November 25, 2022

Turkey Time with a Twist

I imagine that yesterday most of us ate too much but had a great time doing so. After all, it is Thanksgiving Turkey Time! However, for many Christians, although they may have eaten like a king, they feel like an emotional pauper. Depression is at a very high level. In fact, a recent survey reminds us that 1 out of 8 adults has received a prescription for an anti-depressant medication this year. I would like to think that the percentage of Christians is lower, but unfortunately, I am not convinced that is true. Having worked as a professional counselor as well as a pastor, I am fully aware that Christians are not immune to disorders of the mind and depression of the spirit. The Christmas season is upon us. And as the song says- “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” And the reason is, Christ has come to bring true hope to a lost and dying world. And even though much in this world looks hopeless, never doubt and never forget that God is up to something. He has no rivals. When I find myself giving in or feeling like giving up, I remind myself of the insight of V. Raymond Edmond: "Never doubt in the dark what God has told you in the light."   Serving Him with you Until He comes for us, Fred

November 18, 2022

God Always Continues To Be What He Is While We Continue To Become What We Are Not. ~Saint Gregory of Nyssa~

There are some truths that leave you breathless upon being spoken, and create a petrified moment. Such a truth is the divine display of God who declares that He Is and what He Is. He is the I AM. Exodus 3:13-14 - Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”    Moses found himself in terrifying proximity to the one true God, the only wise God. God reveals to Moses both His existence and His essence by declaring His name to be, Yahweh - I AM. It is this truth that surely left Moses breathless and certainly created a petrified moment. The profoundness of the pronouncement is understood in that the subject is contained in the predicate- I Am. This self-disclosure and self-description of our Lord is both a manifested mystery that is mesmerizing to our minds and a marvelous comfort to our hearts. The New Testament adds to our understanding of His name by declaring that He is the one who was and is and will be. The simplicity of this sublime statement says it all. Philosophers, having nothing to say, say it with great eloquence.  Our God has said it all. He is there for you. And He is not silent! Serving Him with you Until He comes for us, Fred

November 11, 2022

You Say the Days are Evil???

When has that never not been true? The cultural morass is staggering, and the moral cleavage is shattering. The brazen fabrications of the media with their ever increasing clout creates an atmosphere where we breathe in insecurity and exhale doubt. We have spent our time adding knowledge to our memory but failed to convert knowledge into morality. The result is as Voltaire reminds us; Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. The “fact” that the constitution “guarantees the right to women to have an abortion” comes to mind as an example of an absurdity leading to atrocities.

I have been reading the Book of Lamentations. It helps you correct your perspective about a lot of things. It divulges the terrible consequences of a nation who spurns the moral direction of the Lord. It also discloses the provision of mercy and the promise of grace.

I have also been reading the Book of Habakkuk. Talk about a moral question! It is the Moral Question of all time - the problem of evil. 

The sacred scripture does not sugarcoat the realities of our experiences as we exist in a sin-cursed world. The word of God is always relevant because it speaks to and answers the eternal questions of today or any day. 

As Saint Augustine boldly declared, “You say the times are evil? Live nobly and you will change the times.” Or at least how you view them.

Serving Him with you

Until He comes for us,

Fred 

November 4, 2022

The Great Gift of the Glorious Grace of God

There is a perennial danger of transforming theological words into sociological customs. It is nothing less than trifling with the sacred and trivializing the divine. Grace is just such a word. Grace is often reduced to a cultural value of communicating nicely or being physically smooth on the dance floor.

In the Old Testament the term translated grace means showing favor, having pity, or being kind. Grace does not presuppose reciprocity or a quid quo pro, “something for something.” It is a gift that is unearned. In the New Testament we see the word grace used over 160 times with the same concept in its general use, but even more in its specific theological use.

The apostle John declares that Jesus is the one “who is full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) Paul declares, “for by grace you have been saved through faith it is the gift of God - not because of works lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Grace is a gift, and like all gifts it is free. It is not a loan. We do not work to earn it, nor do we bribe God to receive it. The free gift of God’s grace is that which provides for us the free gift of salvation - Eternal Life.

The grace of God is first experienced in Genesis and exhibited through the patriarchs and the prophets. It is also the heart of the New Testament and goes right through the book of Revelation. “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.” (Revelation 22:21) This is the most sublime way to close out the New Testament, the same way it began.

I like these quotes from Lewis Sperry Chafer:

"Grace, as used in the Bible in relation to divine salvation, represents the uncompromised, unrestricted, unrecompensed, and loving favor of God toward sinners.  It is an unearned blessing. It is a gratuity … God saves sinners by grace. God keeps through

grace those who are saved. Those who are saved, God teaches in grace how they should live and how they may live, to His eternal glory."

                                      

“Pure grace is neither treating a person as he deserves, nor treating a person better than he deserves, but treating a person without the slightest reference to what he deserves."

Oh thank God it is true.                      

Serving Him with you

Until He comes for us,

Fred