Things Unfolding

I loved this devotion from Tim Tomlinson, President of Bethlehem College and Seminary.
The Second Coming of Christ always stirs up different kinds of emotions in me: hopefulness, comfort, contrition...Any others?

With all of the political turmoil and potential explosiveness happening in Egypt, Libya, and several other countries in the Middle East, and even nearby Wisconsin, it is both understandable and easy to begin to worry about the future. What happens there will surely have an impact on the rest of the world to one degree or another.

The temptation when such potentially cataclysmic events occur is to be anxious about our own well-being and that of our families. As natural as that is, it is still an inappropriate reaction on our part. The Lord has not called us to a spirit of fear, but rather one of absolute faith in His sovereignty over all the earth. Whatever kind of earthly crisis or disaster you fear or become anxious about, the only solution is to remind ourselves of the absolute authority of the Lord over all things.

"John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, Amen. I am the Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:4-8).

Six observations from this passage which help me deal rightly with earthly worries are:

1. The Lord is eternal. He was, he is, and he will be forever!
2. Jesus Christ is the ruler of the kings of the earth--whether they worship him or not.
3. Jesus loves us and has, therefore, freed us from our sins by his blood. This fact alone is more important and crucial for our well-being than any other thing in the universe!
4. We serve a God who is glorious and who has dominion over all things forever.
5. One day he will return to earth in the clouds and everyone who has rejected him will finally see him for who he really is--and they will be terribly sorry.
6. The Lord God is the beginning and the end of all things. He is the Almighty God!

May you and I trust wholly in the sovereign God of the universe and rest completely in him.

What I Learned About Life By Cleaning My House Today

Sometimes things seem so overwhelming.

I looked around this afternoon and in every corner of our home, there was a BIG mess.
It doesn't matter how it happened. It just did. And it didn't happen overnight.

It made me want to cry, and it made me want to shout and complain. The HOLIDAYS are coming up. Things are supposed to be SPECIAL and BEAUTIFUL, not messy and dirty.

I couldn't imagine how I would get things under control in the next twelve months, let alone by next week, or tomorrow (Sunday--another day that is supposed to be SPECIAL and BEAUTIFUL).

So how did I handle this dilemma? I was exhausted so I cried out to the Lord for help and took a nap. Not necessarily in that order. I can't remember which--maybe they were simultaneous.

When I woke up, everything looked the same, and I felt the same about it, but I did the only thing one can do in such a situation. I picked up one item and I put it away. Then I picked up another. And another. This went on and on all day. First the coffee table got cleaned up, then the living room floor. Then the worst things in the kitchen got put in the dishwasher. Thankfully, not as much as I expected had to be washed by hand (something I go to great lengths to avoid).

I won't bore you with the rest of the chores. They aren't all done yet. Are they ever? But I can look around my home and smile again.

About three quarters of the way through all of this, something occurred to me. It's not only our homes that can get to be hopeless messes. Our lives can get this way, too. Parts of our lives, or even all of it may seem that way at times.

These things make all the difference:
1. Tell the Lord all about it. "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

2. Rest.

3. Deal with one thing at a time.

4. Don't ever give up--not ever " because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

Are things not right between you and God? Just turn to him now because "if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:13

Remember how there wasn't as much to wash by hand as I thought there was? Well, in your life, there probably isn't as much horrible stuff to deal with as you might think, but even if there is, God can handle it. He will do it with you, and some of it he might even take care of for you. (Even when he is doing it with you, he is doing it for you; he's just letting you take part in the process.)

It may not take as long as you think, but even if it does God will give you joy on the journey. Halfway through my Christmas week mess, things began to look brighter, even though there was a lot more to do.

New trials meet us every day, yet "Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."Lamentations 3:22-23

(I don't know why some of the words came out so large. I can't seem to fix it.)