Reluctant Retiree

We have all seen illusionists levitate their assistants. The assistant lays on a table and is put into a mystical trance while the illusionist moves his or her hands. The assistant moves skyward until the illusionist seems to stop the progress upward. Then the illusionist takes a hoop and moves it around the assistant’s body to confirm that the body is indeed floating in the air. The assistant is then lowered back to the table and restored to consciousness. Great trick!

God doesn’t use tricks. He deals in reality. So when He raised His own Son, Jesus Christ, from the grave, He used His own power and did not deceive anyone. Jesus was dead, as confirmed by the soldiers and many witnesses. But three days later He rose from the grave, appeared to hundreds of witnesses, later ascended to heaven and remains alive and seated on His throne today.

But greater still is the grace of God toward everyone who believes in Him. Ephesians 2:4-6 says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

You see, we all are sinners and therefore dead in our sins. However, God is full of mercy because of His great love for us. He has offered each of us new life if we will simply trust God with our lives. Salvation can be ours by faith through His infinite grace. This new life begins with faith and continues into eternity. Those of us who have believed will be seated with Jesus in the heavenly places. I sincerely hope that you will accept God’s offer of salvation and new life in Jesus Christ. I hope to see you in the heavenly places.

Have you ever been in a conversation when you are thinking, “I really don’t care about what they are saying”? I sure have. I try to keep listening politely, but my heart wants to go somewhere else, anywhere else. I know that attitude is unkind and selfish, and I want to do better.

What does God think when we bring all our problems to Him? Does He grumble to Himself, “Here he comes again with his self-centered requests”? Does He tune us out when we keep repeating the same confessions repeatedly? Does His anger burn when we forget to thank Him for His answers to our prayers?

Psalm 94:19 says, “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” This tells me that God listens when I bring my cares to Him. He doesn’t reject me for ungratefulness, repeated requests, or even selfishness. He is patient with me and cares about me. God is rich in mercy. Not only does He listen, but He is eager to provide comfort to me. Another name for God in the Bible is Wonderful Counselor. He has all wisdom to provide us with true healing.

Why not tell God what you care about? He stands ready to give you comfort. He will bring you cheer that reaches down to the deepest part of your soul.

In recent years the number of genealogy apps have increased sharply. At first these apps helped you trace your ancestors through legal records mostly. But now you can send them a sample of your DNA and they give you even more information on your heritage. You can learn more about where your family is from and possible links to specific families. For instance I found out that I may have royal family ancestors, but honestly it is not likely.

One of the names given to God in the Bible is King of kings. This name reflects His sovereign authority and power over all nations and people. The Bible also tells me that I am a child of God, so a child of the One True King. John 1:12-13 says, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

We have the right to become children of God. But this right is only given to those who believe in His name, which means that we trust Him with our lives, believing that He redeems us from our sins. We cannot become children of God by being born into the right family or born in the right neighborhood. We can do nothing to earn the title of child of God. This title is only given by God as an act of His great mercy and grace.

Why not join the royal family of the King of kings? Place your trust in God for salvation and life everlasting.

Watching the news on television, you often hear the phrase, “Sources within the White House say”. Journalists like to quote their sources of information, but they don’t always name the source. If someone does not attach their name to a statement, how are we to assess the validity of the statement?

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.” By His statement He claimed not only to speak the truth, but to be the truth. He also said, “You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings. And you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Here He promises to set free those who know Him and follow His teachings. But how can we know Him? Jesus said further, “But I will send you the Counselor, the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will tell you all about me.”

In the midst of the many voices surrounding us, we can find the truth. Jesus is the Truth. If we follow Him, we will know the truth and be set free. By believing in Jesus, we receive the Spirit of truth to reveal the knowledge of Jesus, God’s ultimate Truth.

Have you crossed paths with someone you haven’t seen for years and not recognized them? Perhaps their appearance has changed over the years. Or maybe your expectations of what they should look like was faulty.

In a way, this is what happened to the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day. They had the Scriptures with hundreds of specific prophecies concerning the Messiah, God’s Son. The prophecies covered specific details about His birth, life and death. The leaders knew these prophecies and had committed them to memory.

Although Jesus fulfilled every one of these ancient prophecies, the leaders did not recognize Him, but instead had Him crucified as a blasphemous traitor. Luke 23:35 describes their errors when it says, “And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One!'”

How could they make such a big mistake? It is because they had formed their own ideas, apart from Scripture, about what the Son of God should look like and do. Jesus did not fit their self-centered mold for their Savior.

We often try to do the same thing with God? We set personal expectations for what God should do in specific situations. When God acts in some other way, we don’t recognize His work or His presence. I have often heard someone say something like, “If God is love, why didn’t He …” God’s ways are not like our ways and God’s thoughts are not like our thoughts. He is infinite in knowledge and wisdom. I am so thankful that He is not limited to my meager understanding. Let’s let God be Almighty God. And let’s ask Him to reveal our mistaken ideas about Him and open our eyes to recognize Him at work.