"Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord's offering for the work...." (Exodus 35:21a)
These were the same people who just a little while ago were demanding a golden calf.
Have you ever noticed how prone we are to "calf-worship" only to repent and become of those, "....whose heart was stirred, and...spirit was willing, to bring, "the Lord's offering..."? There are too many times in our lives where this has been the case. Could we call this a form of spiritual schizophrenia?
I am so thankful for the life "process" of sin-repentance-forgiveness. What I do not like is sin-repentance-sin-repentance-sin-repentance, well, you get the picture. We see this life scenario playing out all through the Bible, Old and New Testaments. This is not, however, what our Lord Jesus Christ has for us, not for which He shed His Most Precious Blood on His Cross.
I started to sing a song which came to me back on Easter Day, 1973, while driving back from an "Easter Sunrise Service." One line said, "Yes, our Lord has won the victory over sin and the grave, He's alive, He's alive, He's alive." Notice that Jesus' Victory is "over sin and the grave." Now that may have been "my" song, but it is true Biblical Theology. Our victory in Jesus is not just a going-to-Heaven victory. It is the reality that we can have victory over sin here, now. John Wesley would not ordain a man into ministry if he could not state in the affirmative that we can be "perfected in love" in this life.
As I read today's text, it came to me again: I do not want to be like the farmer in my Grandpa's illustration who prayed, "Lord, forgive me for the bail of hay I stole from farmer Jones last night. And, while you are at it, forgive me for the bail I'm going to steal tonight." That, my friend, is not "victorious living." We have more than the Hebrews of our text. We have the Blood of Jesus, continually "applied" on the altar of our lives. 1 John 2:1 is in the Canon. It is a "now" passage, and forever passage, "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you many not sin....Jesus Christ...is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."
Father, in Jesus' Name, This is my deep desire, that I, "may not sin." Amen.
**************
Germany and Israel: jhs58.blogspot.com
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
These were the same people who just a little while ago were demanding a golden calf.
Have you ever noticed how prone we are to "calf-worship" only to repent and become of those, "....whose heart was stirred, and...spirit was willing, to bring, "the Lord's offering..."? There are too many times in our lives where this has been the case. Could we call this a form of spiritual schizophrenia?
I am so thankful for the life "process" of sin-repentance-forgiveness. What I do not like is sin-repentance-sin-repentance-sin-repentance, well, you get the picture. We see this life scenario playing out all through the Bible, Old and New Testaments. This is not, however, what our Lord Jesus Christ has for us, not for which He shed His Most Precious Blood on His Cross.
I started to sing a song which came to me back on Easter Day, 1973, while driving back from an "Easter Sunrise Service." One line said, "Yes, our Lord has won the victory over sin and the grave, He's alive, He's alive, He's alive." Notice that Jesus' Victory is "over sin and the grave." Now that may have been "my" song, but it is true Biblical Theology. Our victory in Jesus is not just a going-to-Heaven victory. It is the reality that we can have victory over sin here, now. John Wesley would not ordain a man into ministry if he could not state in the affirmative that we can be "perfected in love" in this life.
As I read today's text, it came to me again: I do not want to be like the farmer in my Grandpa's illustration who prayed, "Lord, forgive me for the bail of hay I stole from farmer Jones last night. And, while you are at it, forgive me for the bail I'm going to steal tonight." That, my friend, is not "victorious living." We have more than the Hebrews of our text. We have the Blood of Jesus, continually "applied" on the altar of our lives. 1 John 2:1 is in the Canon. It is a "now" passage, and forever passage, "My little children, these things I write to you, so that you many not sin....Jesus Christ...is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."
Father, in Jesus' Name, This is my deep desire, that I, "may not sin." Amen.
**************
Germany and Israel: jhs58.blogspot.com
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
