September 12, 2017
The last week plus and for a time to come the news has been consumed with the hurricanes in Texas and Florida. Before they made landfall, I heard this joke:
“Harvey and Irma ought to get married and have their honeymoon in North Korea.”
Well, I thought it was funny, but in all reality the devastation caused by these storms and the threat of nuclear destruction is no laughing matter.
We live on a planet cursed because of the fall. When Adam sinned, he gave up dominion of earth to the Prince of the Power of the air, the nemeses – Satan. Add to this arch enemy the sinful fallen nature of man and a planet turned on its axis, we have all the makings for death, disease, destruction, demons, depressions, and despair.
It was into this cursed world our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ willingly came to crush the Serpent’s head, and to carry the burden of our sin. Someday, He will come and sit on the throne of His son, David, and the crooked paths will be made straight and the lion will lay down with the lamb. Someday, there will be a new heaven and a new earth and this cursed one will be burned up in fire.
But today, we must patiently wait and live in the here and now. How grateful I am this great God and King rescued me from my sin and shame. I need no longer be afraid.
“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” I Corinthians 15:55-58.
Today, the Lord has given us the opportunity (if we know Him) to live for Him and serve each other. All we have for time is a dash between two dates on a tombstone. How will we choose to spend this gift of life? When we stand some day before the Great King and Lord Jesus Christ how will He judge us? Will he able to say “Well done, thou good and faithful servant,”? Or what would he say about us?
People die in hurricanes, floods, fires, famines, wars and a thousand other ways.
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27
Therefore, may God help us to redeem the time of this day to His glory and to the benefit of our fellowman. May God help us to see the world through His eyes and help us to be His minsters of good to others.
Only Because of Jesus,
Pastor John Schofield
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