Latest Treasures...

Long ago, God, in many different ways, revealed himself to us through many different people, who like us were mere men.
But in these last days, He has spoken to use in a special way, using a personal messenger. He has spoken to us through His Son.
His Son is the heir and inheritor of the entire world, because through HIS POWER the world was created.
He IS the radiance of God's glory.
He is not just a reflection of God; He is the EXACT IMPRINT OF GOD.
He UPHOLDS THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE, which He created and will inherit, by THE WORD OF HIS POWER.
"After making purification for sins..."
after taking the form of a slave,
after taking on mere humanity,
after submitting Himself to serve those whom He created,
after surrendering to their humiliation of Him,
after suffering in His human body in the cruelest means of death,
after suffering through utter separation from THE FATHER,
after making Himself the scapegoat for OUR SIN,
He sat down.
He, being God, being All-Powerful, completed that which we could never do.
He paid the debt for our sin, took our well-deserved punishment, then ascended back to the heights of HIS GLORY : THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD : The Ultimate Seat of Power, Authority, and Blessing!

And we are IN CHRIST. We are united with Him in His death, and in His Resurrection, and someday...
WE ARE TO SHARE IN HIS GLORY.

AGAIN?????

“When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD.” Judges 4:1

“Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, so Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.” Judges 6:1,6

“So it was, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-Berith their god. Thus the children of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side; nor did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) in accordance with the good he had done for Israel.” Judges 8:33-35


I’m studying the book of Judges in my personal worship time, and every time I read a verse like these, my heart sags. Not literally, of course, but you know the feeling! Again??? When will they get it? Can’t they see all He’s done for them? Is their memory that bad? Why don’t they understand that God is so much better than any other god?


Then I am filled with shame. Who am I to speak? When will I get it? Why do I often follow after “the pleasures of sin for a moment”? Can’t I see all that He has done for me? Is my memory that bad? Why don’t I understand that God is so much better than any other thing I set up in my heart as a god?

Even greater is my shame than those of the people of Israel. I have even more to remember. I, who deserved eternal punishment, and was not one of the chosen people of Israel, have been grafted into the family of God by His grace and His Son’s death on the cross. I, an enemy of God, was brought near and redeemed by no merit of my own. And NOW, after all this, His Spirit lives in me, guiding me, convicting me, illumining me, and giving me strength to live as Christ showed me how to live. AND Jesus is preparing an eternal home for me, where I shall dwell forever with Him!

And yet, I still sin.  Though I am a sinner, I cannot use that as a cop-out answer.


Romans 6:11 “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”


Romans 6:13 “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”


Romans 7:3 “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”


Romans 8:5-8 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

As a believer, I am dead to sin. Dead.  So now, every time I sin, it is a choice to follow the flesh. It’s not that I can’t help it, but that I choose to do it.


I want my sin to bother me as much as the Israelite’s sin bothers me in the book of Judges. May I see it for what it is: direct rebellion against God, choosing another God, missing the mark of God’s holiness.

It is my desire that my life be characterized by Judges 10:16 (“So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD.”) instead of Judges 10:6 (“Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals … and they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.”)


May my memory of Christ’s sacrifice compel me to serve Him and not to sin.

Thoughts on Death and Life

"What the world calls virtue, without Christ, is a name and a dream. The foundation of all human excellence must be laid deep in the blood of the Redeemer's cross and in the power of His resurrection." -Robertson

We must realize that without Christ, we are nothing. Even our righteousness is filthy rags before Him. When we excel, and we do not do it for Him and His glory, then we have done nothing.  It is only when we die to ourselves and our desires, that we can really excel, because He is glorified when our flesh is swallowed up in His Spirit. (1Co 6:20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.)

When we, knowing that Christ died and rose again to make it possible that we can live a life that truly means something, decide instead to live for ourselves....we are denying that His death and resurrection means anything. 
Romans 8:11 "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."
Eph 2:1 "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,"
Eph 2:4-6  "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,"
 
I love this passage in Colossians about what Christ did for us on the cross!
Col 2:13 "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses,  having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it."
 
What should our reponse be since Christ has made us alive? 
 
Galatians 2:20-21 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Col 3:2,4a "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God....therefore put to death your members which are on the earth."

1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed." "That we might live for rightoeusness!"
It is  my prayer that I never "get away" from the cross, may it loom ever before me, reminding me of His sacrifice, which is the reason for my daily sacrifice (Rom. 12:1-2).  The Christian life is one of daily death and resurrection, putting to death (mortifying) even wicked thought and action, that it becomes "not I, but Christ who lives in me."

2Co 5:14-15 "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again."

May we all die today, that we may truly live!

And if I die before I wake...

I went to another funeral today, and am in another, some would say "morbid", but I would call it "sober" mood. I created a "just in case" funeral file on my Mac when I got home.  That may sound morbid-- a seventeen year old planning her funeral.  But there are certain things I want said, read, and sung.  Life is a vapor.  A breath.  Why should I plan on living ninety-two years? What guarantee do I have? My only guarantee, and it is more than enough, is that I will live forever!
Creating a hypothetical scenario, just to help you think with me, what it would look like...

If I didn't wake up tomorrow morning...
If I had a brain aneurism which is what had been giving me headaches...
If last summer was my last time working at camp...
If last summer was my first and last time seeing my relatives in California...
If last year was my first and last time participating in Bible Bee...
If last fall was my last bonfire...
If this Christmas was my last holiday season...
If last month was my last time sledding at camp...
If my birthday was the last chance I had to see my cousins...
If last Sunday was my last time to serve at church...
If last Sunday was my final time talking to my friends about God...
If last night was my last time watching the Olympics...
If last night was my last time holding my little brother in my lap...
If last night was my last time to give my dad a good night hug...
If today was my last time to read my Bible...
If today was my last time to do Algebra 2(hallelujah!)...
If today was my last time to fold a load of clothes...
If today was my last time to sing...
If today was my last time to speak to my siblings...
If today was my last time to tell my mom how much I love her...
If today was my last time to write on this blog...
If today was my last chance to be a blessing...
If today was my last chance to walk worthy and please my God...
If I didn't wake up tomorrow morning...
If Friday was my funeral, and people on earth talked about what I had done with my life...
If tonight I was with God in heaven, seeing my life pass before the eyes of heaven...

What would I have done differently?
James 4:13 says, "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away."

If today had been my last, would I have regrets?
It has been said, "Live every day as if it were your last." 
If we really lived that way, what would our lives look like?

Psalm 90:12 "So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom."

Brevity

I'm reminded of how short life is because a young man with a wife and two small children died last night from an intense battle with cancer.  Pray for the Johnson family (Jessica, Ava, and Lincoln) as they trust in God and His care for them now.  He is now free from pain, sorrow, tears and death.
I wrote this poem a couple years ago and was reminded of it.  Life is a vapor.

Brevity

Two little girls, in dresses fair,

With golden locks and flowing hair

With tea in hand on little chairs

Surrounded by dolls and teddy bears.

Two teenage beauties, known as such,

Unaware their beauty wasn’t much,

Storing treasures in a wooden hutch,

Laughing at the beggar’s crutch.

Two young women, facing the world,

No longer laden with flowing curl

Longing for rings with glossy pearls,

Full of dreams to be unfurled.

Two mothers chatting ‘bout family quirks,

Or ice cream socials and husbands’ work,

While children all around them lurk,

Giving their skirts a stubborn jerk.

Two ladies, stiff, with graying hair,

Drinking tea in rocking chairs,

Wishing young people were all aware

that life is a vapor.

copyright2006