Actually, you never really need to wait until all looks lost. But we often
tend to pay little attention to anything beyond our own tiny plans (ok,
they
seem like big plans to us) until we're forced to stop -- dead in our
tracks -- and wonder just what is happening to our world. That's when we
may wonder if God is still on the job. We may wonder if evil and
stupidity
and chaos have somehow won the great cosmic war.
That's when we finally look up.
God is on the job. God is very much in control.
God has a plan.
Now that's something to think about.
To be a believer in Jesus Christ is to believe in the God who holds all
things together in this universe. We believe in the one God who has all
things under His own control. He permits evil to run a certain course, but
has also provided a plan to rid all creation of that evil, and to redeem
all
who have called on Him for help and mercy.
God loved the people of earth enough to give up His own beloved Son, so
that
anyone at all who believes in Him will have not perish but will have life
forever. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn us but to save
the world. Whoever believes in Him will not be condemned, and whoever does
not believe is already condemned because they've not yet trusted in the
name
of Jesus Christ.
In fact there is absolutely no other name under heaven that has been given
to anyone whereby a human being may be saved.
To believe in Jesus Christ is to believe in the God who loves all people,
and to trust in the Judge who provides us with a way out of judgment.
Jesus
Christ came down to us knowing full well that we would soon reject Him and
kill Him. He came down to us not to enjoy the pleasures of this world, or
the happiness of mortal existence as a human being, but to become one of
us
in order to save us all - whoever should trust in Him. And He was soon
rejected, after only a few years of public teaching and healing. We put
Him
to death, just as He knew we would.
But He did not struggle against that death or fight to preserve His own
life. He laid down His perfect, sinless life, and endured the shame, the
mockery, the agony and the dying itself in order to pay for our sin, to
bear
it away, and to make a way for everyone who trusts in God. We may argue
about theological details and the meanings of words, but no one who trusts
in God can argue away what Jesus has done for us.
He suffered under the wrath of God for the sinners who populate this weary
planet. He bore our sins in His own body on the cross. He died a
sacrificial
death as an unblemished lamb provided by God in our stead. And the death
of
Jesus Christ on the cross took away our sins once and for all time.
Whoever
trusts in Him becomes eternally blameless, above all reproach, for there
is
no more sin to be imputed to them.
To be a believer in Jesus Christ is to believe that God has a plan, a very
great plan. We believe in the God who knows all things, and who prepares
all
things, and makes all things work together for the good of those who
belong
to Him. He has a plan for every human life on this earth, and His plan
unfolds each day without interruption. We are either a part of God's plan
for the damned, the condemned, those who do not trust in Jesus Christ, or
we're part of God's plan for the redeemed, those who are blessed forever,
those who will live in the very Presence and joy of God for all eternity.
God has a plan for my life and for your life. If we trust in Jesus Christ
the plan of God is to one day perfect us in every way. We will be
perfectly
blessed with joy, with perfect health, with perfect knowledge and wisdom,
with perfect hearts and minds forever. We walk today learning how to be
holy, but one day we will be complete, made perfect in holiness. We learn
obedience today by the things we endure, and we learn faith by trusting
God
in every kind of difficulty and testing. But one day we will awaken to a
perfect faith, knowing without any reservations that God is truly and
infinitely righteous, good, and fair.
Today we may have many questions hard to answer -- maybe impossible to
answer -- as pilgrims walking this earth. But one day we will know as now
we
are known by the Lord. We will understand all things then, and our strange
pathway in this life will all make perfect sense. That age will know and
understand this age, but this age can only look to that age with hope &
expectation in faith. Someday that which is perfect will overtake all that
still lacks perfection today.
God has been faithful in every age to do whatever He has promised to do.
He
has unfolded His plan in wonderful ways, showing His love for human
beings,
His great grace, and His unfailing mercies to everyone who turns to Him in
faith. The Lord rejects no one who dares to hope in His mercy and
goodness.
The Lord delights to forgive, and to wash clean, and to make right. And He
will one day make all things right forever.
In the same way that Jesus walked along, from town to town, making right
anyone who was willing to be touched by Him, so also God will make all of
heaven and earth right before Him forever. And there will be no more sin,
no
more weakness, no more fear, no more sickness, no more hunger or suffering
of any kind. The children who died unloved in this generation and in the
evil generations before us will rest in the very arms of God Himself, for
He
is a true Father to the fatherless, and He is the Protector and Provider
of
widows and orphans.
To believe in Jesus is to know the God who never forgets anything except
the
sins that have been confessed to Him and rejected by the sinner. Whoever
loves their sin will partake of the fruit of that sin, but whoever hates
evil and loves God will be filled with righteousness, sealed in mercy and
kept forever by the God of our salvation. The Lord will not remember their
sins on the day when they appear before Him, but He will reward them for
the
grace of God that has worked in them and through them.
King David and a host of others in Scripture have rejoiced, saying, "God
is
the Rock of my salvation!" And the Lord truly is the high and solid rock
of
safety for all who trust in Jesus. The Lord keeps all who are His, and
provides for their every need. And whatever they have lacked in this life
is
made up for, a thousand million fold, in the life (that true and endless
life) which is yet to come.
A day dawns soon. It is the day of eternity, the day without end, the day
that has no setting sun or scorching heat ever again. Already the eastern
sky grows brighter. Already I hear music that is not of this world. Soon,
my
brothers and sisters, very soon we will see the Light of God face to face.
We will behold with our eyes -- our own eyes! -- the perfect Lamb of God
that has taken away the sins of the world. In the dawning of that day we
will finally walk on streets made of a gold that we've only imagined
before.
At long last we will understand angels, and heaven, and eternity, and all
things. We will behold the stars and galaxies -- and every universe there
is
anywhere -- from a different vantage point.
To believe in Jesus Christ is to have a hold on a sure hope. And that hope
is a little different for each believer, for we tend to shape our hopes
according to the difficulties we endure right now. All God's children have
shoes. No more aches and pain. No more separation from loved ones who've
gone on before us. No more suffering or evil.
But the one hope we all possess is the certainty of being with Jesus. For
He
said, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for
you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; so that where I am,
there
you may be also." (see John's Gospel, chapter 14).
Wherever Jesus is today, at the right hand of the Father, and seated with
Him in the heavenlies, that's where we will also be forever. The Lord
Jesus
will return for us -- for whoever has this hope in Him -- and He will
takes
us to the place that is prepared for us. And there we will be with Him
forever.
God has a rich and wonderful plan. Never forget that His plan is much,
much
bigger than whatever we may face today. And He will bring His plan to a
perfect completion. As the Lord told Israel through Moses, "If any of you
are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD
your
God will gather you, and from there He will bring you." (from Deuteronomy,
chap 30)
David wrote this, "The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, and none of
those who trust in Him shall be condemned." (from Psalm 34)
The many promises of God are recorded in Scripture -- in the Bible -- and
much of His great plan is revealed there also. As we read in faith the
pages
of Holy Scripture our hearts are renewed in hope. Whoever believes in
Jesus
has many wonderful treasures prepared for them in the pages of the Bible.
We
do well to give it our full attention.
As I look ahead and wonder about the future, I have no idea what to
expect.
I have hopes and some plans of my own. I have some goals and some
deadlines
to meet.
But in all things, I know this single truth: God Himself has a plan for
me.
And in that perfect planning of God is my joy and my ultimate victory. I
know this because Jesus has already come down to this earth, and has
already
died for me, and has already risen from the dead. He has ascended back
into
heaven and is now at the Father's right hand. And He sent a message by His
servants to say that He is coming again soon.
Everything is on track.
Who knows? This could be the dawning of that great day.
Jim
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