Orange Moon Thursday, January 8, 2026 "Seems. Is."

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

  

"Seems.  Is,"   

  

      

    We can live by the "seem."  Or we can live by the "is."

    "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24).

   

    Whatever God has revealed of Himself and His involved presence and working in all things constitutes the righteous judgment of "is."  That which we comprehend by our human understanding and perceive by our senses forms the "seem."  We must build an altar within our hearts to sacrifice the seem in order to embrace and affirm the is.  This leads us to the Scriptures, of course.  What does the Word of God declare about the matters of life, regardless of what appearances and perceptions suggest?  The question presents itself in countless ways as we navigate life in a fallen world, and more to the point, along the pathways of God's providence.

   "I am… the truth" (John 14:6).

    "God… worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:3; 11).

     How true are these statements?  "Seem" would tell us that they sometimes apply to the matters of life.  "Is" declares that our Heavenly Father works in all things to glorify and reveal the Lord Jesus Christ, His "eternal purpose" (Ephesians 3:11).  How He does so we do not know in countless aspects of His involvement.  That He does so is as sure as the perfect veracity of His Word.  "Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17).  

    The cross of Calvary assures us of the truth of "is."   The worst thing that ever occurred in history transpired as the working of God's heart and hand, amid the utterly sinful actions of human hearts and hands.  Nothing compares to Calvary in the horror of its sin and its devilish and human consequences, which God did not cause (James 1:13).  God nevertheless moved in mercy to make possible the best thing of our salvation.  "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself" (II Corinthians 5:19).  "Seem" does not reveal this, bearing witness only to the surface aspects that are real and have consequences, but which do not constitute the greatest reality of all things, namely, the "is" of God's presence, involvement, and working in the worst thing that, for believers, became the best thing.

   As we apply the "is" of the cross to all other things, we see by faith the providence of God.  "Seem" does not and cannot reveal this.  May the Lord lead us to His Word, which bears witness to His working in all things.  And may the "seem" of appearance lead us to remember and affirm the "is" of God's truth and "righteous judgment."

"For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever, Amen."
(Romans 11:36)

Weekly Memory Verse

    We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

(II Corinthians 4:18).

   

   

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