2023-03-31
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Long before Paul wrote his epistle to the Romans, Moses, inspired by God, wrote the story of how Abraham was tested. What happened foreshadowed what did happen when Christ was Himself challenged to obey the Father’s wishes [LK 22: 42]. Yes, I’m referring to GN 22: 1-14 when Abraham was commanded to sacrifice on the altar Isaac, his only “son of the promise.” God waited until the last moment before replacing him with a ram that had been caught in the bushes as a substitute offering, thus testing Abraham’s willingness to obey Him. The Angel of the Lord was so pleased that he said, in GN 22: 16-18, “I swear by Myself, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you obeyed Me.” Understandably, Abraham didn’t know the full extent of what the Father meant, but he was delighted to know that God was pleased with him.
Fast forward to Paul’s inspired writing of RO 8: 31-32, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” This led to yet another promise found in PHIL 4: 19, “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.” This most extraordinary promise, as it will be kept, tells us that we will be saved [JN 3: 16], justified [deemed acceptable in God’s sight-RO 4:3, and eternally forgiven for our sins [1 JN 1: 9]. That is huge for us! All we must do is profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and work to confess our sins with openness and honesty. That is all there is to it. It may not be simple to do for most of us, to be brutally honest, but it’s necessary. If we will do that and fix our minds on the things of eternity, we may believe it will happen [COL 3: 1-4].
With true faith in this new covenant, the Covenant of Grace, comes a deep-seated inner peace, the kind that lasts for eternity. Still, we ask a common question of our Father: When will this happen? He has given the task of making the final judgments to His Son, Jesus Christ [DN 7: 13-14]. Jesus has one limitation, He Himself has not been given a date as to when He will come for the second time, only the Father knows. [MT 24: 36]. Consider why the Father has placed this limitation on Him. If we knew the exact date, our sinful natures would lead us away from having to have faith that the events in the end times will happen. The issue is embedded in the definition of faith, found in HE 11: 1, “Now faith is the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” This means we must take the Lord at His word; in plain terms, it means we must trust God. This is the same God, Who created us to be capable of avoiding temptation to sin in a way that we are taken off the path to eternal life with Him. Yes, He loves us so much that He wants us to stay walking “through the narrow gate that leads to a rocky road to eternal life” [MT 7: 13-14].
We need to examine the issue of time. 2 PET 3: 8-9, “But do not forget this one thing, Dear Friends: With the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.” As the hands of our clocks make their way around a day’s time, we can’t know what God’s day actually is. Once again, that is so that we will have faith in Him without knowing details, faith that would keep us from making faulty decisions and taking wrongful actions, as we think in eternal terms. As I see it, our time on earth is a testing ground to see if we have the kind of “obedience muscle” that both Abraham and Christ have. (I use the present tense here because I believe both these men have eternal life).
As for grace [defined as “unmerited favor” as in EPH 2: 8-9] I have to believe that no other Being than our Triune God delivers grace through genuine faith! Like any other muscle, our “obedience muscle” gets stronger with practice.
PRAYER: O Lord, You have provided everything we need to gain faith and trust in You. First, we must read the Scriptures and get to know You well through them [2 TIM 3: 16-17]. Second, we must develop an active, dynamic prayer life—both individually and corporately. Thirdly, we must believe that You always have our best eternal interests in mind and want all of us to know You by all Your three personalities [as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit]. We should always turn to You first for direction, for Your wisdom, and be willing to accept that Your will for us is best. While we can’t understand Your timing or every method You use, we can know Your attributes and deeds, in order to accept Your commands and intervention when they come to us. We stand in reverence, awe, and faith to offer You our praise, thanks, authenticity, loyalty, and love…in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded to write about peace, love, and joy, beginning with a look at RO 14: 17. In the meanwhile, let me again share JN 13: 34-35, “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” I’ve given this matter some thought, and I realize that this means loving even those who are not friends, who are people that have troubled lives and at times, made us unhappy. I don’t think God is asking us to emulate them but instead, to treat them as Christ would. Maybe it’s a boss in our lives, a parent we don’t agree with, or a friend who has betrayed us. Christ is asking us not to treat that person in kind. Our response to these people is partly designed to keep us on God’s path and partly to show the other person what Christ would practice. The Stephen Ministry uses the term “to be Christ with skin on.” Doing this isn’t always the easy way, but it’s the right way. Righteous hypocrisy won’t lead to eternal life with our Lord, but responding to others with love will. Our God loves us and wants us to eventually be with Him full time for eternity more than anything else. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2023. All Rights Reserved.
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