A Christmas Blessing - Luke 2:10-11

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. - Luke 2:10-11

    We all make choices in this life. While we wear the fragile mantle of humanity, we get to choose much of what life has to offer us. Of course there are always those situations and conditions that are thrust upon us regardless of our needs and desires. But belief in Christ Jesus remains not only within our reach but also our grasp. If we will only make that choice. “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” - Joshua 24:15.
    There has always been the argument that we either have free will or we do not. Luther insisted that the human will was in bondage and not free at all, while Erasmus contended that the human will had “wiggle room” in opposition to God sovereignly predetermining what our choices would be. And while Scripture fully supports Luther’s contention that the will is indeed bound to our flesh, we must then turn to God’s “Unconditional Election” of the saints. The doctrine states clearly that God in His infinite sovereignty chose some of us for salvation before the foundation of time. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” - Ephesians 1:3-6. If this is true, how then can we still boast of a free will? If God has already chosen some of us for salvation why do we still need to choose? Scripture answers us without ambiguity. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” - Hebrews 11:6.
    With the intercession of the Holy Spirit, we are regenerated and are blessed with faith in God.  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” - Matthew 7:7-8.
    When should we ask the Holy Spirit for a life in Jesus Christ? “For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” - 2 Corinthians 6:1-2.
    As we celebrate Christmas this year and every year let us be grateful for the good tidings of great joy that come with the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! If you have not yet come to faith in Christ, “now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation.” Do not tarry a moment longer, for we “know not the hour of our Master’s return.”
    Merry Christmas to all.

Don’t Look Back! - Genesis 19:26

But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. - Genesis 19:26

    The command of God was clear as a cold winter night. There were no ambiguous terms or conditions. The command was terse and succinct - “So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, ‘Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.’” - Genesis 15:17. Yet like so many of us, Lot’s wife ignored the Lord’s directive and looked back. On the other hand, unlike so many of us, she met God’s justice immediately.
    Whether it be a longing for our old life of sin or just a pining for the familiarity of our old ways, we too often turn away from God’s commands, even if only for an instant. And sometimes an instant is all it takes. Jesus even warns us of the distractions which lead us to perdition. “But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’” - Luke 9:62.
    We are told that the old man is dead, the old self, the old way finished. “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” - Romans 6:5-6.
    Once we were all sinners living a sinner’s life. We were born in sin and except for the mercy and grace of God we are destined to die in our sins. Sometimes the justice of God reaches out to greet us as in the case of Lot’s wife. Other times God is patient with us for a lifetime. But know this: we have not eluded our omniscient God. His justice will not be thwarted. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” - Galatians 6:7-8.
    Like the title of the Thomas Wolf novel, “You Can’t Go Home Again,” we must understand that once we have heard the word of God we can no longer feign ignorance or hide behind mock naivete. Once we have been exposed to God’s light, we can never again hide in the darkness. We know we are sinners in need of salvation. The cross of Christ Jesus looms before us just as surely as our sinful lives hang from our coat-tails. To look away brings judgment upon us, and while it might not be immediate, it awaits us in God’s good time.
    When we look longingly back at our sins or where we have been in the flesh, we take our eyes off the prize that Christ has provided for us. We can only obtain what God has set aside for us if we live according to the cross rather than the flesh. “And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” - 2 Timothy 2:5
    There is a cost associated with salvation. Fortunately, we do not have to pay it. It has been paid for us by Jesus Christ. But we must accept Him as Lord and Savior to realize our redemption and we can’t do that if we are preoccupied with our old lives and our old ways. We cannot possibly focus on the gift of grace provided by God if we are intent upon looking back over our shoulders at the life we lived in sin! We must purge ourselves of sentimentality for wickedness. There can be no nostalgia for sin. We simply have to seek Christ. “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” - Romans 13:14.
    Those in the faith do not look back at their old lives any more than one who has survived a near-fatal crash looks back with fondness at the moment of impact. We are new creatures living in the shadow of Christ’s cross, saved for eternity by His holy sacrifice. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” - 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Dying The Good Death - John 3:16

  
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. - John 3:16

    At my age, I have seen many of the friends and family I have treasured pass from this mortal veil into eternity. As I write this, I myself am dealing with some health issues that require testing, monitoring, and treatment. I pray for myself as often as I pray for others, relying upon God’s firm hand to keep us by His blessed grace. But the time will come; it does for all of us. And when our time comes, it is my fervent prayer that all of those I love and care for will share my belief in “the God Who is there,” as theologian Francis Schaefer put it.
    Many things cross one’s mind when mortality comes into question. Some believe that if they have lived “a good life” they will be entitled to eternal glory after they shed these earthly rags. Some believe in nothing at all and thus they “live for the day.” But that nearly always ends in anxiety and ultimately in fear of the unknown. Even though I have failed miserably at times to conduct my life in a noble and godly manner, I entertain no such fears, not so much because I feel I have lived the good life but because I will have died the good death.
    Make no mistake: dying a good death has nothing to do with lofty self-affirmations and mantras based on a lifetime of nihilistic musings about “living and dying well.” Most such faulty notions are advanced by secular atheists who have convinced themselves that after lifetimes lived in opposition to God something benign awaits those who will just keep a positive attitude. Yes, try that while you’re dying. The thunder of such absurdity is deafening!
    Then what, you ask, is a good death? “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” - John 5:24. Death is but a doorway to glory, a passageway to eternal salvation. Of course, one can only hold to this heavenly view if their faith is anchored to the one mediator between man and God, Jesus Christ. Nothing I do of my own can suffice to save me regardless of how well intended. It is by faith alone in Jesus Christ that my eternity awaits me unfettered. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  - Ephesians 2:8-9.
    Many will ask, “Why? Why must we believe in Christ to be saved?” Because, the only source for belief in Christ Jesus, the Bible, states emphatically - “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” - Acts 4:12. Jesus Himself has told us as much - “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” - John 14:6. This is why God gave us His only begotten Son. This is the way of the good death that awaits those who believe!
    Many of us will do whatever we can to prolong our earthly lives regardless of the condition we live in. We will undergo radiation therapy, chemotherapy, surgical procedures, never knowing for certain whether these last futile attempts to hold off death will in fact work or if the quality of life left to us will have been worth it all. Our loved ones will spend countless hours futilely hoping and praying for a cure, for a miracle. And all the time spent trying desperately to live here and now could have been spent preparing to meet our Lord, knowing that for us, death is just a passageway and not an end in itself! Our loved ones should be praying that our immortal souls have been granted salvation through God’s saving grace.     We need not fear the death of these corporal bodies. Those who are in Christ at the time of their deaths will be able to sing out in unison - “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”- 1 Corinthians 15:55. We must prepare ourselves now for the eternity that awaits us. Believe in Jesus Christ now, today! Don’t put off believing in Him a moment longer. Accept Him as Lord and Savior.“For He says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” - 2 Corinthians 6:2. Now is the time. Today is the day!

Dominion - Genesis 1:26-28

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” - Genesis 1:26-28

    Once again the news s filled with our latest venture into planetary exploration. The $850 million endeavor is called the InSight Lander. It will take photographs as other similar craft have done in an effort to prove what cannot be proven - that life exists anywhere in the universe but here on earth where God created life. Here and here alone, according to Scripture, God created all the life forms that have or will ever exist. We can speculate and hypothesize all we want and at the end of the day, the proof-box will remain empty. “Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind’; and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” - Genesis 1:24-25. God said that the earth would bring forth the living creature. He never mentioned Mars or any other heavenly body bringing forth life! And on top of that, He saw that it was good for it to be this way.
    The only heavenly beings that God has any contact with are the angelic beings He created and they are not of dust, flesh, or bone. They are spirits. Whether they be angelic hosts or fallen angels, they are the only other created beings in God’s creation. Period!
    Now it is true that where Scripture is silent we should not speculate or engage in conjecture. Where Scripture is silent we too should remain silent. Have we not enough on our plates right here on earth? Are there not enough obstacles here and now that we as human beings need to attend to without engaging in the utterly fantastic? “The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of wisdom.” - Proverbs 10:21.
    We have enough to contend with right here. We have enough sickness and poverty. We have enough hatred and murder. We have enough ignorance and foolishness. We have enough arrogance and pride. What we lack is enough faith in God. What we lack is enough love for our fellow men and women. What we lack is enough humility to learn. But the day is coming when we will see with our own eyes the truth of God’s creation and it won’t require a telescope, a microscope, or pictures beamed back from a distant planet. The day is coming when we will see for ourselves - “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” - Genesis 1:31.
    We have been charged by God with dominion over our own planet. “So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.’” - Genesis 9:1. This is our commission - dominion over God’s creation here on earth! There is nowhere in Scripture where we are commanded to search the stars for other forms of life. We must not let our pride bring us to ruin again. We still have not recovered from our last attempt to be Gods.
“And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’” - Genesis 11:4.
    Instead, we must hear the words of Christ Jesus once more - “‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” - Matthew 28:19.
    Both the command for dominion and our commission to spread the Gospel applies nowhere in creation but right here on earth.


           

Each Day A Day Of Thanksgiving - Psalm 95:2-3

Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods. - Psalm 95:2-3

    As we celebrate another Thanksgiving. Let us not forget to thank God for every good gift from His providence. Let’s take time to count our blessings and show our gratitude to the God of Creation, the God of the Bible, as He has clearly shown us - there are no other Gods who deserve His honor and His praise. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.” - Exodus 20:2-3.
    Throughout the year we often forget the daily bounty God gives to us. We often forget His daily blessings and our daily bread. It should not be this way. We need not look very far to see those of less fortune around us. We need not even look as far as the next state or country to see that not all people share in the blessings God has provided us. But they, even they have life. God’s providence He bestows as He wills. “Then He said, ‘I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’” - Exodus 33:19.
    We have been blessed this day by our omnipotent Lord. We all don’t share in His favor equally yet we all share in His favor. As surely as the rain falls upon my house, it falls upon yours. As surely as the babe sleeps in my house, the babe sleeps in yours. As surely as we break bread in my house, you break bread in yours. The Lord hears our prayers as surely as He hears our curses. The Lord reigns in this house and all houses. He can bring plenty and He can bring famine. He can bring healing and He can bring pestilence. Blessings and curses come from the same almighty hand of God. “John answered and said, ‘A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.’” - John 3:27.
    If we remain thankful and reverent God will bless us continually. If we continually deny Him we will reap what we have sown. If we seek Him continually He will be there when we cry out. If we mock Him we will draw His wrath. We must worship Him to receive His blessing. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” - Romans 8:28.
    Let us praise God on this Thanksgiving Day and let us make each day a day of thanksgiving.

Lost & Found: No Secret Remains Hidden - Hebrews 4:13

Lost & Found: No Secret Remains Hidden - Hebrews 4:13:     And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. - ...

No Secret Remains Hidden - Hebrews 4:13

   
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. - Hebrews 4:13

    It isn’t unusual that Hebrews 4:13 should make us a bit nervous, after all, how many of us actually like the idea of someone watching our every thought, word, and deed? Especially if we are going to have to account for ourselves. How often have we been in a social situation and noticed that someone, possibly a complete stranger, is staring at us? Talk about being made self-conscious. But like it or not, that is exactly how God sees us - through and through. We can run but we cannot hide. “Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’  So he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.’” - Genesis 3:9-10.
    God is omniscient; He knows all there is to know and nothing is unknown to Him. Even those deepest and darkest secrets we believe we have kept so securely that no one knows - God knows! So yes, when we consider God’s omniscience it becomes uncomfortable for us. For there are some things in our lives that even the most callous of us are ashamed of. We may put on a good show of self-confidence but were the truth brought to light we would cower in shame, fearing the scrutiny of our family, friends, and even that of strangers. “For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. “ - Ephesians 5:12.
    In fact, the only reason most of us aren’t more repentant of the things that shame us is because God doesn’t immediately shed light upon our scandalous behavior or immediately hand us the punishment we deserve. Think about it: if God exposed and/or punished us every time we succumbed to temptation, regardless of the variety, we would almost never willfully sin. None of us would want our dirty laundry hung out for everyone to see. But God doesn’t always immediately give us what we truly deserve. It’s not that He has given us a pass; He is just exercising His Godly patience with us sinners. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:9. He is actually granting us time to come to Him in repentance. If we still refuse to honor Him, Christ has given us His solemn warning - “For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.” - Luke 8:17.
    So while we understandably fear exposure, discovery, and revelation of our most hidden sins, we must come to the sober realization that the one entity we should truly fear already knows where all the skeletons are buried. To continue to insist upon our “innocence” just exacerbates our sins and clears the way for God’s holy wrath and our undoing. There is a deep sense of despair when we think about it like that but there is hope; hope for the contrite. Let us bring our transgressions to our most holy God and pray for forgiveness in humble repentance. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - 1 John 1:9.
    And how thoroughly will we be forgiven? “The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” - Psalm 103:9-12.
    All this forgiveness is assured those who love the Lord. All we need to do is confess our sins to Him and humbly ask His forgiveness and He is ready, willing, and able to shelter us from our past iniquities and remove the stigma of our shame. This was Christ’s purpose in sacrificing Himself upon the cross: the washing away of our sins by His holy blood. And forgiveness is only complete in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. “let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” - Acts 4:10-12.
    Let us put our faith in the One who knows all our secrets, both the good and the evil, and let Him take away our sins.