Tag Archives: Righteousness

Needless Death, Yours.

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For those who harbor hatred and an unforgiving spirit toward anyone.  We are told that if we don’t forgive we will not be forgiven.  And in the way of hatred toward others, God has demanded that everyone lay down hatred as if it were a branding iron in an unshielded hand.   But you might say, “You don’t know what was done to me”.   I would respond, “You don’t know what you’ve done to God”.  In God’s eyes, there is no such thing as an innocent victim.  We might have been victimized by someone else.  But we’ve done our own brand of damage to what is Holy and eternal.

Since our eternal home is dependent on these two terms, wouldn’t it be wise to consider the outcome of selfishness?   Jesus will offer forgiveness till your last breath.  After that you will be held accountable for your own actions.  Accepting His gift now will avoid a needless death; yours.

By His Grace.

ALL

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God’s view of “perfect” has never and will never change.  We are the ones who have trouble defining that word.  And why do we have troubles defining “perfect”.   We struggle with that word because we’ve never seen it.  As He calls us toward His intent for us, let us remember and be assured that God desires what is truly good for us.  He does not leave us alone to figure it all out.  He is actively guiding us into what is “perfect”.  Where most people find failure in achieving what is good is that they take the responsibility of learning on themselves.  They make themselves the teacher.  Again, what does any man know of what is “perfect”?

Jesus walked this world as a “perfect” man.  And even though we might pour over the testimony regarding Him in the Bible, we might still not comprehend.  It is only when we allow Him to become our ALL that we begin learning.  Give Him ALL and allow Him to decide what is good and what is not.  Run the risk of losing it all?  Well yea!  Who knows better what is good, you or Him?  Answer to yourself: Who knows better what is right for me?  The One who made me and everything I’m required to live in, or the one who is limited by skin.

By His Grace.

A twig of Flame.

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I woke and rekindled the fire.  And as my bones warmed, I pondered the fate of the tree before me.  At one time it was a sprout.  What happened to that tree, and what went on around it, only God knows.  But the time came when it was cut down.  Perhaps a man cut it down.  Perhaps God’s will in the wind and age has cut it down.  But now it serves it’s final purpose: to enrich the life of other things.

Are we not like trees in that sense?  Yet, we are so unlike that tree.  For the tree never complained regarding what it was asked to endure.  Nor was it’s sickness or cutting down a source of complaint.  “Like a lamb He was led to the slaughter”. 

I say to myself, “Come on now!  Can’t you endure even one minute without a thought of complaint?”  Am I a servant of the Most High God?  Am I willing to be led to the slaughter for the sake of His Holy will and the sake of those who will benefit from His work in me?  I am frustrated by self.  Nothing built by man will survive the coming judgment.  May I learn to live under the rule and will of my God!

Father, please bless Your servant that he might serve You with a faithfulness born of Your will. 

By His Grace.

10 Minutes.

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Take any 10 minutes from your life.  I’d advise the latest 10.  Because they are the ones you will remember best.  Now take time to write what you did, everything you did.  Take time also to write about your surroundings; sounds, sights, feelings, and thoughts.  Now write the why of what you have done and experienced.  Consider your past which brought you to those 10 minutes.  Write about your past and the past of those who have influenced you as you came upon these 10 minutes.  And if you have any more time in your life, write about what will come about because of these 10 minutes.

As we consider the magnitude of such writings, our mind becomes a fog with information.  No man can write the volume of information that comes from our last 10 minutes.  Yet God can.  He does, and will know you.  And, to add to His Majesty, He does this for every person who has ever lived.  Not to mention those yet unborn.  And He does this accounting in the blink of an eye.  How marvelous is God! 

So, if we can’t account (even by virtue of the limit of our time on earth) for a measly 10 minutes of our lives, why do we bother to judge the 10 minutes of other’s lives?  Are we not told to refrain from judging?  And isn’t this the reason?  What do we know, even of ourselves?  We are a flash in eternity.  Yet look at the complexity of our “flash”.

By His Grace.

What Have We Learned?

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What have we learned?  Jesus, even Jesus desired that the cup of trial might be taken from Him.  Yet what did He say?  “Yet, not my will but Yours be done”.  What have we learned?  Even Paul the Apostle said that he had learned to give thanks, praise, and glory to God during every situation.  And that he had even learned to be content in times of trouble.  And we read that Paul had encountered many seriously threatening situations for the name of Jesus.  What have we learned?

Are you floundering in troubles that you can’t fix and do not understand?  Get up and get on your knees before the Most High God.  What have we learned?  What was Job’s response to terror and loss?   He praised God as the One who had every right to take what He had given.  What have we learned?

Have we learned to do these things?  Or are we still only going to nod yes to the words we read.   Many read about the appropriate response to troubles.  But when it comes their turn, they revert to selfish sorrow.  We are not called to be victims.  We are called to be warriors in God’s army.  When a soldier goes in to battle he doesn’t consider himself a victim.  Nor should God’s people consider themselves slaughtered.  That soldier will swing his sword till there is no strength left, for that is what he is called and trained to do.  God’s people also should perform as a Holy family when they are called upon to lift their heads in suffering.

To have learned something is to be able and willing to do it.  Reading about it and looking back over the history of others will do you no good if you can’t find that same strength now.  Look, if you are having troubles praising God in your plight, at least give God the Glory He deserves.  Soon you will find the strength to stand in this battle you’ve been sent to encounter.  His promise is that He will lift you up.  Look to Him and give Him praise.

By His Grace.

Earthly Trials We Deserve.

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There is a place a man purchases.  For most these places are many.  We forsake the Lord’s commands and reap the situations such forsaking spawn.  A thief, for instance, might well have forsaken the Lord’s command regarding stealing.  When he is caught and punished, it is not likely the Lord will remove the punishment.  Each of us must encounter the results of what we have done in this world.  If we lie to someone and are caught later, we will need to endure the fruit of that sin.

Shall we say that the Lord has forsaken me because I forsook His commands?  No.  Though we are standing trial for treason, we may still have Him by our side.  He will never leave us.  Isn’t that the promise?  Yet He made no promise that everything we do wrong will find good and favorable things at the accomplishment of their end.  He has promised help to do what is right.  But sometimes we must encounter the results of our wrong doing.

What shall we think, then , if we are about to enter a period of troubles of our own making?  Face them.  Enter as a Child of the King.  Humble yourself under the hand of justice and accept what is coming.  It was you who built it.  It will be you who endures the punishment.  He will not leave you during these trials.  But He warned you before you committed the act for which you now pay.

Above all, remember, the Lord of Life is perfect.  Perfectly merciful, perfectly just, perfectly powerful, yet He demands an accounting.  It is no good mark in your favor for receiving the punishment you are encountering.  After all it’s the result of your wrong doing.  But there is a blessing which will help you encounter this punishment with humility and wisdom.  Take what is offered by your God during these times and bear the punishment as a willing participant.  If anything can be redeemed, it is that you will accept God’s will in regard to sin.

By His Grace.