"What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" [1 Corinthians 4:7]
Jesus said, "I AM the door."
Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Back to the Basics
God is God. God is eternal. God is Three in One. God is good. God does good. God is holy. God is love. He is the Original. He is glorious. He made and owns and sustains everything in the entire universe. He is beautiful.
God breathed life into man and woman and called His creation very good. We enjoyed fellowship with the Best Being. We experienced His good gifts of life and love. It was bliss.
God gave humanity a free will, a choice to love Him by trusting and obeying Him. He desired lovers.
Adam and Eve chose wrongly. Humanity deliberately disobeyed. We did not have faith in His goodness and turned to our own foolish ways. "God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path." We failed. It was bad.
Our failure reaped due consequences - death. Our disobedience deserves separation from our perfect Creator. Sometimes we think we are not that bad, but that's because we've forgotten that He is that good! His standard for communion is holiness. He must do what is right because He is just. He cannot and will not tolerate our evil. That's bad news for us. But let's keep in mind, our loss is our fault.
BUT there is the Gospel! In His great mercy, He entered the world He made to save His people from their sins. Jesus, God Incarnate, came and lived a perfect life and suffered a painful death in our place. He then rose again in victory, offering new life. He is called the Second Adam and through Him we have a second chance at life. That's good news for us! Our relationship is restored! And let's keep in mind, our gain is His grace!
Let us say with David, "I have no good apart from You, God." And we will be celebrating Him for eternity!
God breathed life into man and woman and called His creation very good. We enjoyed fellowship with the Best Being. We experienced His good gifts of life and love. It was bliss.
God gave humanity a free will, a choice to love Him by trusting and obeying Him. He desired lovers.
Adam and Eve chose wrongly. Humanity deliberately disobeyed. We did not have faith in His goodness and turned to our own foolish ways. "God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path." We failed. It was bad.
Our failure reaped due consequences - death. Our disobedience deserves separation from our perfect Creator. Sometimes we think we are not that bad, but that's because we've forgotten that He is that good! His standard for communion is holiness. He must do what is right because He is just. He cannot and will not tolerate our evil. That's bad news for us. But let's keep in mind, our loss is our fault.
BUT there is the Gospel! In His great mercy, He entered the world He made to save His people from their sins. Jesus, God Incarnate, came and lived a perfect life and suffered a painful death in our place. He then rose again in victory, offering new life. He is called the Second Adam and through Him we have a second chance at life. That's good news for us! Our relationship is restored! And let's keep in mind, our gain is His grace!
Let us say with David, "I have no good apart from You, God." And we will be celebrating Him for eternity!
Monday, 21 July 2014
Life and Light from the Lord
"For with You is the fountain of life;
in Your light do we see light."
[Psalm 36:9]
[Psalm 36:9]
You are the God who illumines,
Who gives perfect light to the blind.
You are the full fountain of life,
Who delights the heart, soul and mind.
We receive life and light from the same Source - Jesus.
He made it all. He gives it all.
He made it all. He gives it all.
Thursday, 17 July 2014
Living on Borrowed Breath
There are two reasons why I enjoy this drink. For one, it's tasty, and for two, it contains a fun fact on the cap. This particular cap read "The average person has 23, 000 breaths a day."
Think of it - we inhale and exhale thousands of times a day. About 23,000 times. Wow! And most of this breathing is involuntary. We don't think about it. It just happens. In and out, in and out, and on and on we go.
But we should think about it. We should think about where our breath comes from and why we all have it.
God's Word tells us the answer to the where and why. "He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything." [Acts 17:24-28] "Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD (of life)." [Psalm 150:6]
Let's remember - we walk and talk and work and play on borrowed breath.
Wednesday, 2 July 2014
believing the best about the Best!
Sometimes our doubts shout lies about God. Sometimes our minds find questions about His ways. Sometimes our hearts part from His truth. Sometimes our fears smear spiritual reality. And so, we find ourselves confused, careless and even callous, all because of a big misunderstanding on our part.
This is why it is always absolutely necessary to decide to believe the best about God. Why? Because He is the best of beings! [Jonathan Edwards]
Think about it. Even during the worst of times, we try to believe the best about certain people. Why? Because we remember the qualities in them that we love. We naturally appreciate and admire generosity, truth and goodness. If we do this with fallen human creatures (who show these qualities imperfectly), how much more should we do this with our holy Creator (Who possesses and proves these qualities perfectly)?
So, we must fight the night with the light, the dark with the spark of His truth! How? By considering His character! Here's just three to start a countless list of "His best" qualities -
He owes no man anything, but gives generously to all. He loves to share!
"Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?" Romans 11:35
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights." James 1:17
He is always right, and He always does the right thing. He's always fair!
"Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?
"For the word of the LORD is right and true." Psalm 33:4
He is always good, and He is good to all. He loves to care!
"You are good, and what You do is good." Psalm 119:68
"The LORD is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made." Psalm 145:9
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