Thursday, February 28, 2019

"Call Me"

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


"Call Me!"


  Over the years, we've shared the story several times of a woman who was hired by a textile factory to operate a loom.  She had never used such a device before, but her boss  quickly taught her how to operate the fairly simple machine.  As he concluded the training, he adopted a very serious attitude and tone of voice.  "My dear," he said, "there is one main thing you must remember about operating this device."  He paused for a moment and then expressed his final instruction.  "If the thread of your loom tangles, no matter how small the knot, do not try to fix it yourself.  Instead, call me!"

   Things went well for the first several hours.  The simple mechanism of the machine seemed flawless, and the woman enjoyed her duties.  However, just before her lunch break, the loom hesitated and stopped.  Perplexed, the woman looked into the machine and quickly observed that the tiniest of knots had developed on one strand of green thread.  She remembered her boss's admonition about not attempting to fix the snarled strand herself.  The knot, however, seemed so insignificant, and…

  You know what happened.  A small knot developed into a major tangle as the woman disregarded her boss's mandate.  Petrified, she hesitated to call the man.  However, she knew she had no choice and finally beckoned him to her loom.  He approached her with a gentle, but obviously disappointed look on his face.  Before saying a word, he reached into the tangled threads and quickly restored the loom to working order.  Then he looked at the flustered woman, now nearly in tears.  "My dear, I'm sure you recall what I said about not attempting to fix any knots, regardless of how small.  Why didn't you call me?"  The woman looked into her boss's face and responded with a quivering voice.  "I know what you said, sir, but, but… I just wanted to do my best!"  The man smiled as she sought to assuage the woman's dismay.  He paused for a moment, and then said in a voice gentle, but with solemn seriousness. "My dear," he said, "Doing your best would have been calling me!"

   "Casting all your cares upon Him for He careth for you… Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" (I Peter 5:7; Ephesians 6:10).

   God calls born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ not to do our best, but to do His best.  Certainly we want to bear the attitude and intention of excellence in all we do.  "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (I Corinthians 10:31).  However, we must remember the standard of life to which our Heavenly Father calls us, the standard of His Son.  "Walk, even as He walked" (I John  2:6).  Thus, we must call on Him for the wisdom, knowledge, strength, and guidance to operate the loom of our lives.  This is especially true of knots, or the challenges we face in every aspect of our existence.  "He is their strength in time of trouble" (Psalm 37:39).  Our Heavenly Father knows how to untangle the snarls of our lives, even those self-imposed when we forget His first mandate: "Call unto Me" (Jeremiah 33:3).  Solomon and the Apostle Paul unite to conclude our consideration and confirm our calling to "Call"...

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."
(Proverbs 3:5-6)
"We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh."
(Philippians 3:3)

Weekly Memory Verse
  "Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."
(Jeremiah 33:3)
  

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

“Before They Call”

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


"Before They Call"



  Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ live from God's provision rather than for it.

   "His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness" (II Peter 1:3).

   The Apostle Peter declares that we already possess everything necessary for the living of our lives in faith and faithfulness.  Of course, it often does not appear or feel as if such Truth is true.  Human experience frequently seems more like lack than plenty.  Moreover, God administers His provision according to His loving wisdom rather than our perception of need or feeling of desire.  Sometimes our expectations align with His, and Divine supply manifests accordingly.  However, sometimes the Lord provides in ways and means we may not immediately recognize.  Israel, in response to God's many promises, longed for the Messiah and prayed accordingly.  When He arrived, however, they failed to recognize the answer to their prayers because He appeared in the unexpected garb of humility.  "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:11).

   Before we even existed, God deemed His Son as "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 1:8).  Thus, before there were sinners, the supply of salvation was already prepared and provided.  Of course, the Lord Jesus had to live, die, and rise again in space-time history for God's purposes to be fulfilled.  Nevertheless, in our Heavenly Father's mind and purposes, His Son's saving grace preceded our very existence.  The principle applies to everything in our lives.  We may not see God's provision as needs appear.  Moreover, His provision may not be recognizable according to our understanding, desire, and expectation.  As a matter of doctrine and faith, however, we must believe that "my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).  The Savior preceded sinners.  Supply precedes need.  Faith sees eternal "riches in glory" that transcend time and appearance.  This is truth.  This is reality. And this is the promise, the promise of "all things that pertain to life and godliness" already given to God's trusting children in Christ.

"Before they call, I will answer."
(Isaiah 65:24)

Weekly Memory Verse

  "Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."
(Jeremiah 33:3)
  

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

"Great and Mighty, Still and Small"

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


"Great and Mighty, Still and Small"



  Our memory verse for this week is one of my favorite passages of Scripture.

   "Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not" (Jeremiah 33:3).

   Note that this is a command.  Our Lord calls us to call unto Him, and then promises to respond with illuminations of truth and reality we do not presently possess -  "great and mighty things."  This will lead us to the Scriptures, of course, something to which Jeremiah and the people of his day did not have the open access that so blesses our generation.  We will also see our Lord in His personal working in our lives and the lives of others, as well as in creation and other means that flow with God's promise to "answer thee."

  We must recall that "great and mighty things" often come to us in the garb of the ordinary.  The Lord Jesus Christ entered the world as the greatest and the mightiest.  "God was manifest in the flesh" (I Timothy 3:16).  However, He appeared as small and insignificant.  "Is not this the carpenter's son?" asked those who saw nothing great and mighty in the One who seemed to bear little importance (Matthew 13:55).  We do well to prepare ourselves for the same revelation of the Infinite, as revealed in things that may appear as mere glimmers of Light.  Indeed, if we expect "great and mighty things" only in the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, we may miss the "still, small voice" that offers wonders beyond imagination (I Kings 19:11-12).

  Presently, we "walk by faith, not by sight" (I Corinthians 5:7).  Our Heavenly Father will often reveal Himself and His truth in ways far less overt than we might expect.  He will come to us in mangers, as it were, that bear the great and mighty Christ.  Thus, we will need to open our eyes of faith wide to see that which most will miss.  The Day will come for open displays of power and glory.  Perhaps this day may offer a few such revelations of great and mighty things.  Far more likely, however, our Lord will answer us with quiet and unobtrusive displays that provide opportunity to know the goodness of His heart even more than the power of His hand.  For those with eyes to see, such illumination offers still, small answers that bless us no less than - and even more - than wind, earthquake, and fire.

"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence."
(I Corinthians 1:27-29)

Weekly Memory Verse

  "Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."
(Jeremiah 33:3)
  

Monday, February 25, 2019

Ultimate Reality

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


"Ultimate Reality"


   What is reality?  In simple terms, anything that actually exists is real.  The God who originated all things did not make illusions, but rather a creation that exists with such genuineness of substance that it cannot cease to be.

  "I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.  Nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it, and God doeth it that men should fear before Him" (Ecclesiastes 3:14).

    Let us consider the matter further.  What is ultimate reality?   A good working definition is that ultimate reality is anything that existed when nothing else existed.  Again, this directs us to the living and true God, as revealed in the Bible.

   "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth or the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God" (Psalm 90:2).

   Our Lord exists as the only uncreated, eternal, and self existent Essence of reality, truth, and being.  He had no beginning.  He will have no end.  And He alone "Is" in the sense of requiring no one or nothing else to maintain His actuality.  "I AM" proclaimed the Lord to Moses.  "HE IS" concurred the Psalmist.  "THOU ART" confess all who bow before the Holy One who made and sustains our own being and reality (Exodus 3:14; I Chronicles 16:14; Psalm 86:10).  

   What is the significance of this truth?  Eternity will not suffice in fully revealing the answer.  Again, the God of ultimate reality is eternal.  He is also infinite in His everlasting substance.  Thus, regardless of how much we discover of His being, glory, character, nature, and way, His reality beckons us to come further, climb higher, dive deeper.  Such contemplation should first cast to our knees and faces, even as the Apostle John "fell at His feet as dead" when He saw the glorious Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:17).  Subsequently, we find our hearts filled and thrilled with prospect, possibility, and potential.  In this holy moment and forevermore, the God of glorious reality calls us to know Him better, to understand His truth more, and to be blessed beyond measure by our discovery.  A prayerful heart, a frequently pondered and remembered Bible, fellowship with like-hearted believers, and the expectant realization that we "live and move and have our being" in Reality - Ultimate Reality - prepares us for the journey of a lifetime, and forevermore (Acts 17:28).  


There is no end to the quest we know,
forever beckons on.
For we soar in skies so bright and blue,
above all clouds of storm.

Yes, we fly into the heart of God
 as in His Son we trust.
And earth will soon be nothing more
than long forgotten dust.

So spread your wings and catch the wind
o journeyman of hope,
and race toward horizons blessed 
with those who also know

That the quest of hearts is Jesus,
He is our shining sun.
It matters not how far we've come,
the journey's just begun.


"Thy throne is established from old.  Thou art from everlasting."
(Psalm 93:2)
"Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."
(Jeremiah 33:3)

Weekly Memory Verse
  "Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not."
(Jeremiah 33:3)
  

Friday, February 22, 2019

"This Thing"

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


"This Thing"



   "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).
  
   The beginning of our response to Solomon's command involves the determination to place our confidence in God regarding everything in our lives.  We build an altar in our hearts, as it were, whereupon we determine to sacrifice our fleshly propensity to ignore and omit our Lord's presence and working in all things.  Subsequently, we visit that altar to make specific affirmations of faith whereby we walk step by step in the light and power of God's Truth.  

  "What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee" (Psalm 56:3).

   Any time.  Every time.  Whatever time we are tempted to fear or trepidation, opportunity for pointed acknowledgement of the Lord lies before us.  When the general becomes specific, we walk by faith in a manner pleasing to God, and peace-enabling to ourselves.  We also become able to encourage and challenge others to trust the Lord, whether by our demeanor or our verbal testimony of confidence in Him.  Our "what time" of temptation to fear becomes this time of seeing the Lord Jesus walk on troubled waters as their Lord, and as ours.  "Even the winds and the sea obey Him!" (Matthew 8:27).

  We can trust the Lord with all our heart because He is all faithful.  He "cannot lie."  His "Word is truth."  His "faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds" (Titus 1:2; John 17:17; Psalm 36:5).  Thus, the matter at hand always presents to us God at the helm.  No matter can arrive at our doorstep that has not made its journey through the determinate or permissive will of God.  This is truth.  This is reality.  This is the time, the "what time" to open our eyes to the presence and working of God in all things, and in this thing.

"This thing is from Me."
(I Kings 12:24)
"God… worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."
(Ephesians 1:3; 11)

Weekly Memory Verse
   In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."
(I John 4:9)


Thursday, February 21, 2019

"Look Up!"

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

(a repeat from 2010)

"Look Up!"



   In order to "Get up" and "Show up," as considered in yesterday's message, born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ must "Look up!"

  "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous… Seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us" (I John 2:1; Hebrews 7:25).

   When we look to the Lord Jesus, we see the One who enables us to arise from sin and continue our walk with God.  There is never an excuse for unbelief and disobedience, and no temptation is greater than our capacity to overcome through Christ (I Corinthians 10:13).  However, no believer perfectly overcomes in this present life.  "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us" (I John 1:8).  Thus, we all have times when we must get up.  The knowledge and understanding of our Lord's forgiveness, cleansing, and faithful determination to continue the good work which He began in us when we believed encourages and enables our restoration (Philippians 1:6).  "Look up!… Get up!"

   When we look to the Lord Jesus, we also see the example of showing up.  He perfectly fulfilled His redemptive responsibilities during His earthly mission.  "It is finished!" He declared as He died for our sins (John 19:30).  Moreover, He also shows up at the right hand of our Heavenly Father to execute His ongoing Heavenly ministry of intercession for us.  "Who is he that condemneth?  It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" (Romans 8:34).  Remembering and affirming such blessed faithfulness in our Savior strengthens us to arrive at our various venues of responsibility to honor our Lord and bless others with His grace and truth.  "Look up!  Show up!"

   Our Lord eternally intercedes for us to maintain our standing and walk with God.  Thereby we can arise and continue after times of sin and failure.  He also exemplifies and enables our faithfulness by showing us the way, and then walking in us to empower our journey thereupon.  "Walk, even as He walked… I will dwell in them and walk in them" (I John 2:6; II Corinthians 6:16).   Thus, we get up and we show up by looking up, or as the writer of Hebrews declares…

"Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."
(Hebrews 12:1-3).

Weekly Memory Verse
   In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."
(I John 4:9)



Wednesday, February 20, 2019

"Show Up!"

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

(a repeat from 2010)

"Show Up!"


   We often suggest in these devotionals that if born again believers could audibly hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, "Get up!" would be a frequent mandate we would hear. God's redemption is so effectual that sin and failure should never keep us down.   The gracious mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ is an incredibly powerful restorative.  "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin" (I John 1:7).   Thereby His Spirit works mightily to encourage and strengthen us as we trust the Word of God in times of discouragement and/or sin.

   Another two-word mandate we might frequently hear would be, "Show up!"  I think of this mainly in reference to the ministries God gives us for the purpose of honoring the Lord Jesus, and blessing other people with His love.  It has been said that our greatest ability is availability. When we take our callings seriously enough to consistently be where God has placed us, He leads and enables us to fulfill our privileged responsibilities.  It should also be said that "ministries"  involve far more than preaching, teaching, or other roles traditionally defined by the term.  Anything we do that involves participation with people and service to them should be viewed by the believer as ministry.  "Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (I Corinthians 10:31).  The Apostle Paul also wrote that "unto the pure, all things are pure" (Titus 1:15).  The purity that Paul references involves the understanding that our complex lives are ultimately defined by one fundamental reason for existence: the glory of the Lord Jesus. Be it our home, our neighborhood, our workplace, our church, our marketplace, or wherever, when we show up anywhere with a trusting, submitted heart devoted to representing our Lord, we honor Him in ways that genuinely influence others.  

   Our Heavenly Father calls us to to show up. May our days begin with the grateful acknowledgment that we belong to the Lord Jesus. We serve as His ambassadors, and our callings provide opportunity to represent Him in both attitude, deed, word, and loving self sacrifice. His Spirit dwells within our trusting hearts.  As we consistently arrive at the venues of ministry to which God appoints us, we shall find guidance and enabling far more than equal to the task.

"I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?  Then said I, Here am I; send me."
(Isaiah 6:8)

Weekly Memory Verse
   In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."
(I John 4:9)



Tuesday, February 19, 2019

“In the Shadows, Behind the Scenes, Under the Surface”

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


"In the Shadows, Behind the Scenes, Under the Surface"



   Affirmed by the Lord Jesus as a prophet without superior of those "born of women," John the Baptist nevertheless suffered a lapse of faith toward the end of his life.

  "Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said unto Him, Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for another?" (Matthew 11:2-3).
  
   John's imprisonment clearly threw a twist into his expectations of the Messiah.  Like all Jews of his day, he anticipated Christ would come in power to rid Israel of the yoke of earthly governments devoted to the Jews' enslavement and destruction.  That day will one day come.  In His first coming, however, the Savior came "not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).  John's imprisonment reflected the humble nature of his Lord'initial earthly advent that led to exasperation in John rather than expectation.

  We still live in a dispensation wherein God's power is often revealed more secretly than openly.  The blood of martyrs still stains earthly soil, believers still suffer in countless ways, and prisons both literal and figurative receive us no less than they incarcerated John more than twenty centuries ago.  We still bear the cross rather than wearing the crown as "the sufferings of Christ abound in us"  (II Corinthians 1:5).  The triumph of the risen Lord Jesus proceeds in private more than in public.  Thus, like John, we may sometimes be tempted to question our Lord's ways as we seem to linger in conditions and circumstances that belie the reality of His victory and Lordship.  

  As the Lord Jesus spiritually walks in us, the world will no more welcome and honor Him than it did when He physically traveled its treacherous paths.  Moreover, the One who lived more than 90% of His life in obscurity continues to accomplish most of God's purposes in ways strange to human understanding.  Thus, we all miss much of the great and mighty accomplishment fulfilled in the shadows, behind the scenes, and under the surface.  "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24).  Yes, sometimes we languish in "prisons" from which we desire extrication when our circumstances actually shine brightly with the Light of God.  If we could speak to John now, he would tell us, "Oh yes, the Lord Jesus was 'He that should come!'  And that prison, and even the martyrdom to which it led, was God's blessed way in my life.  I didn't see it well then.  But I do now, and I give thanks."  We will one day join John in such gratitude, and since we possess far more Biblical light than did our brother of old, we do well to remember our Lord's present working - in the shadows, behind the scenes, under the surface.

"We walk by faith, not by sight."
(II Corinthians 5:7)
"And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not!"
(Genesis 28:16)

Weekly Memory Verse
   In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."
(I John 4:9)



Monday, February 18, 2019

“The Life Of Our Lives”

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


"The Life Of Our Lives"



   Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus Christ hoping to receive spiritual education.  "Rabbi, we know that Thou art a teacher come from God."  The Lord Jesus responded that Nicodemus actually required spiritual birth.  "Ye must be born again" (John 3:2; 7).

  The problem with human hearts before salvation primarily involves the absence of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, or "being alienated from the life of God" (Ephesians 4:18).  Humanity was made to serve as "the habitation of God through the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22).  Without such Presence, we exist without life as defined by God.  We possess the capacity to relate to the world around us, but not to the World above us, particularly, the the Lord of Heaven who alone quickens our innermost being by His indwelling.  Salvation through the Lord Jesus provides such life in the new birth as we become alive through the One who is the very Life of our lives.  "To live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).

   Forever after our spiritual birth in Christ, we "live through Him" (I John 4:9).  In our present existence, response to this reality of Christ in you, the hope of glory" is far from perfect in either our remembrance or our practice (Colossians 1:27).  We can still think, speak, act, and relate as empty temples.  We never actually are those empty temples, however.  "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" promised the Lord Jesus of His presence so blessedly near that He is more than with us.  "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (Hebrews 13:5; II Corinthians 6:16).  It is sad and inexcusable when we live as if the Spirit of Christ is not present within us.  But it never changes the reality.  We are who we are in Him as a fixed, inviolable gift of God.  "For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:10-11; emphasis added).  Yes, once born in Christ, born forever; once alive in Christ, alive forever.

   This is written as a simple reminder to my heart and yours of God's greatest gift to us, the Gift of Himself.  He lives nearer to us than our next breath, and loves us so much He was not content to be merely with us.  What a "hope of glory" indeed, and what a present reality in which to rejoice as we live not merely as ourselves, but as ourselves inhabited by the living God

"Whoso shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God."
(I John 4:15)

Weekly Memory Verse
   In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."
(I John 4:9)


Saturday, February 16, 2019

"Justified" Part 2

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


"Justified"

Part 2


     How justified (accounted as righteous in God's sight) are born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ?  This justified.

    "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Romans 4:5-8).

   Once we have entered into Christ by receiving God's free gift of grace through faith, our Heavenly Father will never again place sin on our account.  The reason for this, of course, is that He placed all our sins on the account of the Lord Jesus when He suffered and died on the cross of Calvary:

  "He hath made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (II Corinthians 5:21).

   To the degree the Lord Jesus was "made to be sin," we are "made the righteousness of God in Him."  Adequate understanding of our justification therefore requires our awareness of how large the work of Christ looms in the eyes of our Father.  I recently shared this truth with a believer discouraged by his faltering walk with the Lord.  "When God sees believers," I said, "He first sees us in Christ, as united to His Son.  Before anything else, before what we have done, are doing, or will do, our Heavenly Father first sees us enrobed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus."  Indeed, our Lord's earthly doings justified us through death and resurrection.  Moreover, His Heavenly doings maintain our walk of justification through Him as "He is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).  

   What we do matters greatly, and as a loving Father, God relates to us in both blessing and discipline based on our response to Him.  However, our faith and faithfulness makes us no more "accepted in the Beloved" than we already are as God's sons and daughters (Ephesians 1:6).  Nor does our unbelief and disobedience change the fact of our Christ-imparted righteousness granted as a free gift of grace (Romans 5:15-18).   To the degree we know and grow in the relational and doctrinal reality of this wondrous Truth will be the degree to which we are "filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:11).  Righteous being in Christ and our affirmation thereof leads to righteous response and a subsequent life that reflects the reality of who we are in Christ.  Indeed, our Savior sacrificed too much - "made to be sin" - for believers to ignore or disregard the justification provided through His sufferings - "made to be the righteousness of God in Him."   Or, as the writer of Hebrews affirms of freely given righteousness that leads to faithfully executed response...

"Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear."
(Hebrews 13:28)

Weekly Memory Verse
   Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."
(Hebrews 7:25)
    
 

Friday, February 15, 2019

"Justified"

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



"Justified"



     Whenever Scripture refers to anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ as "just," the true meaning is actually "justified."

    "Noah was a just man" (Genesis 6:9).
    
   "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:24-26).

   No human being becomes righteous with God apart from His grace in the Lord Jesus.  The Old Testament saints like Noah had far less light than we do regarding God's working to justify the unrighteous.  They could know enough, however, to approach the Lord with the personal and penitent attitude of realizing their need for God's mercy and salvation.  Such faith led to the grace of justification in a limited, but similar manner as born again believers experience in this present dispensation, wherein "grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 5:21).

  The need for God's justifying work on our behalf originates in His standard of character, nature, and behavior.  "As for God, His way is perfect" (II Samuel 22:31).  His pristinely righteous being requires absolute moral perfection in Himself, and in all things.  This is especially true of the human race originally created in His image.  To be  acceptable to God requires perfection - either by our own attainment, or by the Lord's attainment on our behalf.  The former is impossible - "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).  The latter is salvation - "By one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14).  We either become just by being freely justified in Christ, or we remain in sin regardless of how well or poorly (in our own minds) we seek to attain to God's perfect standard.

   To be just with God, we  must either be perfect in character and behavior from our conception and forever thereafter, or we must have the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus imputed to us a free gift of God's grace.  To be just with Him always means we have been justified by Him.  Always.  No alternative exists, and thus we join the hymnist in his exultation, "Nothing in my hand I bring.  Only to Thy cross I cling!"  Or, in Biblical terms…

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
 (Romans 5:1).

Weekly Memory Verse
   Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."
(Hebrews 7:25)
    
  


Thursday, February 14, 2019

"Asleep, On a Pillow"

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

(a repeat from 2010, and one of my favorites)



"Asleep, On a Pillow"



     Winds howled.  Great waves crashed against the ship.  Death by drowning seemed imminent.  Strong, hardy men cried out in terror, fearing for their lives. 

    The Lord Jesus Christ slept on a pillow in the ship's stern.

   "And the same day, when even was come, He saith unto them, Let us pass over to the other side…He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest Thou not that we perish?  And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.  And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm." (Mark 4:38; 41).

  The Lord Jesus slept because He knew that no wind and no sea could capsize a ship whose journey began with His word, "Let us pass over unto the other side."  The storms of our lives belong to our Lord, as the Psalmist declared, "Fire, and hail; snow, and vapor; stormy wind fulfilling His word" (Psalm 148:8).  They cannot blow, nor can they bluster unless He gives them rein to do so.  Sometimes they howl at us personally.  Sometimes they threaten those whom we love.  Sometimes the waves crash against nations and cultures.  Whatever the case, it is good to think of our Lord as "asleep, on a pillow."

  Of course, God does not sleep in the sense of His care for us, or of His working all things after the counsel of His own will. "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4).  It remains true, however, that the storms of our lives do not find the Lord Jesus with a furrowed brow, a rapidly beating heart, or hands wringing in frustration or desperation.  In this sense, we therefore do well to see Him sleeping like a baby, without a care in the world.

  We shall pass over to the other side of this day and this lifetime's journey.  Our Savior is the author and the finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).  He knows the past, present, and future of our lives as if they were but one moment.  He knows His infinite capacity to be everything we need Him to be.  Most importantly, He knows His own heart, which is filled with a love for us that "passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).  No wind can capsize our ship.  No wave can drown us.  No storm can cause that we shall not pass over to the other side.  The One who loves us more than life itself will see to that.

  Thus, let us see our Savior, "asleep, on a pillow."  As long as the One to whom we have entrusted both time and eternity is not overwrought or overwhelmed by our challenges, all will be well.  In this hour, all is well for the trusting sons and daughters of God in Christ.  Our Master has said, "Let us pass over to the other side."  And so we shall…

"When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee."
(Isaiah 43:2)
"He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
 (Philippians 1:6)
"Fear thou not, for I am with thee.  Be not dismayed, for I am thy God.  I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee."
(Isaiah 41:10)

Weekly Memory Verse
   Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."
(Hebrews 7:25)