WEEP NOT FOR ME

The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:23 “I desire to depart and be with Christ.”
DEPART is a wonderful word to use speaking of death.
It is the word for loosening the ropes of a tent in order to begin a new journey. That road leads to God, to home.  It is taking the yoke off the neck of oxen to rest after a heavy days work. Death is casting off the ropes which binds us to this world to set sail on the voyage which ends in the presence of God.

Eternal life is the continuation of a lasting fellowship with God which began when we made our commitment of love to Jesus Christ.  This commitment to Jesus began a relationship that cannot be broken by physical death..

The 18th century Bible commentator Matthew Henry expressed this confidence in words he hoped would be read by anyone who might unduly mourn his passing.  He wrote: “Would you like to know where I am? I am at home in my Father’s house. I am where I want to be. no longer on the stormy sea, but in God’s safe, quiet harbor.
Would you like to know how it is with me? I am made perfect in holiness.
Would you like to know what I am doing?  I am engaged in the sweet enjoyment of my precious Redeemer. I see God, not as through a glass darkly, but face to face. Would you like to know how long this will continue?  It is a dawn that never fades.  After millions and millions of ages, it will be as fresh as it is now.  Therefore, weep not for me.” .

This poem by Kim Noblett, “IF YOU COULD SEE ME NOW” says it well.
“Our prayers have all been answered, I finally arrived.
The healing that has been delayed has now been realized
No one’s in a hurry.  There’s no schedule to keep
We’re all enjoying Jesus, just sitting at His feet.

My light and temporary trials have worked out for my good.
To know it brought Him glory, when I misunderstood.
Though we’ve had our sorrows, they can never compare
What Jesus has in store for us, no language can share.

If you could see me now, I’m walking streets of gold
If you could see me now, I’m standing tall and bold.
If you could see me now, You’d know I’ve seen His face
If you could see me now, you’d know the pains erased.
You wouldn’t want me to ever leave this perfect place
.If you could only see me now.”

SMILE AWHILE

Will Rogers, who died  in a 1935 plane crash in Alaska with bush pilot Wiley Post, was one of the greatest political country/cowboy sages this country has ever known.

Here are a few of his wise sayings:

Never slap a man who’s chewing tobacco.
There are two theories to arguing with a woman.  Neither works.
Never miss a good chance to shut up.
The quickest way to double your money is to fold it and put it back into your pocket.
Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it.
The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for.
Some people try to turn back their odometers.  Not me: I want people to know why I look this way. .I’ve traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren’t paved.
I don’t know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.
One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it’s such a nice change from being young.
Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable and relaxed.
One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.
Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today it’s called golf.
And finally, If you don’t learn to laugh at trouble, you won’t have anything to laugh at when you are old.

I have enjoyed these sayings.  I hope that you have too.

Some one has said, “Laugh and the world will laugh with you.  Cry and you will cry alone.”   Keep smiling, laughing and keep on keeping on for Jesus.

MADE FOR ETERNITY

ONE OF MY FAVORITE MEN IS ABRAHAM LINCOLN.  My preacher friend. David Simpson, Minister of Lanier Christian Church, Gainesville, Georgia wrote the following:

”Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. was February 12, 1809 born in a one-room log cabin on Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville, Kentucky. He was elected the 16th President of the United States on November 6, 1860. Although Lincoln’s faith was very private, he did quote often from the Bible. Two of his four sons died before he was assassinated. It is said that the loss of his son, Edward in 1850 drove him to express more of a need to depend on God.

In one of his debates with Senator Stephen Douglas in Springfield, Illinois on June 17, 1858, while running for a Senate seat, Abraham Lincoln said this:

“Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.”

Indeed, God has created a wonderful immortality for his children. It’s called heaven. That should be our greatest hope as followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus died to bring about our freedom from sin, but he also rose from the dead to offer us eternal life! For the Christian, the grave is not the end. In fact, it is just the beginning of life as God intended it; freed of the pains, trials, suffering, tears and death of our current life that has been marred by sin. Because of Jesus, we have the hope of eternal life.

The New Testament book of Titus 3:7 says: “…so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

What many do not know is that on the day Lincoln was assassinated, he reportedly told his wife that he desired to visit the Holy Land. Even on the very day that he died, he was still seeking that deeper relationship with God.

So, today find your hope in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave his life for us on the cross…and then conquered death…for us…that we might be able to live with the wonderful hope of eternal life.”

Thank you David for a meaningful devotional.

 

“THE GREATEST DECISION”

When this decision is made, all else falls in place below it.  Jesus made it in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus knew temptation, here is the worse.  The human temptation is to miss the terrible cup of suffering that is ahead on the cross.  Jesus cry is to miss that suffering. What is the cup of suffering?  It is the cup of man’s sins, mingled with the punishment for sin.  Jesus was to taste death for every human being, not physical death but the death of the soul, spiritual death which is separation from the presence of God.
Jesus cry from the cross says it all, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Unforgiven sin brings the punishment of dwelling for eternity without the presence of God. All the sin of humanity is placed upon Jesus as He bears the crucifixion.  He could have escaped it.  God would not compel Him to endure.  He must go there voluntarily.
Jesus relinquishes His hold on Himself and yields completely to the will of God.
Listen to His cry of victory, “NOT MY WILL BUT YOUR WILL BE DONE.”  That is the greatest decision, to do what God wants.

We share in this Gethsemane experience.  There has to be a place and a time in which we declare, not my will but God’s be done. Denial of self is demanded. We are trying to untangle the basic selfishness in which we are born. All of life is a conflict of striving to become unselfish.  Growth demands struggle.  Life is born out of labor..

When we realize our own inner battle, we will be more understanding of others. We need to respect every one for their struggle.

Decisions are made in the loneliness of the soul.  When the final verdict is in, we are totally responsible for our actions.

We must learn to accept what we do not understand.  We live by faith, not by sight.
We trust in God’s ultimate purpose and infinite strength to accomplish His will as we seek to do His will and not our own.

May we understand that we cannot wear the crown unless we bear the cross..  This means that we will make the greatest decision in all of life which is “NOT MY WILL BUT GOD’S WILL BE DONE.”

.   .

Life is but a mist…

The world is stunned over the death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and six family friends on the crash of the Helicopter killing all on board. It is indeed a terrible tragedy.
Do we not understand or will not accept, that life here is so temporary?  Here today and gone tomorrow.  This world was never intended to be our permanent residence.

Listen to God’s Word in James chapter 4, verses 13 – 15: “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow, What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

Such deaths leave us with lots of questions.  One thing we must accept and that is that there are FIXED LAWS. For man to live in this world, there must be a set order for things. So God has placed man in a physical body governed by physical laws and set him in the midst of a world of nature governed by natural laws, with a soul governed by spiritual laws.  What was the cause of this accident that killed Kobe and all the people with him?  It could have been the weather or it may have been pilot error, it does not really matter.  Choice had to have been involved, fly or not to fly.
When that Helicopter ran into  a wall of rock, mountain, something had to give and in this case, it was the frail bodies of human beings. It is a law that the weaker gives way to the stronger.  You cannot defy the law of gravity, what goes up must come down.

I do not believe that God causes sickness, suffering, pain.  But I do believe that He can work good even in terrible situations, if we let Him. Suffering can drive us to God.  Only God can help and bless us as we seek to live within His fixed laws.  He has revealed His love for us through the living Word, Jesus and the written Word, the Bible.  Even in Christ, we will feel the sufferings and sorrows living in this world but we will weather the storms because we are strenthen by Christ.

Through suffering. God teaches us that this world is not home.  We look for that Home in heaven whose builder and maker is God.