Meditation

Once again I sit at my desk in the early hours of the morning traveling my thoughts under the direction of others who has gone before me. Spurgeon a man amazing gifted by God with so much God given understanding it would be rather imprudent not to pay special attention to his writings. However, it can never only be about the view of others, ultimately it has to be about our journeys and how we are hopefully progressing and not regressing…

Do our lives depict “Jesus in my place” as our centrepiece? Is the Christian continuously looking to weed out the sin that so easily besets? What is your thorn in the flesh? I most certainly know mine and I continually look to Jesus to find victory in these area of my life. It is a very painful process and I pray continuously to have it removed so that I may be freed up from any guilt to honour my heavenly Father.

 It is an incessant struggle with such a long way to go when I bask in my Saviours glorious example; “not my will but thine be done”. I seem to always be beating the same tune, “let this cup pass from me” and when it doesn’t I succumb to the temptation. It is tiring facing certain ongoing trials but I am convinced it is what is needed for me or anyone else who can relate to the voice of God in the lives. I must learn to work out the will of God for my life. In fact there is nothing we face as Christians that isn’t tailor-made for our benefit. And yes, even the loss of a child or a terminal disease must eventually draw us closer to our Heavenly Father. There is nothing too steep for the Christian to climb, so long as our eyes remain fixed upon the finished work of Calvary. Our passage must encapsulate faith in God as the pivot to our lives, if not, life will become unbearable; did you know? “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

It’s only when we lose focus, when our hope fades, once again willing us to walk in unbelief that life becomes unbearable, with sin once again dominating most of our decisions; but thankfully when we are brought back to our senses and God has mercy on us as His Spirit wills us to seek out His forgiveness. These are the moment of “putting on the mind of Christ” and the only way we will find true repentance is to own our actions and then to repent. It not as if we now need to execute the ritual of sacrifice. Our great Saviour has paid that price; "he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption." (Hebrews 9:12)

As a child I remember playing on the merry-go-round, a wheel that spun on its own axis. Always trying my best to get it to spin faster, stay on it long enough and you were bound to feel rather dizzy and nauseous. Nevertheless as a child it was part of the experience but there must come a time in our lives when we learn to put off childish things; “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.” (1Corinthians 13:11) 

Sin seems pleasant at first but too much of the same thing becomes insipid. The sooner we learn to put on the mind of Christ and sincerely cry out “not my will be done but thine be done” the quicker we will complete our journey and have our reunion with our God and Saviour in heaven and see them in all their glory, wow! What a day that will be.  

To work out Gods will, to truly understand what is require from us as individuals and then as a family of gathering saints to live for each other, is high on the agenda for the first leg of our journey. My prayer this morning is “restoration”, whatever that entails for us on an individual level we must forgive others regardless of the imminent and ongoing hurt, we pray, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others”, has the penny dropped or do we believe that Christianity should be a one-sided affair? It’s all about what we can get from God, but very seldom about what we can do for Him. Forgiving those who have offended us is in the circle of God’s will for our lives. We must be captivated by the fact that our journey on earth will eventually end and then the door to eternity will become as apparent as the rising of the sun. Our souls will reap the rewards of our obedience to God’s call upon our lives, nothing will or could ever be more important. God give eyes to see, praise His glorious name now and forever more, Amen and Amen!

Signing off

Tyrone