Strife Or Cooperation?

Romans 13: 13

Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.

We are to live our lives as in full daylight, not doing the kinds of things people do at night, like: 

"Carousing and drunkenness" is the kind of partying that is destructive; 

"Sexual promiscuity and sensuality" is all the sexual and sensual things people do to pleasure and please their bodies at the expense of their souls and characters; and 

"Strife and jealousy" is all the competitveness in our relationships instead of working together in concert with one another, focusing on their positive qualities to build them up and encourage them.

There's nothing wrong with partying, Jesus loved to go to parties. But He never did do anything at parties that would be unhealthy to His body, or injurious to anyone else. He used these festive occasions to invite people into relationship with Himself, to present His Kingdom. The Lord's table in His Kingdom will be the biggest party ever! 

And the sexual act, the "one flesh" of marriage, is a beautiful sharing between a husband and a wife. Our enemy has twisted the concept into unrecognizable forgeries and divorced it from marriage, which is very destructive deception. 

Neither strife nor jealousy has ever helped anyone in either their emotional life or their relationships. How much better is cooperation and recognizing the different ways God has gifted us with varied abilities and propensities, to admire in one another and encourage each other. 

Whenever someone is jealous of another's skill or ability, they are neglecting their own skill or ability with which to serve and bless someone else. And it's always more fun to give than to receive. 

God designed this World to work on the basis of our loving one another, as He has loved us. When we understand what real love is, we realize that it is a sacrificial wanting the very best for the one loved regardless of the cost to ourselves.  So when we love one another, we'll not think twice about doing for another what might be very costly to ourselves in time or energy or finances, because they have a need.

And we will be humble enough to allow others to also minister to us, in ways we are not able to do for ourselves. 

Jesus taught this to Peter when He washed his feet at the Last Supper. He ministered to him in a way only the lowliest servant was required to, and showed him to accept this service even from his Lord. 

O Father, help me to understand the balance of ministry that You desire of Your children. Show me how I can serve others, and give me the humility to accept their help with what I cannot do on my own. You never mean for any of us to be "on our own," You have put us into societies, organizations, neighborhoods. We all live together on this beautiful Earth, and we all have different personalities, different abilities, different interests; so that everything will get done. 

Please teach all of us how to help one another with all the things You want us to accomplish in this age. Especially to share Your love with one another, and find all the lost sheep that belong in Your fold. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Incline Our Hearts

I Kings 8: 58

"That He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers."

This is part of King Solomon's dedication of the Temple he built, following his father King David's blueprints. 

If only the people would have continued in God's ways!

But we all tend to follow our own ways, our natural instincts that lie to us and draw us away from God's good ways for us.

May God "incline our hearts to Himself," take the initiative to turn our hearts and attitudes toward His righteousness and love for one another. 

To draw us into that warm, intimate relationship with Himself that He wants us all to have. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Showing Us Off

Ephesians 2: 7

In order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Wow! "Ages to come" means that after this present "age," there will be multiple more "ages to come," after this one, one after another! 

We are "in school" in this age; we are children learning our lessons, taking tests, doing experiments, taking field trips. 

Then when we "graduate," and are glorified when Jesus returns, we will be ready to take our part in running Dad's business, His Kingdom rule. For "Ages to come," forever. 

Showing off the "surpassing riches" of His graciousness in all the kindnesses He is extending to us in Christ Jesus.

We are His trophies!

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

God And The Weather

Job 37: 13

Whether for discipline (correction), or for the good of His Earth (His land), or out of mercy (lovingkindness), He makes the storm appear. 

Elihu is talking to Job about the miracles of weather; how God brings the storms, the wind and rain, the lightning and thunder and snow. That God sends all this weather to correct us, to take care of this Earth He made, and to show His love for all of us.

God has set in place all the Natural Laws, the rules for the weather to obey, and it obeys Him and follows His direction.

O that we also would obey the rules He has determined for us in our relationships! 

All His Law for Mankind is based on the foundational two: to love God and to love our neighbor. God is Love, everything He does is in love for us.

Father, teach me how to love others as I love myself, as Jesus taught us; and may my love for You grow fuller and deeper every day.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Pharisee And The Tax Collector

Luke 18: 9-14

The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed (exalting himself) ... but the tax collector stood at a distance ... beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner" ...

I was once that Pharisee, having done everything my church said to do, and not doing what they said was a sin, and I thought I had earned my own way into God's Heaven. 

So God, in His mercy to me, allowed me to stray so far from that self-righteous path that I would recognize myself as the sinner that the tax collector was. Then in His grace He drew me to Himself, and revealed to me His unfathomable love for me! 

God loved me, one who could never deserve or be worthy of even a glance from Him; lavished His unconditional love over me, drowning me in His passion!

I still cannot fathom how God could consider me worth His consideration, but He considers me with extremely high value. His thoughts certainly are not my thoughts, so I must be in error, because He is True. 

He loves me with the emotional passion of a newlywed groom for his new bride. And I cannot help but love Him back! He is so kind, so gentle with me; He is my Provider and my Source of everything I need and want. 

He is my King, and I am His child, His princess. One Day I will reign with Him on His throne as His queen, governing in His Kingdom. 

This is the future of all who will allow the Lamb of God to be their personal Sacrifice, dying the death they deserve, and allowing Him to be Lord (Boss) over their lives. 

God is not willing that anyone perish, but that all would come to repentance. 

Each one of us deserves death because of the defective human nature we are born into. That flesh is weak in the face of the World's allurements and the enemy's accusations. But we still convince ourselves that we deserve good, the best. 

God wants to give us His best, not because we deserve it, but because He is good. But we can only receive His best when we face the truth of the whole situation, and let God be God. 

He sent His only-begotten Son to be our atoning Sacrifice for each one of us individually (He saves us one-by-one). 

Then He left us here to be His church, to lead others to Christ. And to help one another. To love Him and to love one another.

Until Jesus returns to this Earth to conquer all evil and set up His Kingdom to rule. Then when Satan is released, the Earth will explode, the Universe will implode, and He will "make all things new," as a New Heaven and a New Earth. Then the increase of his Kingdom will have no end, as we enjoy His unlimited creativity throughout all future eternity, for ever and ever!

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The Universe Obeys God

Paslm 119: 89-91

Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in Heaven. Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations. You established the Earth, and it stands. They stand this day according to Your ordinances. For all things are Your servants.

What God has said cannot be unsaid. What He has done cannot be undone. What He has decided cannot be changed. God will faithfully carry out everything He has planned, no one can thwart Him. 

God made the Earth and established the Natural Laws to govern it, with the rest of the Universe. And it all operates according to the rules and perameters God set for it all; it all obeys God.

And we, also, will do well to obey. 

It's when we disobey that we encounter troubles. When we think we have a better idea, or we just don't want to give up our pride and selfishness. 

If only we would learn that loving God and loving one another is the only right road to take to get along with this World and with each other. 

God loves us more than we can imagine, and He made this Earth for us, putting into it all the abundance we will ever need. And all we need to do is just obey the rules He set for us, to both enjoy the wealth and enjoy our relationships with one another. 

Our problem is that pesky defect in our "flesh" that pulls us away from the good God wants to give us. And the World around us throws all kinds of alternatives at us. And then there's our enemy, Satan, who only comes around to kill, steal, and destroy. 

Three against us, and "only" God for us. But God is greater than all of these together, and when He puts His Spirit into our spirit, then we have the power to overcome those wayward tendencies. Only God in us will gain the victory over the World, the flesh and the devil. 

That's why Jesus came. And He is coming again, to finish the job. He will win the final victory over all our enemies, and we will reign with Him forever in the New Heaven and New Earth. And the increase of His Kingdom will have no end.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Beholding The Glory Of The Lord

II Corinthians 3:18

But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. 

4: 7

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.

As we "behold" Him by seeking Him in His Word, we are drinking in the "milk of the Word" and chewing on the "meat of the Word," nourishing our spiritual life. This is how we grow up in the Lord, by getting to know Him better every day and learning to live by His ways, loving Him and loving one another more each day.

This glory is growing in our spirit through the ministry of the Holy Spirit Who lives in our spirit. This "treasure" is God's life in us, and we are to let it grow. All living things grow if they're not hindered. That's why we are to see to it that we remove from our thinking and our lives everything that is evil or filthy or vile. These negative things are the dis-eases that hinder the life we have. 

And we have this shining life shielded by our physical bodies, made of dust. This reminds us that the glory is not from us, but from God; and we are to give Him the credit, the glory, for whatever He is doing in and through us.

So my "clay pot" is being transformed into a "crystal vase" molecule by molecule, and when someone may "see" Christ in me is when His glory is shining through a minuscule "crack" of my clay that has been changed to crystal (or diamond). 

That may be why, in our glorified bodies, we will shine like the Sun, the clay all gone, transformed into crystal diamond.

O my Father, Your plan is so ingenious! To know us even in our depravity, to send Your Son to cleanse us of all that is unclean and fill us with Your own Life, Your Holy Spirit. Then to work on us, molding us into the very image of Your Son; and work through us to others, showing them Your goodness, kindness and greatness. 

Father, You have loved us, loved me, more than I can imagine. Your great Plan of the Ages incorporates each of our lives--our decisions and choices we "freely" make all further Your Plan. You have determined it so, and it is. 

What You do, Father, stands. No one can add to it or annihilate it (the First Law of Thermodynamics, Conservation of Matter). Mankind can take what You have made and re-form it into many new things, but it's all what You made. You alone are Creator. 

Father, I look forward to the Second Coming of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will not come in humility, as He did before, but will come in His Glory, with all His Holy Ones, both angelic and sainted. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!