The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.
Isaiah 11:6
The other day I was driving around Abbotsford, and stopped on a side street. When I looked up I saw that I was looking at two Canada Geese, a not uncommon sight in this town. The strange occurrence was that a black cat was lounging peacefully in the center of the two geese. This I had not seen before. I took it as a prophetic sign.
Jesus's influence over us has walls breaking down that separate us from people we might otherwise war with. We can develop peaceful relations with friends, enemies, and even relatives because Jesus enables us to see them as just human beings with similarities to us. If we were to count up everyone's spiritual good deeds and bad deeds, there might be an issue. Some non-Christians have taken to using this on the deciding factor as to whether you are going up or down. If you did more good deeds in your life than bad you get to go up. It never occurred to me that someone might start counting up my bad deeds until I encountered "bad theology". Although I am not a theologian, and don't purpose to write theology, except to communicate it in songs of corporate worship, I have started the trend of just "be cool". If you have done good or bad things in your life, just "be cool" to those who think they will then decide for you whether you get to go to hell or heaven. If you just don't measure up in their eyes, just "be cool" anyway.
The real truth is we are all dependent on Jesus. He is the one who has adopted us as his children. In spite of our attempts to be good without his transformation from the spirit outward, he is kind and patient with us. When we realize the generosity with which Christ has bought us in spite of our imperfections, we can then extend salvation to others.
The church has been carrying on for centuries in spite of tight communism in some countries, where it has flourished underground. These brothers and sisters are willing to risk being caught, imprisoned and even tortured for their faith. When we see the restriction imposed on the church today, we also see our shepherds, pastors, and teachers reminding us of this reality in other countries, one that has been around a long time. Martyrs of the church are what makes the church strong, empowering it in times of persecution.
Let us pray . . .
Rise up church; do not be afraid to be a martyr in the hands of your God. Do not be afraid to step out of the boat with Peter, who walked on water.
Why are we afraid Lord? It is right here that we overcome fear; we identify that there is nothing we have that did not belong to Christ in the first place. We give him our lives, our jobs, our families, our home, we give his permission to give them to us or take them away. When we affirm that even if something bad were to happen to us, God is still in control, we overcome fear. It is our desire in this time to be overcomers, in these new realities of possessing really nothing in our lives, and taking hold of you Jesus, our true possession.
A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty.
– Unknown
