Monday, March 31, 2008
You Must Be Born Again
A cool thing happened to me the other night; I was reminded once again of how dependent I am upon the Spirit to know and understand God. Again, this happened while I was delivering Chinese food. I had a break and was reading John 3 where Jesus tells Nicodemus, "unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God". Jesus reiterates this a couple of verses later saying, "You must be born again". Then Jesus goes on to speak of the Spirit's sovereignty in regeneration. As I was reading this, the song from the Valley of Vision CD was playing, "Who Made Me to Know You". What a cool moment it was for me, as I am reading those amazing words that I must be born again, this song is proclaiming, "Who made me to know you but you... Thank you, Father, for the Spirit's work in me, for opening my eyes to the Christ of Calvary"... What a good place we are in, fellow believers, for the Spirit has chosen to act upon us, regenerate us, and cause us to see Christ! Without the Spirit's enlightenment, all of this would be folly to us (1 Cor. 2:14).
Friday, March 7, 2008
A Mere Breath
Bentley, the son of my friends Danny and Nikki, was able to come home Wednesday from the hospital, the place where he spent the first month of his life. Bentley had some tears in his lungs which caused him to not be able to breathe on his own. We are so thankful that God healed him and sustained his little body through so much trauma.
As I was reading in the Psalms a couple of weeks ago, I came across this verse in chapter 39 verse 5... "Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!" This got me to thinking about how fragile life is, how we are truly just one breathe away from being ushered into eternity. Do I live life in light of this reality? Do I feel my complete dependence upon God for even my next breath? Do I evangelise with the mindset that all unbelievers are one breath away from eternal torment in hell? Am I living with a thankfulness and humility that I cannot keep myself alive, much less do a spiritual work in my heart that saves and sustains me? (which God has so graciously done!) All to often I do not. We are just as dependent on God for our next breath as Bentley was, and is! May we, along with Moses (who saw a lot of death in the wilderness as CJ Mahaney points out) pray, "teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom" (Ps 90:12). We are, after all, "a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes" (James 4:14).
As I was reading in the Psalms a couple of weeks ago, I came across this verse in chapter 39 verse 5... "Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!" This got me to thinking about how fragile life is, how we are truly just one breathe away from being ushered into eternity. Do I live life in light of this reality? Do I feel my complete dependence upon God for even my next breath? Do I evangelise with the mindset that all unbelievers are one breath away from eternal torment in hell? Am I living with a thankfulness and humility that I cannot keep myself alive, much less do a spiritual work in my heart that saves and sustains me? (which God has so graciously done!) All to often I do not. We are just as dependent on God for our next breath as Bentley was, and is! May we, along with Moses (who saw a lot of death in the wilderness as CJ Mahaney points out) pray, "teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom" (Ps 90:12). We are, after all, "a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes" (James 4:14).
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