Orange Moon Monday, July 27, 2026 “That Which We Have Never Seen"

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

 

    

“That Which We Have Never Seen"

   

       No human being has ever seen his or her own face.  We see reflections in mirrors, of course, and perhaps in the still and glassy waters of a pond or lake.  But never have we seen our own face, God having embedded our eyes into their sockets in a posture that directs them to look away from our own visage.

    This tells us much about the perspective for which our Lord created us.  

    “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith… Look not every man on his own things, but also on the things of others" (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 2:4).

    Great peace, the peace of God's own character, fills our hearts when through Christ we join Him in seeking not our own blessing, but the blessing of others.  We were made for this, and when Adam and his race acted in selfishness, the Lord acted in selflessness to redeem unto this upward, outward, and away gaze of His character, nature, and way.  "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sin…  The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (I John 4:10 Romans 5:5).  

    Our flesh presently rebels against this truth and reality (Galatians 5:17).  Moreover, the devil and the world seek to invert our focus, tempting us to direct our attention to the unholy trinity of "I, me, and my" that blinds us to the love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Self-centeredness and either pride or self-pity result from our wayward gaze.  Most importantly, if we succumb to the temptation, we fail to behold the Light that illuminates the glory of God in His unselfish devotion to others.  “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (I John 4:9).

      Our eyes help us to see the truth and reality of our existence, namely, peace lies in devotion to God and others.  He made and redeemed for this through Christ.  “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5).  By His leading and enabling, we therefore determine to direct our gaze upward, outward, and away to His glory and the needs of others.  Peace inevitably results as the love of God progressively delivers us from the self-centered focus that blinds us to truth and reality.  Never indeed have we seen our own face.  Nor will we ever, which tells us much about the One who made us in His own image, and which also reveals the Christ-centered heart of His purpose in our lives.

"The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many.”

 (Matthew 20:28)

“Walk, even as He walked.”
(I John 2:6)

"The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them."

(Psalm 20:12)

Weekly Memory Verse

    The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many.

 (Matthew 20:28)

    

7855

 

 

Orange Moon Saturday, July 25, 2026 "To Reign In Life"

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

 

    

“To Reign in Life"

   

       Our memory verse this week declares that born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ receive in order to reign.

    "They which receive abundance of grace and of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17).

   Clearly, when life seems to overwhelm us, the issue does not involve the measure or mode of the trial, but whether we have availed ourselves of God’s freely given “abundance of grace and righteousness” in Christ.  Have we trusted God with our hearts in the faith, submission, and expectation that He will faithfully fulfill His assurance that we can reign, as opposed to being overwhelmed by our challenges?  History confirms that countless saints of God have known His peace in their hearts amid circumstance, condition, and situation that would seem to make such assurance impossible.  The martyrs of the church would all arise to affirm that grace in Christ led them through their earthly departure in His peace as they journeyed through “the valley of the shadow of death” with the Lord’s promise of “Thou art with me” sounding and resounding in their hearts (Psalm 23:4).

   Do we believe that to“reign in life by one, Jesus Christ?” is possible?  If not, we cast aspersions not on ourselves, but rather on the God who promises and provides such grace.  As the Lord Jesus declared, it requires but a mustard seed of faith to not only climb mountains of hindrance, but to clear them altogether (Matthew 17:20).  If we do believe, we will continue to experience the challenges and temptations that walking by faith always involves.  “Cast down” confessed the Apostle Paul of times when life battered him in soul and body.   However, amid the pain and perplexities of his life and ministry, Paul saw the opportunity to reign that being cast down provided.  “But not destroyed!” he exulted as God faithfully fulfilled His promise to reveal Christ’s triumph of the heart (II Corinthians 4:9).  We reign in life by remembering and affirming the risen life of Christ, so abundantly imparted to us that Paul declared, “Ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God” (Colossians 2:12).

    The Apostle John joins Paul in proclaiming the triumph of the Lord Jesus, whose tomb is empty, whose throne is occupied, and whose reign does not yet appear outwardly in the world.  No, He reigns in the hearts of all who believe, and who seek to consistently and increasingly discover the truth and triumph of…

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” 

(I John 5:4-5)

Weekly Memory Verse

   "They which receive abundance of grace and of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”

(Romans 5:17)

    

7854