Tuesday, November 22, 2016
In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1 (NLT)
The Spirit and the bride say,
“Come.” Let anyone who hears this say,
“Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the
water of life. And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of
prophecy written in this book: If anyone
adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues
described in this book. And if anyone removes any of the words from this
book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and
in the holy city that are described in this book. He who is
the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s
holy people. Revelation 22:17-21(NLT)
According to
some who teach the art of writing, in any article, book or speech, it is the opening
and closing
statements which are most important. The
opening is critical to set the stage and the closing because it must leave us to
ponder both the worth and consequences of what the author has written.
God’s word
opens with: In the beginning God…. I have often thought if anyone can
accept those four words, the rest comes to a willing heart.
If faith is
established to believe that God is the source and power of creation and all
which exists, the rest of Scripture makes sense. Without that faith the rest of Scripture becomes
merely a literary amusement or frivolous and fruitless speculation.
This opening
statement of Scripture is critical to the whole of this faith once
delivered to the saints. If rejected,
there is no further need to read any Scripture.
If accepted, the remainder of Scripture answers the questions about what
kind
of God; we find out and begin to experience the nature of God’s love and how
our miracle called life is shaped. These
are critical issues for the major questions of life: where did we come from, where are we going, and what
are life’s meaning and purpose.
The closing
of Scripture is cautionary as well as pleading.
The pleading is for this God of creation and redemption to come near. The caution is for the meantime; an attitude
to observe while we wait for His appearing; we are warned against distorting
the message, anything which demeans or contorts (for others or ourselves) the
nature of God.
This is
especially close to the heart of any preacher.
As called by this God to proclaim His message, we must take much care to
deliver a pure message, an undistorted prophetic witness of the one, true,
living God.
That is a grave
responsibility. And we must proclaim it
as much with our lives as merely with words.
While there is nothing quite so impossible as living an absolutely
blameless life, the evidence of one who would not distort the Word in anyone
else’s vision is, or should be, the target for which we strive.
To my
preacher friends, how is it with your soul and all you do and say?
To all my other
Christian friends, how is it with your soul and all you do and say?
For You Today
Are you going on to perfection in love
today?
NOTES
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