Gleanings From The Word

Tag: Kevin Corbin

  • Blooming in the desert

    This lovely desert flower is a Mariposa lily (Calochortus bruneaunis ) – sometimes called a sagebrush or desert lily. It comes in a variety of colors from white through to brilliant purple, like this specimen I shot back around the summer of 2001. I confess the picture is cropped because I took it from too far away.

    The Mariposa thrives in arid, desert-like places where most plants could simply not survive. It truly blooms where others fail to even grow.

    In our Christian life, we can often be placed in situations similar to that. We can face ridicule, hostility, outright persecution, even the stripping of our possessions, jail time or in some cases death. Jail time and death are not common in the West (yet), they are a reality for our brothers and sisters around the world.

    According to an article in America Magazine, “More Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined, according to David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson, two of the world’s leading religious demographers.”

    Gordon-Conwell’s Center for the Study of Global Christianity estimates that 1 million Christians were killed between 2001 and 2010, and about 900,000 were killed from 2011 to 2020.

    It’s a reality out there, my friends. Our brothers and sisters are being killed for their faith. It shouldn’t surprise us; it’s been happening since the days of Saul of Tarsus. Persecution began a few years after the death of Jesus and has continued since.

    Jesus told us it would happen.

    “If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they John

    would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But this happened to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without cause.’ John 15:18-25

    What can we do in the interim?

    We can pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ and for those who oppress them. We can pray for those in power in our nation to come to faith.

    We continue to gather together as long as we can. We gain strength from one another. Our brothers and sisters in oppressed countries meet underground.

    We read, study and memorize our Bibles. We need to know what we believe and why. We need to be prepared in case there are no Bibles available someday.

    We live our lives daily as Christ called us to do. We stand as lights on a hill, pointing others to the love of Jesus.

    We trust God. He has it all under control and will use every hard thing that comes to pass for the good of those who love Him.

    The mariposa lily grows and blooms in dark, hostile environments. How much so can we shine in a dark and hurting world?

    Hallelu Yah (Praise God) 

    Be blessed 

    Kevin 

    SUMMARY

    The Mariposa lily thrives in arid, hostile ground where most plants cannot survive. Christians are called to do the same. Persecution is real, it is global, and Jesus told us plainly it would come. The question is not whether we will face a hostile world, but how we will stand in it.

    KEYPOINTS

    More Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined, and an estimated 1.9 million have been killed for their faith between 2001 and 2020 

    Jesus warned His followers directly: the world hated Him first, and it will hate them too — persecution is not a surprise but a promise 

    While brothers and sisters around the world face jail and death, believers everywhere can pray, gather, know their Bibles, live as lights, and trust God with every hard thing that comes

    Tribulation Produces Perseverance

    Programs guaranteed to grow your church

  • Infrared Light and Faith

    Campfire - pondering the unseen

    I sat out by the campfire, pondering light and life. There was so much more going on in the fire than I could see. I could see the flames because they emit visible light. I could see, taste and smell smoke because it hung in the air. I could feel the warmth from the flames.

    I couldn’t see the wood gases that were actually burning. I couldn’t see the wood turning into charcoal. I couldn’t see the infrared (IR) energy being emitted because it lies outside the visible spectrum. If I had a thermal camera, I might have seen the IR waves.

    IR light isn’t visible to us, but it surrounds us. Everything above absolute zero emits some level of infrared radiation. Even though we can’t see it, it’s reflected off trees and other surfaces and impacts us. A little can warm us and increase blood flow. It can be used in some forms of physiotherapy. Too much IR can cause burns, heat rash and even eye damage.

    Just as IR has an impact even though we cannot see it, God is working in ways invisible to us. His presence may be hidden, but He still provides for us, reaches out to us and is working in our lives.

    There is nothing anywhere in the created universe that does not owe its beginning and continued existence to God’s power and presence. If He withdrew His presence for even a split second, everything would collapse and disappear.

    Fortunately, we don’t have to physically see Him for Him to work in our lives. We have the Scriptures and their testimony. We have the Holy Spirit (if we are believers), or He calls us (if we are non-believers).

    For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— 2 Corinthians 5:1-7

    What a marvelous gift, to be given the faith to walk even when we cannot see the way of the hands that guide us.

    Maybe you’ve never considered faith as a gift, but Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear. We are saved and guided by faith, and all of that is a love gift from our Heavenly Father.

    Praise His holy and generous name.

    Be blessed,

    Kevin

    False teachers

    SUMMARY

    I sat by a campfire and realized how much was happening that I couldn’t see: burning gases, wood turning to charcoal, infrared energy radiating outward. It struck me that God works the same way, present and active even when His hands are hidden from our sight.

    TAKEAWAY

    Everything above absolute zero emits infrared radiation, invisible yet powerfully real in its effects 

    God’s presence sustains all creation even when it isn’t visible to us 

    2 Corinthians 5:1-7 and Ephesians 2:8-9 remind us that faith, not sight, is how we’re meant to walk

    The importance of Reading God’s Word