Orange Moon Thursday, October 17, 2024 "Love and Truth - a Defined Path"

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

"Love and Truth - a Defined Path"

  

   

     If "God is love," then our understanding and experience of love must be defined according to His nature, character, and way (I John 4:8; 16).  Anything other or less will not meet the test of reality and truth.

   "And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it" (II John 1:6).

    To "walk after His commandments" means that we have known the love of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, have received His love into our hearts through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and are thereby being guided and empowered to live by faith in the promises, and obedience to the mandates of Scripture.  We walk a defined path of love that reflects the character and nature of the Lord Jesus, as revealed in the Bible.

   "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).

    "Walk, even as He walked" (Romans 5:5).

    "Lead me in Thy truth… Thy Word is truth" (Psalm 25:5; John 17:17).

   The Apostle Paul offered a vital prayer in this regard for the Philipppian believers of His day:

   "For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.  And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ" (Philippians 1:8-10).

   It is one thing to desire to love God and others.  It is another to do so according to "knowledge and all judgment."  How can we ensure that our attitudes, words, and actions flow with the current of genuine love, as proceeding in us from the Fount of all genuine devotion?   Scripture informs us as we seek confirmation and correction by the Holy Spirit's application of its truth to our hearts and minds.  "Order my steps in Thy Word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me" (Psalm 119:133).  To walk even as Christ walked in the love of God requires His personal indwelling within our hearts, and His propositional illumination of our minds.  We require both the living Word and the written Word.  Otherwise, we will misinterpret love in understanding, and misapply our false concept in life.

   The Apostle John's twice- repeated affirmation that "God is love" requires the entirety of Scripture for definition and the enabling of our proper response to this most sublime of all truths.  No issue of our being and existence compares with this privileged responsibility to know the love of God, as confirmed by the first two commandments:

   "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these" Mark 12:30-31).

    The Spirit of God and the Scriptures of God unite to reveal the love of God.  Only thereby can we be sure we are living in the light of our Lord's primary character and nature.  Devotion to both will guide us in our quest of ongoing discovery, and our life of genuine love for God and others.  Yes, love and truth exist as united realities in His heart and way, as they must in ours…

"Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love."

(II John 1:3)

Weekly Memory Verse

    "For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh."

(II Corinthians 4:11).

       

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Orange Moon Wednesday, October 16, 2024 "I Will Look"

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

"I Will Look"

  

   

   What will the God who works all things together for the good of those who love Him do in our hearts and lives today? (Romans 8:28).

    First - and foremost - we will not realize and comprehend most of His doings on our behalf.  Job referred to God's doings as "past finding out… wonders without number" (Job 9:10).  This refers to His working in the entirety of a marvelously vast creation through the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  

    "O Lord, how manifold (many) are Thy works!  In wisdom hast Thou made them all. The earth is full of Thy riches" (Psalm 104:24).

    God's "wonders without number" also refer to our personal lives that will find Him doing far more than we can imagine or perceive.  In a lifetime wherein we "walk by faith, not by sight," we cannot possibly know more than a sliver of of the grace our Heavenly Father will administer for us, within us, and through us in this day (II Corinthians 5:7).  Thus, we thank Him for the immeasurable multitude of His doings we cannot see, as well as those we can.

   Regarding the working of God's heart and hand that can be known, we do well to ask for open eyes and and an expectant heart.  "I will look for Him" declared the prophet (Isaiah 8:17).  We do well to join our brother of old, realizing that we possess advantages Isaiah did not have.  The indwelling Holy Spirit, the completed Word of God, and the fellowship of believers indwelt by the risen Christ prepare us for a clearer view of God's presence and involvement than than the saints of previous dispensations could have imagined.  We better know how God works, and while we cannot begin to perceive all of His doings, we can know some, and we can know more.  "The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth" (I John 2:8).

   Expect God.  He will be awaiting us along every pathway, and He will not be still in His doings on our behalf.  We will perceive little of all He accomplishes as an infinitely involved Father devoted to our well being.  However, we can all know much more than we have known, and as we determine to see, our Lord will determine to honor our anticipation of faith.  Isaiah looked and saw in days of great darkness and limitation.  In our day of the true light shining, we will see far more as by faith we set our gaze to behold the greatest reality that exists in this present world, and in the world to come…

"The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."

(Psalm 33:5)

"They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed."

(Psalm 34:5)

"The path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day."

(Proverbs 4:18)

   

Weekly Memory Verse

    "For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh."

(II Corinthians 4:11).

       

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Orange Moon Tuesday, October 15, 2024 "The Gospel For Believers"

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

"The Gospel For Believers"

  

   

   The Lord Jesus Christ serves as the standard for what a human being should be in character, thought, attitude, word, and deed.

    "Walk even as He walked" (I John 2:6).

   We tend to compare ourselves with other human beings as the measure of whether we are what we ought to be.  This constitutes a far more comfortable evaluation than seeing ourselves in the light of Christ.  Indeed, we may think, rightly or wrongly, that we match up fairly well against Joe down the street.  But compared to the Lord Jesus, seated in the Heavenlies at the right hand of God in perfect devotion and faithfulness?  How can we ever be like Him, especially considering His singular existence as the God who became man, and the man who remains God? (I Timothy 3:16).  In this most exalted sense, there is no one in Heaven or earth like the Lord Jesus, nor will there ever be.

   Christlikeness, of course, depends on Christ's presence.  God made us to serve as the temple of His Son through the indwelling Holy Spirit who works to reveal in born again believers "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).  Never can we merely seek to emulate our Savior by our own dedication, determination, and discipline.  Again, consider the standard: "walk even as He walked."  We cannot even see the summit of this spiritual and moral mountain of being and behavior, much less ascend in an expedition that fails before our first step.  Someone else must rather motivate, guide, and empower our journey, namely, the mountain Himself.  "I will dwell in them" He promises, and even more, "I will walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16; emphasis added).  Yes, the Lord Jesus who died for us - the Gospel for unbelievers - now lives in us - the Gospel for believers (Galatians 4:13; Romans 16:25).  

   In every aspect and venue of our lives, the Summit beckons us.  If honest, our hope for ascent must be descent to the knees of our hearts in remembrance of our Lord's stark declaration - "without Me, my can do nothing" (John 15:5).  The Spirit of God then lifts us up to see the possibility for a life lived beyond our own capability - "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).  Nothing without Him.  This means not even a step of ascent unto the holy mount of our Lord's character and way.  All things through Him - such grace assures our path upward in this day as Christ lives in us, and we live through Him.  The Spirit of God and the Word of God ever beckon us to affirm the Gospel for believers, namely, the good news of a Savior and a Lord who serves as the very Life of our lives.  We walk even as He walked as we remember and affirm that He continues to walk.  Now, however, He walks not merely with disciples, but rather within sons and daughters who believed the Gospel in the new birth, and continue to believe the Gospel in the life we live…

"Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father."

(Galatians 4:6)

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen."

(Hebrews 13:20-21)

Weekly Memory Verse

    "For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh."

(II Corinthians 4:11).

       

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