SLICE of GRACE BLOG
We have certainly had a rocky couple of months. Just as things seem to be looking up and we can see light at the end of the tunnel something else comes along to knock us off balance. If it isn't an infectious disease then its mass unemployment and if not unemployment then social unrest. I don't know how you feel, but these things can be quite unsettling to me if I am not careful. So where do we turn in times of trouble?
Jesus alone has the power to see our journey through because he is the pioneer of our salvation. Look to him because he already endured the cross for you and has taken his seat at the Father's right hand. Look to him when you grow weary and fainthearted along the way and make your way toward your heavenly rest with new hope, not turning to the right or to the left.
Above all else, brothers and sisters, don't ever lose sight of the hope that we have in the gospel. Keep your eyes fixed upon Jesus and give thanks in all circumstances. For He has defeated death on our behalf and nothing that we face on this earth can separate us from His grace. Let our posts be filled with thankfulness and let us be known as a thankful people.
…. ”if there is any excellence” the gospel is by definition excellent. ”if there is anything worthy of praise”, our Savior is most certainly worthy of our praise. These are the things we ought to think on. Christ-centered thinking is what we need. It leads us to Spirit filled worship. Colossians 3:1-2, ”If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
In the turmoil of these days, our hearts hear many voices and opinions beckoning us to put our trust in them. Let me pose some diagnostic questions that I have been asking my own heart as we have been studying Proverbs. Do you trust in your work? Do you trust in your plans? Do you trust in rest?
If you, like me, at different times in your day put your trust in the wrong things, call your heart back to trust in God. “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:11).
God took them right to the place of bitter water even though they were thirsty and couldn’t drink it. Now why do you think He did that? I think it’s because He had something to teach them. He wanted His people to learn that He was a God who cares for them. He wanted them to learn to trust Him even when things looked really bad around them.
Our growing affection for God and his Word will always be grace-fueled and Spirit-empowered, not some desire to know him that we naturally possess in ourselves. So, we should pray, like the psalmist, that God would incline our hearts to His testimonies and we should strive to find our ultimate delight in God as he has revealed himself to us in his Word.
Whatever coronas we have in this world, we should cast them down before his throne, because King Jesus rules over all. Jesus alone is crowned in beautiful majesty with all authority in heaven and earth. And while we may succumb to death by the coronavirus, let us not forget Jesus, who is “crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9)
Having to stay at home every day can be a challenge for some. Sometimes it’s like being in a wilderness. I don’t think God meant for us to live in the wilderness but I do think it’s good to visit the wilderness every once in awhile. Because in the wilderness we can learn things. We can learn things about God and about ourselves. Join us as we dive in to Matthew 4!
As you consider Paul’s letter to the Philippians and seek to apply it to our current circumstances, what good fruit should we see as we repent and grow in faith during this trial? This shouldn’t be a private endeavor, so share with someone (from 6 feet away or by zoom of course!) how the Lord is deepening your joy as he makes your more like Christ during this trial!
Right now our technological solutions are how we make due, but if you feel that something's not quite right, you are certainly correct. What we're experiencing now is part of the disintegrating effects of the fall. It's not the way things ought to be. Let's look forward to a day when we will be reunited together in one place either here in Beavercreek or around his throne, reunited to worship and praise his great name.
In these anxious days people are looking everywhere for hope. God’s provision may look drastically different than the provision that we imagine, but His provision is far better. Jesus is the bread of life; he is the bread that came to us from heaven. When we eat this bread, we will live forever. No pandemic can change this truth and no physical bread can meet the eternal need that Jesus meets.
