"In the beginning...God said...." (Genesis 1)
The beginning of a new quarter came over the weekend. The Bible reading began with, "In the beginning God...." No mention here of a "big bang," just, "And God said...." Before that first, "And God said...," of what we call "Creation," I wonder what He was "doing."
The beginning of a new quarter came over the weekend. The Bible reading began with, "In the beginning God...." No mention here of a "big bang," just, "And God said...." Before that first, "And God said...," of what we call "Creation," I wonder what He was "doing."
This is the Bible, "And God said...." Someone once said that if you believe these first four words of the Bible, you can believe the rest. It is true, even though one's delicate sensibilities may cause a moral judgment on the Creator with some of the ways He does things. "How can you believe in a God who...?" This is what rules in the agnostic, the "disillusioned" former "believer." They look at wars, starvation, famine, children dying, etc., and hold God responsible. If they choose a life which takes them "down that path," so be it. I find it not a "dead end," just dead.
Following Jesus is not "blind obedience." It is, "And God said...," obedience. Faith in Jesus Christ is not "blind." It is what the Bible calls, "the faith of Jesus," the faith, belief, obedience which is based in an absolute trusting in, relying on and believing in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, literally, taking Jesus at His Words. As Romans 10 declares, "Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ." We hear, read, "the Word of Christ," then have a choice, to accept His Word and build our lives upon His Words, or not obey and, as Ephesians says, be left, "having no hope and without God in the world."
What we choose at that moment determines each day and the rest of our lives. There will continually be those around us who ally with and affirm the the words of, "The Accuser of the Brethren." It all comes back to what Joshua said to the Hebrews thousands of years ago, "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of [those] in whose land you dwell. But as for me...." Well, you know the rest.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I receive again this day, "And God said...." Amen.
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Berlin/Wittenberg Mission: October 28-November 15
Following Jesus is not "blind obedience." It is, "And God said...," obedience. Faith in Jesus Christ is not "blind." It is what the Bible calls, "the faith of Jesus," the faith, belief, obedience which is based in an absolute trusting in, relying on and believing in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, literally, taking Jesus at His Words. As Romans 10 declares, "Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ." We hear, read, "the Word of Christ," then have a choice, to accept His Word and build our lives upon His Words, or not obey and, as Ephesians says, be left, "having no hope and without God in the world."
What we choose at that moment determines each day and the rest of our lives. There will continually be those around us who ally with and affirm the the words of, "The Accuser of the Brethren." It all comes back to what Joshua said to the Hebrews thousands of years ago, "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of [those] in whose land you dwell. But as for me...." Well, you know the rest.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I receive again this day, "And God said...." Amen.
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Berlin/Wittenberg Mission: October 28-November 15
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.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
