Ancient Words For Today - 43
The tide ebbs and flows according to precise timetables, yet no man has set nor can change them! The seasons change from one to another but no one can alter the cycles. The moments and days of our lives pass by like sand through an hourglass, but no one can add to or subtract one grain of sand from the number. We each have an appointed time to pass from this life to the next, a time we cannot alter - it is set by our maker.
However, God has provided us with the opportunity, power and authority to make a choice that can forever change the course of our life. We can, by responding to God's plan of salvation through Christ, change the place where we will spend eternity. We can choose to do nothing, ignoring or rejecting God's grace, and spend eternity separated from God's presence. Or, we can choose to believe God, receive God's gift of salvation and forgiveness of our sins, and spend eternity in God's very presence. That choice is ours alone to make. Jesus told it like this:
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 14-18
I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? John 11:25-26
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Rev 3:20
When we place our trust in Jesus, He will receive us and will never leave us or forsake us. He will be with us through good times as well as during times of adversity. When we are persecuted for our belief in Jesus, remember what Jesus said to his followers:
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Matthew 5:10-12
Remember that God is with us always and that all the times of our life are in His hands; all things concerning us are known by Him, even before they come to pass. We can take great comfort knowing that God is on the throne, is in full control, and that He loves us, has a good plan for our lives and will protect us:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jer 29:11
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one John 10:27-30
As believers in Christ, we are secure in the loving hands of Jesus and our Heavenly Father - and no one is able to separate us from their love. AMEN!