Reaching forward means doing a little better with each day. If we take a moment at the end of the day to reflect on what we’ve done, it’s a wonderful feeling to know that the day was well spent. We’ve taken one or two steps in a good direction.
Whatever comes to pass in this world, we must not let it throw us into doubt or despair. The King is coming back, and it may be sooner rather than later. “Be patient,” James wrote. “Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
As for God, His victory over His foes is absolutely certain. But as for us, we’ve not yet made our final choice. “Be faithful until death” (Revelation 2:10) is not a command that can be put on autopilot, and right now is no time for negligence.
We are on our way to a place that can truly be called home. A “rest” awaits us, if we’re among the “people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). But we haven’t yet reached our rest, and until we do, we are sojourners — temporary residents in a country not our own.
Having learned a little of God’s greatness, we need to seek His glory day in and day out. God is our King. That fact is not altered by the fluctuations in our circumstances or feelings, and our gratitude ought not to depend on these things either.
We must be captivated by higher values: the love of God and His creatures. Freedom does not mean having no master; it means having a wise and loving Master. To bind ourselves to Him is to be set free from the consequences of every lesser love.
Being conformed to God’s character is what we desire, and being able, when the time comes, to see His face is what we long for. It does not matter whether our passage is comfortable. What matters is that we are making progress toward God.
Living in a society where competition in all its myriad forms is almost a national obsession, we need to watch out. When we find ourselves in conflict with another person over some spiritual matter, what are our real motives for waging war?
Every path to heaven leads through territory occupied by the devil. To reach our desired destination, we’re going to have to fight. Indeed, it sometimes seems that we have to fight every step of the way. Heaven will not be reached by the cowardly.
God is working toward a lasting solution to our real problem. Rather than patch our wounds with a superficial bandage, He gave His Son to atone for our sins. That opens the door to HOPE — hope that our hearts will be filled up when we reach home.
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What is the meaning of the titles associated with the name of Jesus in the New Testament? Over sixty times He is called the “Lord Jesus Christ”? To see fully ...
God is at the center of both our problem and its solution. The gospel is not primarily about our broken social relationships. These are but symptoms of the real problem: ...