You Are Right With God

You are right with God. This is the teaching of the Bible. The Christian life is not about a set of restrictions, or, a laundry list of things to do to make you right with God. Being right with God is something he has already done. You are too late. And even if you were on time, you couldn’t right yourself with God. You are right with God, by him and his work.

Why then, being right with God, are you not experiencing pure blessedness, happiness and joy, only. And why are you not maybe floating on a cloud, strumming a harp, or riding a unicorn through the meadows of heaven? It is because God has a much greater purpose for you.

The world is not right with God. It is passing away, dissolving, and right now; right now is the opportunity, now is the time, for others to be made right with God. Faith is the means by which you have been made right with God because it takes hold of his words. Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God. (See Romans 10:17). The end of the world will come when the gospel is preached in all the world. (See Matthew 24:14). Then there will be perfection.

So it is time to be like the Moon, and shine, shine the gospel in the dark night. The Sun scorches and beats down, dries up and even enkindles a barren, dry land. The Moon shines just enoug to keep some from tripping, to let the world that the Sun is still there, and coming soon. The Moon is like the people of God who talk about him. The Sun is like God who is an all-consuming fire.

You know it’s true, you know that there were times when God could not be approached directly and he did not approach directly. God used to walk in the Garden of Eden but later on he spoke through the prophets. He told Abraham not to look on him directly but look upon his hinder part. The Ark of the Covenant was not to be touched but carried by staves. God is holy, burning up sin, burning up everything.

And so he draws people to himself slowly, with guidance, in faith. Faith sees what the eyes can not look upon. Faith observes the loving God that the heart disdains and has no room for. Faith trusts the message of Christ crucified despite the hurtful, hateful hands which lifted him up.

What is there then to do while waiting for his coming? Keep your lamps burning, bright enough to give light to others. Get the light from God, hearing his word, and letting it reflect from you, saying his word. Be like the Moon that is lit by the Sun. Receive the light and give the light you have received. The Moon is not part of this world but shines upon it. Be like the Moon. You are right with God. Let others be right with God.

The Reason Is Jesus

The daily struggle and aggravation you feel and you are constantly faced with has meaning and great purpose. When all other comforts fail and you are beaten down to nearly nothing, God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. Consider for a moment that point at which they took down the body of Jesus from the cross. They took down his lifeless body, they prepared him for burial, they placed him in a tomb, and the covering of the tomb was placed. What could God have possibly been teaching at that point when he had taught so many things during the Sermon on the Mount. Was he teaching now?

God’s strength is made perfect in weakness.

There is no greater weakness than lifelessness: the stillness, the cold grave, the silence.

But it was the time for him who had taught to take up life again. As the apostle Peter would explain in the book of Acts, it was not possible for death to have held Jesus. The grave ate something on which it choked. The grave ate him who was the Resurrection and the Life.

God’s strength is made perfect in weakness in this way: when everything else that should have worked, that men thought could have worked, God, and the simple things that he has promised, not only came through, but pulverized their way through. The simple teaching that Jesus would be betrayed, and killed at the hands of men, and would rise from the dead came through.

Though you do not perceive with your eye the confident teaching Jesus taught you have been made to realized that this man never said anything incorrect. He did live, he was tortured, he did die and he did rise again. His strength was made perfect in weakness. His mercy was made complete by his death.

It was in that death that the just judgments of God that would have befell you were paid for in full. The punishment was given and the guilty was spared forever. When you were without any power to save yourself in the smallest way, God gave you his power in full. And though you continue in great weakness and imperfection, you do so because of the strength of God.

God has weak vessels carry his Holy Spirit. You, and your brethren in Jesus Christ, are the temple of the Holy Spirit. You carry God through this world that were it not for him working through means, he would but consume the world. God is an all consuming fire. Even Abraham did not see God but saw the hinder part of God, such is God’s purity and sanctity. But God uses his purity and sanctity for the purpose of mercy and makes perfect his strength despite our weakness.

You are a vessel of God and your words about him are precious because they are not found elsewhere. They are carried by you. And as God carries you and you speak that which you know from God to others you are strengthening not just this world but this universe. The creation groans to be delivered and your presence in the here and now makes the difference that God wants to be made. God strength is made perfect in weakness.

Why are you here? Why are you challenged? Why does it seem that little goes right and so much seems to be going wrong? God is merciful and wills all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. God approaches the world in seemingly weak ways in order to shed his great strength upon the weak. The reason is Jesus. All things were made through him and for him and his kingdom is growing, and you are one of his many instruments for his work. It is his work, not yours. The reason is Jesus.