Keep Sowing Seeds

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.  For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you, according to Luke 6:38.  Clearly, God is so pleased that we choose to care about others rather than just ourselves that He abundantly responds in kind.    

The principle of God, which Galatians 6:7 introduces by reminding us that God is not mocked, is that what a man sows he will surely reap.  This same concept is declared in 1 Peter 3:9 where the Holy Spirit states that we are called to bless that we might receive the blessing.  We don't just do it for the return blessing, but as sure as God is, He does reward our smallest and biggest effort, from giving a glass of water to little one to laying our life down for others.

The obvious problem with giving is that often the people we seek to bless may take advantage of us, or worse yet, turn on us.  So, it is important to remember that we give to God by blessing others, and we do it in obedience to Him.  Then it doesn't matter whether the ones we help appreciate our work or not, God knows our heart and every detail of what we do.  Therefore, Galatians 6:9 reminds us to not be weary in well doing for in due time we shall surely reap.  The central issue is do we trust that God is faithful to His promise.   

The nature of God is love which gives.  Because God is a giver, and is so good, His life in us motivates and empowers us to give: to give thanks to Him always, to give our resources to others in need, and to be ready to bless every person that He directs.  Give and it will be given.  In all this, we simply cannot outgive God, He will surely honor those who honor Him by giving.  Keep sowing seeds and trust God to produce the harvest.  

Identity Exchange

Jesus identified completely with man, taking our nature, going through the natural steps of living as a human on earth, and then, in loving surrender and amazement taking on all our sin and its deadly consequence.  The awesome Good News is that because of His identifying with fallen man, we can now by faith identify completely with His nature, being born-again into children of God, seated at the right hand of God with Him, and ruling as kings forever!

Hallelujah!  He is risen!  Jesus not only became man but identified with all the sin, impending judgment, and consequential eternal death that our rebellion justly deserved.  Through His suffering and death all men's sins have been completely paid for and then the powerful resurrection demonstrates that all the consequences are overcome.  

Because He lives, we can now share His resurrected life today and forever.  In chapel this week our message was that He forgave our sins (past), gave us a purpose for living (present), and promised divine life forever with Him in Heaven (future).  What Jesus accomplished is more than we could ever think, ask, or imagine.  

In addition, He invites us to identify with the eternal rewards that He earned by humbly submitting Himself to the Father's will.  By faith we identify with His death as we acknowledge He died for us.  By baptism, we, our old sinful nature, are buried with Him, and in receiving His Spirit, we now are filled with power and love to be His light in the world.  We know God as our "Abba Father," our purpose and His provision through His Word, and the Holy Spirit within bears witness to His life in us while on earth and in the ages to come.  Praise God Forever! 

You Will Make It!

How is your bracket?

The reason people ask that question is because, by now, we have all failed.  Sometimes life seems like that NCAA bracket, with our mistakes giving us a common denominator.  What did the famous Scottish poet Burns say, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray."    

The situation of the Israelites as described in Jeremiah 29 and 30 was worse than anyone could imagine.  The leaders were killed or taken captive.  Dead bodies were everywhere with no one to even bury them.  The temple was burned and completely destroyed.  And those who were still alive were treated like cattle and transported to be slaves in Babylon.  In the midst of this failure is where God spoke the phrase we like to remind our young people, "God has good plans for you, to give you a future and a hope."

Furthermore, Jeremiah encourages the people to build houses, plant crops, and give sons and daughters in marriage.  In short, don't quit.  Continue doing the things, the responsibilities, that God has given you.  God is never done with bringing us into His inheritance, but sometimes there are other internal changes that have greater priority in order to be capable of handling the good He has planned for us.  Adversity is a great motivator to seek God.  There is a saying from WWI, that every man has a God in a foxhole.  And that is exactly what Jeremiah reminds the people that God is calling, "When you seek Me with all your heart I will be found."  Use the current need and situation to lead you into a greater dependence on God's promises and His faithfulness.  God is in the business of restoring what the enemy has stolen, and turning what was meant for evil into good.  He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.  He clearly has a plan for our future and our hope.  We will make it.

In Jeremiah 30, God promises some powerful encouragement.  "Yet I will not make a complete end of you, but I will correct you in justice."  No one enjoys being corrected, but God's ways are life and peace.  Revival, or the abundance of His life and peace, always starts with people humbling themselves.  God promises to dwell with the those who are humble and contrite in heart.  The trials of today often cause us to "break up the fallow ground" and let the rain of God's mercy and righteousness soften our hearts.  After humbling ourselves before God, He releases His intended purpose, " I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds," says the Lord.  (Jeremiah 30:17)  

Jesus, His resurrection and the promise of ours, is our hope.  We are destined to share His nature and glory forever.  God has given us this awesome vision so that no matter what happens, we know that we will not perish.  Not only will we not perish, but all things continue to work for our good, for us who are called according to His purpose.  The verse "without a vision the people perish" may also be translated, "without a vision the people cast off restraint." (NKJV)  The point is that unless we know the hope, the vision of "we will make it," we are tempted to give up and cast off the disciplines of living for the Lord.  

Our bracket may fail, our situation may not always be as planned, there may be a need to seek God and repent, but our God never changes and His word to your heart today is "You will make it."