Friday, June 26, 2015

Feel Free

Feel Free                                                  06-26-15


Acts 4:12 (ESV) 12  And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”


Just a few thoughts and observations from my heart today. Feel free to agree. Feel free to disagree.You are free to do either or both.

How do I feel today? Well, except for dealing with a summer cold, and pondering the "decision" that came down, about the same way I feel every day. It's not so much a feeling of surprise. I have none at present. The Court's decision only ratifies the trend this nation has taken for the past many years. No, I am not surprised in the least.

A sense of fear? No. Apprehension? No. Holy Righteousness? Not at all. That oftentimes evolves into self righteousness does it not? No...what I really feel in my heart is resignation. Let me be quick to add this. Not a resignation that translates into despair or frustration, not in the least. It's a  sense of resignation knowing that the die has finally been cast; and, we the people of these United States, have now directly placed our future as a nation into the Hand of God. We have, with  a sense of finality and rebellion aforethought, wagged a feeble finger in the face of the God of ALL creation.  My heart and soul echoes this verse:

Psalm 57:1 (ESV) 1
 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.

Here in a nutshell is my take.

 

If God chooses to stay His hand of Judgment, then I will praise and thank Him for His mercy and grace upon this once great nation. On the other hand,if the cup of our iniquity has reached the tipping point, and He chooses to judge this nation, then I will take refuge in His shadow,"...till the storms of destruction  pass by." A second sentiment. Look at this.


 
Proverbs 24:10-12 (ESV) 10  If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.
11  Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
12  If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?



I had always read these verses separately. Actually ,these three verses are one continuous thought. This is very relevant for us today. It speaks to indifference. This decision  today is just the most recent of a long line of decisions where a vocal, committed, and, militant minority has persevered and eventually forced their view on a distracted and largely indifferent majority. This scenario has played and replayed itself repeatedly in this country over the last 50 years or so.Probably longer.

So, feel free. What are you saying Ronnie? Just this. We, this author included, have felt free to seek contentment and happiness in many ways in years past. We have, this author included, felt free to search for peace, happiness, contentment in the many diversions and perversions that this world has to offer. Or maybe it is just me.

Wealth, power, sex, fame, just to name a few are all within our grasp if we pursue them diligently enough. And, if you are like me, you have flirted with one or more in years past.

BUT.

BUT!!

There's always the but isn't there? They(the diversions, sins) are all fleeting. They are, as the Bible says "for a season." Oh yeah it's fun, BUT, as we have all experienced, there is a price to pay. Listen, I speak from the perspective of a "sixties something" man. The allure of the world has a much different view to "twenty and thirty somethings." I understand that completely. All I am saying is this. You and I, no matter where we are on life's path,will be FAR ahead of the game if we realize this one truth.

There is NO salvation, NO happiness, NO peace, NO contentment, NO THING  outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the great bumper sticker states

No Jesus, No Peace. Know Jesus, Know Peace.

That about covers it.   

Psalm 58:1-2 (ESV) 1
 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods? Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
2  No, in your hearts you devise wrongs; your hands deal out violence on earth.


God Bless



 


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