There Comes a Time...

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Then the angel said to me, “Everything you have heard and seen is trustworthy and true.  The Lord God, who inspires his prophets, has sent his angel to tell his servants what will happen soon.”  Revelation 22:6-7

All faith is birthed from the perch of unbelief.  What that perch seems to an observer, hatred, fear, ignorance, or arrogance, makes little difference; it remains the absence of faith, which is unbelief.

When our oldest grandchild was six, she had a grand time swimming in our pool.  She could not, however, bring herself to plunge into the water.  It was always a baby steps kind of process…toes first, then ankles, shins, and so-on.  The head never got more than half-wet.  Most of my time in the water on those lazy, hot Florida afternoons was spent encouraging her to take a leap into my arms from the pool deck.  There were plenty of false starts.  Five steps back to gain speed, begin the run, and….scrrreeeech to a halt, just short of the pool’s edge. 

But, one day, it finally happened.  Chelsea worked up her courage, threw caution to the wind, and jumped – a perfect cannonball…down to the depths below.  When she bobbed-up to the surface, she shook the water from her eyes and proclaimed like a town-crier:  WELL….THAT was an experience! 

Whether faith comes like an unexpected lightning-bolt, flashing into existence to obliterate all else in its path, or in increments like a hardly-observable changing of the tide, faith must take its first breath at some point.  There comes a time when unbelief becomes trust.  A line is crossed.  False starts become certain leaps.  That which was questioned becomes trusted, and faith is born a reality.

God instructed the beloved apostle John to end Scripture’s revelation with that assurance – what you’ve seen and heard is trustworthy. 

·       All the words of Moses, from Genesis to Deuteronomy,

·       and of the chroniclers of Israel, from the Judges to Kings,

·       and the poets of Psalms and Proverbs,

·       to the prophets of minor and major days,

·       as well as the Gospel and Epistle writers,

·       down to the very final invitation to take the leap of faith in the One who stands at the door, knocking…every bit of it is trustworthy and true. 

And every bit of it will change your life from agonizing unbelief to assurance unlimited.  It simply requires letting go of the perch.

For You Today  

If you’ve taken that leap of faith from the perch of unbelief, you know the strength of the Savior’s arms.  Like Chelsea’s first leap into the water, there were many more to come…with confidence growing each time. 

If you’ve never leaped beyond your belief, you’ve not experienced even the baby steps of the adventure God has planned for your life.  Many starts…many screeches to a halt, just short of getting wet.  What are you waiting for? 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

   Distortion   and   The Importance of Jots and Tittles

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Life Signs

 

Friday, January 28, 2022

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.  After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus.  “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us.  Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”  Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”  “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus.  “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”  Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.  Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.  So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’  John 3:1-7

This is the entry driveway to the place I’ve been spending my lunch times, three days a week, for the past 5 months.  Cardio-rehabilitation is the introduction to changing a sedentary lifestyle to one of cardiovascular health.  In short, I’ve been reintroducing my ticker to the busy-ness of behaving itself. 

This view is what you see when you exit the building.  

It’s a one-way zone, you don’t want to get that mixed up.  It is much like life in this world; you come into this world, and you progress in one direction to the exit sign!  No do-overs!

Now that, as Nicodemus said to Jesus, is common sense.  How can an old man re-enter the womb and go through the process again?  Nic’s question poses a reductio ad absurdum,[1] Latin for reasoning a foolish explanation which explains the opposite of common sense.  In the natural world old men don’t get born a second time; with the flesh, this is impossible.  

So, this Pharisee with the long, gray beard, and easily recognizable robes, who knows (and perhaps loves) a good debate, wants Jesus to explain what he’s teaching.  And Jesus obliges the supposedly spiritually-wise leader of God’s people in a way that he never expected.  Reduced to the smallest common denominator, Jesus tells his questioner that each of us comes into this life one way, physically, and we know it's a one-way street where, someday, we encounter the exit sign.  That’s not new news; but Jesus turns the page and compares it to the otherworldly truth about eternal life in the Spirit. 

Jesus tells Nicodemus that the kingdom he should really be concerned about is not to be found within the four walls of Solomon’s temple, but the Kingdom where the breath of God blows – a place that has no place you can see, but will last forever.  It’s different than the physical realities one can experience.  In this kingdom you don’t go back to be born-over in flesh, but you can be born-again of the Spirit of God.  It’s the Kingdom of God, the place, and source of eternal life.

For You Today

One-way signs, meant to direct the flow of traffic, are common everywhere.  They’re important because they help us avoid collisions that can be disastrous.  There’s one of those signs at the entrance to the human heart; that’s where Jesus is standing, knocking, and speaking those “one-way” words:  You MUST be born-again![2]

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

---

[1] the form of argument that attempts to establish a claim by showing that the opposite scenario would lead to absurdity or contradiction.  See Wikipedia.com

[2] See Matthew 7:8 and Revelation 3:20

Retracing Wesley #10: Kingdom Door

[1]

Go to VIDEO

“The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced.  “The Kingdom of God is near!  Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”    

Mark 1:15^(NLT)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day opens for every person the possibility of the door to the Kingdom of God. 

There are keys which open this door:

The first Key is the Kingdom itself

Literally the Kingdom is the reign of God in the hearts of those who receive him.  Jesus announced that the Kingdom had come near. 

And that word indicates more an opportunity than a period of time.  The opportunity for restored relationship with God, where God would dwell in the hearts of those who choose to love and obey him was available.

Wesley called this …the immediate fruit of God's reigning in the soul[2] because having God on the inside brought righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.[3]

The Second Key is Repentance

To “repent” is to think, and then act differently.  When you are headed in the wrong direction, repentance means understanding that you’re going in the wrong direction, and then acting on it to turn in the right direction.

The Third Key is To Believe the Good News

To “believe” is to have faith.  Now this is not the kind of “faith” you have in your college football team to win the championship.  Rather it’s the kind of once-for-all trust that places your past, present and eternity in God’s hands.  

Believing the Good News, or the Gospel means that you are choosing to count as true the birth of Jesus as entirely true; you’re saying Jesus lived a sinless life, and died your sinner’s death, taking your place on the cross.  You’re saying you believe that on the third day he arose from that hole in the ground where they buried him, ascended into heaven to the right hand of the Father, and is coming again one day to make all things new.

To cap it all off, you’re saying you stake everything you are and hope to be on this fact that the Gospel is true – it’s a one-way-door for you!

These are the keys to God’s Kingdom door, His reign in your heart, you repenting of your sin, and believing the Gospel.

Did you know that all three of those keys are already yours?  They’re in your heart…which also has a door.  And this door’s key God has chosen to never violate; it’s known as free will. 

God has already opened the door to His Kingdom.  But the door to your heart is closed against the pathway to God’s kingdom, and unless you open it you will stay on the outside forever. 

Here’s what God says about that door to your heart:

“Look!  I stand at the door and knock.  If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.    Revelation 3:20^(NLT)

The keys are all in your hands; what will you do?

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

---

[1] Title Image: By Athena Lao from Bulgaria, via Wikimedia Commons

[2] The Way to the Kingdom, John Wesley, Sermon #7, Christian Classics

[3] Romans 14:17