Orange Moon Thursday, May 7, 2026 "The Wages of Sin"

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

“The Wages of Sin"

    “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

     It is.  

     “Christ died for our sins” (I Corinthians 15:3).

       Certainly, the pronouncement of sins deadly wages applies to sinners.  It applies far more, however, to the Savior and the wonder of His death for the sins of sinners.  Indeed,  the  Lord Jesus could bear our sins on the cross of Calvary because He had no sins of His own for which to die.

    “We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

    In His humanity, the Lord Jesus could feel the pull of enticement, as in the wilderness temptation wherein Satan presented the allure directed toward body, soul, and spirit (Matthew 4:1-11).  Our Savior overcame the devil’s challenge, as He did during His entire earthly lifetime.  This warrants a particularly grateful and solemn appreciation of all our Lord did to make possible our salvation.  Temptation did not merely annoy Him as a bothersome gnat flitting about His face.  He experienced it as do we ourselves, and perhaps more because Satan Himself directly confronted Him in ways we likely do not encounter.  The Lord Jesus overcame them all, every one of them, in more than three decades of challenge from the most cunning of enemies who found himself defeated over and over again.  “Christ hast suffered for us in the flesh” includes not only His death on the cross, but also the pains of never succumbing to temptation (I Peter 4:1).

    In one sense, the Gospel proclaims a breathtakingly simple proposition: Sin accrues wages.  Somebody has to pay them.  Somebody did.  We declare this to unbelievers who must humble themselves to believe a message offensive to all infected with “the pride of life” that deceives with the lie that we can live apart from He who “is… the life” (I John 2:16; John 14:6).  We share the same truth among ourselves, that we might grow in love and appreciation for One whose death for our sins made available His risen life for our righteousness - “raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:25).      Yes, “the wages of sin is death.”  Upon every reflection on the dark truth, let us first set our gaze upon the bright light that shines upon the One who paid them, that we might not have to.

“He paid a debt He did not owe, I owed a debt I could not pay, 

I needed someone to wash my sins away.

And now I sing a brand new song, Amazing Grace the whole day long.

Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay.

(“He Paid a Debt,” Ellis Crum)

“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

(I Peter 1:18-19)

Weekly Memory Verse

     Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.”

 (Romans 8:9)  

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Orange Moon Tuesday, May 5, 2026 The Father and the Son

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

The Father and the Son

    Dustin works for a company whose owner has been servicing our drains for more than thirty years.  The last time I saw him, he suffered great pain due to a back injury that made his difficult job particularly challenging.  Since that time, he underwent successful surgery that has made him “feel like a new man.”  You can literally see it in his face and demeanor.  I mentioned this to him, which led to at least five minutes of Dustin thanking God and the surgeons who fixed his back.

    I mostly remember this.  “I can’t even explain what it means to pick up my little boy and look him in the face!”  Dustin said the words with that something in the voice that only sounds from a loving parent. Being a father myself, albeit of adult children, Dustin’s statement resonated deep in my heart.  I have been there and done that on countless occasions with my children (and grandchildren), While they have grown beyond my capacity to do so now physically, I do it all the time in heart (so many memories flood my soul even as I type the words).  Of far greater import, Somebody else does the same in infinitely greater measure...

    “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

    From everlasting, God the Father has loved God the Son, who has loved Him in holy response.  “Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world… I love the Father” (John 17:24; 14:31).  We can know no more important truth and reality, even as Scripture declares, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name” (John 10:31). We enter into saving relationship with God by believing in the eternal relationship of the Father and Son, as revealed unto and within us by the Holy Spirit.  “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us” (Romans 5:5).  Little wonder that earthly parents find so much joy in our children, as with fathers like Dustin who can joyfully pick them up and look into their faces, or those who forever lift up sons and daughters in our hearts.

    “Jesus is the Son of God” (I John 4:15).  Forever will not suffice in full discovery of this “from everlasting to everlasting” wonder.  A relationship, which includes the Holy Spirit, has forever been and will forever be.  Our salvation begins by faith in this glorious reality: “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (Acts 8:37).  It continues thereby:  “Who is He that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God” (I John 5:5).  I will remember this when Dustin’s words come to heart and mind - “to pick up my little boy and look him in the face!”  Sublime, in the words of an earthly father.  Even more, let us ponder the wonder of a Heavenly Father, whose love for His Son comprises the very heart of reality from everlasting to everlasting.

“The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands.”

(John 3:35)

Weekly Memory Verse

     Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.”

 (Romans 8:9)  

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Orange Moon Tuesday, May 5, 2026 "The Enigma of God"

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

The Enigma of God"

    ”With all thy getting, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7).

     

    We cannot overemphasize the importance of engaging our minds to learn, especially the truth of God and His Word.  “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels” (Proverbs 1:5).  We prayerfully ask for knowledge and understanding, read and ponder the Scriptures, fellowship with other believers, avail ourselves of good literature, and choose to expect that “the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18).  

    Such response to truth notwithstanding, we begin and continue our search in the realization of mystery far beyond our capacity to solve, namely, the enigma of God Himself.

    “The King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen” (I Timothy 6:15-16).

    We seek that which transcends knowledge.  We begin and continue our quest with both revelation and mystery as our guide.  Indeed, the acknowledgment of that which can never begin to be fully known serves as a primary sensibility that prepares us for our quest to know.

    Consider perhaps the simplest truth about our Lord.  “God is one” (Galatians 3:20).  Basic, to the point, and understandable.  Unless… unless God also happens to be triune.

    “Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father" (II John 1:3).

     "Unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, o God, is forever and ever" (Hebrews 1:8).

     "But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own?  And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?  Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God" (Acts 5:3).

    The simplest truth about God drives us to our knees in the awareness that His light is both illuminating and blinding.  Indeed, the knowledge that “there is one God” may be the most elemental fact about Him we can know (I Timothy 2:5).  His triunity, however, tells us that as we rightly “get understanding,” we do so in the deep humility that the more we know, the more we realize we cannot fully know (I Corinthians 8:2).

   If “with all thy getting” we seek to know God and understand His truth, we will gratefully rejoice as His light shines upon and within us.  With every ray of illumination, however, bewilderment will accompany our seeing.  “Who is this that calls me to seek Him?  How can He be who and what He is?  How far past finding out are His ways?   How can One only so pristinely holy in righteousness be so sublimely lavish in grace?  And how is it that all discovery of His truth not only gloriously enlightens, but also shatteringly overwhelms?  How?  How? How?”  

    We will ask the questions forever.   Indeed, even with glorified sensibilities, the infinite glory of God awaits to thrill us all the more because we will better understand that which can never be fully understood.  Let us then seek “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8).  The more we find, the more we will know awaits to be found.  The search begins or continues in this moment as we respond to our Lord’s beckoning to the light and the enigma…

“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

     Ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.”

 (Romans 8:9)  

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