The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"What If?"
What if today, everything we experience will be graced with the living and involved presence of God? It will.
What if He will be with us wherever we go (to the degree of being within us), and what if He will be waiting for us wherever we arrive? He will. He will.
What if the blessings and gifts of life all come with the One who blesses and gives? They do.
What if the troubles of life will come with His "very present help?" They will.
What if this moment, and all to come, have been eternally anticipated by our Heavenly Father for the holy purpose of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives, and God's working to make us like Him? They have.
What if the people who cross our paths - be they friend, foe, or stranger - do not come our way by happenstance, but by Providence? They do.
What if all things really do "work together for good to them that love God," including the "all things" of this day? They do.
What if joy can be known in sorrow, peace in turmoil, and light in the darkness? It can. It can. It can.
What if strength of incalculable measure fills our being in this day and provides "abundance of grace" for every step of our journey? It does.
What if the great fact of our lives is God, to the degree that "in Him we live and move and have our being?" It is.
What if our Father finishes everything He starts, including and especially His promised purpose in our lives? He does.
What if God numbers the very hairs of our heads in an infinite precision of Divine application and execution a trillion eternities could never enable us to understand, nor could those eternities grant enough opportunity for adequate praise and gratitude? He does.
The chronicle of wonder, of "What If?," could go on forever. It will. For the moment, however, we conclude with the "What Ifs" that lead us to our knees in realization of how they are all are so abundantly answered…
What if for you and me, our Creator bears upon His hands, feet, and side the wounds suffered when He "was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him?" He does.
What if upon and within His Son, the Father poured all His fury and wrath against sin? What if He turned away from the Lord Jesus as He suffered on the cross, and what if the Holy Spirit also abandoned our Savior to die in the most forlorn agony of forsakenness any sensate being will ever know? "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He did. He did. He did.
What if "the Prince of life" died in an aberration that seems impossible, and would be were it not for the ineffable mysteries of God's ways and workings? He did.
What if the Lord Jesus is risen from the dead, so much so that He imparts His risen life to the hearts of all who freely receive His grace? What if believers are "risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God?" He is. He does. We are.
What if the most blessed of all promises - "I am with you unto the end of the world" - is true? What if "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" is true? What if in this day - this moment - our spirits and lives teem with the infinite presence of the living God to the degree that "He is thy life? What if "to live is Christ," and what if it is true "Christ liveth in me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me?" It is. It is. They do. It is.
Finally, what if the ancient and undying promise to the nation of Israel - "I have loved thee with an everlasting love" - also applies to the Blood-washed, Spirit-renewed church of God's grace in Christ? It does. "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What if that love personally applies to you, and to me? In this day? In this moment? Forever? You know the answers. It does… it does… it does! May our Father grant much grace that we answer the "What ifs?" in the light of His Word, His heart, and the assurance of His promises. And may we respond with our brother Paul in amazed wonder, adoration, and longing to honor the One who so perfectly and gloriously answers all the "What Ifs"…
"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."
(Ephesians 3:20-21)
(Ephesians 1:11; Isaiah 43:2; Philippians 4:19; Psalm 46:2; Acts 15:18; Romans 8:28-29; II Corinthians 6:10; Isaiah 26:3; John 1:5; II Corinthians 13:4; Romans 5:17; Acts 17:28; Philippians 1:6; Matthew 10:30; Luke 24:39; II Corinthians 5:21; Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 27:46; Acts 3:15; Isaiah 55:9; Colossians 2:12; Romans 6:11; Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5; Deuteronomy 30:20; Philippians 1:21; Galatians 2:20; Jeremiah 31:3; Romans 8:38:39;
Weekly Memory Verse
O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; fear before Him, all the earth.
(Psalm 96:9)
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