Forever starts now...

I am almost sure that it happens to all people, we have conversations in our minds.  We sustain these talks with ourselves and other people, but no one really hears them, except God, and of course, ourselves.  He knows every single thought we have, we can't hide anything from God.  He knows the history of every single day of our lives, in the body and in the mind; that is, He knows every single thought we have ever thought, and every single action we have ever taken in the past, all thoughts that we are currently thinking, and all the future thoughts we shall have, and all the actions we will take, and this is true for every single person who has ever lived, is living, and shall live; every single man and woman who has ever been in this earth is included; this is what it means to be God.

Do you ever stop and think about what you were thinking a second before?  I am sure we don't remember every single thought we have ever thought, what kind of memory is needed to process all that information?  Only a supernatural being, and divine being, could remember that amount of information; I don't think there is a computer with enough memory to process all that, and even if it were possible, the simple fact is that our thoughts are known by God, but the amazing fact is that even after we have been known by God, even before He created us, and knowing how depraved we are and how offensive our sin really is to His glorious holiness, He still showers us with blessing after blessing, every single day; it is really a humbling experience to realize that and clearly see, that without His grace, we would be totally and forever lost, and it is in a word, blessedness.

I am sure we would not last 24 hours alive if it wasn't for God's grace, the laws of nature sing praises to the One who put them in place.  Think about it, gravity, electricity, light, sound, pressure, temperature, etc, were all invented by the One who created everything for the glory of His name; He even put in place the means for man to find it, so that it could be reflected back to Him.  God blows my mind when I think about who He is.

You might be wondering what kind of trip am I in, but I am not tripping, I am simply amazed that I am cared for by the only person who really matters.  Of course the people I love matter to me, but not in the same scale as Jesus; I think it is the way the Father loves the Son and all those who are found in Him.  It is obvious to me that God loves His people in a way that He does not love the world, in fact Jesus prays for those who would believe in Him and not for the world in John 17.  He specially loves those who believe in Him.

When I look at myself and see what I am, I recoil at  the thought of being in His presence, and I realize and thank God for Jesus Christ dying in my place.  I thank Him for justification by grace alone, by faith alone, in Jesus alone, and for the glory of God alone; I do not bring any thing to the table except my sinful condition, blessed is the man whose trust is in Yahweh, as Jeremiah puts it: 17:7  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

My goal in posting this is that you might think about God and what He has done and is doing, and will do in you, and through you, and for you, all for His glory; and that in thinking this you might get closer to Him and look, and reflect, and meditate, that your life has a purpose.  As the Westminster Catechism states in the first question:  What is the chief end of man?  The chief end of man, is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.  Forever starts now.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

The Cross Demands...

I have several email accounts, two with my last name, and others with other names, like makarios at cox dot net, phos at cox dot net, phosdesigns, etc.  I use them all for different things, and as you can imagine I get a lot of junk in my inbox; it is all my fault for being so diverse, and intolerant.

I usually just read the subject line and delete most of them; I know what those emails say; they all say "buy this", and "last chance to get your thingamabobinga", it is almost like they are saying "don't be an idiot and spend your money with us, we don't care about anything but that", as if I really cared what people thought about me, mostly people whom I have never seen before, besides, I don't have any money.

Then I get some emails that are Christianity related, from different companies, some are music stores (Girder music is a good one), some are book stores (I'm addicted to books), some are teaching and doctrine, and yeah, you got it, some are just plain stupid.  If I got them 25 years ago (there was no internet back then anyway) I would think they were cool, and they would make me feel like I am special for having the inside scoop about what bible study software, or app, is the coolest, but today I read some of them and get irritated; just by the way they are written I can tell what kind of person is behind the words.

Today I got one that had these words in it: "The cross demands forgiveness"; what do you think?  Is that true?  Think about it.  If there is anything the cross demands, is it forgiveness?  What sayest thou?

I really thought about what the words mean, for quite a while I sat there thinking how to make sense of the sentence, and the more I thought about it the less I agreed with it.  You probably already know where I am going with this, but such is life, for all I know you have already marked this post as spam so you will never read it again, so be it.

How can the cross demand forgiveness?  If I can think of anything demanding something it is Jesus' obedience demands the cross, and the cross demands several things, for one it demands repentance; it demands that I make a judgment, it demands the weight of the law of God crushing my pride, it demands that I see myself as I really am, a sinner, condemned to be dead and separated from God forever and ever, it demands weeping and gnashing of teeth, it demands worms that never die, and flesh that is never consumed by the everlasting fire of hell.

The cross of Jesus demands a verdict: guilty as charged, and more importantly, the cross of Christ demands that I believe in Him; it is a clear and simple demand, believe or die forever, it shows me that I am doomed to destruction, to eternal darkness.  The problem is that I cannot believe, no one can, unless God gives me life and opens my eyes to see what the cross is really about.

The cross demands my attention, but I cannot pay attention since I am dead in trespasses and sins; the cross demands worship to God, and to His Son, and all I can do is worship my self and my toys, and my addictions and vices, and my lust for the things of this world.  The cross is a display of God's grace for sinners.  The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, Paul says, it is an idiotic message for those who are in darkness.

Yes, the cross makes demands, it demands that the redeemed be set free; the cross demands blood and torture, and death, but it demands life everlasting for those who are called, it demands that the wisdom of this world be put to shame, and the wisdom of the wise to be destroyed; it demands that you and I consider who we are, God chose the foolish things of this world, He chose the weak and the poor, and the destitute of righteousness; the cross demands a broken and contrite heart; it demands every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus was crucified on Friday, and tomorrow millions of people will go to church to celebrate His resurrection, I wonder how many really understand what happened; most people will only think about Jesus' resurrection for a few minutes while they are there at church, brunch will be in their minds, in fact a lot of services will be reduced to half an hour so people can go out and "fellowship", for many what will matter is how they look in their nice clothes; I wonder how many will weep for their sin, I wonder how many will consider the demands the cross makes, and the awesome display of God's grace and mercy upon those beams of wood in Golgotha.

Forgiveness cannot be demanded, no one demands a gift, but regarding the cross of Christ it is demanded that we pick it up every day and that we deny ourselves and follow Him; that is His command.  I'm done.

Have a nice day.

http://makariotes.blogspot.com

In this I rejoice...

I'm going through a weird time of my life.  Basically everything around me seems to be in a state of chaos, from physical ailments to utter mental confusion, every thing seems to be out of my control, things don't line up with my expectations of how this life should be, even the most simple things have turned into a nightmare in a matter of days.  I don't want to elaborate and be specific because it really doesn't matter, the bottom line is that I am being tried in the furnace of affliction, and the reality is that I don't like it, which is okay, I haven't read anything in the bible that says I have to like being tried; rejoicing is another matter.

Thinking about how my life is going, and trying to project how it will turn out to be in the not distant future, makes me extremely anxious; sometimes I think I am being chastised because of some sin I don't even know about, or maybe the adversary is just having a field day with me; it is all very pathetic to observe from my perspective.  I'm tired of thinking about it.

When I read my bible I see what God says, I understand it, and I believe it; He is in control of all things, and all things include all things, all events, all second causes, and all possible contingencies; all means all, without exception, no thing is excepted.  He says that all things are working together for the good of those who love God and have been called according to His purpose, I think about this a lot, maybe too much.  Even the ugly things, the sinful things, the dark things, the painful things, the confusing things, the tragic things, the unexplainable things, all things are working together for the good of those who love Jesus and have been called according to God's purpose, and the ultimate purpose of God is this: His glory.  Even breaking my back will bring glory to God in a way that I don't see yet, but one day I will.

The universe, the billions of galaxies and the billions of stars that form them, the innumerable atoms and particles that form everything I see and feel with my senses, the flight of all the sparrows and their fall from the air, the movement of all grains of sand in all the beaches of the world, the countless specs of dust that float in the atmosphere, all microbes and bacteria that exist beyond my reach; the thoughts of billions of people and the desires of their hearts, the beating of all humans' hearts, even the speed of light, absolutely everything is under the awesome rule of this God who chose me to be His child.

Just being alive feels like a trial sometimes, I find no joy in that thought but I remember who God says He is, I remember and think about it; God has become my all consuming thought, and I wonder.  What is man that you think about him?  That is the question king David asked; what, or who, am I that God thinks about me?  He says He does in Psalm 40, He says He has plans of good and not of evil in Jeremiah, to give me a future and a hope; that is what God says, and I believe it.  That is a supernatural event, believing in something that has been written by another human being who at that time was borne along by the Spirit of God to write what God wanted him to write, which is another supernatural event.

This life as a Christian is in fact a supernatural event- that it is filled with trials and sorrow and pain, is a different matter- but it is part of living here in this fallen place; quite some time ago I came to the conclusion that as long as I live in this body of flesh, I will never lack pain and sorrow; and as much as I don't like to hear it or even think about it, I will never stop sinning; until the day that I die and am no more in this flesh; the good thing about this is that I know the gospel, and not only do I know it, I believe it, all of it.  I have peace with God because I have been justified by faith in Christ.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, He became a curse for me, He who knew no sin became sin for me so that I might become the righteousness of God in Him; is that not an amazing statement?  I think it is, it is doctrine, it is pure gospel of grace, it is the word of God; these are the good news, that I don't have to pay for what I have done, the wrath of God has been removed from me. Jesus said that in this world I shall have tribulation but to be of good cheer since He has overcome the world.

That is where the problem really is with me, that sometimes I don't remember that I should have joy and to be of good cheer; and I ask, who does?  I have never met anyone who does, have you?  Really, have you ever met anyone who has said to you "I'm so filled with joy that I have cancer"?  Or have you ever met someone who has told you that he or she is of good cheer because they have lost their home, and everything they owned due to a broken back?  At one point in time I thought that it was a contradiction, how can anyone be of good cheer when facing trials?  How does anyone rejoice over pain, and sorrow, and loneliness, and depression, and anxiety, what kind of twisted view of happiness is that?  Of course, I am asking the wrong questions, right?  Maybe not.

To rejoice and be of good cheer is to have joy, but what is joy?  Joy is the opposite side of sorrow.  Joy is not happiness but it includes it, joy is not something that I cause, it is always given to me by God, in fact it is the fruit of the Spirit: Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. So the kind of joy worth pursuing, and experiencing, is the biblical kind of joy, the real kind of joy, the God kind of joy.

The question still remains though, if joy is the opposite of sorrow how can I be joyful in my sorrows?  In fact to have joy is a commandment, like this:  Philippians 3:1  Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.  And this: Philippians 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

So I see this, that the joy I am supposed to experience originates in God and it is given by God through His Spirit, so obviously this is not the kind of joy that unregenerate people can experience or express, this is a privilege reserved only for God's children, and it is the same joy that God feels and experiences all the time forever and ever in the communion that exists between the members of the Trinity.  In all cases, true joy is a state of calm delight in the thing one delights in.  Calm delight.  Think about that, calm delight.

In a sense, joy is the kind of state you find yourself in when you see an awesome sunset, or when you watch a baby take his first steps, or when you see billions of stars in the dark sky above; it is the same state I find myself in when I slowly think and understand what Jesus has done for me on that cross thousands of years ago; so joy must be more than a feeling, it is also a state of being, indeed, that is what rejoicing is.

The peculiar thing about joy is that it is never complete unless it is expressed in praise, I think it was C.S. Lewis who said that; I think that is why I sometimes find it so elusive.  For joy to be completed and experienced you have to praise whatever it is that is causing it, and who is causing all things to happen if is not God Himself?  If He is in control of all things, then He is in control of my trials, and my pain, and my sorrow, and, and, and...is He not?

So, to be of good cheer in times of trials and tribulation, I have to concentrate my attention in what the trials and tribulations are working out in me; if I only pay attention to the problem, as painful as it might be, I'm only thinking about half of the equation, and as you know from school, you need the other half to solve it; which just goes to show why I wasn't good at math, or algebra, or whatever you want to call it.  What is it that trials are for?  And pain?  And sorrow?  They are designed to test and to strengthen my faith, that is the bottom line; and why does my faith need to be strengthened?  For the same purpose that all things are working out for my good, the glory of God, which is the reason why God created all things in the first place.

Pain still sucks though.

Last Saturday my mother stumbled on her way to the patio in the back of her house, and she fell down hard; she dislocated her left arm from the elbow, but she put it back in place by herself; the thing is that she could not get up, she was in too much pain.  She never carries her cell phone inside the house, but this time she thought about taking it with her, so she called everybody, and no one answered, until finally the pastor's wife answered the call.  The problem was that the front door was locked and she was laying on the floor in the back, so they had to call a locksmith to unlock the house.  They finally got her on her feet and took her to the emergency room; they took x-rays and she didn't brake anything, thank God, but up to today she has not been able to walk very much; I think something is wrong. Please pray for her.

Should I rejoice in this?  The bible says I should.  Should my mom rejoice in her pain?  The bible says she should.  Do you see my point?  The bible doesn't say anything about that, about you seeing my point.  But you get the point, I am sure.  If God is not in control of this kind of thing, then all life is it's a joke (is that the way to say that?), who cares.

But this life is no joke at all. it is the real thing, and the bible is still the word of God the Almighty; the One who put the stars in their place and calls them all by name, He is the One who reigns absolute, and in this I can rejoice, and be of good cheer, and be in a state of calm delight, knowing that He has only the best in mind for me and for those whom I love.  His love is higher than the highest mountain, deeper than the deepest sea, and His thoughts towards me cannot be recounted back in order.

I can rejoice in the fact that He chose to reveal Himself to me in His Son. I was blind but now I see, yeah in this I can rejoice.

Have a nice day...

http://makariotes.blogspot.com