Safetypinlove

Forgiving ourselves…interestingly enough this thought is not found in the Bible. So if it’s not found in the Word, it didn’t come from God. So why do we feel compelled to forgive ourselves? Usually it’s after doing something we knew was wrong…and now we’re carrying around this heavy burden of shame, disgust, guilt, & self-blame. But who tempted & enticed us in the first place? James 1:13-14 makes it very plain…God can’t be tempted, nor does He tempt us, so we must look to the father of lies, Satan instead. And when Satan has accomplished his mission…he heaps condemnation, shame & guilt on our heads for giving in. So there we sit, miserable and filled with self-loathing for the stupid mistakes we’ve made…our old self wrestling with our new self, or as Paul lamented to himself, he found himself doing the things he shouldn’t rather than the things he should. But as Believers we are called to forgive others (including ourselves) in direct response to God’s forgiveness & grace. For it tells us in I John3:19-20, “This is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His Presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.” God’s grace received by us allows us to be gracious towards others…and that includes ourselves.

This is called Common Grace…that God is kind even to the ungrateful & the wicked. That’s because He pours out loving kindness to all people, including those who deny, defy, and reject Him. For what God has created, He also sustains for all mankind…even those who are underserving & unthankful. This Common Grace then allows both the righteous & the unrighteous to share in the beauty & majesty of this world without prejudice…and we as Believers are then called to be imitators of this grace to our fellow man. (Ephesians 5:1)

There’s an old Arabian proverb about a camel & his owner’s tent and how first the camel stuck his nose in, then slowly more & more of him crept in, until his entire body was inside the tent. It reads, “If the camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow.” The lesson being – To stay happy & satisfied, we must learn to appreciate what we have rather than focusing on what we don’t. The insatiable quest for more only leaves us frustrated, ungrateful, and unhappy. That’s because if we aren’t content with what we currently have, we’ll never be satisfied, even if it’s doubled, or tripled. Our pursuit of more things then only feeds into FOMO…the fear of missing out and we become a sucker for anything “New & Improved”. But as Paul told Timothy, “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”…for Paul had learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. (Philippians 4:11-12)

If you sit with people who sit at the feet of Jesus, you’ll quickly discover that the conservations are different, & you’ll leave feeling inspired not inferior. That’s because our Christian walk is a race, but it’s not a competition. And you’ll find that those whose focus is firmly on the Lord, and not themselves, will foster goodwill not rivalry. It tells us in Proverbs 13:20 that, “He who walks with the wise grows wise.” …the simple lesson from this being…we become like those whose company we keep. So if your walk with the Lord needs some bolstering, consider first who you’ve been hanging around with…and then, whose Christian walk you admire…and go sit with them for awhile.

The invisible God is revealed through the visible medium of the sights & sounds of creation. We can observe the lightening, the giant redwood trees, or the ocean waves… and we can listen to the babbling brook, the wind in the trees, or the thunder in the distance and know they all are figuratively proclaiming God’s glory & power. It’s this Creation language that’s constantly declaring, pointing to, and proving God’s existence or as Romans 1:18-20 says, No man is without excuse of knowing God through Creation’s Message.

With God there is no such things as luck, fate, karma, chance, or accident. Our Creator God is sovereign and totally in control, never leaving any missed detail, or needing to fly by the seat of His pants. As Jeremiah 32:19 tells us, “O great and powerful God, Whose name is the Lord Almighty, great are Your purposes and mighty are Your deeds.” God’s plans & purposes were written before the beginning of time…each goal, aim, and design divinely devised in order that His purposes will be obtained in perfect timing. And so we can trust & believe this…for as God Himself said in Isaiah 14:24, ” Surely, as I have planned, so it will be and as I have purposed, so it will stand.”

It tells us in Genesis that The Garden of Eden was a sanctuary where God invited Adam & Eve to enjoy fellowship & peace with Him. The garden itself filled like a banquet table with all good things to eat for the first Adam, created by God in His image…perfect, blameless, and holy. But then we see their choice to disobey and rebel against God’s Word. This original sin, or the Fall, not referring primarily to the first sin committed by Adam & Eve but to the result of that first sin – the corruption of the human race. In the Garden of Eden we see God’s great love for mankind…but we also see His great wrath as the earth is cursed & fellowship with Him is broken. Fast forward to The Garden of Gethsemane and we see what was started in the Garden of Eden fulfilled by Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane…the paradise lost by the first Adam is being restored forever by the last Adam. Again we see a perfect, blameless, and holy man, but when it came time to make a choice, Jesus chose to do the Will of His Heavenly Father…even though it cost Him dearly. The agony Jesus suffered in that garden He did willingly…fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. His agony the basis of our Salvation…His triumph on the Cross our only way back to God. With the First Adam, hope was lost…but with the Last Adam, it was restored.

Even with all of the God-given wisdom Solomon possessed, and a lifetime of pursuing worldly things in order to find peace & joy…he now calls it all empty, fleeting, or as here, meaningless. That life became futile when he sought earthly & secular things rather than seeking after God. The Hebrew phrase translated “under the sun” occurs 28 times in the Book of Ecclesiastes and refers to life in this world…a life that has been adversely affected by the Fall. Which essentially means, a world without God. (For God exists “above the sun, or in Heaven” or as Ecclesiastes 5:2 says, “God is in Heaven and you are on earth.”) And sadly, it’s “‘under the sun” where all of mankind experiences the frustrating & perplexing side of this life, a life full of elusive fulfillment & empty joy…all because God is left out of the picture.

Simon Peter & Andrew were doing what they knew best how to do, and probably what their father had done before them, and his father before him. So when this stranger approached them and said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” they totally understood what He was saying. And nothing has changed…as Believers we too should be actively seeking after the lost by casting the net of the Good News of the Gospel Message wherever we go. But have we, the Church, become too comfortable in our cushy surroundings to the point that we’ve become “keepers of the aquarium” rather than fishers of men? Concerned more that the fish tank of the Church is neat & tidy rather than attempting to bring new fish in? Jesus met Simon Peter & Andrew where they were at and used their unique talents & expertise for the glory of God…and He wants to do the same with you today.

When that deep moan of pain, grief, or anguish escapes from our mouth because our world has been turned upside down, it’s better to have 1000 unspoken words of prayer in our hearts, than to have a long lengthy prayer with no heart involved. We constantly are made aware of our weaknesses in the area of prayer…especially in how to pray for ourselves in the face of things like a devastating & grave diagnosis, a fatal car accident of a family member, or the suicide of a close friend. We find ourselves at a loss with no words to pray. But this longing to somehow express that chaos & helplessness is really an indication that the Holy Spirit is already at work interceding in our hearts…making requests before our Heavenly Father that will most definitely be heard. And we can rest in that, assured that God’s Will be done in our life & the lives of others.