Wheat field Banner

Gleanings From The Word

Category: Salvation

  • Safe in the arms of God.

    Safe in the arms of God.

    Baseball umpire indicating "safe"

    Safe!

    Safe! What a wonderful call for any baseball base runner to hear an umpire call. It’s also good for the rest of us to know we are safe in a tumultuous world that seems to have lost its mind. Christians are safe in the arms of God.

    Don’t misunderstand. We are not exempt from trials, tribulations, illness, crime, poor choices, physical harm, economic downturns, or natural disasters. We’re not safe from persecution, or temptation, or relational ills. All of those are part and parcel of living in a fallen, son-filled world.

    What are we safe from? In the words of the hymn “Before the Throne of God Above” …

    Before the throne of God above. I have a strong and perfect plea. A great High Priest whose name is love, who ever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on his hands, my name is written on his heart. I know that while in Heav’n he stands no tongue can bid me thence depart.

    Every element of our salvation is our God. He calls us and gives us the faith and courage to receive Him. He dies to pay the cost of our sin, and He dwells within us to make us more like him.

    Once we are His, we are His forever. Safe in the arms of God. We can’t mess up so badly that we fall completely from Grace. We may face consequences and discipline, but never rejection. Nothing can tear us away from him, or as the song says, “none can bid me hence depart”.

    I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28 ESV

    For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 ESV

    Some will say that gives us freedom to sin. Paul clearly tells us that isn’t the case.

     For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means Romans 6:14-15 ESV

    We need to understand that we are secure in Christ. That knowledge should help us understand how deep His love and mercy for us is. That understanding leads us to love Him more and to desire to please Him. That desire makes it harder for us to sin and easier to repent. 

    My friends, as believers, you are safe in the arms of God. Now live in that wonderful news.

    Be blessed

    Kevin

    You might also like

    We are all displaced

    Scrub Jays

    The gospel, the best news ever

    Step out of the boat faith

    Safe in the arms of God

  • Scrub Jays – Refugees from the fires

    Scrub Jays – Refugees from the fires

    California Scrub Jay

    Yesterday I was treated to the sight of a pair of California scrub jays at our little backyard feeder. They are a rare sight in these parts, although since the California wildfires of a few years ago, they are somewhat more common.

    While on our mini vacation, we spoke to a couple from Northern Alberta. A mountain sheep has been seen in their area. The sheep are typically found in the Jasper area, but were driven out by wildfires. Now they are attempting to make a home hundreds of miles from their home.

    The jays and the mountain sheep (and I’m sure many other species) refugees who fled a disaster, looking for a safe harbor. They are doing their best to make a way in an unfamiliar and, in many ways, hostile environment.

    There is a sense in which all Christians are refugees as well. We grow up in a fallen world that is hostile to the Christian worldview. When we do become believers, our citizenship becomes that of heaven, and instead of being enemies of God, we become enemies to the world.

    The once familiar is now strange. The former close friend now rejects and ridicules us. Things we once thought nothing of now cause us discomfort.

    Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 1 Peter 2:11 ESV

    If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. John 15:19 ESV

    We might be strangers, sojourners, even refugees in this world, but our home is secure.

    In the interim, we have the Word to strengthen us. We have other believers to walk with. Most importantly, we have the Spirit within us to guide us and testify to our status as children of God and coheirs with Christ. The Spirit is our passport into the kingdom, both here and forever in glory.

    Hold fast, my friends. The wandering time may seem long and hard at times, but we have victory in Him.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

    Be blessed, 

    Kevin

    You might also like

    We are all displaced

    Safe in the arms of God

    Tribulation produces perseverance

    Step out of the boat faith