When I started this blog it was because “sometimes you just need to…” and for me it was to vent. There are other things we sometimes need to do, but for me as I sat and wrote it was to vent. Now as to what I was venting about, well that is between me and the good Lord in Heaven. So now on to some things I need to talk about today and there is no venting.
Over the past couple of weeks my right knee has been bothering me. I have never had a problem before and I have nursed it back to just about full range of motion. I say this because for starters I have no idea why it happened. I didn’t fall or step off a curve wrong. I woke up one morning and it hurt. No, I didn’t go to the doctor but Elaine said at one point I probably should have gone to the doctor.
So why did I just share this with you? For several reasons and these are not in any order of importance but reasons as they come to mind. Simply, there are things that happen in life and we just don’t know why. They seem to come out of nowhere. They are odd and can cause pain and even some anguish. It is what we do with it that makes the difference. How we go through it that is the real deal maker.
Many of you know me personally, some don’t so let me share with you that I don’t like to sit around “doing nothing”. I want to be, always have been and plan to stay active. I found myself channeling my father recently to Emersyn, our youngest grandchild by telling her “don’t get old”. Dad always told me that and he didn’t mean the number of years. Those are going to happen because that is the way God put this all together. Dad meant “don’t get old“ by stopping to live life and enjoy the time of the Lord gives you.
There is something to be said for sage wisdom. That is to say wise reflection and experience. We learn from those who have gone on before us. We can learn not to make the same mistakes they made. As we consider what happened, the results of their decisions and what then occurred. That is why it so important for all to read and learn from history. The beginning point is God’s Word. You might say, well of course he began with the Bible, of course I did. As I read what a good friend calls “The Newspaper”, referring to his Bible he reads each morning, the history of man shows me what I need to know about life.
Today I am reading in Leviticus and it reminded me of several things. One was that all of the things God identifies as things that are not be done, are universally considered throughout the world as wrong. I didn’t say not done or even accepted by some but in general considered wrong by most people. Now what I have noticed, and I am sure you have to, is that we are all capable of doing the wrong thing for we what believe is the right reason. By the way, just because you want to or can doesn’t make it OK.
Jesus words are recorded for us in Luke 17-
24 For as the lightning that flashes out of one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day.
25 But first He must suffer many things and berejected by this generation.
26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:
27 They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
29 but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
In these verses Jesus is describing the conditions in the world prior to His return. There are two times He returns and the first is when He comes to receive His bride, the church. The second is when He comes to establish His millennial reign. Without a lengthy debate in eschatology for the purpose of this blog we will say the earth‘s condition when He comes for the bride. I do admit as to how terrible the world will be when He establishes His earthy reign, however personally I believe He is speaking of the return for the church. If you disagree, please just don’t be disagreeable.
We will all get parts of the end times wrong and we will mess up on some Scriptures as to there meaning. There has always been only one thing we have to get right and that is what Paul said in Romans 10:9-10
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
So what was my take away from this past week? There are several things and one was that as a believer I need to focus on Him. I know that sounds elementary but listen it is true for all of us. As a Christian, a pastor and friend my role in life to have others see Christ in me. I am reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul in Galatians 2:20
20 “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.”
I know this isn’t easy, but it is what we endeavor toward each day the good Lord allows us to be here. One day we will be with Him in His Heaven and I know I look forward to that day. Until then I want to enjoy this wonderful life and world He has given me. It may happen when Jesus comes for His bride or if I breath my last breath but either way “this is not my home I’m a just passing through”.
In God’s Grace,
Elbert Nasworthy