At a recent Bible study, someone made the point of Jesus sitting weaving the whip He was about to use in the temple to drive out the money changers. I never thought about that. I've pictured Him doing the deed but never weaving the whip. "And He made a scourge of cords..."
Think about it, there He was in the middle of all those thousands of people. Did anyone notice Him sitting there making a whip? Did they stop to think why? Or was it too crowded to care what one Person was doing?
It's just a thought, but are we too crowded with the many worthless pursuits of life to care that life is not always going to go on like it does. There are going to be changes. Are we prepared? Spurgeon said in a recent devotion that we need to view everything in our life as temporal, that change will not come on us unexpectedly. That's not to say we should not enjoy life, but to view it in terms of eternity. And also, for those who do not know Christ, to view every breath they take as one more compassionate gift of God to direct them to Himself. Let it not become too crowded to notice that He compassionately warns us of the coming changes and eternity's certainty. He IS weaving the whip, but He has granted us "everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him." Seek Him, listen, obey! It is the only answer to life's uncertainty!
Friday, March 11, 2016
"My Precious"
Gollum's "precious" consumed him to the point that he was unrecognizable as what he had been: a hobbit. Of course, you may say, "that's fiction." Yes, it is but what is fiction but what man takes out of the life he knows and writes it down? Therefore, I'm sure Tolkien had seen the deterioration of humans consumed with stuff.
God, of course, knows it well. He has watched it continually since man's beginning. As He had done so many times before, God discusses with His prophet Jeremiah what to say to disobedient Israel. However, Jeremiah has faltered and become frustrated with his job. It's not an easy job to tell people they are to turn or burn. But the fact is that this is truly a compassionate work on God's part. He doesn't have warn them. And now His prophet is fumbling around in self-pity. So God must deal with Jeremiah before He continues His warning to His people, Israel.
Jeremiah's "precious" must be unmixed with what the world deems precious! And he must rouse himself to the amazing position he holds as God's spokesman to the His people. God, the mighty Maker of all things, is speaking to Jeremiah. So, in his faltering, God deals with him a moment so that he can get back to the business at hand. "If you return, then I will restore you--before Me you will stand; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, but as for you, you must not turn to them." Jeremiah 15:19
Let us turn to what is truly "Precious", for there is our only hope, security, and peace. Is Jesus precious to you? If yes, then be consumed with Him and not with that worthless pursuit that will one day come to nothing. That is NOT fiction, but is life changing and life saving. May we, too, become "unrecognizable" as to our former way of life as we submit to this transformation God wants to make in us.
God, of course, knows it well. He has watched it continually since man's beginning. As He had done so many times before, God discusses with His prophet Jeremiah what to say to disobedient Israel. However, Jeremiah has faltered and become frustrated with his job. It's not an easy job to tell people they are to turn or burn. But the fact is that this is truly a compassionate work on God's part. He doesn't have warn them. And now His prophet is fumbling around in self-pity. So God must deal with Jeremiah before He continues His warning to His people, Israel.
Jeremiah's "precious" must be unmixed with what the world deems precious! And he must rouse himself to the amazing position he holds as God's spokesman to the His people. God, the mighty Maker of all things, is speaking to Jeremiah. So, in his faltering, God deals with him a moment so that he can get back to the business at hand. "If you return, then I will restore you--before Me you will stand; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, but as for you, you must not turn to them." Jeremiah 15:19
Let us turn to what is truly "Precious", for there is our only hope, security, and peace. Is Jesus precious to you? If yes, then be consumed with Him and not with that worthless pursuit that will one day come to nothing. That is NOT fiction, but is life changing and life saving. May we, too, become "unrecognizable" as to our former way of life as we submit to this transformation God wants to make in us.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Locked Out
For some weeks now, I have been locked out of my blogspot. I've been blogging now for over five years. I've written down personal thoughts that are a peek into the person God is making out of me. I haven't told many people about my blog, as I viewed it not as a blog to gain a following, but to just throw out thoughts to cyber space and hope God uses some of them for His glory.
When I have some thoughts that come out of my personal Bible study, I write them here. After one such morning, I came to post some thoughts, and I could not access my blog in order to write, edit or really do much of anything. I won't belabor all the details of what followed, but let it suffice to say that I tried many things to get back in and could not. I felt violated and then hopeless. It was like coming home and your house is no longer yours. Or like going to get into your car and it's stolen. I know it's just a blogspot, but it was part of me.
Today I found a way back in and here I am. However, it occurred to me through this trivial blip of my personal life crisis, that there is a much greater hopelessness that has devastatingly eternal consequences. For if a person rejects God or tries to access God through his own works, that person will be "locked out" of eternal life. They will be going along, thinking things are fine because everything goes on as usual, but they would not heed the signs along the way or stop to think or consider. And then it will be too late. And they will not "find a way back in".
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father, Who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you'; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.' Locked Out!! (Matthew 7:21-23)
When I have some thoughts that come out of my personal Bible study, I write them here. After one such morning, I came to post some thoughts, and I could not access my blog in order to write, edit or really do much of anything. I won't belabor all the details of what followed, but let it suffice to say that I tried many things to get back in and could not. I felt violated and then hopeless. It was like coming home and your house is no longer yours. Or like going to get into your car and it's stolen. I know it's just a blogspot, but it was part of me.
Today I found a way back in and here I am. However, it occurred to me through this trivial blip of my personal life crisis, that there is a much greater hopelessness that has devastatingly eternal consequences. For if a person rejects God or tries to access God through his own works, that person will be "locked out" of eternal life. They will be going along, thinking things are fine because everything goes on as usual, but they would not heed the signs along the way or stop to think or consider. And then it will be too late. And they will not "find a way back in".
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father, Who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you'; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.' Locked Out!! (Matthew 7:21-23)
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