TOY - June 26th, 2006
While the snake was still young and fairly small, he trained it to crawl out of a cage, slither across the floor toward him, and wind itself up around the trainer's body until it looked him in the face. After a number of years, when the trainer was confident he had trained the snake--and the constrictor had grown large enough to give the act some excitement--he introduced it on the circus tour.
It was a stunning act which left the audience breathless. He performed it successfully for a number of years, during which time, the snake grew larger and larger, making the act only more exciting. Then one day before a large crowd, the snake crawled from his cage, wound himself up around the animal trainer, and for some unknown reason, crushed the life out of him.
When the trainer started out, there was no question; he had control of the snake. But then one day, and no one knows when for sure, the snake gained control of the trainer. And the trainer paid with his life.
THOUGHT: That is what sin is like. We toy with it while it is little. We feed it. We play with it. All the while we think we have control over it. And perhaps we do at first. But eventually the beast grows, and before we realize it, it gains control over us. IN the end, if it isn't caught in time, it crushed the spiritual life out of us (Max Anders).
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life." Gal. 6:7-8 "Experience is a wonderful thing - it enables you to recognize a mistake every time you repeat it."
THE OLD BIBLE - June 9th, 2006
The first thirty-nine books of the Holy Bible are often referred to as the Old Testament, the Old Law, the Law of Moses, or the Old Bible. Each of these references is Scriptural and correct. Since the first thirty-nine books are no longer binding upon men today they may be properly referred to as the Old Bible. "By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete" (Hebrews 8:13).
In a Christianity Today Gallup survey of Canadians it was shown that 74% believe the Old Testament, specifically the ten commandments, to be valid today. This general misunderstanding in regard to the Old Law is alarming, "for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21). The purpose of the Law of Moses is stated by Paul in Galatians 3:24-25, So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. The Old Law set the stage for the coming Christ. The work of Moses and the prophets was to prepare the world to receive Christ. Therefore, by his death Christ was canceling the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:14).
If the first testament is old, having been fulfilled in Christ, then why is it still in existence? It was "written" to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4). These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us (I Corinthians 10:11a). That is why God has seen to the preservation of the Old Testament. Yet despite these biblical truths, 74% of Canadians still believe the Old Bible to be in force today, and yet over half cannot even identify five of the ten commandments! While we are no longer under the Old Law, it still has great value for all of us. So we must ask ourselves, How well do I know the Old Bible?
It is important READ ALL OF GOD'S WORD. Both the Old and New Testaments will build our faith. We are under a New Covenant, but this does mean we forget the Old. Let me encourage us all to READ ALL OF GOD'S WORD, and to do so daily. Just because something is old does not mean we disregard it.
In Love - June 5th, 2006
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:3-6).
God chose the redeemed in Christ that "we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. " The expression, "in love" found in this text expresses the motivational force behind the entirety of redemption and God's relentless pursuit of humanity throughout the ages. When man transgressed in the garden, God's purposes were temporarily thwarted, the heart of God being broken by the calloused and selfish act of humanity. However there was an inexhaustible wellspring of love from which the goodwill of God flowed. An eternal fountain of love was evidenced even in the bowers of Eden as He promised a Redeemer whose heel would deliver a crushing blow to the head of God's archenemy, Satan.
Since that day in Eden, the love of God has been unceasing. Even when the overwhelming majority of humankind turned a calloused ear to the preaching of righteous Noah, God refused to give up. For a period of one hundred and twenty years He waited, desiring that some would hear the voice of reason and of love. But, alas, it was not to be. The rains came and cleansed the earth of her wickedness, only eight souls being spared death by the torrents. Yet, for all of this, God's love persevered. Then came Abraham and his missteps - then Moses and Israel - then David with his adultery and lack of faith - then apostate Israel and her idolatrous flirtations and outright spiritual whoredom. Yet, for all of this, the love of God did not wane.
After centuries of mindless sin on man's part and countless rejections, God inspired the prophet Isaiah to speak of another day, a day not of grief and sorrow, but a day of comfort. "Comfort, yes, comfort My people! Says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; For she has received from the LORD'S hand Double for all her sins." (Isaiah 40:1-2). Herein was the love of God in the midst of sin and shameless debauchery - marvelous, inexhaustible and unquenchable love for humanity.
God's love reached its zenith at Calvary. There He gave His only begotten Son. It was so whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). It was by eternal design that God's wellspring of love perpetually flows to and through man's presence and it is an inescapable force calling man back from the brink of spiritual disaster. "In Him" is love! He is love!