“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” I heard an anonymous quote some time ago that caught my imagination and decided to write an article about it. Here is the quote: “Time means nothing to God…Timing means everything to God.” That is a profound statement and says what I have thought about a great deal lately: God is above time and He works in our lives according to His timing. Solomon stated this fact in our text, and the truth of it is found throughout the Bible. One example is that Jesus' whole life was lived within the timing of the Father. It is written of Jesus that such and such did not happen because the time was not right for it. First, “time means nothing to God” because He is eternal. The Bible begins in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God.” John began his gospel with these words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God…” Both verses tell us that God was there at the beginning. He is the One who started time for us, but He is not subject to time. One puzzling question that children ask their parents and Sunday School teachers is “where did God come from?” This is not really a difficult question. The best answer is “I don’t know” but if that doesn’t suffice, just tell them God/Jesus has always existed. Either answer would be right. God was serious when He told Isaiah: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8) God has revealed what we need to know about Him in His creation and mainly in His word – The Bible. God does not need a watch because He knows no restrictions of time. Second, “timing means everything to God.” One example of this is that Jesus’ whole life was lived within the timing of the Father. It is written of Jesus that certain things did not happen because the time was not right for it. Galatians 4:3-5 illustrates what I mean: “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4. But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law. 5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” God acted to save the world from sin when His time was right. In Luke 9:51 it is written: “And it came to pass when the time was come that (Jesus) should be received up, He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.” This means that in the timing of God it was time for Jesus to be crucified and subsequently being raised from the dead and ascending to the Father. I could give other examples, but I want to apply what all of this means to our lives. What this means to us is that we are under the authority of an eternal God, who lives above time as we know it. The eternal Word (Jesus) dipped into time and did what needed to be done to save us. What God’s timing means to us is that when we pray we shouldn’t get impatient because the eternal God will answer according to His timing not ours. Psalm 27:14 gives us good advice about this: “Wait on the Lord: be good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say on the Lord.” Only God knows when the time is right for our prayers to be answered. While we wait on the fulfillment of God’s timing in our lives, He is strengthening our hearts. It is while we wait on the timing of God that we grow spiritually. God knows when we are ready to receive the answer that He has for us. In the light of the eternal power of God, would we want it any other way? I think that you will agree. Bro. Joe (I owe thanks to Rev. Danny Thomas for the quote used in this article.)
3 Comments
“Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.”
A group of Herodians asked Jesus a question that reflected their loyalty to Herod’s rule and Roman rule. They were trying to trap Jesus with a question that would get Him in trouble with Roman law. Their question to Jesus was did He think that it was “lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not.” Should God’s people pay the Roman tax? Jesus told them to look at the coin and see whose face was on it. The coin then belonged to Caesar; therefore give to Caesar what is His. But the other side of the coin, no pun intended, is that we are to give to God the things that are God’s. They marveled at Jesus’ wise answer. Jesus stated a principle here that we have to deal with today. Following is what I mean: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” This goes beyond the taxes that we owe Caesar into our duty as citizens of the government. How much loyalty do we owe the government? Overall, the Bible teaches us that we are to be good citizens of the countries in which we live. Indeed, we are to be law abiding citizens. For example, if we come to a stop sign it is our duty as Christians to stop. (I have been reminded on a few occasions by officers of the law that “stop” does not mean “slow down and go if there is no traffic.”) The Bible teaches us not to steal, lie or cheat. We should see abiding by the law as part of our witness for Jesus. It is our Christian duty to pay our taxes. There is nothing that says we shouldn’t grumble about it, but we are to do it. In Romans 13, Paul goes into detail about our duty as Christian citizens. (I will leave it up to you to look that text up and read it.) “Render unto God the things that are God’s.” As Christians, we owe our ultimate obedience to God. We normally view this particular scripture as a reminder to tithe, but it goes far beyond that. This is not a legalistic rule. We are to “render to God,” not just out of a sense of duty, but as a joyful opportunity to serve Him and to be a witness for His Son. For example, Paul admonishes us to be “cheerful givers.” This means that we give our tithes out of a sense of loyalty and joy, not just because we have to. The same is true of our lives. We are to give of ourselves out of a sense of loyalty and joy to Jesus who gave His life for us. This does not mean that service to God is not our duty. It means that we do our duty joyfully and willingly, not grudgingly. Psalm 100:2 tells us to “serve the Lord with gladness.” Serving God is not a grim duty; rather it is a joyful opportunity. The world needs to see us joyfully serving the Lord, not just at church and in church work, but in our daily lives. Wherever we are, and whatever we do, we are to remind ourselves that we are witnesses for Jesus and to behave accordingly. There is a tension between “rendering unto Caesar” and “rendering unto God.” We owe “Caesar” our loyalty, but we do not owe him our souls, nor do we owe him our ultimate obedience. In Acts 4 and 5, the disciples were commanded by the Jewish authorities not to teach the resurrection of Jesus. There are two replies by Peter to them that we need to remember when we are caught in the tension between Caesar and God. In Acts 4:19-20, Peter said, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than God, you be the judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” In Acts 5:28-29 we find a more explicit example of obedience to God over obedience to the authorities: “Did we not stratitly command you that you should not teach in this name? and behold you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” We are caught in this tension today and we need to remember that “we ought to obey God rather than men.” Bro. Joe “Bless them that curse you, and pray for those who despitefully use you.”
The NIV translates this verse: “Pray for those who mistreat you…” Jesus taught a lot of things that seemed to run counter to human nature. This text is one of the best of those. It is a good message for us, for our inclination is to take vengeance on those who mistreat us, or, if we pray for them, we pray for God’s vengeance on them. This is not exactly what Jesus had in mind here. He encouraged us to pray for those who mistreat us in a positive way. I want to share with you a few reasons why I think Jesus encouraged us to pray for those who mistreat us. This kind of prayer will change us. When we pray for those who mistreat us, the process of change has already begun. It means that we have, at least for that moment, overcome the temptation to get back at those who mistreat us. We have all heard testimonies of those who have prayed in the selfless manner, and how their prayer changed them more than anyone else. If we are really serious about being Christ like, we need to change how we look at those who are against us. How can we love our enemies as Jesus did if we do not pray for them as He did? Jesus even prayed for the forgiveness of those who were crucifying Him. Jesus did not need to change in this matter, but He knows that we do. If we are honest, we will admit that this is not an easy prayer to pray and really mean it, but it will do us good if we will. This kind of prayer will change those who mistreat us. The question that we need to ask ourselves is whether or not we want vengeance on these people or whether or not we want them to change. Vengeance does not change anyone for the better. There is no way to get back at people, for they will, in turn, get back at us, then we have to get back at them…..ad infinitum, ad nauseum. This cycle of vengeance will not change until one or the other of us has a change of heart. As Christians, we should pray that we would be the ones who would put a stop to the cycle and do the right thing as Jesus would. This kind of prayer turns people over to God and lets Him begin His work on them. Our prayers for these people open up the possibility of His changing them. It is true that prayer changes things. It is also true that prayer changes people. If we pray for people who mistreat us, they might be converted and we will have lost an enemy and gained a Christian brother or sister. If they do not change, the change that takes place in us will give us the grace and character to live above their insults and mistreatment. At least we need to let God do a work of grace on us, even if the other person refuses it. This kind of prayer can change Christian fellowship. A lot, if not most, of the problems in churches are the result of plain old personality differences. Christians sometimes imagine that they are being mistreated by other Christians, and it is possible. How can we stop this vicious cycle? Jesus gave the answer in Luke 6:28 and we need to heed it. Fellow Christians are also fellow human beings, and human beings can have problems when there are differences between them. We just need to remember that we are Christian human beings who represent the Living Christ, and that our lives and our fellowship should reflect Jesus and not our humanity. What could be the result if all parties stopped fighting each other and started praying for each other? Christian peace would result and Christian fellowship would grow and flourish. The ultimate result would be that the world would take us more seriously. Praying for those who mistreat us is not easy, but it is Christian. What you need to do is to think of people who are mistreating you or not getting along with you and pray for them. You would be obeying Jesus if you do pray for them. Do it! Bro. Joe ‘For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
“And now abides faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” I am linking these two seemingly unrelated scriptures for good reason, which you will see as you read the article. Paul’s statement in Philippians shows that he had learned to live beyond himself, that Christ had become his all in all. I think that one of the most difficult tasks for we Christians is to get beyond ourselves, beyond our own selfish interests. I know that it is a struggle for me, and I suspect that it is for you as well. Let us at least give ourselves this: If we are struggling with our selfishness, and know that it is not really the norm for Christians, we are dealing with it and perhaps getting beyond it. I think that Paul’s reason for living beyond himself is found in the conclusion of his great “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13. He gave three words there that affected his life and made him who he was. They are good words for us to remember and to apply to our lives. It takes faith in Christ to live beyond ourselves. Paul’s faith was demonstrated by his tireless service for Jesus Christ. Paul learned to suffer and to persevere because of his great faith in Christ. He had faith that Christ was with him through all of his suffering and in everything that he did. We have the same Christ, and we serve the same Christ. We need to persevere through all of the trials and troubles of this life by faith in Him. Faith in Christ is what makes Him real to us, and is what makes His ministry in our lives real to us. It was for good reason that the author of Hebrews reminded us: “Faith is the substance of things hoped and evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) Like Paul, we must learn to live beyond the moment, and to realize that these things pass but Christ is eternal. Everything in our lives will one day come to an end, at the end of it all will be Christ – forever and ever. It is this promise of faith that can help us live beyond ourselves. It takes hope in Christ to help us live beyond ourselves. Faith and hope go together in the tapestry of our lives. The faith that we have in Christ makes our hope in Him real. The Greek word for hope is “elpis.” It does not mean “maybe so” but it means “you can count on it.” The hope that we have in Christ is real. It is a hope that helps us live beyond the moment to a greater realization of what Christ is doing in our lives. In this way, we have hope in Christ even in the dark moments of our lives. If we are ever to live beyond ourselves, we must learn that suffering is temporary and that beyond that is a greater hope in Christ. If we have faced each day with faith, we know by experience that the suffering of the moment leads to even greater faith in Christ. Even when the world situation seems hopeless, we know that it is not because our hope is in Christ and not in the situation. It takes love to live beyond ourselves. The word used here for “love” (or “charity” in the KJV) is the Greek word that I have mentioned many times in these articles – Agape (ah-gah-pay). It is the kind of love that God has for us as mentioned in John 3:16 – sacrificial love. It is a love that helps us reach beyond ourselves and our selfish interests, and it is made possible by faith and hope in Christ. We can only love sacrificially if we have faith and hope in Christ. The word “love” itself suggests that we are looking beyond ourselves to someone else. We need to periodically check our “love quotient” to make sure that we are really living for Jesus and not just for self. Jesus has called us to Himself in order to help us live beyond ourselves. We can only do that through faith in Christ, hope in Christ and love for Christ and for others. Bro. Joe “Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am He.” KJV
“Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, with the first of them and with the last – I am He.” NIV Questioning God did not start with the present age. Even in Isaiah’s day people were questioning the authority of God. The thing that is difficult for unbelievers to understand is that God has always been. They cannot imagine a Being who has always been and always will be. I will admit that it is difficult to wrap our finite minds around a Being such as God. The thing that excites me about it is that in order to be God He has to be beyond our understanding. In fact, it was Isaiah who wrote, quoting God: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9) It should come as no surprise to us that God is superior to us and that He is well aware of that fact. This need to be superior to God is a lot of what the Bible is about. Following are some things that we need to realize about God: God has always been. I know that this seems to be an inane statement, but keep in mind that this is a reminder of some things about God. He said: “Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning.” The Bible begins: “In the beginning God” – period. The Bible does not begin by attempting to prove the existence of God, nor does it intend to argue the point. It just presupposes God’s existence and proceeds to tell His story. He is the creator and we are the created. I don’t know why we always have to be reminded of this, but evidently, we do. We don’t just need to accept the eternality of God; rather, we need to revel in that truth. Why? Because it means that we are not alone in the universe. We are not at the mercy of the universe. We do not really have to worry about meteorites, etc. because there is a God who is in control of all of it and sustains all of it. We also need to revel in the eternality of Jesus Christ because of the biblical witness to it. Let Paul tell us about it in Colossians 1:16-18: “For by Him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: 17. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. 18. And He is the head of the body, the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence (first place).” We can trust Jesus, whom we trust in as Savior, as all of God as well as all of man. It is not simple-minded to believe in the eternal God. It is not naïve to believe in Him and trust Him. Over the years, in Old Testament times, New Testament times and through history, people who are intellectually astute have believed in and trusted in His eternality and in His power. We should not let the world convince us that we cannot believe in God and be considered intellectually astute. You can trust God and you can trust what His word, the Bible, says about Him. We can count on His word when He tells us: “I, the Lord – with the first of them and with the last – I am He.” Rejoice!!!! Bro. Joe “Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
This text is written in the context of God’s concern for the wayward people of Judah. Inspired the Spirit, Isaiah wrote to them by warning them of God’s judgment, and also gave them some words of encouragement. In this text, Isaiah gave the people of Judah an earnest entreaty from God to turn from their wicked ways. One of the problems dealt with here is the fact that the Jews were still going through religious practices, such as burnt offerings and special holy days. But, as it is with us, God did not want their religious practices, but He wanted them – their hearts. It is a heartfelt appeal from a loving and compassionate God. The verse begins: “Come now and let us reason together.” This is like one friend calling another friend to reason over a problem in their relationship. The fact that God was willing to reason with this wayward people showed His great compassion and love. I think that the idea of calling the Jews to reason together with Him was that they might come to Him seriously and give Him their full attention. Like people today, the Jews were so busy doing what they wanted to do that they gave little time to do what God wanted them to do. It is possible for us to be so busy in church work that we do not take time to be alone with God and reason with Him. It is a call to fellowship and prayer. God knows that when we ignore Him and His ways, we are headed for trouble. Decide today to get alone with God and reason with Him. Give Him your full attention and pay attention to what He says to your heart, then go and do whatever it is that He wants you to do. There is a promise of forgiveness and cleansing in this text: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” This speaks primarily to cleansing, but before cleansing can take place God has to forgive sin. 1 John 1:9 reminds us: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Keep in mind that this promise of forgiveness and cleansing was given to a people who had strayed far from the righteous path. This should teach us that we can’t get so far away from God, and His will for our lives, that He will not forgive us when we come to Him in confession and repentance. The notes in The Life Application Bible pertaining to this verse gives some good information on this promise: “Scarlet, or crimson was the color of a deep-red permanent dye, and its stain was virtually impossible to remove from clothing. The bloodstained hands of the murderers are probably in view here. The stain of sin seems equally permanent, but God can remove sin’s stains from our lives as He promised to do for the Israelites. We don’t have to go through life permanently soiled.” The good news for the Jews and for us is that, though we have sinned, He will forgive and cleanse us. This invitation to Judah was given years and years ago, but it is as relevant today as it was when Isaiah wrote it. God forgives all sin!!! I don’t know what you have done in your life, or how far you have drifted from God and His church, but I know that you haven’t done anything that He can’t or won’t forgive. There are many people who have either just given up their lives to a lifestyle of sin and feel that they have gone too far to turn back from their wicked ways. This is not true. Our great, loving and compassionate God will meet us at the point of our greatest need and give us the forgiveness that we need. Why don’t you take advantage of this call to confession and repentance and be forgiven and cleansed? Bro. Joe “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
I think that this verse is etched on my memory banks and on my heart. It is a great encouragement to me. I know that as I live my life and face all of the things that I have to face, that God is in all of the details of my life. I know this because this verse promises me that it is true. Two words that encourage me in this verse are “we know.” We can know that God is involved in all of the details of our lives. He is involved in our family’s lives. He is involved in the places where we work, shop, play, etc. He is involved in all of the relationships that we have in every aspect of our lives. I want this verse to encourage you as well. One thing that I want to point out is that because God is involved in the details of our lives, does not mean that He causes all of the details. I think that you will agree with me that I am not about to blame God for many of the things that I have done in my lifetime. I say that you will agree, because you have probably done things that you knew were wrong but you did them anyway. I am reminded that James wrote in James 1:13: “Let no man (person) say when he (or she) is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man.” We cannot use this verse to accuse God of leading us astray. We do not need to forget that there are evil spirits out there doing everything that they can to cause us to do wrong. It is important to point out that “all things work together...” This means that God takes everything that occurs in our lives, both good and bad, and works them together. When we have to go through the various ailments that we have to endure in this life, we are not to blame God for the ailment, but we are to praise Him for being with us while we are going through them. This is what I mean by God’s working everything “together.” God gets blamed for a lot of our problems, when He did not cause them, but He did work in the situation to enable us to be able to bear. I am not one of those Christians who say that if we believe in Jesus we will never have to face difficult times. This word “together” means that even in difficult times God is with us. He is in the details. That brings us to the words “for good.” This means that as God works through the details of our lives, and as He observes all of the things that we do, in His grace and mercy He is bringing all of those things together for our good. I can truthfully say that this is true in my life, and I think that if you can say the same thing if you are a believer in Jesus. It doesn’t mean that all of the details are good, but it does mean that somehow God will work it to our good. We do ourselves a terrible injustice when we underestimate the love that God has for us. God is working things “together for good” because He wants the best for us. We who are parents know the truth of this, because we feel the same way about our offspring. Who is that God “works all things together for good” for? He works in all of the details of the lives of those who “love Him, and are called according to His purpose.” This does not mean that only preachers have this promise. All believers are “called according to His purpose.” We receive Christ as our Savior in the first place because we love Him, but also because we answered His call on our lives and His purpose became our purpose. What we need to do is to claim this promise and give God something to work with for good in the details of our lives. Grasp this truth and claim it for your life. Bro. Joe :“Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve Him, and shalt swear by His name.”
Moses made it clear to the Israelites that they were to fear the Lord. He wrote “thou shalt fear the Lord." The old English word, “shalt," is definitely not a suggestion, but a command. Though the command was given specifically to Israel, it only makes sense to believe that if they were to fear the Lord so should we. The question that I want to deal with in this article is what does it mean to fear the Lord? First, it means what it says. There is good reason to fear the Lord. People who go through their lives ignoring Him and ignoring His word have every reason to fear Him. I mean that in the sense of be really afraid. The “Santa Claus” like god that we hear about today is not the real God. Golly Gee! The God of love would never harm anyone, or allow harm to come to them. If that is what you think about the God of the Bible, then you need to really read the Bible. I do not intend to be callous, but truth is truth. We either get our information about God from the Bible, or we get the wrong impression about Him. People ignore God at their own peril. Second, it means to really revere God. This means to worship Him and adore Him. This is not just done in church. It is done in the way we live our lives. I want to be careful here lest I leave the idea that I think that I do this perfectly. I think that I have grown in this reverence over the years, but I am not nearly where I want to be with it. I take the time all during the day to talk to Him and enjoy His presence. After all, Jesus promised to be with us until the “end of the world…” But, I have to admit that there are times when I’m not as close to Him as I should be. I’m sharing this with you to remind you that we will not grow until we are willing to confess our own shortcomings in the matter of revering God. I start each day with prayer and Bible study. Since I am retired, I have more time for this in the morning, and I realize that not everyone has the time that I do. But the time that I spend reading and studying the Bible and praying draws me closer to the Lord, and reminds me of His worthiness of my reverence. You need to spend as much time as you can reading your Bible and praying. Remember that you can pray any time of the day. The throne of grace is open to you at all times. Further, I do not think that we can say we revere God until we really and truly love Him. Jesus said that the first commandment is to love God with all of our hearts, minds, souls and strength. Part of fearing and revering God is loving Him with all of our hearts. Do you really love God, or do you just say that you do because you think that is the right thing to think or say? Third, fearing God means to hold Him in great awe. I know that we overuse this word today, but no word fits better with really fearing the Lord. We need to stand in awe of God’s great love for us. In a very real sense, the Bible is God’s love letter to us. The Bible tells us a lot of things about God, but one of the main messages is that He really loves us. He proved this by sending His Son to die for us on the cross. We need to stand in awe of God’s great power. God is omnipotent. This means that He is all-powerful. There is nothing that God cannot do. After all, He spoke the whole universe into existence and holds it all in place. If you know anything about the size of the universe, you know that holding it together takes real power. We need to stand in awe of God’s knowledge. He is omniscient, which means that He is all-knowing. There is nothing that God does not know, and there is nothing about us that He does not know. Jesus said that the very hairs of our heads are numbered. (He knows everything about us, but He loves us anyway.) We need to stand in awe of God’s presence. He is everywhere all at the same time. If I could explain that I would be God, which I definitely am not…lol (No surprise there.) .. I hope that this short article has given you a better understanding of what it means to fear God. Bro. Joe “And He charged them that they should tell no man: but the more He charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it. 37. And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: He makes the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.”
What so astonished the people was that when Jesus was in Decapolis, He healed a man who was deaf and mute. Evidently, the people who brought the man to Jesus had known the man for a long time.They had probably heard of some of Jesus’ other works and wanted Him to do the same for their friend. Their statement, “He hath done all things well” is a good description of Jesus. He always does all things well. In fact, everything Jesus did was well done, and it continues today.. Jesus did all things well in his life on earth. The Bible tells us that Jesus “was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15b) He lived a perfect life. This was something that no human being had ever done before, or since. In fact, the Bible always tells us the truth about human beings. Even the “heroes” of the Bible had feet of clay. David and Moses are two good examples of this. Both are portrayed well in the Bible, but we see their dark sides as well. The wonderful thing is that Jesus did not have a dark side. When He told the people that He loved them, there was no pretense about it. He genuinely loved people and still does. Jesus did all things well in His death on the cross. When Jesus died He said, “It is finished.” The “it” in this sentence is God’s plan of salvation for the ages. Long before time began, God had it in His heart that Jesus would come to earth, live a perfect life, and die on the cross. What Jesus did on the cross is more than amazing. He became sin for us, i.e., He took all of the sins of all of the people in the world upon Himself. Because Jesus did this we are able to be saved and to have eternal life. If Jesus hadn’t done that no one could be saved. He did it in spite of the fact that no one could ever deserve it. Romans 3:23 tells us that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Romans 5:8 tells us that “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” If we aren’t careful this wonderful truth will literally go over our heads. Perhaps we have heard it so much that we have been anesthetized to the wonder of it all. Do not be numb to the fact of the grace of God that brought Jesus and enabled us to be saved. As He lived well, Jesus died well. Jesus did all things well in his resurrection from the dead. When Jesus shed His blood on the cross, our salvation was made possible, and when He arose from the grave He made salvation inevitable for those who would put their faith and trust in Him. If Jesus had remained in the grave, we would have nothing to celebrate. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul’s great chapter on Christ’s resurrection, Paul wrote about the necessity of the resurrection. The wonderful thing is that we can know that He lives. The old hymn says: “He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way. He lives, He lives salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart.” Jesus does all things well in our lives when He lives within our hearts. He still “walks with us and talks with us.” He still imparts His great salvation to us when, by faith, we receive Him. It is possible that you have not read anything that is new to you in this article. I want you to read and see it as you did when you first believed. Be astonished afresh and anew about Jesus – all that He did and all that He continues to do. I pray that He is doing it in your life. I hope that you truly know from personal experience that “(Jesus) does all things well.” He truly does! Bro. Joe “Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.”
In the prologue of his gospel, John wrote that: “in Jesus was life.” He was, after all, the giver of life, and He remains the giver of life. There are all kinds of directions that we could go with this theme, but I want to focus on the nature of “the life” that Jesus gives to us. The life that Jesus gives us is new life. The Bible reveals an old way of life and a new way of life. Colossians 3:9-10: “Lie not to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds: and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.” There are other texts that I could give here, but this text should be sufficient to show that until we have new life in Jesus, we have old life in sin. The fact is that Jesus gives us totally new life. 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things have become new.” This verse is positive and leaves no doubt: “he is a new creature.” There is no “maybe” recorded here. If you have trusted Jesus as your Savior, you are a new person. Notice the completeness of it: “old things are passed away…all things have become new.” “All things” have become new! Through Jesus, we have a completely new life. Only Jesus makes it possible for us to walk in newness of life. The life that Jesus gives us is abundant life. In John 10:10b Jesus said: “I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.” Jesus does not want us to live “skimpy” (for lack of a better word) lives. Jesus wants to give people a new quality of life, and we really do need it – don’t we? Some people are living terrible lives, based only on the world, while Jesus longs to give them abundant lives. We need to consider the nature of abundant life as given by Jesus. We might like to think that Jesus is talking about material abundance. We cannot rule that out, but what Jesus gives is far more valuable than mere material abundance. The abundance that Jesus gives has something to do with the abundance of spiritual blessings. God wants to give us blessings that material things can never give us. Let us remember not to lay up all of our “treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt.” Through Jesus, we can have life in heaven where there is no corruption. Paul wrote about this in Ephesians 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” The life that Jesus gives us is eternal life. (You probably saw this one coming.) Eternal life begins the day that we become Christians. We do not have to wait until we die, or until Jesus comes, to have eternal life. We will not only live in heaven with Jesus, we can live in the light of eterniy now because of Him. I When we live in the light of eternity, we love people and we love and serve God. Our minds are not just fixed on this world and what it has to offer, but on eternal things. We will remember that we are pilgrims here and that we join Abraham in seeking a better country – a heavenly country. (Hebrews 11:16) Frankly, I don’t have a lot that I can tell you about heaven, except it will certainly be a wonderful place. I think that the Bible does not explain heaven fully to us, because we could not understand it. There are no words to explain the wonders of heaven. Jesus is “the life.” Because of this, He can give us new, abundant and eternal life. I hope that you have taken advantage of this offer. If not, do so now. If you have this life that only Jesus can give, praise God for it. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|