A Light to the Nations

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

“Listen to me, my people.  Hear me, Israel, for my law will be proclaimed, and my justice will become a light to the nations.  My mercy and justice are coming soon.  My salvation is on the way.  My strong arm will bring justice to the nations.  All distant lands will look to me and wait in hope for my powerful arm.  Look up to the skies above, and gaze down on the earth below.  For the skies will disappear like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a piece of clothing.  The people of the earth will die like flies, but my salvation lasts forever.  My righteous rule will never end!  Isaiah 51:4-6

In yesterday’s post I shared some of the popular culture’s opinion about how the “organized church” is boring, out-of-touch, antiquated, and without a hope of continuing.  The look of things on the landscape of the 21^st century would appear to validate that, with less attendance or support, a lower sense of commitment, and cultural norms aimed at whatever pleases the individual.  Community has been reduced to social media clicks, and wokeness for the “rights” of individuals, without the slightest nod in the direction of Heaven.  The 21^st century is a heathen paradise, self-absorbed, inflated, and very angry.

That’s not a pretty picture, or flattering in any way; truth can be quite startling, often harsh on the ears.  But truth cannot be made to be a lie.  We have returned to the days of Noah, where it broke God’s heart he had ever created us![1] 

And truth is why the church matters. 

The truth of our moral collapse, and sin’s great offense in Heaven, is the reason the church exists, to worship God, AND to proclaim His great mercy and love (His light) to the nations.  This is so well declared in Ernest Nichol’s great hymn,   We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations:

We've a story to tell to the nations, that shall turn their hearts to the right,
a story of truth and mercy, a story of peace and light, a story of peace and light.

We've a song to be sung to the nations, that shall lift their hearts to the Lord,
a song that shall conquer evil, and shatter the spear and sword, 

     and shatter the spear and sword.

 We've a message to give to the nations, that the Lord who reigneth above
has sent us His Son to save us, and show us that God is love, 

     and show us that God is love.

We've a Savior to show to the nations, who the path of sorrow has trod,
that all of the world's great peoples may come to the truth of God, 

     may come to the truth of God!

For the darkness shall turn to dawning, and the dawning to noonday bright,
and Christ's great kingdom shall come on earth, the kingdom of love and light.[2]

For You Today  

Those who believe the church is “done” have misread, or misunderstood history and the nature of God.  He loves the church, his creation, and He also loves every human who has ever drawn breath.  And He has given the church the song of His love to be sung to each generation. 

The Kingdom of Christ is coming, and nothing less than the absolute rule of Christ will count for anything when that happens.

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: 

Consider the Rock  and  I Am; You ARE!

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^©  

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[1] Genesis 6:5-6

[2] We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations, The United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville, UMC Publishing House, 1989) 569

Hands Off!

 

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

I, John, am the one who heard and saw all these things.  And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me.  But he said, “No, don’t worship me.  I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book. Worship only God!”  Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near.  Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.”  “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”  Revelation 22:8-13

Much of what the angel said to John was prohibitive; it was hands-off!  We can easily understand the admonition to not-worship an angel.  God has told us He is the only One worthy of worship in the universe.  The other word of prohibition to John is about the words of prophecy in God’s book.  John is not to seal them up, because the time is ripe to allow it free access to all people.  But there is an unspoken (but implied) third prohibition, stated inversely.  The angel tells John to let the Word have it’s way with evil…and for John (and by extension all believers) to not compel others to do right, rather to let free will run its’ course.

This third injunction makes it clear that believers are missing the mark of compliance with God’s will when trying to coerce behavior.  In my lifetime the growth of government regulation has gone off the chart.  The latest wave is the wokeness generation’s compelling so-called righteous behavior.  If you don’t toe the line, you’re ghosted…exiled to the land of foolishness…a non-entity.

Marching against “wokeness” are some rather well-meaning, but ill-advised people, who want control of the government so they can correct all the nonsense.  You can see it in the push to assimilate political power in the name of righteousness.  You can see it in the infamous January 6^th invasion of the Capitol.  You can see it in the indignation of believers who want to punish wrongdoers severely, but can’t keep their own house in order.  Well-known and popular Christian leaders who couldn’t see past the glitter of power-grabbing, spearheaded the presidential campaigns in 2016 to gain control of the White House and Senate. 

There is a well-known saying, little heeded or even acknowledged these days, which offers the same kind of advice about all that, which the angel offered John:

When the church gets in bed with the government,

it isn’t the government that loses power.

The church’s real power is in prayer and the example of Christ, lovely, sacrificial, respect for all, with joy, unspeakable, and full of glory.[1] 

As the angel told John, God will do the judging and correcting soon.  The Alpha and Omega is better at it than any of us.  For now, hands-off the judge’s gavel.

For You Today  

It is a good thing to want to do something, instead of just standing by.  Today would be a good day to look around:  you’ll have no problem finding someone who is hurting for lack of food, clothing, a place to live, or a friend.  Then, do what’s natural for a child of the King…be a blessing.

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: 

       Morning Star   and   Overwhelmed

Images: Title image 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^©  

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[1] 1 Peter 1:8

Working on a Harvest

Friday, June 3, 2022

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God.  You will always harvest what you plant.  Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature.  But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.   Galatians 6:7-8

The simplicity with which the Scriptures lay out our choices is sometimes too startling for 21st century minds.  We do not really want “simple” – we want multiple-choice, categories, and options…not just live or die.  To say there are only two choices, life and death, is to court the wrath of the “wokeness police”.  Yet, there it is, in Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, King James, and whatever other language you need or want, the harvest will be what you plant, no matter whether you intended it to be that way, or, for that matter, if you think you’re entitled to something different.  The choice is only, plant, or don’t plant.  In short, the laws of harvest remain absolute; you reap that which you plant.

The harvest in the last week or so in America uncovers what we have been planting, cultivating, and are now horrified to own – at least 35 murders in 3 mass shootings…21 in Uvalde, 10 Black persons in Buffalo, and, just yesterday 4 more at a Tulsa Oklahoma medical center. 

Once again we have sowed violence to the wind, and are reaping a harvest of death’s whirlwind.[1]

If you want to pigeon-hole me as to which tribe I follow concerning the gun issue, here are the details (or ammunition if you will):

1.    I own a handgun, loaded, ready to defend our home if invaded.  I never wear it, concealed, or openly.  It stays under locked conditions for safety.

2.    I do not judge anyone…God’s Word is enough, and better at that, than my thoughts by an infinitely exponential mile.

3.    I do blame our culture that twists and bends every sense of goodness to turn a profit, including the NRA’s promotion, lobbying, and lack of decency, and Congress facilitating such under the guise of freedom.  I also include the purveyors of violence who pander to the culture with video games teaching children who cannot put a coherent sentence together, but are fluent in how to kill 98 “enemies” to reach the next level.  They learned this way of life, because we, the American public allow profiteers to spoon-feed violence to our children, and the weak-minded among us.

God has always judged, and will continue to judge, any who add to that.  It is the nature of He who Created us, and holds the next breath we may (or may not) take.  The choice is to be under His will of peacemaker, or under His judgment for peacebreaker.  Simple, uncomplicated, and lovingly just.

For You Today

My Dad was of the generation that didn’t mind letting you know there are consequences for our actions.  Have you ever heard this phrase:

You upset because you don’t think I’m being fair? 

I’ll give you something to be upset about!

I kinda think Dad knew something about reaping the whirlwind.

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

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

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[1] A loose borrowing of Hosea 8:7a  “They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind….”