He Gives Life

 Act 17:28,25
For in Him we live, and move, and have our being;..seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things..

He is all in all. With our whole being we make Him Lord of our Life. We live because He lives and provides us with all that is needed to survive on earth, and life beyond the grave. No one holds their own destiny. We make choices that determine our destiny, but our life is ultimately in the hands of God. The breath we take daily is given to us by our Creator, who determines when we will take our last. We live each day thinking there will always be a tomorrow, but out of nowhere, like vapor, it is gone. A tragic accident, a heart attack, or cancer makes its way into our life, and we are now counting the days. We don’t hold the number of days, we can only hold on to Christ who is our life, even in death He is our substance and our being. 
As my wife and I walked around the cemetery on the mountain side of Morrison to start making arrangements for our burial place, I was made aware of the certainty of death and the unpredictability of life. Gravestone markers of people of all ages. I wondered how many knew Jesus. Did they have eternal life that only Jesus can give?
 There are many teachings out in the world that give false hope. Paul faced this in Athens, where images of false gods were erected throughout the land. He acknowledged that they had been blinded to the truth, but He preached Jesus, and admonished them to repent. We still live in a day of many false gods. We who are born of God, and have life in Christ, have the answer to the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and life, and He alone can take that which is dead and give it life and life everlasting.  

Getting Old

 Titus 2:2
That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

If God allows us to live beyond 3 scores and 10 years, we no doubt will feel the effects of getting old. The body starts to slow down, our balance is not as sure, and our mind is not as sharp as it once was. We do all we can to maintain our youthfulness, but our bodies are not made to last forever. With aging, comes the inability to do the work effectively that we once were able to do. But growing old does mean we lay down our armor and cease from labor. There is no magic year when we wake up and we become aged men or women. But we come to realize as we work that there are some things we are no longer able to do. As we start to feel the effects of aging, we need to start to refocus on things we can do. Titus admonishes those who are getting older to stay alert, keep the faith, keep loving people, and to be patient with others. Teach the younger generation to stay true to the word by teaching sound doctrine. No doubt, to keep true to the teaching of Jesus. In a culture and time when women were expected to be keepers of the home, they were admonished to focus their attention on the children, show the younger women how to love their children and love their husbands. The principles of God’s word still hold today, regardless of the reshaping of our culture. It is God’s desire that we make choices that will keep the structure of the family in harmony with God’s word. What that will look like should be approached with much prayer and understanding of God’s will to keep that structure in place. The point given to us by Titus is to keep doing what is good and reaching out to others who need help, no matter how old we get. We can always pray for others and show kindness by our words of wisdom. Getting old is part of God’s plan, and that plan is to keep on loving and doing good things.

Let Us Draw Near to God

 

Heb. 10:22
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

It is not possible to draw near to God when sin is in the heart. There is a gap that separates us from having fellowship with God. As sinners, we live in darkness and God is light. There is no fellowship for those who live in darkness with the light. To have fellowship is to have communion, and a person who dwells in darkness is living a life of sin, and sin is enmity against God. It is not subject to God and is not able to draw near to Him. But Jesus bridged the gap, taking our sins and nailing them to the cross with His blood provided a way for us to draw near. Before we can draw near to God, we must confess our sins. If we humble ourselves before God, He is faithful to take our sins and cast them in the sea of forgiveness, not to be remembered against us anymore. God will hear the prayers of a sinner that repents of their sins and has a heart that is broken, and is sorry for their sinful ways. It is only with a clean heart and pure motives that we can begin to draw near to God. It is God’s will that we live in the light. As we walk in His light, we start to draw near to His desires for our lives. Let us put aside the sin that easily besets us and pray with a pure heart to live in the light of God’s presence.

Let Us Enter

Heb.4:16

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

The veil has been rented. The curtain, 4 inches thick, 15 feet tall, was torn apart from top to bottom in the holy of holies where the high priest made sacrifices for his sins and for the sins of the people. When Jesus died on the cross, He sacrificed His life once and for all for the sins of the whole world. He is our high priest, the earthly priest no longer needs to make blood sacrifices for the people. We now have access to the Father, through the blood of Jesus. We can now come boldly into God’s holiness. If we have confessed our sin and believed that Jesus paid the price to forgive our sins, we need not fear coming boldly to the throne where God will pour out His grace to meet our needs. It is only through Jesus that we now have access to the Father, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Act 4:12) Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”) God’s word makes it clear that coming to the Father (God) is only made possible through Jesus, the one who died for you and me so that we may approach the throne of grace with clean hands and a pure heart. Thank God! He is a God of grace and mercy, and as His child, we call Him Abba Father, and He pours out His grace to us in our time of need. Let us enter into His presence.

Walking in the Desert

 Deut 2:7
For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness:..

The testing of our faith is done when we are walking through the desert wilderness of life. I’m told that the desert has its own unique attractions, and in some respects I can see how it might be, but as a general rule, I would choose rather not to live in the dry climate of the hot and lifeless desert. A desert place in life is symbolized as a time of desolation and dryness of spirit. Going through a hard place, circumstances are tough and life giving water is nowhere to be found. The lessons in life are often done when we are walking in the desert. This is the place where our faith is tested and our trust to believe in God, that He knows where we are, and He knows what we need. His will and purpose is being accomplished. He is preparing us for something new. In the desert, He will provide us with what we need. A river will spring forth, and He will bring us through. “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Is 43:19). We all enjoy the “mountain top” experience where all is going well, and we are basking in God’s presence. But when we walk through the desert, God’s presence appears to be absent. We need to know that God sees us and knows what we are going through. We can trust the promises of God and believe that He will provide us with what we need as we walk in the desert places of life. He has promised us a river, a stream that will take us through. “When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed, when the day is half done, when we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father’s full giving has only begun”- The river of grace will appear and make a way as we walk in the desert.

Return to the Father

 Jer.4:1
If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.

Israel, God chose these people to show the nations of the world that there was a God in heaven who ruled the affairs of men. Truth was revealed through Abraham and his descendants, and the many prophets that God sent to reveal God’s plan for all that will follow Him. But the hearts of the people turned away from the commandments that God had given them to live by. They wanted to be like other nations of the world who served idols and gods of nature, or images of earthen clay. This was an abomination to the God that called Abraham out of his country to serve a God that cannot be seen by men, but one that is seen by faith. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God called out to Israel to put away their sin and return to the truth they once knew. Israel left the ways of Jehovah God, they backslid from the teaching of their fathers. God still loves the backslider. He still chases and desires those that have left the faith to return to Him. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The conditions for those who once knew the Lord are required by all who want to reconnect and have fellowship with Jesus Christ. Confession and repentance, a turning away from sin are not negotiable. He loves us, and wants us, but we must be willing to leave our sinful way to follow wholly after God.  He waits with open arms and is faithful to call us back. Drop the sin that so easily besets us and let us run back to the one who loves us and desires to forgive us.

Fellow Helper to the Truth

 3 John 1:8
We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellow helpers to the truth.

God’s work is accomplished through the help of many in the body of Christ. It is easy to recognize the work done by those who are gifted at speaking and preaching and spreading the gospel from the pulpit or other media platforms. They are oracles of God that proclaim God’s word and deliver truth, regardless of what the world thinks or says.  But the gifts of God are not restricted to just the ability to speak or having the faith to heal the afflicted. Paul makes that clear in scripture. The body of Christ is made up of different members that play key roles in spreading the truth of God’s word. Gaius was commended by John for his contributions to the work of the kingdom. Gaius was a man who shared his home and food with those who were preaching the word. His hospitality was recognized as an important part of those who were going out letting others know about Jesus. Many of these were complete strangers, but he knew that they were being used by God to spread the good news. Gaius, a man who sacrifices his home and resources to give shelter and food so that he might be a fellow helper to the truth. You might not be able to open your home, but such as you have given to the Lord. The widow women gave two mites, and Jesus said, this woman gave more than everyone else, for she gave not of her abundance, but gave of herself and all she had.(Mark 12:44). It is not the quantity or quality of our gifts that are important, it is our willingness to use what we have for Jesus. Give it all, give it all to Jesus. We can all be a Guais, a fellow helper to the truth.