The message We Live

Saturday, ‎April ‎22, ‎2023

Good morning, Lord

Verse of the Day: Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. Luke 17:33

Memory of the Month: John 10:27-28

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Today's reading: 2 SAMUEL 14-15 LUKE 17:1-19

Days of Noah/The Message We Live

Think about the days of Noah. It was primitive, to be sure, but it was a form of civilization. Jesus talked about it:

26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Luke 17

It sounds as if they were having a 'good' life as the world would see it. Eating and drinking as opposed to starving and dying of thirst is good in any age. But, it was a world of the 'left'. So much so that only Noah and his family were saved on the ark.

Ecclesiastes 10:2 ►The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.

It was, then, a world of fools with the exception of a few righteous hearts. The days of Noah were a morally dark time and it broke God's heart. The days of Lot were similar:28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all—Luke 17

We live in a time of hope-yes hope. These are the 'days of the Son of Man', I believe, in that we live in the age of grace where we still have a chance to live the message of hope before a lost world. No, these are not days of Jesus physically walking on earth but days when Jesus walks in us.

How important is Jesus in your life, really? Our perception is our reality but so is the world's perception of us. How does the world see the message you live? We all live a message-like it or not-deny it or not.

The way we live tells the world what we really believe.

It may seem to many that we live in similar days to Noah and Lot-but there is the ultimate difference-Jesus has come and lived and died-defeated death and ascended. He has provided a way into the 'Ark'(God's salvation in Christ) for us-that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish...

God continues to work in and through those who are obedient to seek and save the lost. Yes, there is a world that buys into hate and rages against us-but just like Noah, we must keep building. The timbers and pegs and pitch of God's kingdom are His word and love and grace. We are His builders. All of us have a job. Someone has to lead with jobs all the way down to the one who carries water...

42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”Matthew 10

These people today who still live the life outside the ark in these modern days of Noah must see the message God wants them to see in our lives. That message will never change. It is John 3:16. The message is the same but each of the builders carries it in a little different way because God made us all so differently.

How does the screaming, hateful-laughing world see us-see you-see me?

What is the message we live?

Much work to be done, yes, but God's grace will never run out.

...because He loves us,

Father in Heaven,

Forgive me for not taking Your message for my neighbor seriously. I yield my heart and mind.

Great God of endless Grace!

In the name of Jesus,

Amen