Tag Archives: unbelief

Living Mystery

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Billions of things I can’t explain or understand.  But the most mysterious are those things that are in our hand.

I look at myself, I look around at all the people, I listen to my heart, I listen to the fears of others.  The mystery rises up when I look at those who call themselves Christians (even in myself).

Someone needs to explain to me why those who believe in the love of God in Christ to save us, fear so many things.  We fear sickness.  But didn’t he sustain his people for forty years in the wilderness?  Curiously, they perished for their unbelief, yet we seem to carry on their tradition.

We fear economic loss.  But didn’t he command Peter to go catch a fish, that he may pay the tax?  And didn’t the widow of Zarephath find that she had plenty to eat for her and her son while she gave residence to the Prophet?

We fear our sins and failings of the past.  Yet a single drop of the Holy Lord’s blood heals the sins of billions.  How much more his dead body?  And didn’t he say that as far as the east is from the west our sins are cast from the memory of the Living God?

What is the power of Christ if those who say they believe refuse to receive?

Yes, of all the things I can’t understand, the greatest lay our unwillingness to believe.  It is as if we say, “You will get no glory from me!”

Legs

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It was the legs of men that carried them to a great assembly.  There they violently required the crucifixion of God’s Holy One.

It was the legs of men that carried them to the place of crucifixion.  There they hated him with utter contempt and violence.

It was the legs of men that carried them to their home while Jesus was delivered to the grave.  Those same legs carried them all their days, until they too went to the grave.

Your legs have carried you to this day!  Will they carry you into holy faith?  Or will you command your legs to take you to the place of unbelief; where you will certainly join those who railed at the mutilated flesh of God’s holy son?

This is the day to beg for mercy.  You are not promised tomorrow.

This is the day to serve the Living God with holy legs of faith in his promise.

Where are your legs taking you now?  Where will your legs find themselves when the Holy One of God returns?

Thankful Children

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10,000,000 people are told the Gospel, only a thousand believe and receive eternal life.  Perhaps thousands more understood it.  But only a handful have believed with all their heart.

The message of God goes out freely and like a flood.  Many souls are washed by the message, but so few love their new cleanliness.  In the Gospel we read that there were ten who were cleansed of leprosy.  But only one returned to give thanks.

It is so simple a child can do it, and frankly folks, that’s exactly what it takes.  The mind of an adult only wants more; he has been spoiled by pride and greed.  But the heart of a child is elated at the smallest token of love.

Let me ask the Christians, “Where is the proof of your thanks?”  I am not insinuating that you are thankless.  I’m simply asking where the proof of your thankfulness lays.

Perception, that’s what it is.  That’s what steals the bold testimony of Christians to the world.  “God promises me eternal life, but if I tell this to others they will hate me.”   Is the promise of God so ineffective?  Is the promise of eternal life really such a trivial matter?

With all the strength my mind can muster, I cannot understand why Christians are ashamed to share the Gospel.  I surmise that the answer must be found in the perception of God’s promise.  “Thank you Lord for giving me eternal life.  Please excuse me now while I go join the world in its celebration of futility.”

I sat here this morning for nearly an hour, frustrated that I could not reach more people with the message of God.  That’s all that consumes me!  It’s no pat on my back, the blessing of God is that great!

And I am only speaking of the reality of eternal life.  I have not yet begun to speak of the beautiful things he has rescued me from.  And I’ve made no mention at all so far, about the billions who never heard the testimony from a Christian.

Nine of the lepers simply disappeared into society.  But one came back with a full expression of shameless thankfulness.  Did the nine ever speak again of their former shame, and how God had released them?  Who knows, there is no written record of their testimony.  But I think the story might have ended differently, if all ten had returned with shameless thanks.

But of the one who returned, we can surmise, he could not shut his mouth.  Where is the Christian who cannot conceal the Gospel of Christ?  Where is the one who is not ashamed of the love that God has given him?  It’s easy enough to find 10000 who have decided to keep it to themselves.  All the while, the world spirals out of control.

By His Grace

“Made for Profit”

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Companies are not ruled by insane men.  They create a product for the sake of making money.  For instance, they don’t make diapers just so they can store them in a warehouse.  No, they find the parents of poopy babies and advertise their product to them.

No automaker makes cars just so he can warehouse them in some underground bunker.  They selectively advertise their products so they can sell it.  They’re in business to make money folks!

The church is set aside to serve the Living God in the manner of saving souls.  To speak in the vulgarity of man, the church is a business.  The machinery is the people of God.  The output is called godly transformation.  Evangelism: the advertising campaign designed to bring in profit.

But isn’t the church so unlike the reasonable men of the world?  For only in the Christian Church do you see the warehousing of product with no intent to sell!

You know what the problem is?  You don’t believe in your product.

I’ll leave this to stew in your mind.

By His Grace