Orange Moon Saturday, June 27, 2026 "Get To"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“Get To”

      

    I’ll never forget the moment many years ago when I mentioned to Frances about our service schedule for the day.  “We have to go to…”

     Instantly, a corrective thought occurred to me.  “No, Frances, we get to go to…”  

    Scripture confirms.

   “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41).

    Certainly, our privileged responsibility that day did not compare with the Lord’s first century followers’ challenge and suffering.  It did, however, grant opportunity to realize the blessing and power of “We get to” rather than “We have to.”  This truth applies to all done in God's vineyard, be it everyday duties and chores, or opportunities for ministry and service in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  If what we do occurs in His presence and by His leading and enabling, everything in our life becomes both privilege first, and then responsibility.  In Biblical terms, this means grace first, and then the response of faith and obedience.   “Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28).

   Excepting sin, let us apply this to everything in our lives.  Perhaps the best way to plant and nurture the truth in our hearts involves the remembrance of what we all rightly deserve.  “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).   Anything that does not involve the wrath and judgment of God we all rightly deserve must be viewed in terms of the most undeserved grace, especially when we consider the cost that made it possible.    “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh” (Peter 3:18).   As a good friend responds when asked how he is doing,  “Better than I deserve!”  “I get to” coincides well with this response that bears witness to God’s wondrous mercy bestowed upon us through the Lord Jesus.

   “I get to” serves as one of the most life changing sensibilities our hearts can embrace.  We will not remember it always, and many challenges will confront the truth of responsibility viewed first as privilege.  However, nothing could more align with Biblical truth or our proper response of faith.  Moreover, nothing will more reveal the peace and joy of Christ in our hearts as we remember how His acknowledged presence changes everything we do in Him, by Him, with Him, and through Him.  “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, and not to men” (Colossians 3:23).   Yes, we get to.

“Ye serve the Lord Christ.”

(Colossians 3:24)

Weekly Memory Verse

      And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

(Matthew 13:58)

    

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Orange Moon Friday, June 26, 2026 “The Impossible, Made Possible”

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“The Impossible, Made Possible”

      

    “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Ephesians 4:1-2).

    The worthy walk of the believer involves steps of “lowliness and meekness… long-suffering… forbearing one another in love” that clearly reflect the One in whom we believe.

   “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).

   In order to reflect, we must absorb.  Christ must live in us, which He does in every believer (Romans 8:9).  We must also walk in fellowship with our Lord, whereby the Light that shines upon and within us becomes the glory that glimmers by us.  We do not become like Christ as a matter of mere imitation, which would must surely be realized as the most impossible of all endeavors we could ever undertake.  “Walk, even as He walked” as a matter of emulation? (I John 2:6).  Even a cursory reading of Scripture drives us to our knees and faces as we consider the infinitely sublime glory of the Lord Jesus regarding His character, nature, and way.  Thus, His light must shine upon us, within us, and through us as a miracle of grace if we are to “walk as children of light”…

   “Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear” (Ephesians 5:8; Hebrews 12:28).

    Consider.  We awoke this morning with the command of Scripture mandating that we live as Christ lived.  The Spirit of God beckoned us to think, speak, act, and relate as did our wondrous Lord.  Our only proper response must have been - whether physically, figuratively, or both - to fall to our knees in stark realization that we bear no capacity in and of ourselves to take even the first step of such a seemingly impossible journey.  Indeed, the journey is literally impossible.  Unless… unless the light of the Lord Jesus shines upon and within us to make possible our absorption and reflection.  It does… “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).  Thus, we arise from our knees in the faith and confidence that the worthy walk to which God calls us can be fulfilled because He has given to the perfectly worthy Spirit of His Son to dwell within us and shine through us (Galatians 4:6).

    “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).

   Ever and always, the dynamic confession of the Christian declares, “I cannot… I can… through Christ!” (John 15:5; Philippians 4:13).  No other hope exists for the worthy walk to which God calls us.  No other is required.  We awoke to this day with the highest calling imaginable beckoning us to a life only possible by the light of our Lord’s life shining upon us and within us.  Absorb.  Reflect.  Walk worthy.  This is the life of the believer, an impossible journey made possible by the life of the Lord Jesus as He fulfills His promise of grace…

“I will dwell in them and walk in them.”

(II Corinthians 6:16)

Weekly Memory Verse

      And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

(Matthew 13:58)

    

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Orange Moon Thursday, June 25, 2026 "Perfect Heart, Perfect Way"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe

“Perfect Heart, Perfect Way”

      

    However God may work in our lives, and however finely tuned we conclude His involvement to be in accordance with His Word, we must take every precaution to never directly or implicitly assign sin or evil to the righteous, holy, and perfect Lord of all things.

   "He is the Rock, His work is perfect.  His ways are judgment.  Without iniquity is He, just and right is He" (Deuteronomy 32:4).

     Nor only will God not sin.  He cannot sin. Governed in holiness by the pristinely pure nature of who He is, our Lord dwells in a righteousness that precludes anything but complete consecration to His spiritual and moral perfection.  Thus, He will not and cannot cause sin, or even tempt others to sin.  James states the matter in unmistakable terms:

   "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren" (James 1:13-16).

      James clearly warns that we do not make the mistake of assigning evil and sin as originating with God in any way, shape, or form.   This is a mistake we cannot make in our doctrine, understanding, and response to our perfect Lord.  To do so would render the Bible as untrue, and its God as either nonexistent or false in His revelation of Himself.  Our confidence in Biblical truth would vanish if the Lord of Scripture were not who He declares Himself to be, and if it were not true that "As for God, His way is perfect” (II Samuel 22:31).

       "The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works" (Psalm 145:17).

   Are our lives so finely tuned by God that "all things work together for good to them that love God?"  Unequivocally, yes! (Romans 8:28).  But not in the sense that the sins of others or ourselves originate with Him.  They do not because they cannot.  Thus, as we seek to understand how our Heavenly Father works in all things, and how nothing approaches us apart from His promised involvement, we ponder the truth with much care.  We must not besmirch God’s character, His perfect character.  We cannot err in this matter as we seek to rightly know and communicate our Lord and His truth.  We rather determine to bear witness to the perfection of His way - His perfect way - fulfilled amid the imperfections of a fallen creation.  How He does this, no one knows.  That He does this we know with absolute certainty, based on God’s flawless character, integrity, truth, and virtue.  Perfect heart indeed, and perfect way.

   

"My tongue shall speak of Thy righteousness and of Thy praise all the day long."

(Psalm 35:28)

Weekly Memory Verse

      And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

(Matthew 13:58)

    

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