Orange Moon "The Eternal Voyage"

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

 

"The Eternal Voyage"      

   

    Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ initiates an eternal voyage into the "love of Christ, which passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19).

 

    No possibility exists of our ever completely arriving at a destination that ends our journey into the loving character, nature, and way of God.  Wonders ever await us in far greater mode and measure than anything we have yet experienced.   All flow with the current and course of knowing, understanding, receiving, and applying the "unsearchable riches" of the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:8).

 

    The eternal voyage began in the moment we trusted the Lord Jesus.   It continues in this day.  Indeed, in some way, God graces every born again believer with the potential to daily grow in our discovery of what it means that "God is love... of what it means that God so loved the world... of what it means that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us … of what it means that the Son of God loved me… of what it means to love Him because He first loved us… of what it means to walk in love as Christ also hath loved us… of what it means that God loves us as He loves His Son… and of what it means that the love of Christ passeth knowledge" (I John 4:8; John 3:16; Romans 5:5; Galatians 2:20; I John 4:19; John 17:23; Ephesians 3:19).

 

    This consideration offers to us what must surely be the most thrilling thought imaginable to our hearts.  Namely, regardless of how well or how much of God's love we presently know, the voyage has always just begun.  By definition, a love that "passeth knowledge" will forever offer new vistas of discovery, wonder, worship, and joyous experience.  We sail upon what one poet termed a "shoreless ocean" as we journey ever onward into the character and nature of love that comprises God's essence.  "Come and see" ever beckons the Holy Spirit to the Blood-washed and Spirit-enlivened who have already known the love of God, but who forever have fresh scenes of His glory to behold (John 1:46).

 

    When first seeing the Lord Jesus, the Apostle Paul asked the sublimely perfect question he still doubtless asks, and the question we do well to echo: "Who art Thou, Lord?"  (Acts 9:5).  Paul discovered the answer to be love.  Moreover, he discovered that no final or complete answer is, or ever will be, available to any seeking heart.  Thus, we do well from our earthly vantage point to ask the question day by day, and to rejoice with every new discovery that we will never arrive at a final destination of our eternal voyage into the love that now and forevermore "passeth knowledge."

 

"And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God."

(II Thessalonians 3:5)

 

Weekly Memory Verse

    Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

(Psalm 112:4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Orange Moon "Things Revealed, Things Concealed"

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

 

"Things Revealed, Things Concealed"      

   

    Our God is the great communicator, to the degree the Lord Jesus Christ is "the Word" who was "made flesh" in order to "declare (reveal) Him" (John 1:1; 14; 18).

 

    That being said, it is also the case that Solomon wrote, " It is the glory of God to conceal a thing" (Proverbs 25:2).  Our Lord reveals much of Himself and His truth through creation, His Word, His church, and by His Spirit.  However, He also withholds much, based on His glory and our needs.  If it were possible for us to know everything God knows, we would invariably put our hands where they don't belong and make a mess of His doings.  Moreover, if we knew all regarding His working to provide for us, protect us, and fulfill His will in our lives, the temptation would confuse and bewilder us to the degree we could never have true peace.  So, our Heavenly Father reveals those things we need to know, and conceals those things that best remain hidden from our awareness.  

 

   "The path of the just is as the shining light… He hath set darkness in my paths" (Proverbs 4:18; Job 19:8).

 

    As we frequently suggest in these messages, we can know much and we can know more.  But we can never know all.  We therefore do well to follow another ray of light offered by Solomon: "With all thy getting, get understanding" (Proverbs 4:7).  Every sincere believer must admit that we "know nothing yet as we ought to know" because we have not sought our Lord and truth well enough (I Corinthians 8:2).  Indeed, when we are concerned about God's ways we don't understand, our best response is to focus on ways that have been and are available to us, but we don't know because we have not looked well enough.  An honest confession might be in order:

 

    "Heavenly Father, I have given much attention to matters You don't seem likely to explain.  I have also given too little attention to light that surely awaits me in Your Word, and by Your Spirit's illumination.  Forgive me for both my presumption and my neglect."

 

   Much awaits us of our Lord's abundant communication to our hearts and minds.  And much awaits us of matters we would like to better understand, but likely will not.  We therefore do well to seek, and to rest.  Believers ever live on a "need to know" basis with our Lord.  Our path will shine with bright light as we keep our eyes open.  And, in matters of darkness, we will also see the Light that reveals our Father can be trusted when He offers explanation - and when He doesn't.

 

"Thou wilt show me the path of life."

(Psalm 16:11)

"Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous."

(Psalm 112:4)

 

Weekly Memory Verse

    Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

(Psalm 112:4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Orange Moon “To Not See, To Not Hear, To Not Touch”

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

 

"To Not See, To Not Hear, To Not Touch"      

 

 

   In our present life, seeing, hearing, and touching the Lord Jesus Christ in physical terms would greatly hinder and even harm our walk with the Lord.

 

   "We walk by faith, not by sight" (II 5:7).

 

    Many years ago, in a church discussion with several believers, a young man made the statement, "If I could see the Lord Jesus Christ like the disciples saw Him, I would walk with God a lot better."  I tried to be gentle in my response because the fellow meant well and his perspective certainly seemed true.  "Actually," I said, "the disciples reveal to us that in our present life, not seeing, hearing, or touching the Lord leads to a greater response of faith and faithfulness."  I proceeded to chronicle the frequent failures of the disciples when the Lord Jesus was visibly, audibly, and tangibly present with them, from fear, to boastful arrogance, to dismissal of others, and finally to Mark's sad indictment regarding the disciples' cowardly flight at the time of their Master's suffering and death:  "They all forsook Him and fled" (Mark 14:50).  

 

   "Contrast this," I continued, "with Biblical historians' belief that after the Lord left them, every disciple other than John (and Judas, of course), eventually gave his life in martyrdom for the Lord Jesus.  This supplies much evidence that in our present earthly lives, not seeing the Lord provides a better foundation for faith and faithfulness than seeing Him offers."

 

   It does.  At this time, we need to not see, to not hear, and to not touch.  There are many reasons for this, the first simply being that this is the path our Heavenly Father calls us to walk in the current dispensation.  If we needed open confirmations of His presence and involvement, surely He would give them.  "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).  Instead, He supplies the non-seeing, non-hearing, non-touching highway of holiness that grants rich opportunity to discover our Lord's heart as we walk by faith.  Of Moses it was said, "He endured as seeing Him who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:27).  The same will be true of all who realize and accept the present benefit of seeing, hearing, and touching with our hearts rather than our senses.

 

    Space does not allow consideration of other reasons that it is best we presently "walk by faith, not by sight."  However, one bears mentioning as we conclude our consideration, namely, our flesh is so prone to misuse of spiritual realities that we would inevitably manipulate sight, sound, and touch in ways that would not honor our Lord.  We would end up forsaking rather than following, as did the disciples.  The day will come when this is not the case, that day when "we shall be like Him" in spirit, soul, and body (I John 3:2).  This is not that day.  No, this is the day for trusting the God we cannot see, but who is presently all the more real because we cannot.  We honor our Lord greatly by such faith, and although we will know Him much better in the realm to come, it remains true that some glories of His heart presently offer themselves to our hearts in ways known only because we cannot see, hear, or touch.

 

"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).

"I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel."

(Isaiah 45:3)

  

Weekly Memory Verse

    And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life."

(I John 5:11-12)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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