All is Good

Matthew 13:16-17

If you are up on the current events it’s very disturbing; war and rumors of war, the Arab Spring is not turning out so well for the Middle East, people in Texas still want to kill a baby after it been conceived for five months, Obama care is not looking good and the cost is going up for health care, the Supreme Court of the USA has become a joke, and the Senate of the USA passed a bill to allow up to 11-30 million people who are in country illegally to become Citizens.  But if you are a follower of Christ, no sweat, all is good; in fact, things are much better than you may understand.

Do you recall Jesus saying; “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10)  Now when you get all in a sweat about the world system, remember that Jesus also said; “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:17)  All the mess in the news is connected to the thief Jesus has told us about, but that’s not what a follower of Christ should have their eyes on.

We who are in Christ and Christ is in us, should be looking to the Eastern sky, for our Lord’s soon return.  Verses 16 & 17 of Matthew chapter 13, gives us great encouragement.  “But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”  It may be that we have forgotten what our eyes have seen and our ears have heard, and that may explain why you and I get so upset about the news listed above.  Could it be we have been polluted by this world and we have a heart for the world more than we do for the things of God?

 

It all hinges on faith, the faith referred to in Hebrew 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  And then the writer of Hebrews being lead by the Holy Spirit gives insight into the great people of faith like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, and many others, and gives us this discernment.  “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

When we sweat the small stuff, we lose sight of the big picture we forget that we are the King’s Kids, with a Father who keeps all of His promises.  “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

(Note: If the Spirit of the living God has called you into one of these battles, He will equip you for the battle, and at that point it is God’s battle, remember that!)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

http://fromourbackporch.blogspot.com/