Orange Moon Friday, February 27, 2026 "The Endless Pursuit"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"The Endless Pursuit"   

     A reporter recently asked the best professional golfer in the world, "How good are you?"  Scottie Scheffler shook his head, smiled, and responded, "I don't know… The game is about an endless puruit of striving to get better."  

    This was the perfect answer for any human endeavor.  We cannot completely quantify talents or skills.  Of far greater consequence, if we were asked, "How well do you know the Lord?," or, "How faithful are you to Him?," the answer could only be, "I do not know.  Relationship with God involves an endless pursuit to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18).  Only our Heavenly Father could answer at any moment the question of our knowledge of Him, the understanding of His truth, and the walk with Him that ensues.  And He does not divulge His evaluation.

    The "endless pursuit" must form our resolve and determination.  Wherever we are along the path of righteousness, God beckons us to come further, promising grace for the journey.  It is this beckoning and enabling that must form our first awareness of how to proceed. 

    "When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek" (Psalm 27:8).

   If at any point the Holy Spirit suspended the communication of "Seek ye My face" and His strength promised for the pursuit, our quest would end.   We forever exist as responders to the Initiator of relationship and fellowship, a truth we must know and in which we must abide.  "We love Him because He first loved us" began our responsive devotion to God (I John 4:19).  The same sequence presently and forever continues, a truth that serves as the most motivating of all encouragements in our walk with God.  To be His faithful sons and daughters requires His faithful fatherhood, both in fact and in our awareness thereof.  At no point do we know how well we have responded.  At every point, however, we know how well He initiates:  "As for God, His way is perfect" (II Samuel 22:31).

    God knows how well we know Him.  Whatever His evaluation, He works in us to "draw nigh" in the realization of how closely He has drawn to us (James 4:8).  The endless pursuit beckons us, namely, God's endless pursuit that motivates and empowers our own.  "Come further" beckons the Holy Spirit to those who have begun the journey through faith in the Lord Jesus.  He will lead us to His Word, to communion with our Father through prayer, to fellowship with other believers, and to the expectation and realization of His presence along the pathways of providence.  In the light of such grace, may we join the Psalmist in the endless pursuit for which we were born and born again...

"My soul followeth hard after Thee. Thy right hand upholdeth me."

(Psalm 63:8)

"I will love Thee, o Lord my strength."

(Psalm 18:1)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 

(I John 5:4)

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Orange Moon Thursday, February 26, 2026 "Conviction and Humility"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

"Conviction and Humility"   

     "I am right!  And everybody else is wrong!"

     It may be that some have thought this at points in human history and been correct in their assessment.  But rarely, and perhaps never.

    "And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know" (I Corinthians 8:2).

    Confidence of conviction is a fine and good thing when one has spent the time and attention to consider a matter enough to have an opinion.  It remains true, however, that humility must accompany every view we hold about every issue.  Consider perhaps the simplest truth the Bible affirms…

    "There is one God" (I Timothy 2:5).

    Nothing could seem more basic and to the point regarding the truth of all truths… unless the one God of Scripture happens to be triune.

    "Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation" (Psalm 89:26).  

    "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?... Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God" (Acts 2:4-5).

    In this sublime and unfathomable light of the Bible's plainly declared Trinity, simplicity does not vanish.  It remains true that we can confidently consider and affirm the elementary fact of God as one.  However, we must also fall before Him in the wonder of three glorious Persons dwelling as a triunity in the unity.  Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ confess without compromise that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist as distinct entities of divinity, even as we maintain the strongest monotheistic position.   Scripture demands bold belief and confession of both the One and the Three.  However, our confident boldness proceeds from a position not of arrogance, but from the humility that speaks on this wise…

    "I believe, and I have much confidence in my position based on the revelation of Scripture.  God is both one and triune.  However, to whatever degree I understand this truth, I also realize I do not begin to fully know what this means.  Nor will I ever."

   Regarding the matter of being right and wrong, if the foundational truth of God's existence leads us to both confidence and humility, all other truths will surely follow suit.  We may indeed be correct and many others incorrect regarding a matter.  If, however, we dwell too much on the perceived supremacy of our conviction, failing to remember we know nothing perfectly or completely, we declare our opinion from a crumbling foundation of pride.  True conviction resides both now and forever in human hearts with its companion of humility.  Never will one be found without the other, and never will true belief be found anywhere in the vicinity of pride.

    "I am right and everybody else is wrong!"  Maybe.  But highly doubtful.  And absolutely certain that the accompanying attitude will not be found anywhere close to truth as the Bible reveals and defines.  True conviction ventures nowhere without humility, nor does genuine humility reside in our hearts apart from the truth as known in the Lord Jesus.  Through Him, we may certainly walk in confident faith, and through Him we will no less walk in proper humility.

"When pride cometh, then cometh shame, but with the lowly is wisdom."

(Proverb 11:2)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 

(I John 5:4)

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