Orange Moon Thursday, April, 9, 2026 "Process and Perfection"

PThe Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“Process and Perfection”

 

     “The eternal purpose which He (God) purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” involves our becoming like Him in character, nature, and way:

    “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.  For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Ephesians 3:11; Romans 8:28-29).

    Presently, this marvelous purpose involves a process.  “Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Corinthians 3:18).  Ultimately, the same means will perfect the work: “When He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3:2).  

    Note the means of both process and perfection, namely, beholding and seeing the Lord Jesus.  Clearly, the issue involves our response to God’s revelation of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus by His Spirit, His Word, His children, and His working in our hearts and lives along the pathways of providence.  Increasing Christlikeness in character, nature, and way occurs to the degree that we “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ” (II Peter 3:18).  Who is He?  What has He done?  What is He doing?  What will He do forever for His Father’s glory and our benefit?  These are the questions that focus our attention on the current process leading to ultimate perfection.

     Note the defocusing of attention on ourselves.  The matter of growth in Christlikeness does not and cannot succeed by that which constitutes the very essence of sin, namely, the idolatry of establishing “I, Me, and My” as the emphasis of our existence.  We were not made to be guided by narcissism, but rather by altruism.   Certainly, we will think about ourselves in various aspects of truth as we walk with God.  Never, however, does focus on ourselves serve as the dynamic means of increasingly becoming the moons that absorb and reflect the light of the sun (Son).  “Consider Him” beckons the writer of Hebrews, “lest ye become wearied and faint in your minds” (Hebrews 12:3; emphasis added).

    No human being has ever directly seen their own face.  Our eyes are set in their sockets to look outward, upward, and away.  Certainly, this tells us something of vital importance regarding more than physical vision.  Our Heavenly Father made our hearts and minds to direct their gaze upon something other than ourselves.  The primary other is the Lord Jesus, the very origin, source, and reason for God’s eternal purpose and our eternal existence.  Again, who is He?  What has He done?  What is He doing?  What will He do forevermore?  We will one day be perfected by the discovery of the answers.  Presently, the matter involves process and our determination to set gaze of our hearts upward, outward, and way…

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”
(Hebrews 12:2)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.

 (II Corinthians 2:14)

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Orange Moon Wednesday, April 8, 2026 "How Deep the Waters"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“How Deep the Waters” 

     

    When the Lord Jesus Christ died for us on the cross of Calvary, a horror occurred so unimaginable that the Bible merely records the fact.  No explanation is provided, nor will one ever be forthcoming.

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

     The Apostle Paul does not reference our Lord's bearing of sin, as recorded by the Apostle Peter (I Peter 2:24).  Paul rather declares Christ “made… to be sin.”  Somehow, the Lord Jesus became everything He is not for the purpose of experiencing His Father's wrath against wickedness and evil.  Torrents of Divine fury descended upon the Savior made to “be sin” as the wrath of God raged within His forsaken soul.  From the experience of Jonah, the prophetic voice foreshadows a portion of our Lord's agony:

    "I cried by reason of Mine affliction unto the LORD, and He heard Me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and Thou heardest My voice. For Thou hadst cast Me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed Me about: all Thy billows and Thy waves passed over Me. Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple. The waters compassed Me about, even to the soul: the depth closed Me round about, the weeds were wrapped about My head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about Me forever" (Jonah 2:2-6).

    What sorrow enveloped the spirit of One who “from everlasting” existed in perfect righteousness, but who became for us the very essence of unrighteousness?  What horrors would such a distortion of heart involve as a Father's love became the wrath of a judge?  We do not and cannot know.  We can only be sure that it happened, and that a long eternity will not suffice to provide understanding of "how deep were the waters crossed... 'ere He found His sheep that was lost" (“The Ninety and Nine” - Elizabeth Clephane).

    A holy proportion resulted from Calvary.  To the degree the Lord Jesus was made to be sin, God freely imputes His righteousness to those who believe. To the degree He was forsaken, we are "accepted in the Beloved."   To the degree His soul was enveloped by the darkest of nights, our spirit dwells in the light of God's countenance.  To the degree our Lord became who and what He was not, we become in Him God's redeemed sons and daughters.  All such grace flows to us from the River of life made possible by our Savior's experience of the deep, the floods, the billows, and the waves of God's wrath poured out upon Him for our sakes.  “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” cried out our Lord in the darkest depths of abandonment and loneliness any conscious being will ever know  (Matthew 27:46).

    We can never begin to fully comprehend our Lord’s suffering.   We can, however, believe.  Moreover, we can seek to increasingly avail ourselves of the gift purchased for us by such sacrifice.  May our Heavenly Father grant much grace of remembrance, and may we increasingly access the life of Christ made possible by a death suffered in far deeper waters than we will ever know...

"Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.  Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." 

(Isaiah 53:4)

"Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

(Romans 5:20-21)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.

 (II Corinthians 2:14)

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Orange Moon Tuesday, April 7, 2026 "Menial?"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“Menial”

 

     The Lord Jesus Christ cooked a meal after His resurrection.

     “As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread… Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine” (John 21:9; 12).

    We might suspect that this everyday, earthly task would be too menial for the risen and glorious Christ.  This was not the case, any more than how our Lord involves Himself in the everyday, earthly activities of our lives.  

    “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (I Corinthians 10:31).

    The presence and working of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus in us is required for our glorifying of God in all our whatsoevers.  “Without Me, ye can do nothing… I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (John 15:5; Philippians 4:13).  We exist to serve as the spiritual temple of the Lord Jesus, who both “dwells” and “walks” in us as we trust and submit to God (II Corinthians 6:16).  In this life and forevermore, every act of obedience, including the most seemingly inconsequential, proceeds from the One who died for us, and who now lives in us that we might “bear the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:11).

    We will forever be overwhelmed by the majesty of the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ.  “When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead” (Revelation 1:17).  However, we will also know Him as He who bears the most servant of all hearts, the King who knelt before His subjects to wash their feet, and who then hung on a cross to redeem their hearts (John 13:1-15).  The menial is not beyond the risen Christ because nothing is menial to the Lord who so loves His creation as to involve Himself in “all things” (Ephesians 1:11).  Like cooking a meal.  After His resurrection.  We do well to remember such things as we seek to perform our “everyday, earthly tasks” that are no such thing so long as the Lord Jesus involves Himself in “whatsoever ye do.”

“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord.”

(Colossians 3:23)

Weekly Memory Verse 

   Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.

 (II Corinthians 2:14)

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