Category: John

  • 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

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  • Never out of control – the power of God’s consuming fire

    night time campfire

    There’s something comforting about a nice campfire. It’s warm, it makes me feel safe, and I love to watch the different colors of the flames. Yet out-of-control fires can be terrifying.

    I’ve seen the aftermath of fires, I’ve watched buildings burn, fought grass fires that threatened to get out of control, and seen the night sky lit up by dangerously close forest fires. I’ve even known the horror of seeing a person on fire. None of those brought me the comfort of my little campfire.

    Fire is a strange beast. It has been one of man’s greatest helpers, providing heat, light, enabling the forging of metal and steam power, but it can kill and destroy without warning if we’re not careful.

    Some people are fascinated by fire. Others are terrified by it. I understand both perspectives as I’ve been in both places.

    Our God is like a fire, but never out of control. He can be terrifying to those who will face His wrath and comforting to those who know His love and forgiveness. God’s wrath is not like that of an angry, spiteful, spoiled child out of control. 

    His anger is the righteous anger of a Holy God, directed at those who rebel against Him and reject His offer of love and forgiveness. He is patient in exercising His wrath, or we all would have been destroyed long ago. Both His love and His wrath burn with incredible intensity.

    Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28-29  ESV

    We should never be fooled into thinking that God is always like our pleasant little campfire. He’s also the power of the raging forest fire, all the burning suns put together, and more, never out of control. His wrath will come for those who don’t believe. His wrath was for us as well until we came to know Him.

    The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. John 3:35-36 ESV

    No one is born a Christian. We all become one by conversion. We move from death to life as a result of Christ’s sacrifice. We’ve been saved from the wrath of God by the grace of God. That knowledge should create in us a burning desire, an internal, eternal fire to share the truth with other people. It compels us to tell others to save them from the wrath that will come.

    And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. Jude 1:22-23  ESV

    Until next time, may you be a burning torch of light and rescue in a dark, hurting, and ultimately doomed world. Let your fire for Christ burn brightly so that all can have the opportunity to be saved from the wrath.

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God)

    Be blessed, 

    Kevin

    Gleanings From The Word – Experience an extraordinary God in ordinary life. 

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