December 29, 2015                                              THAT  I  MAY  KNOW  HIM

Philippians 3:8-10: “More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, be conformed to His death;”

If anyone ever knew God, you would think it would be the Apostle Paul. No doubt, Paul knew God, but at the same time it was Paul’s constant desire to be continually transformed to the image of Christ. Paul rightly believed that knowing God was the single, greatest knowledge that could ever be gained. When one understands “the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus,” then all other things are but “rubbish”. Because we live in a materialistic society, the idea of considering all things as of no value compared to knowing Christ, may be a stretch for us. Being focused on the material causes us to be drawn away from the awareness of the greatness of God and the value of knowing Him. If we find ourselves content with what we know of God, then something is amiss. Paul talked about being made “righteous” in Christ and he talked about “gaining” Christ. This may sound contradictory- if one is made righteous in Christ, then what else is there to “gain.” There is no contradiction; because of our being righteous in Christ, we have access to God, and fellowship with Him, and out of this relationship, God will continually be revealing more of Himself to us. Many may be content with being “righteous in Christ,” but being righteous in Christ is the beginning point of growth, knowledge, and understanding of God. In the culture in which we live, pursuing fame and fortune is the norm and the idea of considering whatever we may have gained in our pursuit, “rubbish”, is abnormal. We cannot by our own strength or mental discipline come to a place where knowing or gaining Christ is our supreme desire in life. There is one critical factor that causes one to consider all things lost, or rubbish, compared to gaining Christ; and that is seeing beyond the natural and having our eyes opened by the Holy Spirit to get at least a glimpse of the greatness of God and of His love for us. God gave Paul a look into the heavenlies-into His kingdom- and what Paul saw is what caused him to count everything rubbish compared to gaining Christ. God gave Paul the vision that he needed for what He was calling Paul to be and to do. If we have a desire to know God and if we seek in, He will also reveal Himself to us in a way that will enable us to be and to do what He has planned for us. We are not to major on having a “vision,” but are to major on gaining Christ. Gaining Christ is all about Christ being the major desire of our heart-about hearing and obeying what He says to us-about putting on the new self-about we looking more and more like Christ-about realizing that we have been joined to Him for all eternity. Also, gaining Christ enables us, and causes us to be good stewards while here on this earth because the knowledge of God affects how we conduct ourselves in our daily lives. Truth, integrity, diligence, forgiveness, love, faithfulness, kindness, giving, honoring one another, caring, hope, and etc. are a part of the kingdom of God and these qualities are to be demonstrated by the life we live. Paul made it clear that we do not have the ability to make ourselves righteous, but God declares that we are righteous because we are in Christ. Understanding this fact eliminates pride on our part and produces in us a sense of humility and gratefulness, and it causes us to give all honor and glory to God for what He has done, and is doing in us. May the Holy Spirit reveal to each of us the greatness of God and may gaining Christ be our life ambition.  

Ephesians 3:16-19: “that He would grant to you according to His riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Blessings,

Buddy

December 26, 2015                                                 CAN  THESE  BONES  LIVE ?

Ezekiel: 37:3-5,14: “And He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ And I answered, ‘O Lord God, Thou knowest.’ Again He said to me, ‘Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come together.’ And I will put my Spirit within you, and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know I, the Lord, have spoken and done it, declares the Lord.”

Ezekiel 36:25-27: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

 Ezekiel 37 is an account of when God took Ezekiel to a valley of bones for the purpose of showing Ezekiel that God can bring life to what is dead. God caused life to come to the bones, and then Ezekiel saw that the dead bones had become an “exceeding great army”. In Ezekiel 36, God is pointing to a time in when He will cleanse His people and give then new hearts and new spirits. The Old Testament is about types and shadows, where God uses the natural to portray the spiritual; and it served the purpose of showing that man could not keep the laws, or the ways of God in his own strength (1 Corinthians 15:46). In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit did not dwell in God’s people, whereas in the New Testament, the Spirit dwells in the believer. The book of Hebrews goes in great detail pointing out the fact that the New Testament is far superior to the Old Testament and it makes it clear that we are most blessed to be under the New Covenant that was inaugurated when Jesus came and conquered sin and death. The New Testament fulfills all the requirements of the Old Testament. The good news that we can glean from the verses above is that even though we were once dead spiritually, God made us alive spiritually, and not only did He make us alive, He desires to use us in His kingdom-as a “great army.” Under the New Covenant, God has made us clean and He has given us a new heart and a new spirit and now we have the desire and the ability to follow His ways and to please Him in all that we do. The Son has made us free; God has made us new; and the Holy Spirit indwells us to empower and equip us, and to guide us into all truth. All of the promises of God are fulfilled in Jesus. We no longer have to earn His approval or His love as He has adopted us into His family and has made us His own. We now relate to God as our Father and we take our place in His family-fully forgiven and fully equipped for His purposes. Even though we live under the New Covenant that supersedes the Old Covenant where we see God working primarily through the natural, does not mean that God does not work in the natural in the New Covenant. For example, when we are in need of rain, or we need employment, or when we are sick, etc., we can and should pray that God would intervene and meet the needs we face. Under the New Covenant we do not have to live trying to gain our acceptance with God or His approval; we live and move from the position of being joined to Him, having been made new. And, because we have been joined to Him and have been given new hearts, spirits, and minds, we have a desire to please Him and honor Him in all we do. Let us realize, or be reminded, that we live in the presence of God. And yes, He can make the bones live again!

Romans 8:11: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead, will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.”

Blessings,

Buddy

December 23, 2015                                               AS  MANY  AS  RECEIVED  HIM

John 1:1-2, 4-5, 10, 12-13: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor or the will of the flesh, nor or the will of man, but of God.”

Jesus has always been with God; Jesus came from God; and Jesus is God. Before Jesus came to the world, the world was darkness, but because of the love of God, God sent His Son to be the light of the world.  The thought of Jesus leaving His heavenly domain where He enjoyed a perfect fellowship with His Father, and coming to a world of darkness is a truth that is difficult to grasp. The Creator, the God of the universe came to be born in a stable, taking on flesh and blood. Douglas Wilson made the following statement that put into perspective what God did when He came into the world: “God consented to have His diapers changed.” Wow! Can we imagine God humbling Himself as a man in order to redeem us? Even though Jesus came to the world bearing light, the world “did not comprehend it.” We may wonder why anyone in darkness would reject the light; but amazingly, some reject the light by not receiving Jesus. Everything, and all of eternity hinges on one factor: whether one rejects the light, or receives Jesus, the light of the world. There is another astounding truth found in these scriptures; and that is that those who receive Jesus, who believe in His name, were born not by the will of man, but by the will of God! Because we were born by the will of God, we can “comprehend”, or receive the light. For the ones who receive Jesus, their birth was of God. It is clear from this verse and other verses that God is our real Father, no matter who our earthly parents were. When we were lost and could not find our way, our loving Father came to our darkness, bringing light that we might be joined to Him. Even before our physical birth, God knew us, and He loved us; and because of His love, Jesus came to redeem His brothers and sisters-those that belonged to the Father. Jesus said that He and ourselves have the same Father, thus we can live free of fear and worry (John 20:17). In fact, our view of life is drastically changed for the good when we know that God is our Father. So, not only in the Christmas season, but in every season, every day, let us keep on responding to the light of the world and let us be reminded that we are the children of God. Thank you Father for bringing light into our darkness. Now, we are light.

John 8:12: “And therefore Jesus spoke to them saying, ‘I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”

Blessings,

Buddy

December 20, 2015                                          EVERYTHING  GRANTED  TO  US

2 Peter 1:3-4: “seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”

A lifetime is not sufficient time to comprehend the greatness of God. Chris Tomlin wrote the song, “Indescribable”; a song that attempts to describe the greatness of God. In the song we find these words: “indescribable-uncontainable-all powerful-untamable-none can fathom-incomparable-unchangeable-awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim, You are amazing God.” The first word in the verses above is “seeing”; and indeed what a blessing it is to “see” the truth of this scripture and the greatness of God. It is awesome to realize that through His divine power, God “has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.” Whether we believe it or not, or whether we understand it or not; we have everything we need-right now! This truth is counter-culture for us, as we live in a culture that says that we must by the sweat of our brow get whatever it is that we need. Having all we need “for life and godliness” does not mean that we are to be unproductive in life, but instead it means that we can be and do whatever we need to do or be, in order to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord in every respect. The verses go on to say that God has given us “His precious and magnificent promises” and by these promises, we partake of the divine nature! He is an awesome, amazing God-to allow His nature to come to us, to fill us, and make us new. His nature and His presence equips us for anything and everything we will ever face in life; we will never lack what we need! There is no room for us to feel inadequate or incapable, or less than; we are not broken or insufficient. The fact that God has given such promises to us, should motivate us to find what promises are revealed in His word. The promises do us no good if we don’t know what they are, right? The basic and foundational promise or truth that we must build on comes at the point of salvation when we are made new, given a new heart and a new spirit and old things passed away. Even though we are made new, we must choose daily to put off the old self and put on the new self. If God had wanted, He could have made us like robots; but His desire was, and still is, that we “work with Him” and “partner with Him” in our giving expression to the new creations that we are. All of the promises of God and the provision of God have been given to us so that we can live our life in such a way that it is pleasing to Him and honors Him.  Because God has called us and has given us all we need, we have escaped the corruption of the world system-how blessed we are! Note the words in the verse above: “through the true knowledge of Him who called us.” Many have a false or incorrect knowledge of God, and as a result they live their lives missing the blessings that come from a “true knowledge” of God. Contrary to what is often said, it is not up to each individual to interpret scripture as he sees fit. God has given us the written Word, and His word is truth and His word is specific, and His word is complete. (It is true that a particular scripture may have implications for us in a personal way.)  The primary work of the Holy Spirt is to reveal the truth and to give understanding of the word of God. The truth is that we must adjust our thinking and our belief to the truth of what God has said. Because we are to be changed and molded by the word of God, it is necessary, and required that we read, study, and become familiar with the word of God. Let us not forget that God has “called us by His own glory and excellence” and that He has given us all we need “pertaining to life and godliness.”

 Colossians 2:10: “and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.”

2 Corinthians 1:20: “For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes; wherefore also by Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.”

Blessings,

Buddy

December 17, 2015                                                          INEXPRESSIBLE  WORDS

2 Corinthians 12:2-4,7: “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago-whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows-such a man was caught up to the third heaven. And I know how such a man-whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows-was caught up into Paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which man is not permitted to speak. And because of the passing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me-to keep me from exalting myself.”

Whatever God allowed Paul to see or experience in this heavenly vision was a life-changer to say the least. We may have difficulty understanding the source of the passion that we see in the life of Paul until we read the verses above. Whatever Paul saw or experienced, brought about a change at the core of his being, and we see in his writings the passion that this vision produced in his life. As the verses point out, the vision was so great that Paul was given a “thorn in the flesh” that would prevent him from boasting about the vision he had seen. Certainly not every believer will have such an experience as did Paul. The main point for today is to help us understand the source of passion, or the lack of, in our own lives. There are two platforms from which we as believers live our lives, or from which we derive our motivation. One platform, or mindset, is that we are committed to doing our best, trying with our best effort to live the Christian life. With this mindset, we have successes and we have failures; but the failures cause us to try again with more zeal. This cycle may go on for years, but in time we get tired of trying and we quietly give up and resign ourselves to a life of mediocracy. The other platform, or mindset, is that we do the things we do as a result of what we have encountered in our spirit. With a passion in our spirit, we don’t “try”, we just “do”.  Passion is not dependent on circumstances as is self- effort.  I say all of that to say that even though we may not have a heavenly vision like Paul had, we do need vision if we are to have a passion that directs our life no matter the circumstances. There are no “three easy steps to having a vision”; but we can have a vision. Going back to the point above, what we see in the spiritual realm-in the heavenlies-serves as our motivation for the things we do here. Once we encounter, or once we “see” into the heavenlies, or we “see” into the kingdom of God in our spirit, what we see becomes the basic motivation of our life. I say again, we may not, and likely will not have the same vision Paul had, but that does not mean we will not or cannot have vision; and in fact, Proverbs 29:18 says that “where there is no vision, the people perish.” I think we can all agree that vision is essential if we are to live the Christian life as God designed, but at the same time we may be asking how we acquire vision. I don’t think there are any profound answers for this question. The vision we are talking about comes from God, not from our own doing.  Even though vision comes from God, we can put ourselves in a place where we are good candidates for receiving a vision that God produces in us. As usual, it starts with our heart-is must be a priority of our heart to know God and to seek Him. Seeking to know the Lord includes reading and meditating on the written word of God, and then obeying the word of God, and worshiping Him. Praying, or conversation with God is also essential if we are to have vision. Seeking the Lord also means that we make choices daily that are pleasing to Him. The good news is that all of these activities are not burdensome, but are in fact activities that are the very source of life. Another helpful activity is to have meaningful conversations about the things of God with others who also have a heart for God. A great vision to start with is getting a vision as to who God says we are-what it means to be in Christ-a vision that the Holy Spirit is anxious to give. We don’t have to strive at getting vision; our part is to turn our hearts to the Father, to develop a heart for God; and by so doing, God will supply vision. The vision that God gives calls us to a higher plane of living; it brings life, gives hope, and fulfills and satisfies us as nothing else can. No matter your background, your present circumstances, or your age, God has a vision for you-so be about discovering that vision.

Ephesians 1:18-19b: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

Blessings,

Buddy

December 14, 2015                                  AN  ANCHOR  FOR  THE  SOUL

Hebrews 6:18b-20: “we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

It seems that in the culture of the day, there is nothing that is sure; and the idea of having absolutes is something of the past. We do live in a time when the prevailing thought and belief is that each individual should do whatever seems good or right in his own eyes; or as they say: “If it feels good, do it.” At the heart of Humanism is the belief that man is supreme and that man can and should do whatever makes him “happy.” However, when we observe what is taking place in our culture, we quickly discover that when a culture rejects the truth of the scriptures, the culture-and the people in it- suffer and the culture goes into a tail spin. (Just one example: the scriptures point out the dangers of indebtedness; yet our nation is in debt to the 20 TRILLION dollar range, and any economist knows that we have a huge “day of reckoning” coming-the consequences of the debt will have tremendous consequences for every citizen. Had we, and our government, adhered to the absolute of not spending more than it takes in, our nation would by far be the richest, most influential nation the world has ever known.) While we as believers live in in this culture carrying out our responsibilities, we are a part of another culture; a culture where God is ruling and where there are absolutes and a sure foundation! If we are looking for security, or if our hope is in this culture, we will surely be disappointed and we will suffer loss. In the verse above we find the phrase: “who have fled for refuge”; for us this means that if we are to find hope and “strong encouragement”, we also must “flee” the lies of the culture. In the verse above, we also have the phrase: “laying hold of the hope set before us.” “Laying hold of” implies that finding hope and strong encouragement does not happen automatically, but that there is something for us to do; something that requires determination on our part. As believers, our part is to first realize that the culture of this world does not give us hope and strong encouragement. Recognizing the lie is a start, but we then must pursue the truth that is found only in the scriptures; and to understand the scriptures, we need the Holy Spirit to give us revelation concerning the scriptures. I Corinthians 2:10: “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.” To pursue something requires energy on our part. I think that most would agree that for many, the energy for pursuing God has waned. The believer must overcome being comfortable or satisfied with his or her present knowledge and understanding of the scripture and of God. There is no place of plateauing when it comes to our pursuit of knowing our great and powerful God. If we think that we have come to a place where we think that we have no real need for spiritual growth or a greater understanding of God, then we are most deceived. If we are to have “strong encouragement” and a hope that is not based on the uncertainty of our culture, then we must “lay hold” of all that Jesus accomplished on our behalf when He gave His life for us and was then raised from the dead. The death of Christ and His resurrection opened the door for us to be forgiven, to be born again, to be made new, to be made the heirs of salvation, to become sons and daughters of God, and to have a sure hope. So let us not live on a spiritual plateau, but let us be diligent in “laying hold” of all that Jesus, our high priest, has as accomplished for us, and let us spend the rest of our days in pursuit of Him.

Ephesians 1:18-19b: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

Blessings,

Buddy

December 10, 2015                                               THEREFORE  I  WILL  GIVE  THANKS

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge”   “And my cry for help came into His ears”         “the Lord illumines my darkness”         “He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him”       “He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me on high places”     “He trains my hands for battle, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze”    “Thou has also given me the shield of Thy salvation, and Thy help makes me great”    “For Thou hast girded me with strength for battle”   “Therefore I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord, among the nations, and In will sing praises to Thy name”         From 2 Samuel 22

• David, the one who uttered these words, and ourselves, have something in common; and that is that the God who was at work in David’s life is the same God that is work in our lives. The relationship that David had with God was not just in theory or a relationship reserved for the Sabbath, but was a relationship whereby David firsthand experienced the greatness of God in tangible, demonstrable, real-life ways. We may think that David was a “special case”, and we may even find ourselves envious of the relationship that David had with God. In Acts 13:22 we find a clue that sheds light on why God used David the way He did: “..He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’”  It is interesting to see that even while David was a lad tending sheep, God knew his heart. The two things to note about David is that his heart was after, or like, God’s heart, and David would do all of God’s will. These two attributes of David is what made the difference. If you know the history of David, you know that there were some dark days in His life as a result of the sins He committed against the Lord, but David did come to a point where he confessed his sin and he received forgiveness. Part of having a heart for God is being willing to confess our sin when we are convicted of our sin. The point for us is that no matter what our position in life might be, to have a heart “after God” and the desire and commitment to do all of God’s will, is what God desires. Unlike David, and the people of God in the Old Testament, under the New Testament, we have the Holy Spirit living in us, and by and through His power we are changed. The Holy Spirit makes us new; giving us a new heart, a new mind, a new spirit, and the power to do all of His will. The New Covenant under which we live is far superior to the Old Covenant as we see in the book of Hebrews. The challenge for believers today is to realize, to understand, and to know the full implications of living under the New Covenant-to know our true identity as the people of God. There are many believers today that have for a long time been exposed to teachings and sermons that have a mixture of both the Old and New Covenant, and as a result they do not know their true identity. When we do not know in our spirit, mind, and heart, our true identity, we will live far short of all that God has for us. Even though David had a limitation that we do not have-he did not have the Holy Spirit living in him-he knew the greatness of God and he had a heart for God and he did God’s will. Having a view of God that is according to scripture and knowing who we are in Christ causes us to make the same proclamations that David made in 2 Samuel 22. The greatness of our God exceeds our imagination and what He desires to do in the lives of believers may also exceed our imagination. Whatever we must do, let us wake up to the fact that our God is all powerful, is soverign, is loving, is fulfilling His purposes, is all knowing, is full of compassion and kindness, and He lives in us and He is in the process of transforming us to His image. In Philippians 2:13 we read: “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” There is really no excuse for us to live defeated, hum-drum, roller-coaster or uninspired lives not enjoying God nor seeing the victories that come from Him. Every day may not be a mountain-top experience for us, but every day God is faithful, God is at work, and God is desiring to “show Himself strong for those whose hearts are completely His.” 2 Chronicles 16:9. We know and serve a great and powerful God, a God who is ruling and reigning, so may we live our lives with a heart that is like His and a commitment to do all of His will.
  
  

Psalms 147:5-6,10-11: “Great is our Lord, and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite. The Lord supports the afflicted; He brings down the wicked to the ground. He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord favors those who fear Him, those who wait for His lovingkindness.”

Blessings,

Buddy

December 6, 2015                                                        SEEING  THE  UNSEEN

2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day to day.  For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory for beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the thigs which are not seen are eternal.”

It does not take a scholar to rightly conclude that many in the western cultures place a high value on how things look. Let me clarify at the start, that the desire to have things “looking good” in and of itself is not wrong. In fact, to have things in order and having things appear pleasant can be an expression of the nature of God. The problem is when our identity and our view of life is based on what we see with physical eyes. The verses above present two truths that cannot be denied, nor can anyone escape the reality of these truths. First, the fact is that in spite of our best efforts, our physical bodies are decaying-what a sobering reality! I don’t suppose there has been any time in history where there has been such an emphasis on our physical appearance as there is now. The second unalterable truth is that the things we don’t see with our eyes are more real than the things we do see with our eyes. I must admit that this may be a difficult truth to grasp as we are so accustomed to dealing with what is visible. Everything we can see is temporal and is passing away. Is there indeed a world out there that we cannot see? A world that is eternal?  Even while we live in this temporal world, is there a sphere that we can “plug” into-that we can be blessed by? Is there a higher plane in which we can live, or, are we limited to this physical, temporal world? These are questions we need to ask; questions with monumental consequences. If we believe that there is more to life than what we see with our eyes, then surely we have a hope that is not of this world. This brings me to the point that there is a third truth presented in these verses that apply only to certain individuals. Even though our physical bodies are decaying, the one that knows God can experience a daily renewal of the “inner man”, a renewal based on the eternal, not on the temporal. As believers, we have the blessed opportunity to live life on this earth not limited to the temporal, but to live as eternal beings. Because we are eternal beings who have been joined to God, we have, or at least should have, a total different view of life than does the one who does not know God. Living a life that is limited to the temporal is a life that pales in comparison to living as eternal beings who will spend eternity with God. We do have trials and difficulties in this temporal world, but as we focus on the fact that the eternal is far more important and more real than the temporal, the trials and difficulties that we do face are seen in their proper perspective-temporary. We can experience renewal in our inner man in the midst of difficulties when we understand that the affliction is “producing for us an eternal weight of glory for beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things that are not seen, but at the things that are unseen.” God has much in store for those who love Him-so much that we can’t even comprehend it as we see in 1 Corinthians 2:9: “but just as it is written, ‘Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which has not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.’” If we are not to be discouraged, if we are not to be defeated, and if we are to have a steadfast hope in the midst of trials, then we must realize that our bodies, and all that we see is temporal and temporary, and we must focus on the fact that we are eternal beings who have a destiny with God. It is a fitting and good analogy: just as the butterfly in the cocoon is transformed into a beautiful butterfly, so are we being transformed into the image of God, as seen in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Our focus is to be on the eternal life we have with God, but we also must know that we are to conduct our lives here on earth in such a way that is pleasing to the Lord. As one preacher said to me many years ago: “We are not to be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.” Let us live our lives knowing that all we see, including our bodies, and all of the trials and afflictions we face are temporary, and let our focus be on all that God has in store for those who love Him. Should we live to be 103 years old as my own mother did, that is not even a “drop in the bucket” compared to the eternal life we have with our Father. We are in the cocoon right now-being transformed into His image.

1 John 3:2: “Beloved, now we are the children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.”

1 Corinthians 15: 52-53,58: “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable most put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put immortality. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

Blessings,

Buddy