IF ONLY

7 17 2012 

Don’t forget to pray. Ask God for insight and an understanding of his Word. This insight or enlightenment is a work of grace and a ministry of the Holy Spirit. Pray you will have eyes to see and ears to hear the marvelous ways that God is showing his love to all his creation but especially to his family of believers.

Scripture: Philippians 1:6 (NIV) “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” 

Note: Adam and Eve awoke to an absolutely beautiful day. But why shouldn’t it be, they lived in Paradise. Everything was perfect around them; perfect weather, perfect temperature, perfect sunlight, perfect availability of food, everything was absolutely perfect. They had it all but they were not satisfied. How could this be? They had available to them everything they needed in order to live the abundant life. They had a right relationship with God. Often they walked with him in the cool of the garden at the end of the day. Their every need had been met. They were to take care of the garden and all the animals; an idyllic setting. How could anyone want more? Human nature from the very beginning of time has always wanted more. Dissatisfaction will always set the stage for sin. In this case Adam and Eve’s eventual fall from grace. Even though they had been given everything, everything they needed, including a rich and intimate relationship with God, they felt as though they had been shortchanged. 

It’s during times like this Satan comes into a person’s life and uses their complaints to make them feel they have been cheated. I have a feeling that many of you, me included, have felt this way in your lifetime. Things are not going as they should. If only things were different; if only God had allowed me to do this or that;  if only I had that job; if only I had that degree; if only I had married that person; if only I had received a large inheritance; if only, if only…things would be different. If only, if only…if only! The mantra of the dissatisfied person!

The children of Israel had been led out of captivity. They had spent 430 years in a land that was not their own. At first it had gone well, and then the political winds changed and life was hard. They cried out to God, God delivered them and promised to take them to a land flowing with milk and honey. God miraculously brought them forth out of Egypt in answer to their prayers. His actions resulted in their being fully free. They were no longer in bondage to Egypt but then discovered a new type of bondage, the bondage of dissatisfaction. In fact they became so dissatisfied they were willing to trade their freedom for onions. Can you imagine that? I can’t! Their dissatisfaction kept them from experiencing God’s best. Are we guilty of doing the same thing?  Are we willing to trade God’s best for us for something of no lasting value? Their desire to please the flesh rather than God was costly. It is for us too. 

Their dissatisfaction and ours proves and old adage to be true: If you look hard enough and long enough, you’ll find something to complain about! Paradise, the Garden of Eden lost its appeal to Adam and Eve. Has heaven lost its appeal to you? Are the difficulties you’re going through clouding your heavenly vision, causing you to doubt God’s saving and keeping power? Beloved, go to the Word of God, the living Word of God. Go to Jesus and be refreshed. Let him lift you up and carry you if need be. He will lead you safely through, not as a victim, but as a victorious child of God. Are you confident that God who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus? You can be by changing your focus. Look around you and see the hand of God at work in the blessings that are yours. The special gift of his presence, friends, family, freedom, forgiveness, salvation, and the Word of God are yours in Christ. The blessing of prayer and the leading of the Holy Spirit, His abiding presence, your eternal home, are all just a few of the countless blessings God has given to you. 

One of the most tragic events during the Reagan Presidency was the Sunday morning terrorist bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, in which hundreds of Americans were killed or wounded as they slept.  

A few days after the tragedy, I recall coming across an extraordinary story. Marine Corps Commandant Paul X Kelly, visited some of the wounded survivors then in a Frankfurt, Germany, hospital. Among them was Corporal Jeffrey Lee Nashton, severely wounded in the incident. Nashton had so many tubes running in and out of his body that a witness said he looked more like a machine than a man; yet he survived.

As Kelly neared him, Nashton, struggling to move and racked with pain, motioned for a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote a brief note and passed it back to the Commandant. On the slip of paper were but two words -- "Semper Fi" the Latin motto of the Marines meaning "forever faithful." With those two simple words Nashton spoke for the millions of Americans who have sacrificed body and limb and their lives for their country -- those who have remained faithful. [J. Dobson & Gary Bauer, Children at Risk, Word, 1990, pp. 187-188.]

One day we will be lying on our beds in the process of dying. If you were unable to speak but could write what would be your final two words, your final witness to God’s grace? I sat this morning and thought of that question. What would I write? It came to me in an instant, a work of the Holy Spirit, and I share it with you today. CHRIST ALONE! I am unapologetic, I love Jesus and I love to sing the love songs written about him. The following is one of my favorites.

IN CHRIST ALONE

In Christ alone my hope is found

He is my light, my strength, my song

This Cornerstone, this solid ground

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease 

My Comforter, my All in All

Here in the love of Christ I stand

 

In Christ alone, who took on flesh

Fullness of God in helpless babe

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones He came to save

'Till on that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied 

For every sin on Him was laid

Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain 

Then bursting forth in glorious Day

Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death

This is the power of Christ in me

From life's first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man

Can ever pluck me from His hand

'Till He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

[Songwriters: Stuart Townend, Keith Getty]

Did the Lord speak to you today?  Why not write it down and claim it for His Glory. 

Prayer:  What do you need to pray to the Lord today? Listen to your heart. He loves you!