Friendship, Freewill, Failure & Forgiveness..... continued
God is love; and love includes truth & justice/fairness. Without justice, honest forgiveness is not possible. Justice satisfies an obligation to pay. It is the dividing line between right and wrong. Without justice good and evil are meaningless. Without justice, we cannot appreciate the goodness / love. That fact is driven home in Matthew 18 where we have the record of Jesus' disciple Peter asking Jesus how often he needed to forgive an offender. Peter said he'd already given the guy 7 chances to stop offending him. It looks like Peter was anxious to take revenge: perhaps by cutting the guy off? But Jesus told him to forgive 70 X 7; so by that time Peter would either have lost count or be in the habit of forgiving!
Jesus went on to give Peter a picture of why and how he should continuously forgive someone. With this story Jesus explained to Peter why and how he needs to forgive someone, demonstrating that for true justice to be satisfied the offense needs to be paid in full either by the offender or the offended. In Jesus' illustration a guy owed a king a tremendous debt: 10,000 talents. (One talent would take an ordinary laborer, 6,000 days or16 years to earn.) So, for this guy to pay what he owed would take 160,000 years of labor with no spending. Obviously he was in a hopeless situation.
But the debtor (like most people),did not appreciate the depth of his offenses or the cost required to completely cover it. He somehow believed that he could settle his account, in spite of the insurmountable debt that he owed. So he humbly promises to pay up if the king will just give him more time. The guy is unwilling to admit he is completely incapable to get himself debt free. But the kind king responds to his pleading petition by forgiving the debtor the whole price of the debt. That means the King chose to bear the cost of his losses.
But then the forgiven debtor goes out and finds a buddy that owes him 'a hundred pence', (that's equal to 100 days wages for an average worker); and he demands, "Pay up!' This guy also begs for mercy and promises to pay it all back if he could just have a little more time; (a few months could do it). But the guy who'd been forgiven impossibidrillions by The King; refused to forgive his debtor and took revenge on him. The forgiven debtor was unwilling to bear the cost of the debt himself. (Perhaps he wanted to set aside a little stash so that he wouldn't be obligated & humiliated as a debtor again?) He certainly proved that he did not acknowledge & appreciate how much it cost the King to bear the price of the debt from his offenses, that he had incurred against The King.
When his buddies witnessed his unforgiving behavior they went and told the king, who called him to account for his bitter treatment of the guy that owed him/cost him. The good King accused the guy of being a wicked servant. He said, 'Since I forgave you all that debt, shouldn't you have had compassion on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?' And He was enraged and sentenced the guy to be delivered be the tormentors until he paid off every penny. Obviously, that would be forever since the offender had no way to pay.
Jesus finished his story by telling Peter, "So likewise shall My Heavenly Father do unto you if you do not forgive from the heart, every one his brother his trespasses. (Matt. 18:22-35) The apostle Paul give the 'cliff note' version of that story in Eph. 4:32 where he says, "Be ye kind, one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you."
Why is that so hard? Because most people have a wrong view of God, therefore we don't appreciate the gravity of violating His holiness, or admit the enormity of the debt we owe. We forget that we are completely dependent on him for life and love. Every good thing we have is a gift from God! (James 1:17)
We were created to glorify Him by reflecting His good character as we love and are loved by Him and each other in true friendship. We were made for fellowship; but relationship is broken when we rebel against God's authority by sinning against Him and each other. Sin is both an affront to, and an assault on God's holiness and results in separation.
Like the debtor in Jesus' story we are unwilling to admit we are actually so deep in debt that we are completely incapable to get ourselves out. Most of us don’t seriously consider how badly our sin damages lives and offends our Creator. Proverbs 8:13 says, “ The fear of The Lord is to HATE evil, pride and arrogance…” Rather than hate evil, we excuse our sin, because we fail to consider the final cost to everyone. We are all living in a fallen world dealing with the results of sin: our own and others. Rather than face the truth about our offences we try to justify ourselves by balancing our guilt with blame; but that won't work on Judgement Day when we have to give an account for our own offenses. Remember Matthew 12:36 warns that on Judgment Day, we will all give an account for every idle word that we spoke. And according to Proverbs 26:19 excusing our words with, “I was only kidding” won’t work!!!
In Matthew 5:22 Jesus tells us that being angry with your brother without cause puts you in danger of judgment: and calling someone, Raca which means ‘empty head’, ‘moron’ or ‘idiot’ is in the same category as murder. Now that’s intense and by that standard I don’t know anyone who hasn’t failed that test. Be real, are you guilty as charged?
But wait, how can such a little sin/slip be that big of a deal??? Matthew 12:34 says, “…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”. The Lord God knows that such verbal abuse stems from the same sinful motives, of bitterness and hatred that are the ultimate cause of murder. The internal attitude is what God’s Law actually prohibits, and therefore such an abusive insult carries the same kind of moral guilt as the act of murder.
Think that’s making too big a deal of such ‘little sins’? Have you ever held a grudge against someone and took revenge by: cutting him off from your life as though he were dead; thinking evil thoughts about him; killing his reputation; encouraging others to take up your offense to help destroy him? We can be pretty subtle about those things, claiming we are simply protecting ourselves. Setting boundaries to keep an offender from reoffending is not an excuse to ignore him as though he were dead; wish he was dead, keep replaying his offenses in your mind, gossip about him, etc. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of that kind of treatment you know it feels like they are trying to destroy you.
Now don’t imagine that I am saying when you are seriously offended/abused by someone’s sin you should just forget about it/ pretend it didn’t happen. That would be lying. It would also not be helping the offender. You encourage an abuser by accepting the abuse. Luke 17: 3 says “If your brother sins against you rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.” The idea here is to help him see the truth so he can see his need to take responsibility and change his behavior and be restored to his broken relationships. Matthew 18:15 explains the process of applying more pressure to help the offender face and deal with the offense. Ephesians 4:15 says we are to speak the truth in love. And of course in Matthew 7:12, Jesus gave us the ‘Golden Rule’ to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.” So when you rebuke your offender you do it in the same way you would like to receive a rebuke when you need
one.
Luke 17:3 says “…If he repents forgive him”. That is not a contradiction of Jesus prayer on the cross that His abusers would be forgiven. Jesus was praying; not addressing His abusers. He had taught in Matthew 5:44 “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.” His prayer was actually not answered until after His death, resurrection and ascension. In Acts chapter 2 Peter preached directly to people who had participated in Christ’s crucifixion. In the middle of his message he said in Acts 2: 22 “…you who by wicked hands have crucified and slain” him. Peter continued to prove who Jesus was by using Old Testament prophesies about Him and using His resurrection as the ultimate proof that Jesus is the Redeemer of the world. Verse 17 says that the offenders were pricked in their hearts and asked Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘What shall we do?’ Peter answered “repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Just like the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter and the rest of God’s messengers preached repentance and faith, The Apostle Paul summed up the good News of salvation in Acts 20:21 as “…repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
The offended Creator God chose to bear the cost to pay for our offenses against Him. Therefore we understand that every time we sin, we add to the price He had to pay; and that motivates us to resist temptation. It is also the only means of being able to forgive from the heart our offenders. Because Bible believers acknowledge & appreciate the truth about the great price our trespasses/offenses cost God; we of necessity acknowledge & appreciate that The blood of Christ that is sufficient payment for all of our debts is sufficient payment to cover all of the debts of our offenders.
We love Him because he 1st loved us and gave Himself for us. We want to please Him because of His"perfect love that casts out fear." (1 John 4:18) Jesus taught us to pray. "Forgive us our debts/trespasses as we forgive our debtors/those who trespass against us." 1 John 4:20 says, "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"
Forgiveness is the heart of the gospel message that reveals God's heart. All offenses are against the Infinite Holy God because they violate His Law, which is a reflection of His character. In order to satisfy justice for offenses against an infinitely worthy being an infinite, perfect sacrifice would be needed to pay for our crimes. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the full price for our sin and we could never begin to repay what it cost Him to redeem us; He paid with His life to set us free from both the guilt and power of our sin. But in order to be the substitute that served the death sentence we deserve
The only begotten Son of God, became the God/man. God became a man so that He could pay for our offenses. He had to become 1 of us in order to be a true substitute to pay the PRICE for our offenses. All sin is ultimately against God who is Holy/separate from sin. The character of God is good, all good, all the time and consequently for goodness sake He cannot ignore sin.
Unless sin is punished, God’s law is not Law, because no law is enforceable without a punishment. The punishment for our offenses is death, separation from God, now and for eternity. It is the natural result of our rebellion that cuts us off from our Creator, our source of life and love.
Jesus took our place and paid the debt on our behalf. It is a sacrifice that He alone can make, for He is God - he is perfect and has never sinned. Only the infinite God could make an infinite sacrifice that could pay for the sin of every one who will repent and trust in Him. Yet at the same time, Jesus was fully man and understood what it meant to live, to love, to be tempted, to truly feel pain and to freely and completely surrender his will to the Father, being obedient even unto death. In order to pay for the sin of mankind, He had to become a man. 1 Timothy 2:5&6 says, “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all…”
Jesus gave his life to serve our death sentence suffering and dying on the cross to free us from both the guilt and the power of sin. Jesus' death, burial and resurrection are an actual historical event. THAT EVENT IS BOTH THE MOST CHALLENGED AND THE MOST PROVEN FACT OF HISTORY!
Jesus paid the price to save my life and every time I sin, I know that sin is in part responsible for the agony he endured that day. It was for our sin, he was wounded; and He was killed for our transgressions. Knowing that my death sentence was served by someone totally innocent but loved me enough to take my place and completely pay off my debt; motivates me to turn away from my sin. We love Him because He 1st loved us and gave Himself for us. As a result: we love what He loves: righteousness and we hate what He hates: sin. Though we still stumble from time to time, remembering the price Jesus paid for my sin motivates me to turn my back on my sinful desires.
It all seems so unfair. Jesus was the most perfect person who ever lived, yet he suffered the most unimaginable pain and agony for my sins. Why did God allow this? Why not just make my sin vanish away? That’s like asking ‘Could God make a rock too big for Him to move?’ It’s not a matter if He could; it’s a matter of why He would not. God is not only all powerful, “nothing is impossible for God”; He is all knowing and all good/holy. So He wouldn’t do anything contrary to His good character. God is love; and love is not loving without justice/fairness.
Is God capable of doing absolutely anything? Yes. Will He do absolutely anything? NO! Because of God’s goodness/holiness He will only do what is good. Only one who is both the Son of God and the son of man could set us free from the guilt and power of sin.
The book of Hebrews also explains how Jesus took upon Himself the nature of a man to save mankind, but not angels (Hebrews 2:11–18). So only Adam’s descendants can be saved, because only thus can they be related by blood to the Last Adam.
People need to know Jesus as the offended Creator, before they can recognize Him as the sin-bearing Savior! Redemption is ridiculous without Law, and Law is ludicrous without creation. When we choose to surrender our hearts and lives to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord we need to grow to be what He meant us to be. We do that by continuing to walk in repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, (Acts 20:21). Col. 2:6&7 says, "AS ye have received Christ Jesus so walk ye in Him..." You need to walk it like you got it! Live it like you get it! The apostle Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians were written to many new believers who lived in very troubling times. We read there about how some of these people came to faith and blossomed quickly in their new spiritual lives. Paul wrote how, “..they turned to God from idols to both serve him and to ..wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come..”.. They turned and served and were waiting. How about us? Are we turning from our idols, are we serving and are we waiting?
Of course these early Christians had no idea about the ensuing 2,000 years; they simply had their own uncomplicated faith and expected the return of Jesus any day. It was this expectancy that helped motivate them to live clean before the Lord whom they expected to meet face to face at any moment.
The signs of the times are abundant. Are you “..looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.......”, or are you living for the pleasure of the moment forgetting that time is rapidly running out here, and eternity is what counts? What are you living for and why does that matter? What defines your life? Please take time to think about it and then talk to God about it!
Read what He says in His written holy word. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." And Hebrews 11:6 Says, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." The Bible is an amazing book filled with stunning promises. Isaiah 55:11 says, "So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth; it shall not return unto Me void, but shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper the thing whereto I sent it."
Jesus went on to give Peter a picture of why and how he should continuously forgive someone. With this story Jesus explained to Peter why and how he needs to forgive someone, demonstrating that for true justice to be satisfied the offense needs to be paid in full either by the offender or the offended. In Jesus' illustration a guy owed a king a tremendous debt: 10,000 talents. (One talent would take an ordinary laborer, 6,000 days or16 years to earn.) So, for this guy to pay what he owed would take 160,000 years of labor with no spending. Obviously he was in a hopeless situation.
But the debtor (like most people),did not appreciate the depth of his offenses or the cost required to completely cover it. He somehow believed that he could settle his account, in spite of the insurmountable debt that he owed. So he humbly promises to pay up if the king will just give him more time. The guy is unwilling to admit he is completely incapable to get himself debt free. But the kind king responds to his pleading petition by forgiving the debtor the whole price of the debt. That means the King chose to bear the cost of his losses.
But then the forgiven debtor goes out and finds a buddy that owes him 'a hundred pence', (that's equal to 100 days wages for an average worker); and he demands, "Pay up!' This guy also begs for mercy and promises to pay it all back if he could just have a little more time; (a few months could do it). But the guy who'd been forgiven impossibidrillions by The King; refused to forgive his debtor and took revenge on him. The forgiven debtor was unwilling to bear the cost of the debt himself. (Perhaps he wanted to set aside a little stash so that he wouldn't be obligated & humiliated as a debtor again?) He certainly proved that he did not acknowledge & appreciate how much it cost the King to bear the price of the debt from his offenses, that he had incurred against The King.
When his buddies witnessed his unforgiving behavior they went and told the king, who called him to account for his bitter treatment of the guy that owed him/cost him. The good King accused the guy of being a wicked servant. He said, 'Since I forgave you all that debt, shouldn't you have had compassion on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?' And He was enraged and sentenced the guy to be delivered be the tormentors until he paid off every penny. Obviously, that would be forever since the offender had no way to pay.
Jesus finished his story by telling Peter, "So likewise shall My Heavenly Father do unto you if you do not forgive from the heart, every one his brother his trespasses. (Matt. 18:22-35) The apostle Paul give the 'cliff note' version of that story in Eph. 4:32 where he says, "Be ye kind, one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you."
Why is that so hard? Because most people have a wrong view of God, therefore we don't appreciate the gravity of violating His holiness, or admit the enormity of the debt we owe. We forget that we are completely dependent on him for life and love. Every good thing we have is a gift from God! (James 1:17)
We were created to glorify Him by reflecting His good character as we love and are loved by Him and each other in true friendship. We were made for fellowship; but relationship is broken when we rebel against God's authority by sinning against Him and each other. Sin is both an affront to, and an assault on God's holiness and results in separation.
Like the debtor in Jesus' story we are unwilling to admit we are actually so deep in debt that we are completely incapable to get ourselves out. Most of us don’t seriously consider how badly our sin damages lives and offends our Creator. Proverbs 8:13 says, “ The fear of The Lord is to HATE evil, pride and arrogance…” Rather than hate evil, we excuse our sin, because we fail to consider the final cost to everyone. We are all living in a fallen world dealing with the results of sin: our own and others. Rather than face the truth about our offences we try to justify ourselves by balancing our guilt with blame; but that won't work on Judgement Day when we have to give an account for our own offenses. Remember Matthew 12:36 warns that on Judgment Day, we will all give an account for every idle word that we spoke. And according to Proverbs 26:19 excusing our words with, “I was only kidding” won’t work!!!
In Matthew 5:22 Jesus tells us that being angry with your brother without cause puts you in danger of judgment: and calling someone, Raca which means ‘empty head’, ‘moron’ or ‘idiot’ is in the same category as murder. Now that’s intense and by that standard I don’t know anyone who hasn’t failed that test. Be real, are you guilty as charged?
But wait, how can such a little sin/slip be that big of a deal??? Matthew 12:34 says, “…out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”. The Lord God knows that such verbal abuse stems from the same sinful motives, of bitterness and hatred that are the ultimate cause of murder. The internal attitude is what God’s Law actually prohibits, and therefore such an abusive insult carries the same kind of moral guilt as the act of murder.
Think that’s making too big a deal of such ‘little sins’? Have you ever held a grudge against someone and took revenge by: cutting him off from your life as though he were dead; thinking evil thoughts about him; killing his reputation; encouraging others to take up your offense to help destroy him? We can be pretty subtle about those things, claiming we are simply protecting ourselves. Setting boundaries to keep an offender from reoffending is not an excuse to ignore him as though he were dead; wish he was dead, keep replaying his offenses in your mind, gossip about him, etc. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of that kind of treatment you know it feels like they are trying to destroy you.
Now don’t imagine that I am saying when you are seriously offended/abused by someone’s sin you should just forget about it/ pretend it didn’t happen. That would be lying. It would also not be helping the offender. You encourage an abuser by accepting the abuse. Luke 17: 3 says “If your brother sins against you rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.” The idea here is to help him see the truth so he can see his need to take responsibility and change his behavior and be restored to his broken relationships. Matthew 18:15 explains the process of applying more pressure to help the offender face and deal with the offense. Ephesians 4:15 says we are to speak the truth in love. And of course in Matthew 7:12, Jesus gave us the ‘Golden Rule’ to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.” So when you rebuke your offender you do it in the same way you would like to receive a rebuke when you need
one.
Luke 17:3 says “…If he repents forgive him”. That is not a contradiction of Jesus prayer on the cross that His abusers would be forgiven. Jesus was praying; not addressing His abusers. He had taught in Matthew 5:44 “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.” His prayer was actually not answered until after His death, resurrection and ascension. In Acts chapter 2 Peter preached directly to people who had participated in Christ’s crucifixion. In the middle of his message he said in Acts 2: 22 “…you who by wicked hands have crucified and slain” him. Peter continued to prove who Jesus was by using Old Testament prophesies about Him and using His resurrection as the ultimate proof that Jesus is the Redeemer of the world. Verse 17 says that the offenders were pricked in their hearts and asked Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘What shall we do?’ Peter answered “repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Just like the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter and the rest of God’s messengers preached repentance and faith, The Apostle Paul summed up the good News of salvation in Acts 20:21 as “…repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
The offended Creator God chose to bear the cost to pay for our offenses against Him. Therefore we understand that every time we sin, we add to the price He had to pay; and that motivates us to resist temptation. It is also the only means of being able to forgive from the heart our offenders. Because Bible believers acknowledge & appreciate the truth about the great price our trespasses/offenses cost God; we of necessity acknowledge & appreciate that The blood of Christ that is sufficient payment for all of our debts is sufficient payment to cover all of the debts of our offenders.
We love Him because he 1st loved us and gave Himself for us. We want to please Him because of His"perfect love that casts out fear." (1 John 4:18) Jesus taught us to pray. "Forgive us our debts/trespasses as we forgive our debtors/those who trespass against us." 1 John 4:20 says, "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?"
Forgiveness is the heart of the gospel message that reveals God's heart. All offenses are against the Infinite Holy God because they violate His Law, which is a reflection of His character. In order to satisfy justice for offenses against an infinitely worthy being an infinite, perfect sacrifice would be needed to pay for our crimes. The Lord Jesus Christ paid the full price for our sin and we could never begin to repay what it cost Him to redeem us; He paid with His life to set us free from both the guilt and power of our sin. But in order to be the substitute that served the death sentence we deserve
The only begotten Son of God, became the God/man. God became a man so that He could pay for our offenses. He had to become 1 of us in order to be a true substitute to pay the PRICE for our offenses. All sin is ultimately against God who is Holy/separate from sin. The character of God is good, all good, all the time and consequently for goodness sake He cannot ignore sin.
Unless sin is punished, God’s law is not Law, because no law is enforceable without a punishment. The punishment for our offenses is death, separation from God, now and for eternity. It is the natural result of our rebellion that cuts us off from our Creator, our source of life and love.
Jesus took our place and paid the debt on our behalf. It is a sacrifice that He alone can make, for He is God - he is perfect and has never sinned. Only the infinite God could make an infinite sacrifice that could pay for the sin of every one who will repent and trust in Him. Yet at the same time, Jesus was fully man and understood what it meant to live, to love, to be tempted, to truly feel pain and to freely and completely surrender his will to the Father, being obedient even unto death. In order to pay for the sin of mankind, He had to become a man. 1 Timothy 2:5&6 says, “there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all…”
Jesus gave his life to serve our death sentence suffering and dying on the cross to free us from both the guilt and the power of sin. Jesus' death, burial and resurrection are an actual historical event. THAT EVENT IS BOTH THE MOST CHALLENGED AND THE MOST PROVEN FACT OF HISTORY!
Jesus paid the price to save my life and every time I sin, I know that sin is in part responsible for the agony he endured that day. It was for our sin, he was wounded; and He was killed for our transgressions. Knowing that my death sentence was served by someone totally innocent but loved me enough to take my place and completely pay off my debt; motivates me to turn away from my sin. We love Him because He 1st loved us and gave Himself for us. As a result: we love what He loves: righteousness and we hate what He hates: sin. Though we still stumble from time to time, remembering the price Jesus paid for my sin motivates me to turn my back on my sinful desires.
It all seems so unfair. Jesus was the most perfect person who ever lived, yet he suffered the most unimaginable pain and agony for my sins. Why did God allow this? Why not just make my sin vanish away? That’s like asking ‘Could God make a rock too big for Him to move?’ It’s not a matter if He could; it’s a matter of why He would not. God is not only all powerful, “nothing is impossible for God”; He is all knowing and all good/holy. So He wouldn’t do anything contrary to His good character. God is love; and love is not loving without justice/fairness.
Is God capable of doing absolutely anything? Yes. Will He do absolutely anything? NO! Because of God’s goodness/holiness He will only do what is good. Only one who is both the Son of God and the son of man could set us free from the guilt and power of sin.
The book of Hebrews also explains how Jesus took upon Himself the nature of a man to save mankind, but not angels (Hebrews 2:11–18). So only Adam’s descendants can be saved, because only thus can they be related by blood to the Last Adam.
People need to know Jesus as the offended Creator, before they can recognize Him as the sin-bearing Savior! Redemption is ridiculous without Law, and Law is ludicrous without creation. When we choose to surrender our hearts and lives to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord we need to grow to be what He meant us to be. We do that by continuing to walk in repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, (Acts 20:21). Col. 2:6&7 says, "AS ye have received Christ Jesus so walk ye in Him..." You need to walk it like you got it! Live it like you get it! The apostle Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians were written to many new believers who lived in very troubling times. We read there about how some of these people came to faith and blossomed quickly in their new spiritual lives. Paul wrote how, “..they turned to God from idols to both serve him and to ..wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivered us from the wrath to come..”.. They turned and served and were waiting. How about us? Are we turning from our idols, are we serving and are we waiting?
Of course these early Christians had no idea about the ensuing 2,000 years; they simply had their own uncomplicated faith and expected the return of Jesus any day. It was this expectancy that helped motivate them to live clean before the Lord whom they expected to meet face to face at any moment.
The signs of the times are abundant. Are you “..looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.......”, or are you living for the pleasure of the moment forgetting that time is rapidly running out here, and eternity is what counts? What are you living for and why does that matter? What defines your life? Please take time to think about it and then talk to God about it!
Read what He says in His written holy word. Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." And Hebrews 11:6 Says, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." The Bible is an amazing book filled with stunning promises. Isaiah 55:11 says, "So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth; it shall not return unto Me void, but shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper the thing whereto I sent it."