The Special of The Day...From the Orange Moon Cafe

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Orange Moon Wednesday, September 23, 2026 "That Which Matters Most"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

“That Which Matters Most”

“He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18).

“God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9).

I read these verses as the day began, knowing them to be true, believing them, and being glad that early in my Christian life faithful voices bore witness to the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. All things of of our Heavenly Father’s eternal purpose began with our Savior, continue with Him, and will forever abide as God's eternally prevailing determination. This I have known to be true for more than a half century, and have sought to live and minister accordingly.

However, reading the Apostle Paul’s Christ-exalting declarations brought keen awareness also of how far short I have come in this purpose to which God clearly calls every believer. In one sense, this was and is inevitable. Our Father’s “eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” proceeds according to infinite realities of His heart and mind (Ephesians 3:11). Regardless of how well we learn of His perpetual working to glorify His Son, an immeasurable measure of divine activity lies forever ahead. We can know some, we can know more, but we can never know all of what has been and will be our Father’s determination to honor and reveal the Lord Jesus. “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him” declared the Father at the tranfiguration (Matthew 17:5). He declares it now, as He will forevermore. “He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:33).

Such impossibility of full understanding and awareness notwithstanding, I am also personally aware of far too much missed opportunity in joining our Father for His Christ-honoring purpose. I “ought to know” much more, and I should have been been far more responsive to the Holy Spirit’s working in my heart and life to join Him in His working to “glorify” and “testify” of the Lord Jesus (I Corinthians 8:2; John 16:14; 15:26). I look back on wasted opportunities of thought, attitude, word, deed, and relating to God and people in a manner that bore witness of that which matters most, and that, which neglected, makes all other things matter little. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).

We cannot change the past. We can only rejoice in its blessings, see our Father’s faithful working in days gone by, and in terms of the present consideration, repent of inexcusable omissions. Herein lies yet another opportunity to exalt the Lord Jesus. Because of His perfect faithfulness to the Father, hope awaits all who come to the beautifully and so very aptly termed “throne of grace” to “obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Reading Paul’s revelation of of how Christ-focused is our Father led me there this morning, as it has so many times in the past. I believe mercy and grace greeted me, as promised, and as administered because of who the Lord Jesus is to the Father, and who He is to us. My hope and prayer is that the visit will lead to a far greater faith and faithfulness in that which matters most, the preeminence of the Lord Jesus, which alone makes all other things matter.

“There is forgiveness with Thee.”

(Psalm 130:4)

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

(Philippians 3:13-14)

Weekly Memory Verse

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.

(II Corinthians 9:8)

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Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Orange Moon Tuesday, September 22, 2026 "Strong. In Weakness"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

“Strong. In Weakness”

“Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.”

(Psalm 39:4)

The realization of weakness is never a comfortable discovery, of whatever mode or measure. It does, however, provide opportunity to remember the most vital and practical truth of our existence…

“The Lord is my strength” (Psalm 118:14).

He has been this for born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, from the moment of our new birth when we recognized how utterly weak we are in spiritual and moral terms (and even more, how strong our Lord was to be and do for us that which we could never do for ourselves). Our remembrance of such grace, however, presently requires challenges that remind us we forever exist as dependent creatures, made to trust our Creator for His faithful provision of “life and breath and all things” (Acts 17:25). A deception long ago communicated in Eden slithers in the heart of unbelievers, and remains in the flesh of believers: “Ye shall be as gods” (Genesis 3:5). The lie tells us we can make our own way, govern our own lives, and fulfill our own destiny by our own human means. "We will walk after our own devices” (Jeremiah 18:12).

The Spirit of God, the Word of God, the church of God, and even the creation of God sound and resound against such insanity, perhaps most pointedly in the declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples: “Without Me, ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Presently, we also require the providence of God to bear witness through both blessing and challenge. His gifts that make us smile tell us of a Father so devoted to our well being that He finds “good pleasure” by bestowing “good things” that make us happy (Luke 12:32; 1:53). The challenges He administers and allows, conversely, bear witness to our utter dependence, encouraging and beckoning us to “trust in the Lord with all thy heart” and “have no confidence in the flesh” (Proverbs 3:5; Philippians 3:3).

No less than the Apostle Paul required a “thorn in the flesh… lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations” (II Corinthians 12:7). The lie of self sufficiency runs deep even in the flesh of the most godly among us. Thankfully, the Spirit of God moves ever more deeply in the spirits of believers, bearing witness to the truth. He also of necessity works providentially to expose our weakness. The process will never be comfortable in this lifetime. We will require it until the end, however, and our Father loves us enough to orchestrate and allow that which bears witness to His devoted strength and our desperate need. We do well to rejoice in both, discovering the lessons Paul learned and that, thankfully, he communicated to us…

“And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

(II Corinthians 12:7-10)