Retaliation

Posted on by korgrocker

“He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.”
1 Peter 2:23 NLT

‭‭Whenever I think of the way the Son of God was treated during His life here on Planet Earth, and particularly during His trial and execution, I become deeply saddened. It’s hard enough to see such treatment when it happens to fellow human beings, but the Son of God, Jesus Himself. …? We read about how fellow believers are treated in authoritarian states such as Afghanistan or North Korea. Christians in some parts of India suffer greatly for no other reason that their belief in God. But surely the greatest miscarriage of justice took place in Palestine two thousand years ago, in a city called Jerusalem. 

Starting with the insults levelled at Jesus in the grounds of the high priest’s home, we read in Luke 22:63-65, “The guards in charge of Jesus began mocking and beating him. They blindfolded him and said, “Prophesy to us! Who hit you that time?” And they hurled all sorts of terrible insults at him“. But there is no record of Jesus even acknowledging what His tormenters had done. The next time He spoke was in front of the Jewish High Council, the Sanhedrin. In response to a question about whether or not He was the Messiah, ” … He replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer” (Luke 22:67b-68). Jesus was in control but submissive to the outcome of what was yet to come. Pilate asked Jesus if He was the King of the Jews, to which Jesus replied “you have said it”. And finally we read what He said in Luke 23:34a, “ … Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing …”. Jesus was happy to leave “His case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly“.

Jesus could have called upon angels to help Him, as we read in Matthew 26:53, “Don’t you realise that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?” He could have used His miracle-working powers to zap all His antagonists at a stroke. But in spite of all the abuse Jesus suffered, He kept focused on the reason why He came to Planet Earth. John 3:16,“ “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life“. Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost“.

We pilgrims can only fall down before Jesus in gratitude, that He did not flinch from the path set before Him, and He swallowed the bitter cup of death and sacrifice for the sins of humanity to the last drop. There will come a time when all those who were complicit in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus will be called to account. Perhaps, in hindsight, they realised their crime, and fell on their knees in repentance before God. Only then would they hear the Saviour grant them forgiveness. Today, there are many around us who either do not know what Jesus did, or have chosen to ignore the Good News of what happened that day at Calvary. Through their rebellion and sin they too are complicit in hammering home the nails. But we pilgrims know why we have been called, and we mustn’t flinch from fulfilling our calling, no matter what it takes. We may or may not suffer abuse. But, like Jesus, we press on to the Heavenly goal.

Dear Father God. Jesus never turned away from the Cross, even though He could have done. Please help us to follow His example. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Slaves to Sin

Posted on by korgrocker

“Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.”
Romans 6:5-6 NLT

Perhaps we have an image in our minds, of a unified person. Consider a picture of Jesus, and a photograph of ourselves, and then superimpose one over the other. Personally, a unified picture of Jesus and me. How does that make us feel? Good? Apprehensive? Unsure? Yes, all of the above, but that is the reality of the Christian life. Association with Jesus in this way, in true unity, is the only way forward towards our goal of salvation. And Paul’s use of the baptismal imagery continues, with the mental picture of being raised to life just as Jesus was. 

The next thought from Paul profoundly impacts a new Christian’s life. And the older Christian’s too, because we must never forget and slip back into our old sinful ways. When we pilgrims fell onto our knees at the foot of the Cross, a pictorial way of describing how one day we brought our sins to Jesus in repentance, asking for His forgiveness, and believing in Him, we effectively crucified that part of us that was our old life, riven by sin. Now, crucifixion was a terrible way to die. A slow, lingering and extremely painful death. But Jesus went through that to set us free from the dominance of sin over our lives. In fact, the whole process in our spirits was, and is, life changing because we realise that what Jesus did for us we deserved ourselves. Sin has to be dealt with sooner or later. The grace of God is breathtaking, because He allowed His own Son, Jesus, to suffer in this way so that we wouldn’t have to.

Why did Jesus have to go through what He did? There were other forms of capital punishment available to the Jews, such as stoning. That happened to the first Christian martyr, Stephen. Crucifixion was a method the Romans used to put someone to death, and in the process they hoped to deter other people tempted to commit the same crime by attaching a list of their misdemeanours to the cross used. Pilate, the Roman governor who authorised Jesus’ death, ordered that “King of the Jews” was written above Jesus’ head. The Jewish authorities saw Jesus as a threat to their rather fragile relationship with the Romans because He challenged their cosy status quo with His radical teaching and miraculous acts. The people were following Him in large numbers, and, because of their unbelief, the Jewish leaders couldn’t allow the situation to continue. Evil ruled the day but God allowed Jesus’ death to happen because it was all part of His plan of redemption for mankind. 

Because Jesus went through what He did, taking on board our sins, we have been released from their dominance over us. I’m sure we can all think of sinful situations hidden away in our skeleton cupboards, that emerge from time to time to embarrass and harass us. But we don’t have to be slaves to these thoughts anymore, because Jesus has redeemed us from them. The skeletons are buried. Their power to torment us is gone. As Paul wrote, “We are no longer slaves to sin”. We can shut the door on our cupboards and lock them. But it’s up to us now. The question is – what will we do with the key? Hmmm…

Dear Father God. What an amazing and gracious, loving God You are. We worship at Your footstool. Amen.

Sin and Grace

Posted on by korgrocker

“Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?”
Romans 6:1-2 NLT

We left Romans chapter 5 with the thought, “… But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant” (Romans 5:21b). And Paul continues this theme at the start of chapter 6. Of course we want to see more and more of God’s grace – without it we are a doomed people – but do we need to expose it by blatantly and deliberately sinning? A good question, Paul! He used some strong language here, presumably designed to shock his readers out of a position of complacency. Language not just for his day, I might add. 

When we put our faith in Jesus, we made a decision to not only follow Him, but to also turn our backs on sin. But, as we know, this is easier said than done. We strut away from the Cross, full of our new-found relationship with God, and very soon find that leaving sin behind is easier said than done. We suddenly find that unwholesome thoughts pop into our minds. Thoughts similar to those heard by Eve in the Garden – “Did God really say you must not …?” And before we know it we find that sin has knocked at the door of our hearts and entered, uninvited perhaps, but resident nonetheless. Oh Lord! And on our knees we once again we find forgiveness, covered by God’s “wonderful grace”. 

Divesting ourselves of sin takes a lifetime. And God’s “wonderful grace” follows us as the Holy Spirit helps us day by day, hour by hour. A new born baby soon learns what sin is all about, and the early formative years shape a personality that finds sin attractive and enjoyable. So in later years, to leave that behind is difficult. When Paul asked the question about a sinful life – ”how can we continue to live in it?” – he knew that it wouldn’t be easy. He knew that it could even prove impossible. But he also knew that we have access to some amazing resources that will help us. And we will read more about them in the next chapters in Romans.

Paul used the expression “since we have died to sin” as though this was a given fact. It is of course. When we believed in Jesus at the Cross, we related to His death, nailing our sins to the Cross in an act of repentance. One of my favourite passages of Scripture is in Ephesians 4:21-24, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy”. It is to me a constant reminder of an old life, hopefully increasingly put behind me into history, and a new life, becoming more like Jesus. The NLT translation from Ephesians 4:22 refers to “old sinful nature”, but the KJV uses the expression the “old man”. The old and new imagery clearly highlights the dichotomy between the two states.

We pilgrims really have died to sin, and with God’s help, every time our “old man” tries to emerge alive again from the coffin we receive the help we need to put the lid back on. And we find assurance in Hebrews 4:16, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most”. God’s resources are always greater than our need. Always.

Father God. Once again we marvel about Your amazing grace. So unmerited but so welcome. We welcome this gift of grace with open arms, drawing it into the very core of our beings. Amen.

Secret Life

Posted on by korgrocker

“And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.”
Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭16‬ ‭NLT

We all have what Paul referred to as a “secret life”. We have become well accustomed to the knowledge that our thoughts are private. Sometimes, jokingly or otherwise, we will look at a person during a conversation and say that we know what they’re thinking, but that cannot really be the case. Our thoughts are hidden from those around us. They form for most a safe space where we can be alone with our thoughts, feeling safe in the knowledge that no-one knows, or so we think, what is going on in our minds.

But what does go on in our minds? We have practical thoughts, planning out the day ahead. We have feelings or thoughts of pleasure or pain. In our minds we feel anxiety or security, depending on our circumstances. In our minds we develop our characters and our motives in life. External influences can promote all sorts of thoughts, too complex to list. Our minds flit from one thought to another and back again in a seemingly unending circuitous and exhausting world, reaching far beyond our physical presence. That “secret life” embedded within us can go on to produce good or bad actions and behaviour. Our minds can become scrambled and sick. What an incredibly complex part of our soul or spirit lives between our ears. Our brains are very complex organisms but, like the central processing unit within a computer, external observations may see electrical impulses but not what they mean.

But there is Someone who can see what is going on within our minds, who can see our “secret life“. That Person is our wonderful Heavenly Creator God. Our thoughts and emotions also belong in another world, a spiritual world which God created and has access to. Is it a bit radical or misguided  to think that? Is the promotion of a parallel spiritual universe just a fiction? But how else can we explain where God lives and a verse like Jeremiah 17:10? We read, “But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”

A much quoted verse in Hebrews 4:12. “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires”. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews connects what God says, and has said, with an analogy using our physical bodies. In God’s Word we have a contact point between the spiritual world governing our thoughts, and the physical world where we can use our other organs, such as our eyes, to find out how our spiritual world should behave and think. 

But for everyone there will come a time when our inner thoughts will be judged. Jesus, the Son of God, knew about people’s thoughts. We read in Matthew 9:4, “Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts?”” He also warned that one day everything will be exposed. We read in Luke 12:3-4, “The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!” Jesus did some straight talking to the Pharisees, as we read in Matthew 12:34, 36, “You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say. And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak”. What we are thinking determines what we say, and one day all those thoughts and words will be judged.

When will that time be? We read about the final Judgement Day in Revelation 20. It will be a terrible time for all those whose names are not recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life. But we pilgrims know how to ensure that we are saved from a judgement with such a dreadful outcome. And so we pray with the Psalmist his prayer recorded in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life“. That path starts at the Cross, and continues with the transforming of our thought processes through the Holy Spirit. We read in Ephesians 4:23, “Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes“. What a wonderful Heavenly Father we worship! Through His Son we have so much to look forward to, as He helps us day by day in our walk to eternal life with Him.

Father God. We thank You for Your Spirit, so freely available to us. We pray today for a fresh infilling with Your Spirit, to help us move onwards in our daily journey through this physical life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

God in a Box

Posted on by korgrocker

“Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬ NLT

In some ways the first sentence today doesn’t make much sense. But it all depends on the meaning of the word “knew”. People might know things about God, perhaps like a Professor of Theology in some University or academy somewhere, needing to teach about various religions but not believing in any of them. Such people might know that He exists, or that He is worshipped in that building just down the street. They might even read the Bible from time to time. But they lack a personal relationship with their Creator. They just think that He has no relevance in their lives. And they go on living a sinful and independent life, seemingly impervious to what that will mean long term. 

Before we pilgrims take the moral high ground and discount such behaviour in our own lives, we should pause and think. Does the following scenario seem familiar or is it nothing like us personally? Imagine a person, a Christian, who claims to have a personal relationship with our loving Heavenly Father, but expects it to be on their own terms. Perhaps they have a “Quiet Time” in the morning, with prayer and Bible notes. But for the rest of the day they keep God in a box of their own making, lifting the lid when they need help, or when it’s time for going to church, or the prayer meeting, or Bible study. The rest of the time they try and protect areas of their lives from God’s penetrating stare, just in case He puts a finger on something uncomfortable in their lives and suggest some changes. If necessary such people may even move on to a different church before the real person is exposed. Is this fact or fiction? 

Is our imaginary person someone who Paul had in mind, at least in part, when he wrote our verse today? Perhaps there were a few people like this in the Ephesian church. In Ephesians 4, Paul wrote, “With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.” (Ephesians 4:17-19).

There is no middle ground in being a Christian. In Revelation 3, the Apostle John wrote down the words of Jesus, to be delivered to the church in Laodicea. We read, “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!” (Revelation 3:15-16). We cannot claim to know God and then ignore Him. 

In today’s verse, Paul goes on to say that the people he had in mind, “began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like”. Isn’t it strange how our minds can rationalise our thoughts, to get us out of uncomfortable places. We can end up watching an unsuitable TV programme, rationalising that we would never use language like that, or behave in that way with someone of the opposite sex. Or we may click on a link to a news article that, really, we shouldn’t have. We can have a tendency to think up a picture of a God who won’t mind. Who will turn a blind eye to such behaviour. After all, we think, a loving God would never reject us because of such things. But, of course, we pilgrims would never behave in those ways to think up these “foolish ideas” about God. Would we?

Thankfully, we have a loving and gracious God, who never turns away a repentant child of His. The Psalms are oozing with words and songs of thanks and worship. We have Psalm 7:17, “I will thank the Lord because he is just; I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.” Or Psalm 103:1, “Bless the LORD, O my soul: And all that is within me, bless his holy name.” (KJV). But God’s heart is encapsulated in Isaiah 55:6-7, “Seek the Lord while you can find Him. Call on Him now while He is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that He may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for He will forgive generously“. 

The remedy for those people Paul had in mind when he wrote Romans 1:21 is to turn back to God in repentance. We pilgrims are included, because in this life we get tainted by the world and its systems. So, we take all our rationalised baggage, stuffed full of sin, and leave it at the Cross. And, cleansed once again, we can give God all our thanks, and all our worship, our minds “dark and confused” no more.

Dear Lord. At the foot of Your Cross today we gaze upon Your face in worship, with deep thanks for all You did for us at Calvary. Amen.

It Is Finished

Posted on by korgrocker

“And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭21:6-7‬ ‭NLT

These two verses encompass several encouraging messages from God Himself. 

First of all, God said, “It is finished!”, but what was He referring to? We will remember the final words of Jesus from the Cross, as recorded in John 19:30, “When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” At that time, Jesus was declaring that His redemptive work on the Cross had been completed. Through His sacrificial death at Calvary, we can now bring our sins to the foot of the cross, leaving them there in repentance, with the assurance that we are cleansed from our sins and can adopt His righteousness. The divine exchange. But this time, in our Revelation verse, it is God Himself who said “It is finished!”. Perhaps we can refer back to Ephesians 1:9-10, “God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfil his own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.” In Revelation 21:6, God was declaring that His plan to establish His Kingdom, under the rule of Christ, was complete. The “right time” had finally arrived. All the prerequisites complete. All the divine boxes ticked. The “plan”, the “it”, is finished.

Secondly, God reminded John that He was “the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End”. He was saying that He was eternal. He was there at the beginning and will still be there at the end. But because He is the eternal God, He has no beginning and end. This is a difficult concept for us to get our time-bound minds around. God has always been with us, and always will be. We enter the realms of eternity and infinity when we try and think through the implications of the One who is “the Beginning and the End”. 

We pilgrims have much to look forward to. Not only will we join God in Heaven, we will find ourselves also becoming a part of God’s eternal plan. John in his vision was shown a glimpse of these far-in-the-future events, and doubtless he struggled to articulate what was happening. But with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, and the occasional angel who popped into his vision, he was able to say all that God wanted him to say.

Of course, we as pilgrims mustn’t focus too deeply about what is going to happen, to the exclusion of all else, because we need to be concerned about what is happening in the here and now. Our faith must take us to people and situations where the love and grace of God can make a difference. Situations where the Gospel can be shared, and our family, friends and neighbours shown the way to eternal life. But we must also occasionally glance upwards to check in with our future Heavenly home and our Heavenly Dad. It is there we will find the Source of our faith. The eternal God, the Beginning and the End.

Dear Father God. There are no words available to totally describe who You are. But in our limited humanity, we worship You today, our Eternal God and Father. Amen.

Consuming Fire

Posted on by korgrocker

“She glorified herself and lived in luxury, so match it now with torment and sorrow. She boasted in her heart, ‘I am queen on my throne. I am no helpless widow, and I have no reason to mourn.’ Therefore, these plagues will overtake her in a single day— death and mourning and famine. She will be completely consumed by fire, for the Lord God who judges her is mighty.”
Revelation‬ ‭18:7-8‬ ‭NLT

It looks as though the vision portrays an immediate, plague-induced collapse of the world system called Babylon. Judgement and fire follow. The world system and religion glorified itself. Pride and boasting prevailed. The throne of individual lives became the focus. Self satisfaction was the norm. But our mighty God was having none of this behaviour, and His fire, following the plagues, instantly burns it all up. The fire followed God’s righteous judgements. 

The world system is dominated by “Me! Me! Me!”. People stay awake at night thinking of ways to improve their lot in life, even if it means trampling on someone else in the process. We boast about what we have achieved. We take pride in our conquests. Selfishness rules the lives of those in the world. But 1 Corinthians 3:13 reads, “But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.” Obviously, the world system has, ultimately, no value at all. The world system called Babylon disappeared in a puff of smoke. Gone forever without trace.

There is a cost in following God’s ways. And one thing for sure, glorifying self will not be a part of it. Jesus taught about the cost of following Him. In Matthew 10:38-39, he said, “If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.” There is no room in a pilgrim’s life for selfish living. It’s Jesus’ way, His way alone. So we pilgrims ask ourselves the question – who is on the throne of our lives? In response, we live out our lives, always at the foot of the Cross. Always conscious of what He has done for us. When we come to God in repentance, accepting His death for our sins, we die to our selfish nature, and instead put God fairly and squarely on the throne of our lives.

We do not need to fear the fires of Judgement Day. We are not Babylon followers. Instead, we follow God’s ways, storing treasure in Heaven, safe from the fires of judgement.

Dear Father God. Please forgive us for our selfish ways. It’s Your way, or no way. For ever and ever. Amen.

The Living Dead

Posted on by korgrocker

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.”
Revelation‬ ‭3:1-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The church in Sardis had an angel as did the others listed in Revelation 2 and 3. And Jesus had a message for him. Sardis was another city in what is now Turkey, and was extensively excavated during the early part of the 20th Century. Several church buildings were found there, but of the original church and its congregation there is no information. Jesus had a message for this congregation that would have been hard to receive. He started His message by establishing His credentials. He “has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars”. Regarding the sevenfold Spirit of God, this may have been a reference to Isaiah 11:2, which reads, “And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord“. Isaiah’s prophecy pointed to the coming Messiah and here He is delivering His message to the people of Sardis. Jesus held the seven stars in His right hand and it is thought these are His messengers to the seven churches; perhaps they represent their pastors or leaders.

But John continues to relay Jesus’ message. And it makes for grim reading. Jesus knows what they are about. He’s had His eye on what they have been doing. And He points out that although to an outsider their church seems full of life, in fact it is just going through the motions. They are really spiritually dead. Well almost. It seems that there are a few dying embers still in the grate, but unless they are quick, they too will die away and become the ashes of another dead church. 

So there are some question here. And they are very relevant to us today. First of all, are we guilty of going through the motions of our liturgies, singing the great songs and hymns, sharing Holy Communion, reading the Bible and praying lustily, but our hearts are not in any of it at all? We are thinking of other things, caught up in the worldliness of life around us. About what films or TV we are watching, or games we’re playing. Yes, to an outsider, they might be impressed with the size of the congregation or the volume of the singing wafting across the graveyards, but deep down there may be more life in the tombs than there is in the sanctuary. Perhaps that is what Jesus was meaning. But we have to personalise it as well. Putting our own names in the frames. Are we more spiritually dead than alive? Perhaps we need to ask God for what He thinks. And be prepared for a shock. 

The solution to a dead or dying church, or individual, starts at Calvary. Where the Son of God gave His life so that we could find life. At the place where we ask for forgiveness and turn from our sins. And where we find a loving God delighted that we have turned away from a life of feeding pigs and eating pig swill, to one embraced by our loving Heavenly Father, who has been looking out for us to come home, a place where we can enjoy His presence and the richest of food forever. 

Another question is about where our actions do not measure up to God’s requirements. What are we doing that God doesn’t approve of? Have we allowed worldly activities to use up our time in the church? Perhaps by holding jumble sales when we should be having prayer meetings? Or by focusing on the flowers instead of their Creator. It’s all about priorities. Many activities we get involved in are not bad in themselves but, as with the Sardinian church, they don’t measure up to God’s requirements. Perhaps we should be asking ourselves the questions, “Is what I am involved in furthering the Kingdom of God or just using up my time”? Or, “Is there any Kingdom fruit from what I am involved in”? We can fill our lives with worldly busy-ness rather than God’s business.

Jesus ends verse 3 with a sobering thought. We could be sailing along oblivious to the coming Kingdom, busy with our daily lives, and end up totally unprepared for the sudden arrival of Jesus when He returns. We never know when our house would be burgled until after the event. So it is with the coming of Jesus – but knowing after the event will be too late.

So back to Calvary, where we can gaze upon the One who gave His life for us. His sacrifice is all-sufficient. At the Cross we can fall on our knees in repentance, tearfully reaching out to the only One who can connect us to a life with God. It’s no good turning to Allah or Buddha, or any other world religion. They can’t help us. The only solution to our lives of sin is forgiveness from Jesus, the Son of God. He said in John 14:6,  “… I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“. Only Jesus has the words of eternal life.

Dear Lord. We confess before You today our sins. We confess that we have allowed our hearts to grow cold. Please forgive us and help us to return to the place You have prepared for us. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Jesus Calling our Name?

Posted on by korgrocker

“They trust in their wealth and boast of great riches. Yet they cannot redeem themselves from death by paying a ransom to God. Redemption does not come so easily, for no one can ever pay enough to live forever and never see the grave.
But as for me, God will redeem my life. He will snatch me from the power of the grave.” Psalms‬ ‭49:6-9, 15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Psalmist was obviously having a bad day. He looked around his community, perhaps his nation, and observed that there were a lot of rich people, who arrogantly lived a life of luxury. But he pointed out that there was one thing that their money could not buy and that was eternal life. He said, correctly, that they couldn’t take their wealth with them to the grave and beyond. They could not, as one of today’s verses points out, pay God a ransom to keep them alive forever.

In the world today there is a growing business in cryopreservation, where rich people or their families pay large sums to enable their bodies, or the bodies of their loved ones, to be preserved in liquid nitrogen in the hope that advances in medical science would one day enable them to be resurrected from their frozen state and brought back to life in a Lazarus-like resuscitation. An added twist sees some just having their brains frozen, perhaps in the hope of adding their intelligence to a robotic entity. But all with a faith that one day they will suddenly find themselves lying on a slab, waking up in a new age. It begs the question, would I really want to wake up in this sin-ridden, war-striven, disease-ravaged world? Will mankind ever get its act together to save this world and assure a future for Planet Earth? And all by effectively cocking a snoop at God by saying we can achieve what is needed without His help?

But I can’t help thinking how stupid the cryopreservationists are. God Himself has given everyone the opportunity to live forever through His Son Jesus. And it won’t cost them a penny. Rich or poor, we can embrace a hope for the future purely by accepting that God is who He says He is, the Creator of everything. That He loved mankind so much that He sent His Son Jesus to die for us at Calvary, offering the breathtaking exchange of our sins for His righteousness. And the Psalmist records his personal assurance that God has redeemed him from death, from the power of the grave, such was His faith in his relationship with his Father God.

And the Psalm ends with the following, “So don’t be dismayed when the wicked grow rich and their homes become ever more splendid. For when they die, they take nothing with them. Their wealth will not follow them into the grave. In this life they consider themselves fortunate and are applauded for their success. But they will die like all before them and never again see the light of day.” Psalms‬ ‭49:16-19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I don’t know about you, but I would much rather put my faith in the Creator of Everything, than in the hope that one day someone will wake me up from a frozen state. After all, why would they want to anyway?

The story of Jesus and His friend Lazarus is interesting. Lazarus dies and is buried and has languished, wrapped in his grave clothes, for four days before Jesus came to see his tomb. And we have the amazing spectacle set out in John 11, of Jesus commanding that the stone sealing the mouth of the tomb is rolled away. We then read in verses 43 and 44, “Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in grave clothes, his face wrapped in a head cloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”” These few words can never adequately describe the drama that unfolded before the observers. Gob-smacked would be too tame a phrase to describe it. Here was a man physically dead and starting to rot in the heat of that climate, and yet the power of God working through His Son Jesus was able to resurrect him from his dead state. Lazarus died and the next thing he knew was Jesus calling his name. Now I don’t believe for a minute that God has special favourites. He treats His children equally. As some have said, the ground is level at the foot of the Cross. So I sometimes wonder, after we die, will the next thing we hear be Jesus calling our name, waking us up to a glorious future with Him forever?