Make me to know how frail I am

Psalm 39:4 says,

"Lord, make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am."

To those who will live forever, this life is indeed very short, only a vapor, not an enduring solid.

But why would David want to know what his end will be?  Why would anyone want to know how long he was destined to live, at which time he would have to die?  No one wants to know, except the one who has a solid faith in eternal life.  Only Jesus Christ has promised this.  The Old Testament saints had some idea of eternal life.  David certainly taught such ideas.  The translation of Enoch and Elijah (without death) also argues for an eternal life.

But Jesus promised it explicitly.  Not only did He promise it, but he demonstrated it by his own resurrection and ascension.  No other religion can make such an iron-clad guarantee of eternal life to those who believe.  But that is our end, endless; and the measure of our days is without measure.

Praise be the the Lord Jesus Christ!  To know that our end is only passing from here to There is wonderful. We are not going away, just going home to Him who is our Maker, and to be forever with our Redeemer.  And the end that we face here, death, is only a beginning, the beginning of life that is not temporal or mortal, but everlasting!

This doesn't mean I am not frail.  My health, be it ever so strong, can change in a moment.  One wrong step could do me in, or one innocent habit, unchecked after many years, could be fatal.  Trusting the wrong medication, these days, can be a life and death decision.  This shows how frail our knowledge is too.  Drugs once thought to be safe turned out to be disastrous over a long period. Who predicted that having knowledge of nuclear power would prove to create so much fear and greed and war and anxiety in the world. 

But we must know that we are frail, both physically and in knowledge. And I think that perhaps this knowledge alone gives man the humility that can save his soul, and the world.  God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.  This wasn't to come and puff us up with self-reliance and pride and humanism. It was to show us how frail we are, how doomed to destroy all that is good, and ourselves in the process, if we do not retain the knowledge of God.

Lord, send forth the knowledge of thyself to people in this generation, through me and all those who call you Lord, by the proclamation of the gospel of your Son Jesus Christ.  AMEN

Testifying that the world is evil

"The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil." [Jn 7:7]

The good, kindly, sweet Jesus, who everyone so affectionately regards as being the embodiment of God's love only, has often been quoted saying things that some would (indeed some have tried to) remove from the Scriptures, sayings such as:

"And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." [Matthew 25:46]

Now we have in John 7 Jesus himself affirming such sayings and owning them entirely, and offering this as the full explanation as to why the world hates Him: because He testifies that its works are evil.  Why would he tell people their deeds are evil?  This just isn't done if you want to be a public figure, which is of course what everyone wants. Even Jesus' own brothers completely misunderstood Him, thinking it was also what He wanted.  It was not. He wanted to glorify the Father; that was the sum of our Lord's desires.  And inasmuch as it was the Father's will, he wanted to redeem those whom the Father would give to Him.

But to go around telling people that they're evil is the wrong way to win souls, if you listen to Christians today. They will every one of them advise you the same, as you begin any sort of preaching or evangelism.  Tell people they're sinful, corrupted and going to hell, or point out any single thing they're doing as something condemned in the Scriptures, and you are, to hear so many well-meaning Christians, hurting them.  But Jesus did this.  So did Peter, Paul, James, John, and almost every other sincere preacher, evangelist or teacher of Scripture since.  Obviously there is a huge difference in berating and mindlessly lambasting people of sin, and speaking the truth in love as the Lord did.  And I'm totally encouraging the latter, not the former.

But we've raised up a generation of preachers who are so fearful of doing the one that they do neither at all. In fact, they are so desirous of being public figures that they don't at all know how to preach like Jesus, because to do so is to be hated.  For "just as they hated me, they will hate you," said our Lord.  All the more if we preach as He did, will they hate and vilify us.  All the greatest preachers were lampooned and attacked, usually by other Christians, until their fruit was matured after 20 or 30 years.  The ancient prophets and early Christian saints were martyred for their testimony and preaching.

And in this age, where accusations of "hate speech" are the latest ruse of the Devil for silencing Christians, we can't afford to say anything that anyone anywhere might construe as a criminal act, as justice is all but dead in such situations.  There was a time when a black man who was accused of anything was as good as lynched; times have changed, but people still want their lynchings. Now they are more than willing to lynch Christians who decry sin, especially the sacred cows of sexual sins.

Thus, I think it only appropriate to decry a few. "E-ville" would seem to be the most fitting pronunciation of evil for our online era.  And what greater sin that the mental fondling of the idols taking place in the world of online pornography.  I admit I know how vile it is. But cannot but shake and shudder when I see it, knowing it to be the very breath of demons pouring into the eyes of the soul, a darkness illuminated by The Light of the World, and shown for the filth it is.  Who can justify it?  Yet many Christians do so, at least to themselves, with no thought for the Holiness of God, and the Son of God they are trampling under their feet while indulging in their lust.

If the world was really such a wonderful place, I might doubt that men's deeds are all that evil. But when I see the wars, thefts, murders, and so many vile people living in idolatry, I cannot but tremble that we are doing so little to win them, and doing even less to influence them with godly lives.  We are salt that has lost its saltiness, and is not even fit for the dunghill. [Lk 14:34,35]

May God help us not to seek the pleasure of the world, but choose rather to suffer with Christ.  For this is what has been granted to us. [Phil 1:29] May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus help us to restore that good news that is:

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. [Acts 3:19]

forsaking that half-gospel which omits the diagnosis of sin altogether.  Lord, increase our love for you, and desire to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness.  AMEN

The Amazing Edible Jesus

John 6:41-71

In this passage, our Lord makes the claims that He came down from heaven, that He alone has seen the Father, and that he will raise up the dead on the last day.  Who Jesus Christ is:  that is the central question of the Christian faith.   And so in vv.41-42 the people complained that he said "I am the bread which came down from heaven." And they asked that quintessential question: "Who is this? Isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, `I have come down from heaven'?"

What are we called as Christians to preach?  It is the gospel, that Jesus is the Christ.  We might want to argue the finer points of theology. But the Twelve didn't have that kind of knowledge, and they were amazing, because they understood this one thing well, that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God, and that he has the words of eternal life. [68,69]  They continually preached Jesus to the best of their knowledge, and taught and shared and proclaimed Him, as well as living righteous lives full of good works.

What do I want?  That was Jesus' first question to his disciples, wasn't it! "Where dwellest thou?" I want to dwell with Christ, to know Him, and to proclaim Christ to everyone, teaching, serving, even healing them just as Jesus did. Yet in my heart, there are a thousand other desires amalgamated in with this pure gold. Not least is the desire to have a richer knowledge of the Scriptures, of theology, the original languages of the Scriptures, etc., which I think must always be kept secondary. HE is primary.

When we've had our fill of milk, then candy and cookies, we learn to appreciate mature food as our tastes mature.  Paul experienced this spiritually after he had spent a lifetime studying Scripture, theology, philosophy. At last he resolved "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." [Philippians 3:10,11]  And his preaching was not with artful rhetoric, but with Christ and his death and resurrection.  He certainly taught theology to those who were believers. And so should we. But his passion was to "preach the gospel where Christ is not know". 

So what of this invitation of the Lord's, to eat his flesh and drink his blood?  Of course He means his word.  "The flesh profits nothing, the Spirit gives life."  And in the next breath, "The words I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life." [63]  Clearly it is the Lord's invitation to live by His word, to eat it daily, meditate on it day and night, and to be like a tree planted by streams of living water.

Lord, grant me not only to dwell on your word always, but proclaim it to a lost generation.  Send me into all the world if I cannot serve you here.  But grant that I may stay with You, Lord Jesus, and know You, and feed always upon the living bread of your word.  Enable me to give this word to many others. IJNA

This is the work of God...

Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."

I think I am greatly comforted that God has work for me to do, and that in its most basic form, that work is to believe in Him. 

Abraham believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness.  And when he really, really believed, God swore to make his descendants.  Consider Gen 22:12,

Do not lay a hand on the lad, ... now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, you only son, from Me. ... By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son---blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants will possess the gate of their enemies.

The Lord, it seems, was finally convinced and ready to pour out his blessing, with an oath, upon his servant. Does this mean God needed to see evidence of Abraham's faith before doing anything with him?  "Now I know" seems to mean just that.  God, who knows all things, wanted to see the evidence of Abraham's obedience. 

And so, after so many years, I need to simply believe, working out my salvation, that is my assurance and faith in the God who saves me, with fear and trembling, and making sure both my calling and election.  Indeed, overcoming unbelief is the most difficult work of God.  And the Lord who called me to "go and preach the good news to all creation" is still waiting to see if I truly believe.  He knows my heart, sure; "Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love thee".  Yet He ever responds, "Feed my sheep."

Lord, give me faith to go and obey today.  And anoint me with Your Holy Spirit as I go in Jesus' Name. AMEN