What Hope??

Romans 5:1-9 - Hope!!  We have hope!  Hope of what?  Hope of eternal life with Him; the creator of the universe!  What joy that is!  Heather and I have been following the journey of Sara Walker.  She was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer last year.  She has been documenting her hope...her hope that this life is not the end.  We are literally just passing through. (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sarawalker (the website to follow her hope).  The other day she received the news that the tumor continued to grow even with aggressive treatment.  But, she continues to praise God, she continues to discuss her joy in the Lord, her joy in life.... This is foreign to the world.  In thinking about it,  I do not know how those who do not believe in God get through things like Sara Walker is going through.  They don't have the hope, the don't have the joy.  How depressed that would be. 

Rejoice in everything.  Rejoice in sufferings?? What!?  That is crazy!  I have been fortunate that I have not had "sufferings" like Paul is referring to, but I use Sara Walker to be an example for me of this text.  Sara is rejoicing in her sufferings, this joy that is inside her has built perseverance, this perseverance has built character that we can see from her postings and this character built the hope that she has documented so well.  What an example for us!

God's love allows us to have this hope. This love was demonstated by the Cross.  We have been reconciled to Christ.  Reconciliation, what does that mean?  "reconciled to Christ".  As a CPA we work with reconciliations every day; bank statement reconciliations, reconciliations of the AR aging, reconciliations of the inventory balances.  How do you perform these reconciliations?  To perform any reconciliation you locate the differences between the two balances in detail.  Then as time passes by these differences clear and disappear.  Just like our sin.  Our sin is what causes the differences.  But, the good news is that differences don't just disappear in time, but they disappear immediately when accepting Christ's gift through baptism.  Through the acceptance of Christ the "reconciling items" are cleared and continually erased through out life.  These reconciling items are condemned by God through His Word.  Praise the Lord that the sins that keeps us from being with the Most High has been removed, "cleared".

These cleared items gives Sara Walker hope; give us hope.

Hope, what a great word!

Work?

Work ethic is an important trait to be successful and any career.  For example, if you were a fireman and decided not to work you would probably get fired and even worse someone could die because of your laziness.  In fact, I would argue for any job out there.  If you did not work to be the best of your potiental you either wouldn't be successful and you could possibly even be a failure. 

Some Christians take a look at Christianity in the same format.  Work hard, work long, work. work. work.  Work is the name of the game.  Don't get me wrong, Christian work is good, Christian work is effective, Christian work is essential for salvation.  But, when do we put our trust in our "work", our "good deeds".

Romans 4:1 - 8 is our scripture for today.  Text talks about work saved Abraham... Was it his works?  In Genesis 22 God tested Abraham.  Genesis 22:2 "Then God said "Take you son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you".  It even sounds like God is rubbing it in a bit, "the son you love", "your only son".  That is crazy!!  Sacrifice your son that you waited many many years for; who I promised was the son to fulfill God's promise. 

Did Abraham agrue?  Do he complain?  Did he try to reason?  No, Abraham did exactly what God told him to do; no matter how crazy it was.

Can you imagine the walk up to the mountain. The discussions they had on the way up.  I would assume that Abraham was not crying.  The Bible doesn't say, but I would think the boy would know something is up.

Putting Issac on the alter.  Kids under stress can be very strong.  I am sure Issac figured out what was happening.  Imaging wrestling your own son; knowing you are going to kill him through sacrifice.  Abraham came very close to doing it.  The angel of the Lord stopped him. 

Talking about looking over your shoulder when Abraham walked in the room.  How can you trust Abraham again?  Do you sleep with one eye open?  Did Issac get any sleep that night?

What did Sara say when they got home.  I can hear it now.  "Mom, God told dad to sacrifice me, but an angel stopped him right before he killed me.  It was really cool mom."

Even more interesting as to what was discussed on the way up the mountain when Abraham was going to sacrifice his own son is the question what did they discuss when they were coming down off the mountain?  I am sure Abraham explained to Issac the test that God put him through.  Maybe they discussed what God had done for Abraham? 

Do you think Sara was ok with Abraham almost killing her son?  After just leaving from their home to live as a nomad in the desert?  Did she understand? How stressful was that for Abraham to tell Sara what happened?

Abraham was not saved by works.  What!??  That work that would have been horribly difficult did not save him? 

"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness"

If Abraham is not saved by works then I most definately am not.

What is it that saves us?  It is the gift that God has given both Abraham and all of us.  It is the gift of his son.  God did go through with the sacrifice and I am so happy He did.  Through acceptance of His gift through baptism we can have eternal life.

It is not earned by works and good deeds. 

M. Scott Miller

My Purpose?

This morning I sat down at my desk and thought about the last month.  What a month it has been.  I am dealing with a hyperthroid due to graves disease (feel bad continually), I am behind at the office, Josh is starting kindergarten today, Michael is starting 3rd grade (This means I'm getting old), I have a pain that shoots down my leg every once in a while, I have no energy to run due to my thryoid issue (I signed up for the St. Louis Marathon), etc.  I am overwhelmed!!

The best to deal with being overwhelmed, stressed, full of worry, etc. is to be reminded what life is all about.  God has told us what life is all about.

"The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man".  Ecclesaistes 12:13

Our whole duty is to fear GOD and keep His commandments!  God is in control!

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. ... Pslams 18:1-18.

Dead God:
At times God I forget why I am put on this earth.  I get so caught up in what I am responsible for, what I have to do, just staying afloat that I forgot our purpose.  Help me stay focused on my purpose.  Help me strive to grow closer to you every day.  Help me use my life as a worship to Your Name.  Staying focused on you Father helps me resist temptatation.  Father, the devil is strong... I see his temptations all the time.  Help me resist each temptation.  Father, I love you and want to obey your commandments.  I want to fully fear you and I want to follow your commandments.  Help me be bold and proclaim your name through my actions, my attitude so others can see You in me.

Amen.

Scott Miller