When we look around the world today we see such an overwhelming mess; killing, hatred, carnal sins of every description... the list seems to have no end, and its depth bottomless. Becoming overwhelmed by Satan’s handiwork is easy, and letting it make us despondent or allowing ourselves to be caught up in it can be equally easy. Is this world’s fallen state too big for God’s love and forgiveness? Is what we see too much for Jesus to carry within Him to the cross? Let’s delve into this today.
Are you a loner regarding your faith? Do you feel like you can take the Bible and journey to a mountaintop on your own without consideration for the Church or the body of Christendom? Do you look at bible characters such as Elijah the prophet who was sent to the mountain to wait in a cave for the Lord God to appear, and say to yourself, “This is me! I am meant to be alone!” Do you think that is what Jesus did? Well, if so, you had better rethink your position of faith, and your approach to religion. We are all meant to be one, just as God calls us to believe as one, He then joins us to the body of faith to become one with it... we are meant to be one Church.
As Christians we talk readily about our bodies being a living temple, and we quote certain scripture to make that point, but if our body is our temple then where is our altar, and what is our sacrifice? The temple is where we meet God, the altar is what makes our sacrifice Holy, and the sacrifice itself must be pleasing and received by God. Are you a temple? Do you contain an altar, and what is your sacrifice?
Are we strong enough to adhere to God’s commandments? Do we have sufficient strength to rise above the world and achieve holiness and great righteousness? Well, we might be strong in comparison to other men, but in God’s eyes we are most certainly weaklings, and in truth, we need the strength of Jesus in order to perfect ourselves, but even then we might find that we are a challenge for Him.
How is it that we can ever presume to know the mind of God? We think that by reading God’s Holy Word a single time that we understand Him, and yet each time we revisit scripture something new is revealed to us. It is amazing how scripture that we have read many times over will become new to us if we will only keep our hearts and minds open to His voice. So, let’s ask ourselves this simple question regarding our understanding of God… “how presumptuous am I?”
Have you ever experienced total rest in your life? I am not talking about a good night’s sleep, but an escape from all that troubles you, and the total recuperation of mental, and bodily strength... coupled with a complete refreshment of your Spirit and soul? Well, if you have then you know what our opening verse this morning is talking about, but if not, then it is time to listen to Jesus and come to Him.
We often pray for forgiveness, and in one such prayer we should ask God to forgive us for those things we have left undone. Have you ever prayed this way and wondered what those undone things and sins might be? Well, the most powerful example of these is not witnessing in word or deed to a sinner, either unsaved, or who has wandered away from their faith. Not witnessing when we are able places the blood of that soul upon us, but by obedience we save our own souls.
Are our lives a manifestation of God’s glory? Are we more than mere flesh and blood, such that we not only say and do good things, but are also living and breathing praise to Him? We often hear the expression “People should see Christ in you.”, but do they, and to what end is this most important? I ask again... are we the embodiment of praise such that others who see us will experience God’s glory?
Every country has a beginning. Some were established so long ago that the exact dates have been lost, and they just seem to have always been, but the United States is young enough that it still remembers its birthday... July 4th, 1776. So happy Birthday USA! Religion is no different than countries, or peoples, in that regard, and the Christian faith is the same. We argue about the exact date of Christ’s birth, because the exact day has been lost and relegated to conjecture, and antiquity. Is it December?... September?... well, the discussion continues. What is important though is our own beginning and personal history with Jesus Christ. Is it important that we record the exact day we asked Him to be our Savior?
If we were to ask ourselves what our most persistent spiritual obstacle was, what would it be? If we were to question ourselves as to what stands most often between ourselves and answered prayer, what would we say? Would we respond with a sin such as covetousness? Maybe! How about lying? No? Perhaps lust? Not this either? True, we might do any of these things, and more, but I dare say that none of them are our most flagrant and unresolved sin, my guess is that it would be loving our neighbor enough to repeatedly forgive them.
A few years ago, I listened as one of my Pastors delivered a sermon on the subject of interruptions, and during it he spoke about a passage of scripture that was comprised of a story within a story... one story that interrupted another. As he continued to preach, my mind began to wander down a different path, and the complexity of God’s word began to dominate my thoughts.
One of the most frequent responses I receive from those who read my morning devotionals is a request for prayer. More often than not it is to join them in a specific prayer that they have been praying for some time without receiving an answer. Do you experience this from time to time in your prayer life? Well, if so, don’t be discouraged because the disciples failed to receive immediate answers to their prayers too, and Jesus taught them a powerful lesson in it.
Are we really the free people that Christ redeemed? Did Jesus pay our ransom only to find that we could not separate ourselves from the sin He had saved us from? Or perhaps we are like the Galatians who found themselves tempted to leave the freedom Jesus had secured for them in order to chain themselves to the Law of an old faith once again. My word for us this morningis to claim and accept the freedom whose cost was so dearly paid for us.
This morning I am contemplating the body and blood of Jesus Christ that we take during Communion. This gift is more than a passing thought, but something which becomes part and parcel of us mentally, spiritually, and yes, physically. When we are at the Lord’s Table, do we realize how perfect the remembrance of Christ should be to us there? This is more than a bit of bread and a taste of wine, it is an act in which our being is being joined perfectly with His and through the consumption of not only His body and blood, but the receipt of the blessing He spoke over them. And all of this we are receiving by His hand.
Faith in Christ, do you desire it, do you seek it, do you accept it? Can you recognize faith in Jesus when you see it in others? From its inception faith is ethereal in nature so we can’t hold it in our hand, but when we have a touch of it within ourselves we suddenly begin to see evidence of it all around us. When we have accepted faith it can suddenly be measured. So, I ask... do you long to hold a mustard seed of faith in your hand? Or in your heart?