Verse of the Day: But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. —2 Timothy 4:5
Memory of the month: And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" —Luke 24:32
Today's reading: DEUTERONOMY 13-15 MARK 12:28-44
From Awful to Awesome
Proverbs 9:10 ►The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
The beginning of wisdom is a true fear of the awful power that God has shown in the destruction of evil recorded in the Bible. It has been confused with the fires of hell for millenia. This is an effort to define the 'fear of the Lord' for each of us. As we grow in the Lord, we must move forward from the beginning. That makes sense, right? If we go in a gate, we have entered for a reason. If we stay at the gate or beginning, we have not progressed and God is always about our progression in the abundant life He has given us in Christ.
The gate always stays at the same place. It never moves but we know it is always there. Fear of God is the gate and Christ is the key. The sacrifice of Christ for each of us and the divine faith provided by God gets us 'past' the gate. We must put our faith in our God who has wielded awful power and at the same time forever has promised to finish the work of awesome grace began in us.
Philippians 1:6 ►being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
God, in His awesome power, will complete the good work in each of us-not the work 'of' us but the work 'in' us-
God's awesome power can and will move us forward and deeper step by step to embracing His eternal truths that continue to mold us past the gate of fear that is always there. It is the gate all of us entered on the narrow path.
Matthew 7:13 ►"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
We hear, see, and read it everyday. The world on the wide path has passed up the gate that is wisdom in Christ because they see a 'better way'. Then they embrace a world forever governed by fear of losing their choice and control. This is a world governed by false gods-the gods of greed and ego-passion and satisfaction. (remember "I can't get no satisfaction"?)
The abundant life in Christ is a world that progresses past fear into inner freedom from all that the world claws for everyday. Inner freedom and peace and joy is ours and the more we allow God to move us into His knowledge the deeper our understanding of His abundant life is.
The knowledge of the Holy one is understanding-that is what the Bible says. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life and no man(person) comes to the Father but by me". The gate into God is fear-the key is Jesus-he lets us in in grace and moves us forward in faith-not away from fear-but past it into what the Bible calls the 'mystery'.
1 Corinthians 4:1 ►This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed.
(The more we learn, the more God reveals we are yet to learn.)
The lost world is like a spacecraft that is approaching re-entry to earth's atmosphere. The crew knows the danger of entering too fast and burning up and so make the correction, based on bad scientific calculation, and bounce off into deep space. Hurdling through deep space they perfect ways of surviving-living and dying for eons as they bounce from one dead planet to the next-just because they were afraid of the fire. Well, then they find out that the few people working on the original calculations that caused the bounce from earth's gravity, made the choice for everyone else as they fed them false information.
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that people think is right, but it leads only to death.
John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
From awful power to awesome grace and abundant life is a direction that only makes sense in Christ as He moves us deeper into His knowledge and understanding of the Holy one-for all believers.
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
I confess I still have worldly desires. Grant me understanding to move deeper into knowledge of Your heart.
Gracious and awesomely powerful God and Father of all,
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