Orange Moon Tuesday, March 24, 2026 "Why?"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"Why?" 

    What we do matters much.  Why we do it matters more.

    "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity (love), it profiteth me nothing" (I Corinthians 13:3).

    The challenge of this truth - and the blessing - involves the fact that we cannot independently form and maintain our proper motivations.  Much influences the reasons for why we do what we do.  This is especially true regarding the will of God, the greatest challenge of our existence.  The path to which He calls us requires His presence, involvement, and working in our hearts to ensure that our "Why?" accompanies our "What?"  Scripture does call us to purify our heart and souls (James 4:8; I Peter 1:22).  The means by which we accomplish this, however, requires faith in our Heavenly Father's working:

   "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.  And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure" (I John 3:2-3).

   Hope in God's progressive process to conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ maintains our assurance regarding both our "What?" and our "Why?"  

    "Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).

   The Holy Spirit moves within believers to motivate and enable the sincerity that must accompany our actions. God alone sees into the innermost depths of our being to determine our "Why?"  Therein, He alone can accomplish the purification of our reasons and motivations.  As the Apostle John declares, we cooperate by our hope in the Lord's working, purifying ourselves as by faith we "work out" that which He "works in" (Philippians 2:13).  "Search me, o God, and know my heart" requested the Psalmist in one of the wisest prayers ever uttered (Psalm 139:23).  We do well to echo David, frequently seeking our Father's examination not only of what we do, but of why we do it.

"Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins (mind) and my heart."

(Psalm 26:2)

Weekly Memory Verse 

   He that is entered into His rest, he hath ceased from His own works, as God did from His.

 (Hebrews 4:10)

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Orange Moon. Monday, March 23, 2026 "Grace and Peace"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"Grace and Peace" 

    "Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 1:7).

    Only God's freely given favor in the Lord Jesus - grace - received by faith in His death, burial, and resurrection, results in true peace.  Indeed, one can be in optimum health, have a good family and many friends, seek to live a moral life, enjoy a successful career, beautiful home, and all the world seems to offer.  Apart from redeeming relationship with God through, however, "there is no peace, saith my God to the wicked" (Isaiah 57:21).

    Deep within every unbelieving heart, the Holy Spirit bears witness to the unsettling truth of being "alienated from the life of God" (Ephesians 4:18).  Many allow the aforementioned blessings to distract from their dire need.  Others find different diversions as a means of ignoring the "no peace" condition of a heart empty of the Presence for which it was made.  "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts" (Psalm 10:4).

    The world can be viewed as the converted, those who have received God's freely given favor through the Lord Jesus, and the condemned, those who will not trust in Christ and Christ alone as the hope for peace with God.  "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (I John 3:18).  Salvation involves the great humbling of the human heart steeped in pride and self sufficiency.  Satan's "ye shall be as gods" lie runs deep in all until the Gospel is believed and the Lord Jesus is received (Genesis 3:5).  No real peace is possible apart from the reception of grace whereby the sinner's heart sings, "Nothing in my hands I bring, only to Thy cross I cling" ("The Old Rugged Cross" - George Bennard).  Pride dissolves in the moment of the new birth, replaced by the humility that kneels to affirm the Prince of peace as our only hope for peace.  "He that is entered into His rest, he hath ceased from His own works, as God did from His" (Hebrews 4:10).

    Either "accepted in the Beloved" or "alienated from the life of God" (Ephesians 1:6; 4:18).  One either receives God's grace and its blessed bestowal of peace, or he remains in the deep inner turmoil of "no peace… to the wicked.  Moreover, the believer grows in the experience of Christ as He grows in grace.  Little wonder then that all of the Apostle Paul's epistles begin with the salutation of grace in the Lord Jesus and its blessed assurance of peace.

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

(Ephesians 5:1-2)

Weekly Memory Verse 

   He that is entered into His rest, he hath ceased from His own works, as God did from His.

 (Hebrews 4:10)

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Orange Moon Saturday, March 21, 2026. "Days of Old"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"Days of Old"

    As a young man, I worked for several years at a large business in our city.  I enjoyed the job and the people, and found many opportunities for ministry during my years at the establishment.

   After leaving the job in 1984, I have rarely seen or been in contact with any of the people with whom I worked.  I find it sad that close associations and even friendships in the workplace usually vanish when employment changes.  People with whom we once communicated daily become memories, or are perhaps forgotten altogether as new venues of life fill our minds.  In some cases, this involves sad farewells to those who became friends as well as fellow laborers.

   Thankfully, born again believers have opportunity to impact people who have become memories.  We can stay in touch with them, of course, in these days of so many means of communication.  We also maintain communication with God for them.  We can pray.  This has been my practice for people of the aforementioned establishment that so long ago became a memory.

   "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men" (I Timothy 2:1).

   People do not enter our lives by accident, nor do they leave to escape our continued prayerful involvement.  I think back on the people at the aforementioned business with the knowledge that they played a God-determined role in my life.  Moreover, I still have a God-determined role in their lives.  I remember many names and faces, and for others, the One to whom I direct my intercessions knows each and every person with whom I worked.  On occasion, I give thanks for all, naming those I specifically I remember, and trusting the Lord knows the others.  I consider this a blessed privilege as prayerful recollection brings to heart and mind memories of blessed times and people.

    When we realize that memories are meant to be more than memories,  the Holy Spirit leads us to pray.  The people of our past crossed our paths for a reason.  Their footsteps, imprinted in our minds and on our hearts, remain for a reason.  We can seek God's grace for them in the present, with thanksgiving for their role in our past.  What a gift, what a privilege, and what a responsibility as our Lord weaves His redeeming work in the present along remembered pathways of the past.

"I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of Thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto Thee.

(Psalm 143:5-6)

Weekly Memory Verse 

   O send out Thy light and Thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy tabernacles.  Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.

(Psalm 43:3-4)

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