Whoa, We Didn't Count on That!

"And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.  For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."  (1 Corinthians 2:1, 2)

The meteor which swept across the Urals in Russia today did not appear on radar and caught everyone by surprise.  The Russian President was speaking at an economic summit in Siberia at the time and said, "not only the economy is vulnerable, but the whole planet."  More sobering words could not be spoken.  Jesus said, "And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity,..; men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the power of the heavens will be shaken."  Do not mock at this age old declaration of our Lord, the all-too-often response, "Oh, I've heard that before!"

While more and more space objects are coming ever closer, and while some have before today's event hit the earth, here is the vast majority of the human race, going about daily business, not giving much thought to its own mortality, not giving consideration to the Biblical call to, "Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."  The attitude toward this in the universities and most seminaries is just religious mumbo jumbo, irrelevant religion, partisan, Lennon's "Imagine," which apparently is the imagination of most on the planet.  In short, all that Bible stuff is just religious nonsense.

Our text is from one of my readings today.  My interpretation of the text is that Jesus Christ is central, Jesus Christ is foundational, Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone, and only in Jesus Christ and through the Blood of Jesus Christ in His Cross is the redemption, the salvation of the human race.  This age will come to a close, and so will you and I.  What you and I can see is finite, temporal.  What we cannot see is infinite, eternal.  Think of all that which we say we believe and believe in, The Living Triune God, promises yet unseen, the life to come, Heaven.  We cannot see them in the natural, but by, "the faith of Jesus," we see them all.

The Russian President is right; "not only the economy is vulnerable, but the whole planet."  But there is something which is only vulnerable to you and me if we do not live our lives by Him.  Over cosmic events, over the pseudointellectualism of mankind stands Jesus Christ, Who is the very, "Word of God."  As Colossians 1 tells us, "Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in Jesus all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.... Jesus is before all things, and in Jesus all things hold together..., so that in everything He might have the supremacy."  So you know what to do if you ever feel as though you or the world is coming apart.

Father, in Jesus' Name, You reign; You are exalted far above all.  I rest in You.  Amen.
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When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"Always"?

"Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up...." (Luke 18:1, NIV)  "Watch therefore, and pray always...." (Luke 21:36, NKJV) 

As far as I can tell, prayer is the only reality about which Jesus said, "always."  Now modern Christendom has a lot of "always," but prayer is not one of them.  

Of course prayer is fundamental to our "New-Creation" walk in Christ.  But there have been people in history, e.g., Anna, "....who served God with fastings and prayers night and day," and rail on them all some may wish, but many in the monastic communities, whose call was very similar.  We will have no idea in this life how much Christianity owes to some of those isolated intercessors and many others whose life "work" was prayer.  This word, however, is not just to "full time intercessors;" there is no mention of such in Scripture.  This word of Jesus is to, "his disciples[,] a parable to show them...."  If you and I are disciples of Jesus, this word is our word. 

What have you given up on?  Again, the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ, this time from the KJV, "And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint, i.e., "to grow weary...."  Now some may attempt to give a "how" to this, but it is always interesting to me just how little, if any, explanation Jesus gives about His commands.  But I can give you this encouragement today: "Have you never heard?  Have you never understood?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth.  He never grows weak or weary....He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.  Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.  But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.  They will soar high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40, NLT)

Father, in Jesus' Name, it is so foolish for me to ever give up or faint or become weary.  You don't.  Amen.
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Update on upcoming mission coming later today.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2