Larry M Lawrence- Mysteries

03805 Finding God in the Mystery of every day.

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Ephesians 5: ¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the Lord’s will is.

The statue above, Rodin’s the Thinker, created in 1902 has always symbolized the idea of thinking things through, and also the strength of the human intellect. The only problem with that is the fact that in our supposed wisdom we frequently fail to take into account the vastness of God’s wisdom and the complexity of His thought processes. (Isaiah 55:9) The admonition in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians speaks of the times being evil and thereby implying the inevitable coming of “the great and powerful day of the Lord”.

What does it mean to “make the most of every opportunity”? Simply this. First that we must submit to God in everything, second, that we must pray in the Spirit to know when to speak and when to keep silent, and that we must speak the words as God gives them to us knowing the Scriptures and using the logic and rationale contained therein. We must, however, never give in to the idea that our wisdom surpasses that of God and that He alone works salvation in the hearts of those to whom He sends us.

030804 Finding God in the Mystery of every day

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Romans 8:18
From Suffering to Glory

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

            If there is one thing that I find difficult to understand it is the moment when heretofore devout Christian folk come up against previously unimagined suffering in their lives, they suddenly ask the question, as Philip Yancey entitled his book, “If God is God then, Why?” Or, they become even more angry and as God where were you when I needed you, Where’s your compassion?

            There are any number of answers to that question. First, God’s ways and plans are higher than we can know. (Isaiah 55:9) Second, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 8:23) So, why should He even show us His favor?” Third, and importantly in the case of the loss of a loved one, “It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgement.” (Hebrews 9:27) Fourth, and even more confusing to most people, God, because He is Holy will not necessarily intervene in our circumstances and because of this we mistake a seeming lack of compassion of God with our desire for rescue. Compassion means in the most literal sense, “with suffering”. That is to say that God feels our every hurt and loves us even more deeply in our suffering and grief because He understands full well the pain of having to stand by and watch while His beloved suffered and was crucified. (Isaiah 57:1)

030803 Finding God in the Mystery of every day

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Matthew 5: Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹ Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.

            It is a simple truth that the persecution of Christians has increased exponentially in the last 50 years. In less civilized parts of the world this has resulted in beheadings and kidnappings and rape. In the so-called civilized places the persecution is more subtle and likely to be accepted as the normative behavior in a progressive society. More to the point, the repeal of Roe v. Wade by the US supreme court may be working to not only increase persecution of Christians by local politicians and continue apace the slaughter of innocent babies, precious human children in the sight of God. (How ironic that we will go to extreme lengths to “rescue” some flea-bitten animal while ignoring the murders of babies happening every day.

            I would give as an example of this neo persecution the recent local council decision in England covering the areas known as Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole to ban any display of “making the sign of the cross, quoting Scripture, or praying anywhere near an abortion ‘clinic’. This is an example of the exclusion of Christians and Christian thoughts and values happening all over the Western world. *

            Please pray earnestly for the deluded people who are dragging us all closer to the return of Jesus when God’s final wrath will come to pass. Maranatha Lord Jesus.

*Source, Catholic News Agency CNA

030802 Finding God in the Mystery of every day

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6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: ³ “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”

Provocation

Too quick to defend when a child, sibling, spouse, or friend is in the habit, or conditioned to criticize, attack, or subvert your relationship by word whether in public or private. When anger, embarrassment, frustration, and plain hurt want to work in you to destroy that relationship it helps to remember Isaiah’s statement of faith in God, ““Thou wilt keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon Thee, because He trusts in Thee. “(58:3 KJV)

Finally then, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you must walk and please God—as you are doing —do so even more.For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality,so that each of you knows how to control his own body in sanctification and honor,not with lustful desires, like the Gentiles who don’t know God. – 1 Thessalonians 4:1-5 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1Thessalonians4:1-5&version=HCSB

Prude, self-righteous, hypocrite, cruel, judgemental, liar, these are but a few of the accusations hurled at Christian folk today. In a world gone completely mad with lust, greed, hate and violent intent is it any wonder that pleasing oneself is the highest ideal? The verses above bear a silent testimony to the utter lack or loss of that most difficult to understand “fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22). When we finally, if ever, come to the place of merely believing in Jesus and hungering to the point of desperation for His promised Spirit that we at last comprehend what the term “living sacrifice” means (Romans 12:2) we are at last ready as we wait and pray to experience our very personal Pentecost.

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Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. – Matthew 5:21-22 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew5:21-22&version=NASB1995

It must have been a shocking thing to hear from the lips of their beloved teacher. How could any person ever live up to so high an ideal of human interaction.

Here we see the ubdoing of all self-reliance as Jesus begins to point the way to total dependence upon God our Heavenly Father.

Put out of your thinking the myth of the “good person” (Romans 3:23)

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Matthew 5:18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.19 Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:18-19 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew5:18-19&version=NASB1995

I read with great sadness an article concerning the United Methodist denomination among others that are being splintered by the voices of compromise shouting loudly in virtually every congregation.

AT 3 AM this morning I wrote about this situation in a visceral rather angry manner which I will not post here. Suffice it to say, those who use Paul’s words to the Ephesian Church (Ephesians 2:15) as an excuse to test the waters and bring sin into the church stretching and distorting out of all reason words such as justice, acceptance mercy and tolerance will in the end experience these saddest of words from our Lord Jesus; “Away from me. I never knew you.”

People are born with a sel-centered bent to sin. Evil, arrogant, stupid, violent, untrustworthy, cruel, and the list goes on. Left to their own devices they will lie, cheat, and steal. God has shown His love and long suffering patience by giving His firm, immutable commands to one people. Even with the foundation of God’s perfect law the Jews failed as a people. Therefore God’s remedy for the sickness of sin was to send and give to the world the very life of His only begotten Son, Jesus. Humankind were quick to make Jesus into a criminal in their mad pursuit of sin and He became the once for all time sacrifice (payment in blood) for the sins of the whole world. But here’s the thing. Jesus broke the chains of death and rose up from the grave as attested to by over 500 witnesses.

030802 Finding God in the Mystery of every day

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e-mail- larrymlawrence@larrymlawrence.com  (*New e-mail), or

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1 Thessalonians 5⁹ For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

¹¹ Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

¹² And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

¹⁴ Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. ¹⁵ See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

I often think of Paul trying very hard to communicate this glorious gospel as he moved about the Eastern Mediterranean and shared the amazing story of Jesus with anyone who would listen. Here, in a nutshell is the crux of Christian behavior and relationships. In His own good time Jesus will take us all home to be with Him forever. For now we are to realize that he is with us and we must listen to His instructions by engaging Hies word in Scripture, allowing His Spirit to write His commands on our hearts and to bear whatever burdens come with joy and hope. That is what makes the difference in the world and sets the Christian apart from those who are lost.

            Like Paul, it falls to us to lead the lost sheep of the world back into the sheep pen and help them find safety and joy. (John 10:6 et al) That our Churches by and large seem to have forgotten this mandate, to “Go and make disciples. (Actually, a better translation is “and as you are going [into all the world] make disciples Matthew 28:19). So, what do you think. How may we best recover this forgotten zeal and purpose?

030801 Finding God in the Mystery of every day

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e-mail- larrymlawrence@larrymlawrence.com  (*New e-mail), or

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Philippians 4: 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is [c]lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

            With so much ugliness all around us the moments taken to absorb through our various senses the beauty of God’s creation and plan are precious and sacred. The more we give in to the “tyranny of the urgent” the less capable we become to appreciate that there is so much more that we seem to miss every day. We created a small butterfly friendly garden spot in our yard this year and I have enjoyed the simple beauty of dragonflies, butterflies, bumble bees and birds. Because of this I am constantly reminded of the beauty of Christ in the suffering of the cross and the power of his resurrection and the promise of His imminent return.

            The apostle John saw a glimpse of Heaven in a dream/vision as he recorded in the book of the Revelation. From his vision and through the filter of the history of the world much of what he has prophesied has come to pass. His warnings to the seven churches are all based in the reality of the times and translate very well to all of the Western churches both Catholic and Protestant.

            We have created a comforting and pleasant view of heaven as largely myth and presumption. I am guardedly optimistic that Heaven is a beautiful and amazing place where we shall find the kind of peace and contentment that we so long for in this life. We can know this peace now if we are strong in our faith, unwavering in our devotion and willing to endure whatever the ugliness of the world throws at us.