2021-02-26
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Awakening to reports of arrests, the military in full riot gear, and 9-foot fences erected around the capitol building in Washington, DC and in the State capitals is not my idea of what should be necessary in anywhere in North America. Last week’s insurrection riot in our nation’s capital has brought this about. We should be greeting the incoming administration with an orderly, peaceful transfer of power. As the Lord often does, He is commanding me to keep our attention on Him. So, I’m not going to express my own political views any more than that. As fellow believers in Christ, your views, even if they differ from mine, don’t matter to this discussion. What does matter is our eternal security as members of the family of God. Each of us is adopted into God’s family the moment we genuinely profess faith in the Lord Jesus and gradually come to understand His teaching in a way which changes our thoughts and behavior to align with His.
The steps we must take to mature spiritually are taken in gradual work toward their goal; maturity doesn’t come in the beginning, although some of us mature quicker than others. How close to the final goal is God’s purview to decide, not ours. When we have matured sufficiently to please Him, He will allow us to do His work until He is ready to glorify us, i.e. take us up to heaven for a blissful eternity with Him. When things happen around us that upset us as the events of the last year have [a reference to the Covid pandemic and the attempted insurrection of our government on Jan. 6th, 2021] we must train ourselves to turn to our Lord Jesus first. RO 8: 26-27, “For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit Himself pleads to God for us in groans that words cannot express. And God, Who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of His people and in accordance with His will.” There is something that people leading human-driven, rather than God-driven lives don’t understand.
DN 4: 17, “The is the decision of the alert and watchful angels. So then, let all people everywhere know that the Supreme God has power over human kingdoms and that He can give them to anyone He chooses –even to those who are least important.” While the governments in North America are not kingdom’s, they are included in this directive as if they were. God has always been in charge, as the final Arbiter of all things. We must understand that, knowing full well that He has no evil in Him [1 JN 1: 5]. This means that any decision He makes will be in our best eternal interests. Just because God’s decisions are in our best interests, we may not know that. He has given us just enough free agency that we can make some wrongful decisions along the way--- ones which He allows us to make to teach us a lesson in their consequences or even to disappoint Him greatly. Because He loves us so much, He is emotionally vulnerable at the time of our mistakes. And yet, nothing can separate us from His love [RO 8: 38-39].
God is always on the job. He wants as many as possible to come to living faith in Him. That’s because He wants as many as possible to gain eternal life, considering the alternative. Depending on whether or not our Lord reaches an individual or a corporate body (like one’s country or congregation), there is a direct correlation between coming to faith and gaining eternal life in heaven. The former has been discussed at length in my writing. However, the latter is unthinkable! It means ending up in spiritual death, which is eternal torment and misery from which there is no escape. Those in the latter category, are forgotten, having not left an honorable legacy behind (in God’s sight). The former have considered their lives in the sight of the Lord and are eager to leave behind an honorable, loyal, and righteous legacy behind them on earth. Whether one dies spiritually or not is one of the few true dichotomies in our lives…if they end up in heaven or hell.
When a person is my age (and I’m 77) he automatically considers the finiteness of earthly life. None of us lives physically forever. But we can be remembered for the good or the evil we have done. I want to be in that group who is glorified and remembered for her righteousness on earth. Thirty years ago when God allowed me to be called to write weekly devotions, I was living in the moment. Now, all those years later, I am in the habit of thinking in eternal terms. So, my prayers for myself are that I will be remembered fondly. My years of faith in Christ, have led me to want what good believers can expect. I need not fear physical death and believe I will never die spiritually [1 COR 15: 54-58]. This belief is a benefit of the security of being in God’s family. It is available to anyone who understands God’s teaching, tries to live by it, and believes with all his heart that God loves us enough to keep His watch over us [PS 9: 9-10].
PRAYER: O Lord, there is no equivocation that You sometimes allow bad things to happen, to maximize lessons and warnings You want us to understand. What has happened in the last year in America and with the world, is Your warning that we have been on a wrongful tract. This not only applies to politics, but also to public health and to ethical standards (or lack thereof). Your motives for all people is that they should come to faith based on an understanding of Your ethics, etc. You want us to put You in the center of our lives! We open our hearts to You and know Your kindness. Rejecting You serially is the wrong thing to do. We offer You our loyalty, thanks, and praise for always being available to us, hearing our prayers, listening to the musings of our hearts, and teaching us Your honorable ways. All these things are done by means of the Holy Spirit. Help us in any area of unbelief or weakness; give us strong enough faith in You to avoid the temptations of this world. We offer our love and devotion, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded to write about how the Holy Spirit meets the needs of believing groups and individuals. Many years ago a woman, who had committed a crime against the State was executed. Initially, I was against this execution, because she spent the last 14 years of her life bringing fellow prisoners to Christ and teaching why they should choose a godly way of life. We’re taught forgiveness, and I thought she wasn’t be given that. I now realize that I was wrong in the way I was looking at this situation. She had been a teenager under the control of a very evil man. While under the influence of drugs, she participated in an ax murder. Once clean and in prison’s death row, she genuinely professed faith in the Lord and dedicated the rest of her life to His service. A wise and dear friend explained to me that the Lord would forgive her crime, but that the State couldn’t. Her sentence was meant to be a deterrent to others who might commit her crime in the future. I’ve taken comfort in knowing that the Lord has forgiven her and she is likely in heaven with Him. This left me with the question: Can our ethics be separated from politics, individual behavior and decisions, or the example we set in taking our covenant responsibilities to the Lord? I believe the answer is “no!” What we learn from the Lord and what pleases Him is the support of our lives. It is our security in His family and governs His choice for our fate. He is always righteous, always loving! Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2021. All Rights Reserved.
<-- Back to Archives