Orange Moon Thursday, July 1, 2021 "To Be and To Do"

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

"To Be and To Do"

       

   Sin began in Lucifer, the angelic "light bearer" who determined to become a "light be-er."

    "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee… I will be like the Most High" (Ezekiel 28:15; Isaiah 14:14).

    Sin began in the human race when Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation to "be as gods" rather than to be dependent creatures in relationship to God.  "Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5).

   In its essence, sin involves the determination to not be what God makes one to be.  Whether in devils or in human beings, this results in catastrophe: "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).  The "death" referenced by the Apostle Paul primarily refers to alienation from the direct and personal presence of the living God.  "He is thy life" (Deuteronomy 30:20).  Conscious beings are only alive according to God's definition when in right relationship to "the Prince of life" (Acts 3:15).  Only as we love, trust, and submit to the Lord Jesus Christ can we perceive ourselves to be truly living.  "To live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).  All else is merely existence, or as we have frequently suggested in these messages, "We are either existing, waiting to die.  Or we are living, waiting to be glorified."

    "What would You have me to be, Lord?  And what would You have me to do?"  To truly live means that we keep these questions at the forefront of our consciousness and understanding of why we exist.  Anything less, or anything other, indicates devilish deception or distraction from the Life of our lives.  "In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).  Conversely, great peace descends upon us and arises within us when we realize the true essence of life.  We exist for the love of God, that is, to be loved, to receive His love, and to love Him and others for the glory of the Lord Jesus.  Our being and doing must flow with this current of living relationship and devotion to God and others, as led and enabled by the indwelling Holy Spirit.  This alone is life as we find our being in our Lord rather than in devilish and fleshly vanity, and as our doings flow from His living and vital presence within us.  

"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)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." 

(Luke 19:10)

    

   

  

   

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