The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Empty Hands. A Full Heart"
"A full heart in this moment and in the hour we leave this present world rests solely on Christ, and our realization that 'He is thy life.' "
"Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out" (I Timothy 6:6-7).
We enter our earthly lives empty handed. We will depart similarly. We can, however, plan on leaving with the "great gain" of a full heart made possible by godliness and its fruit of contentment.
The Lord Jesus Christ will be the determining factor of our departure. He defines the heart and essence of godliness. "Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh" (I Timothy 3:16). Godliness, that is, devotion to God, hinges solely on right relationship to the Lord Jesus, and a life lived by His presence, involvement, motivation, leading, and enabling. "To live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).
"God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father" (Galatians 4:6).
Will we be able to look back on a life lived in Christ, through Christ, and for Christ? No believer will be able to affirm a perfect experience thereof. To one degree or another, all Christians know both ebb and flow in our walk with God. The tents of flesh in which we live endure the sun, wind, rain, and storm of the fallen world in which we live. We can and will stand more faithfully in some times, as opposed to others. Our abiding hope for godliness, therefore, rests in the perfectly consistent Lord Jesus. In times of manifested godliness, we direct all glory to Him. "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" In times of declension, we direct our hearts toward Him in seeking restoration to faithfulness. "Consider Him… lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" (I Corinthians 1:31; Hebrews 2:3).
"Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" determines how well we will take the next step, and how much "godliness with contentment" will be known as the "great gain" of our hearts and lives (Hebrews 12:2). We were made for Him, we live through Him, and He is the very Life of our lives. A full heart in this moment and in the hour we leave this present world rests solely on Christ, and our realization that "He is thy life" (Deuteronomy 30:20). Godliness with contentment is indeed great gain, based on "so great salvation" as provided through so great a Savior (Hebrews 2:3). Empty hands when we leave? No doubt. But a full heart if we have sought to consistently and increasingly look to our Lord's perfectly faithful heart.
"I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
(Philippians 4:11-13)
Weekly Memory Verse
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
(I John 4:10)
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