Bank fraud....

Yesterday I got a call from my bank's fraud prevention department trying to verify some odd charges on my account; someone, somewhere, sometime yesterday, charged 1,930.00 dollars in three different transactions.  One of the charges was made at a website called Mrwatch.com, they got a watch for 530.00; it must be a nice watch.  The other two charges were for 900.00and for 500.00 at some cancer organization.

According to the people at the call center, the charges appear to be on hold, as every other transaction is when you buy something on line, but they said the charges might go through anyway.  They made me go to the bank today and fill some paperwork stating that I didn't authorize the use of my check card; they cancelled my card and gave me a new one; but they might take up to ten days to reverse the charges if they go through.

My rent is due on the first; which is automatically deducted from my checking account, so if this does not get fixed on time, my account will be overdrawn and I will have to pay the fee, which is 27 dollars.

Fortunately (fortune has nothing to do with this), the money I have is not really mine; in fact nothing I appear to possess is really my possession; everything I have belongs to God.  That is what I have been thinking since I got the call yesterday; I have nothing, I'm not even my own, literally; I belong to the One who bought me with His own blood.

Just yesterday, before this happened, I was thinking about the same thing; I have nothing, and what I have is not really mine.

I was reading Romans yesterday morning, and chapter five starts like this: Rom. 5:1-6 Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access to this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience , and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Then this morning I read this: Rom 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.......v. 9 but you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.....v. 16  The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.....v 17 and if children, then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.....v. 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.

After putting those sections of scripture together everything else fell into the background; all things, all events, time, space; all became irrelevant.  I have nothing but I have all things; and all things are working together for my good; chapter 8 is really a mind blower for me, I delight thinking about it, it brings me joy; you know that joy that so elusively escapes us sometimes?  That kind of joy.

Regardless of what kind of pain I might be in, or what lack of money, or what kind of worries I might have, and what kind of whatever; I have that joy and peace that surpasses all understanding, even if it only lasts for a few minutes, it is there and I feel it, and I have it, and it is real, and it is mine because God gave it to me; His joy is that I rejoice in Him, and He causes me to rejoice in Him, and He crowns His own gifts in me, and He gets all the glory.  It is a beautiful thing.

Are you tired of the grind?  You have worries about your future?  Do you struggle with being faithless?  Moneyless?  Do you think you have to perform for God so you will feel accepted?  Are you walking, or crawling, in condemnation because you keep on doing that thing?  Do you feel defeated?  Does everything look vain to you?  I do, all of the above is true of me at one point or another; but the truth, the very truthful truth of my Christian life is that I am in Christ, and I am accepted in the beloved.

Every time something happens that makes me feel like that, it is by God's grace that I remember who I am in Christ; I remember that nothing can separate me from His love, that I am more than a conqueror through Him that loved me and gave Himself for me; that all things are working together for my good, that this is the victory that overcomes the world, even my faith, which is a gift from God; that He is able to make me stand, and keep me from stumbling, and to present me faultless before Him with exceeding joy; and that He will finish what He started until that day.

Any other way of thinking about life's happenings, contingencies and second causes is like bank fraud; it steals my joy and puts me in the red.  My trust deposit in Christ is guaranteed to never fail me; it really puts my feet on an immovable solid rock; God's zeal for His own glory is the unseen foundation of my seemingly frail life, and He will never leave me, nor forsake me.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

Saved...

This is the Orion nebula photographed through the 2.2 meter ESO telescope in La Silla, Chile. The earth's atmosphere is so clear down there that it is possible to get this kind of image without going to space.

According to the ESO, this is a star forming region; new stars are being formed there all the time. The creation wheels were set in motion by the Word of God; Jesus; and they continue to spin to this day; I think it is amazing that I can see this kind of thing; don't you?  Click on the picture to expand it.

A telescope makes very large and huge things that look very small look more like they really are, a microscope makes very small and tiny things look bigger than they really are; and my eyes look at things and distort their scale; it is all related to the laws of relativity, I guess.

The bible is very much like a telescope to me, it makes a very big God look more like He really is; creation is like that too, I think, but I have to be really alive to perceive what lies behind it; and only God can give me that kind of life.

Paul talks about something similar to what I'm thinking in my mind, 1Cor. 1:18 'the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God'. 

You can look at the night sky and be in awe of who God is, and see that the heavens proclaim His glory, or you can just see a bunch of tiny dots of light twinkling in the dark; you can look at a humming bird suspended in mid air and be filled with wonder, or you can only see a small bird flying and count it as a normal thing.  It all depends what kind of perspective you have of all things around you.  But in the case of the gospel, it will be foolishness to you if you are one of those who are perishing, and if it is not foolishness to you, and it really sounds like reality, then it is the power of God at work in you, saving you.

No one can understand the gospel and see the truth it reveals unless God does something first; the message of the cross must, of necessity, be a foolish message to the natural man, so much so that Paul says that it pleased God to save us through the folly of the message; Paul says later on in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 that the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (foolishness) to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 

He basically says the same thing in Romans 8:5-8 For those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  For to set the mind on the things of the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the things of the Spirit is life and peace.  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot; those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

That is what is meant by the term "total depravity" or total inability; man in his natural state is completely opposed to God and everything related to Him; even his best actions, what the world perceives as 'noble', are tainted with sin and depravity; the bible is clear about that, Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leave; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

The picture looks bleak for the natural man, doesn't it?  We need God to intervene and do something; we need God to save us from our own sins.  We know it, our conscience screams it at night before we go to bed "you deserve to die".  There is no one good, no, not even one.

The question naturally arises in my mind, we need to be saved by God, but saved from what?  From a lonely life?  From low self esteem?  From bad relationships?  From bad finances?  Lack of money?  From our very selves?  From our deceitful heart?  Not at all.  There is only one thing, and one thing only, that we need saving from: the wrath of God.

I was watching a you tube video about Ducati motorcycles today, and you know how it is in you tube, there is a comments section below the video where, if allowed, everyone can post a comment to the video in question; I usually don't read the comments when I watch videos on you tube, but this time I scrolled down and I read something like this: "You are so stupid and idiotic with your god beliefs; you need to grow up, we are in the 21st century and no one believes in god any more, you moron", or something like that.

That is what people usually think, we are so advanced in technology and we are so self sufficient, that we don't need God any more; wake up, you have been deceived, blah, blah, blah.

Really?  Yes really.  That is what a majority of people think, mostly young college kids who have been brain washed by the system; it is actually sad.  Like I said before, God has to intervene and open the eyes of the blind, He has to cause people to be born again, born from above, as Jesus said.  You can preach the gospel to your neighbour until you are blue in the face, but if God does not give life to the person, it all will be empty words, it all will be foolishness to him who is perishing.

"I thought you had to make a decision", you might say, and I would agree; yes you have to decide but if you are dead in trespasses and sins as Paul says in Ephesians 2, you cannot make any decisions, you mind is already made up against God; how can a dead person make any decisions?  If you were able to make any decisions apart from God they would all be "I don't want you", read Romans 8 and see for yourself, you are not able, you cannot, submit to God, you are at enmity with Him, you are His enemy and He is yours.  He has to give you life first, raise you from the dead, put His Spirit in you, plant faith inside of you and then you will decide for Him; in fact there is no other decision you could make but "yes I need you God" after God works in you to open your eyes.

Still, some people buck against this kind of thinking; but this is not of my invention, God is the one who says it is this way, all you have to do is read the bible to see if it is true.

Now, if you don't believe God has to do something to you first, and therefore all glory for your salvation belongs to Him alone, then why do you pray for God to save your neighbour?  Or you mom, or your sister, or your grandma?  If it is up to them to make a decision, just ask them, why waste your time asking God to give them life and to open their eyes? Just tell those you want to be saved, to make a decision, and believe, right?  Wrong.

The fact is that if you just ask them to make a decision for Christ, and believe the gospel, they might say yes, they might raise their hand at church during the altar call, and so forth; but they will remain the same way they are now: dead in trespasses and sins; then a few years later you will think they are back sliding, or that they are "carnal Christians" as the modern church labels an unregenerate person who goes to church on Sunday and goes through all the motions.

The reality is that there are Christians, and non Christians period, there are sheep and goats, wheat and tares, branches with fruit, even if the fruit is small and scarce, or branches that are ready to be burned; there is no middle ground; by their fruits you will know them, Jesus said.

Yes I know that sometimes a real Christian can be deceived back into sinning like he did before he was converted; it happens; but he will not stay there, and that is a fact; God will not allow him to stay there, and I can give you a ton of references that support what I'm saying, even my experience supports it; God would rather end your life on this earth than to allow you to drag His name down the gutter; "He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake" said David.

I have no idea why I am writing all this, but it is what it is; it is on the record, and I'm not taking it back.  I just think that my salvation is something amazing that God made happen to me; the more I think about it, the more I realize that I would be totally lost in darkness if it wasn't Him who took the first step in saving me; from before the foundation of the world.

Have a nice hot day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com