills comes to Redemption.  Upon the Great Hills is the glistening White Hope.

By His Grace.

With Perplexity

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“Are those gunshots in the streets?  Was that Ally’s 5 year old boy who was shot in the head tonight?”

Pay no mind to the violence.  Close your ears, close your eyes, close your mind, close your heart.  Go to your place of peace.

“Is that a nameless ignorant girl we see on the corner with a heroin needle in her hand?  Why that’s Bob’s daughter!  What a shame he lost control of his loved ones.”

Pay no mind to the violence.  Close your ears, close your eyes, close your mind, close your heart.  Go to your place of peace.

“What a pleasant place we have created.  What a beautiful place Society has made.  See how evil runs rampant at night, the place where we sleep in peace.  Who needs talk about God in our public squares?  We simply hire a janitor to clean up the blood.”

Pay no mind to the violence.  Close your ears, close your eyes, close your mind, close your heart.  Go to your place of peace.

“Who needs faith in Jesus when we have locks on our doors?  Who needs the power of God’s words among us, when all we need to do is move to the suburbs?  Who needs the miraculous intervention of the Holy One?  We have our laws and ways.  Let the wicked kill each other, we will sleep in peace.”

Come my brothers and sisters.  Count God as dead and useless.  Ignore the coming judgment.  Surely the wicked will find a place to live.  The loss of the Gospel among us in public is no loss at all.  It has proven, in fact, to be our blessing.  Even take notice that the righteous observe a restraining religion.  Who needs the gospel of Christ?”

As you say so it shall be.  As you do, it belongs  entirely to your home.  As you have failed to believe, so you will perceive.  You have chosen to build a paradise through the engine of fear.  You spurn the one who gives you a paradise by the engine of Eternal strength.

So be it.  Let all the nations turn with perplexity to the violence and blood in their streets.  See how they relegate obscurity to the Holy Words of Blazing Eternity.

So be it. 

May your will be done Sovereign Father.  Prepare the place of contest.   Your Holy Son stands ready to deliver your will.  Your Righteous One, prepared to move at a moment’s notice. 

Let them have their way until they are sure you are no more.  Then He will appear to their shock, amazement, and horror. 

The Glory of your Holy ways is from forever to forever.  Rebellion cannot see you.  Let them puzzle their fate.  They choose their own way over yours.  Indeed, let them puzzle their fate.

Amen!