Orange Moon Thursday, July 31, 2025 "Good"

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

"Good" 

   

    

   Gather the finest hearts and minds of human history, give them 1,000 years to contemplate, consider together, and formulate an answer.  Then watch them fall to their knees in utter failure to more than begin to offer findings regarding what might appear to be as simple a statement as exists in the pages of the Bible…

    "The Lord is good" (Psalm 100:5).

    Infinite goodness comprises the being and nature of the living and true God of Scripture.  Regardless of how wondrous we discover our Lord to be in His Word and our personal experience of Him, an endless voyage into the glory of His heart awaits us.  Perfect unselfishness forms His being and guides His every word and action.  "Charity (love)… seeketh not her own" (I Corinthians 13:4; 5).  Whether in the bestowal of grace or the administration of judgment, God acts in perfect altruism and devotion to others.  He cannot be or do otherwise as the darkness of egoism has no place in the glory of who He is.

    The Lord Jesus Christ, of course, most revealed the nature of the triune God during His earthly lifetime.

    "He that sent Me is with Me: the Father hath not left Me alone; for I do always those things that please Him" (John 8:29).

    "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but minister and give His life a ransom for many" (John 20:28).

   The Lord Jesus did all He did devotion to His Father and to us, overcoming every temptation to selfishness He experienced during a lifetime of devilish and worldly challenge (Hebrews 4:15).  In so doing, He revealed the guiding motivation of otherness in God.  "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9).  The beauty of such a life graces the pages of Scripture to reveal the eternal glory of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in their devotion to one another, which now manifests in the love of God for us.

    "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world… And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17:24; 26).

    Of all that we can know about God, nothing more sanctifies us.  "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).  Our Lord defined the essence of His glory when Moses asked to see it.  "I will make all My goodness pass before thee" He answered (Exodus 33:19; emphasis added).  Wondrously, the glory of such sublime wonder now not only passes before believers, but dwells within us.  "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).  Thereby, we find the goodness of our Lord in the most unlikely venue of all, as the Apostle Paul testified, "It pleased God… to reveal His Son in me" (Galatians 1:15-16).  How good is God?  We will never fully know.  However, that He dwells within us to reveal His goodness, made possible through the most sorrowful of all sacrifices, surely tells us that our journey of discovery into His glory - His goodness - will never end.  

   A final thought.  I do not remember it often enough, but sometimes when I pray, a thought occurs to me.  "I am communicating with a Being of such infinite goodness that no selfish thought has ever found a place in His heart or mind."  Upon every such consideration, I pause and think, "How can I even utter a word to such a One?"  But then I remember that God in His goodness beckons me to do so.  The prayers that follow are never as they would have been apart from the remembrance of so simple a statement - the Lord is good - which bears a wonder so glorious that we will never more than begin to know its infinite measure.  

 

"Oh, how great is Thy goodness!"

(Psalm 31:19)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    I hate vain thoughts, but Thy law do I love.

(Psalm 119:113)

7541

 

Orange Moon Wednesday, July 30, 2025 “The Owner and Sole Proprietor”

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

"The Owner and Sole Proprietor"

  

   

    

   Peace ensues when we realize we do not belong to ourselves - a foolish and ill-fated notion - but rather to the One who made us, and who alone can effectually care for His own.

"I am Thine."

(Psalm 119:94)

    When Adam and Eve embraced the lie that "ye shall be as gods," the delusion and illusion of personal ownership and autonomy infected the heart of humanity (Genesis 3:5).  In a creation originated and sustained by God, and which relies upon Him in every second for continued existence, only one owner can be known as "the possessor of heaven and earth" (Colossians 1:17; Genesis 14:22).  Angels belong to Him, human beings belong to Him, and everything that exists belongs to Him.

    "The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1).

   This factual reality forever abides, whether we know and embrace it or not.  Our personal experience of reality, however, ebbs and flows in accordance with how well we affirm within our hearts that "ye are not your own" (I Corinthians 6:19).  Wisdom decrees that we  build and frequently return to the heart altar whereupon we sacrifice any notion that we bear the capacity to own and govern ourselves.  Thereby, we progressively walk in truth and reality rather than illusion and delusion.  The Psalmist's "I am thine" must pave the path of our lives, the only way of peace our feet can find, and the only haven of rest our hearts can know.  "I trusted in Thee, o Lord. I said, Thou art my God" (Psalm 31:14).

    Look for no peace apart from the growing realization of God as the sole proprietor of all things, and of ourselves.  Expect much peace as we remember and affirm that "we are His" (Psalm 100:3).  Moreover, born again believers belong to God personally, as part of His family through the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ as the indwelling life of our lives (Galatians 4:6).  This is peace indeed, the only peace possible in a lifetime and eternity where we joyfully acknowledge to the Owner and Sole Proprietor, "I am Thine."

"Yield yourselves unto God as those which are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."

(Romans 6:13)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    I hate vain thoughts, but Thy law do I love.

(Psalm 119:113)

7540

 

Orange Moon Tuesday, July 29, 2025 "Reasonable Service"

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

"Reasonable Service"

  

    "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1).

    Why is it reasonable to present our bodies to God for sacrifice and service?

     First, our bodies belong to Him.  "Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (I Corinthians 6:20).  The Lord Jesus Christ gave His body to the cross that our bodies might become the temple of His presence and working.  Indeed, the term "my body" is a misnomer in the most basic sense.  Our earthly members and faculties belong to our Heavenly Father for His purpose and working.  It is only reasonable, therefore, to acknowledge their true Owner, especially when considering the cost that redeemed us to God.

   Our bodies also do not function properly if we fail to present them to God.  We require His presence, leading, and enabling to act in a manner that leads to eternal benefit rather than mere gain in a fleeting earthly lifetime.  Consider that what we do in this day can have significance regarding forever as we affirm the truth and reality that our bodies are empowered by "the power of an endless life" (Hebrews 7:16).  The smallest act performed by the leading of the Holy Spirit as we present our bodies to Him will eternally sound and redound to the glory of God, the blessing of others, and our personal blessedness.  Fleeting fortune or eternal benefit?  The choice is ours, based on the choice to "present your bodies."

    Failure to acknowledge God's possession of our body leads to blindness and the failure to live in reality.  We grope in darkness as the conditions, appearances, and actions of "my body" govern our sensibilities.  Conversely, the light of Christ's peace leads us in assurance as we acknowledge His perfectly administered Lordship of that which can only be rightly considered as "His body."  We were made and redeemed to serve as stewards rather than owners.  Never will we view our bodies rightly in God's peace until we present them to Him for His glory and will.

    An often overlooked aspect of our bodies involves the Apostle Paul's stunning revelation: "If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin" (Romans 8;10).  Unlike our spirits united to the Holy Spirit, the bodies of believers do not yet dwell in the direct presence of God (I Corinthians 15:53-54).  Indeed, the challenges we face regarding our bodies do not suggest mere weakness.  The issue is rather death, that is, we cannot properly function apart from the risen life of Christ raising our faculties and members to act as God intends.  "If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:11).  Proper presentation of our bodies makes possible powerful performance, as energized by the Holy Spirit's administering the resurrection life of Christ therein.

    Finally, and perhaps most importantly, our bodies exist to reveal and honor their Maker, Redeemer, and Owner.  We do not possess brains, hearts, hands, feet, and all the components of our "fearfully and wonderfully made" earthly frame for our own benefit (Psalm 139:14).  Believing and acting otherwise involves the most unreasonable service imaginable in an existence wherein "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1).  We shall never get far in truth, reality, faith, service, peace, and joy until we loosen the grip on ourselves and our bodies as if we hold the deed upon them.  We do not, we never have, and we never will.  Yes, for the glory of God, the Psalmist of the Old Testament declared in simplest terms the truth of the Apostle's New Testament declaration regarding our most reasonable service…

"I am Thine."

(Psalm 119:94)

Weekly Memory Verse 

    I hate vain thoughts, but Thy law do I love.

(Psalm 119:113)

7539