Tag Archives: Jesus

The Limits of Can

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The list of limits, which restrain the life of man, is long.  He is bound up and constrained by the Holy dictates of God’s great Wisdom.  The list of “can” is shorter, yet no less sure.  The first constrains rebellion.  The second unleashes holy righteousness with the unlimited power of God himself.

Man presses against the limits of restraint.  They invent machines to push into those limits, and succeeds.  There will be no glory from God for such pernicious strivings.  How can rebellious desire be rewarded?

But who, among men, reaches to the limit of “can”?   It is written for all to read, “With God all things are possible”.   In the way of obedience, this was said.  In the way of salvation to obedience, this was said.  Who, among men, reaches to the fullness of God’s Holy words?

There are the limits of this world.  The final limit, among men, is reached at the point of death; the release of the soul from the constraints of flesh.  All men will surely reach this limit and pass through.

Many will reach the next impenetrable limit of condemnation; they will go no farther.  No rebellious striving will produce success.  But who will reach beyond that finality to the unspeakable limits of eternity?

God is a God of order.  He has placed limits for all creatures.  In this age, he has constrained.  So it will be in the next age.  In this age he constrains rebellion.  In the next he will constrain Holy order.  Yet who, among men, reaches to the limit of “can”?

Jesus offers righteousness to man now.  Jesus is the righteousness of man forever.  Yet what shall be said of the fullness of possibility in this place of testing?  Who has reached the fullness of God’s willingness to give?  Who, among men, reaches deep to become what God is willing to give?

Eyes in the Night

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I rose before dawn, as is the habit the Lord has taught me.  My little dog lingered with me while I dressed.  I asked her, “Do you wanna go out?”  Her excitement answered in a mute yell.  Down stairs we went.

Now, it’s not my habit to turn on the porch light when I let her out.  But darkness seemed really dark this morning.  And it’s not my habit to go out and stand on the porch when she ventures to the grass.  But I did both this morning.

We stood there in the silence of 4am.  But a soft “huff” broke the silence.  I thought it was a deer, sounding her alarm.  Then it came again.  “That’s not a deer.”  It was too short and lacked the same thrust of larger lungs.  As I listened, four glowing eyes came racing across the tiny road and were headed down the drive way right toward my little dog.

It was the fox!  And not just one, there were two!  With their razor-sharp teeth and trained violence of a hungry warrior, they intended to consume my dog.  She wouldn’t stand a chance.

Without a thought, I flew up my arms to out stretched position and gave a loud “huff” (somewhat like a growl).  I no longer saw the eyes.  They had turned faster than I could blink.  I heard that familiar scream they make.  Both of them screaming in fear as they turned like lightning and ran away.

No fear attended my dog.  Only a slight startle at their screaming retreat.  She came up to me and just sat waiting to go back in.  She was done.

No fear attended my mind or heart.  The Lord had given me immediate wisdom, strength and peace.  He had waken me for this display.  He had wakened my dog’s desire to go out.  She doesn’t always want to go with me on those early morning excursions.

He had brought us to the place of confrontation.  The foxes were ready and hungry enough to challenge the presence of a man.  My little dog was ignorant of their bloody intent, enough to remain still.  He caused me to know exactly what to do and at what moment to do it.  Then He dressed me with understanding as I peacefully sat to consume my first cup of coffee.

There is a hungry bunch of foxes who prowl throughout the world.  As He has protected me and my dog this morning, He protects all His children all night and day long.  HE  IS FAITHFUL.

Praise came from me as understanding came from Him.  Fearlessness is the outcome of such teachings.  But it is not the fearlessness of a warrior.  It is that lack of fear a child has when daddy is walking with him.

Praise God for Jesus, His Righteous Christ!  Let all creation praise the One who has overcome.  God alone is good and true.  His Holy Living Word is fully dependable, true, faultless in righteousness, full of mercy and love.  The Living Word is the very meaning of “Grace”.  May His Holy will be done forever.  Amen!

Love

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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?

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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! 

When?

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When does the grace of God appear to a man in the form of forgiveness for his sins?

The very moment that man decides in his heart to humble himself before the Most High God, confess his sins and ask for mercy.

The question is not whether God delays.  The question is does the man believe.

God asks, “Do you want to be well”.  Be ready to take up your mat and go home.

Pleasing God

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Let no brother or sister in Christ believe that it is impossible to please God.  In the sum of our salvation, there is no sacrifice we can make to save our souls, for all belongs to God.  Yes, this is true.  And Jesus, the Word of God, has made the sacrifice for all men; fulfilling the entire Law of God.  Yes, this is true.

 

But God pleases God.  Isn’t that the gist of the Gospel?  And where God is, there is pleasure to God.  Isn’t that true?  And when God moves, there is pleasure in the Holy Throne Room.  Isn’t that true?  So when we learn to do the things of God willingly, doesn’t that bring pleasure to God?  So how can one intelligently say, “It is impossible to please God?”

 

I understand the confusion.  Salvational pleasure cannot be brought about by any man; fulfilling the Holy Law of God is impossible for anyone who has sinned even once.  Salvation belongs to the One who is unblemished.  But the living in the Holy Spirit gives great pleasure to the One who bought us by His Holy Blood.

 

Let us not take the words of others without giving them lengthy consideration.  They may have understood before they spoke.  And what they spoke may be faultless.  But has our perception come in line with understanding?

 

A man may think that to say it is possible to please God leads to pompous and errant thoughts of self.  Thus many deny the possibility.  But do they do God a favor by beating any possible joy from their soul?  Aren’t they trying to please God by denying that pleasing God is possible?

 

Why isn’t it better to live in the freedom of fellowship with Jesus?  Why isn’t it better to receive that Holy smile of pleasure?  Again, let us be careful what we include and disclude.