insights
revelation
perception
The fire of God:
Have you
been
singed
or
consumed?
What we see may not be what is there… but embellished by a hope or want or perhaps diminished by the inability to accept the truth. We all reshape what we see or unfortunately we may blind ourselves in denial. The attitude of optimism verses pessimism… with the glass being half full or half empty too often… may come into play… without our full or conscious realization.
Maybe there is a case for selective hearing… how much do we block out… or for example the person in church that falls asleep or for that matter is conveniently distracted… are they tuning out… willfully? Truth then is based on the heart as in “you who have ears” or there is no truth without love simply because… the basis of life has changed forever with Jesus…“I am the truth…”
Many times we repeat the new covenant scripture in an effort to convince ourselves… When the Good News was assembled it was not just a book to be read but the outline to be accepted by faith as a lifestyle. The early church had no scripture for three hundred years… as it was to be taught by living example just as Christ lived it… as He declared the truth as a way of life in His love. “Love one another as I love” as He loves in view of our feeble selfish love could accomplish only self-aggrandizement.
The love that Jesus brought… “God so loved the world!” was selfless sacrifice a far cry from what man perceives as love. The perfect love invites us in… to live in the heart of Jesus!
presence
Presence is a great word to describe God.
When we become aware of Him we are in His presence.
Not to say that we are always in His presence but in that it is now our response to His overwhelming love and our conscious effort and attitude that declares our desire to commune with Him.
The foundation of our purpose in having been called in Him, requires our complete attention in realizing Him in our midst. Called we hear and obey and follow. We are in fact summoned into His presence. Realizing that our call has joined us to all that are called crying out “Our Father…” begins our journey out of self and into Him which is recognized in us. And He is in our midst when two or more gather in and for His purpose. When Jesus instructs us that we are “The light of the world” He; His light is present to and through us casting out darkness so others may see His presence. Thus begins the foundation of our faith; the presence of God in us. He is alive in us and as/because we are obedient, He is interceding for us and in spite of ourselves using us as light.
Yes we can hide the light in us but that is a willful effort of our selfish flesh that can and will lead to self deception. That is why Jesus warns us not to hide our light and concludes His instruction, to gather in such close and permanent lifestyle as to be a city on a hill.
A city on a hill is to be light to the world to be seen from afar while casting out darkness.
The presence of God is then observed by our lives together.
To have no gain by insuring the gain of others is to realize your purpose
ABSENCE IS
presence
I have begun a journey that ended before it began
Coming into a place of absence; in Christ we live to die.
Death is before us but we seek to live before we die.
Jesus taught us it is death first so that we may live.
Does not death bring us into the resurrection; eternal life?
Is it lack of faith that brings us to clutch life and stifle it?
How does one obey “picking up your cross every day” or do we ignore or deny it.
When in essence we are not to deny death but to deny ourselves and our every selfish thought and focus on Him and His work.
To die is not reprehensible it is inevitable; the cause of original sin.
God does not remove death as a price paid for disobedience.
Death is separation from Him.
Jesus forgave us in death… “He is the way…” “The life (eternal)”
He goes before us and we follow by faith.
We cannot get back into relationship by any work or by anything we can do.
Jesus bridges the gap… forgiving the original sin of separation and all the sin we have and will have.
His merger into our lives gives us nothing new in our ability to change but He is that change and He alone makes up the ground that saves us from eternal death.
We remain imperfect and sinful His mercy forgives us as we recognize our utter failure to do anything outside of His will.
Or do we?
Whatever it is that you think you can do or work for you cannot overcome or pay for or buy off death; that is our just reward for the wages of sin. Or simply said we can do nothing without Him… for whatever we do shall not remove death.
Death is final! Life in Jesus is eternal!
In Christ we die… to live for Him!
Still doing things your way?
What do you think you can change
that has eternal value?
Absence of self begins and ends in “follow me!”
you who have ears
just press in