Philippians 3-Yes, all things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant--dog dung.
Ezekiel 23-"Therefore GOD, the Master, says, Because you've forgotten all about me, pushing me into the background, you now must pay for what you've done--pay for your sluttish sex and whoring life."
Isaiah 51-My deliverance arrives on the run, my salvation right on time...But my salvation will last forever, my setting-things-right will never be obsolete.
Philippians 4.4-7-Always be glad because of the Lord! I will say it again: Be glad.
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I may have posted a picture like this in the past. One of my hobbies is collecting old GE ads from visits to a booth at the Ohio State Fair. Ads that show items of a time past. I time that seems today to have been simpler. But it probably was just as complicated as it is today just in it's own way. Sometimes the things we think are so important really aren't all that important. Sometimes I think that I must have certain things to get by. But really all I need to get by comes in a privilege that God graciously gives. The knowledge and love of Christ in my life--everything else in perspective to this becomes dog poo. I sin when I push God to the background and indulge in things I think I need. Material things, emotional things even sexual things. And from all this I must turn and run to Christ. The funny thing is when I turn to run to Christ, I find he was always right there with me. I immediately bump into him the moment I turn to run towards him. I think I'm hiding at times and far away. Sometimes it seems I have distanced myself but the moment I turn---there he is! My deliverance arrives on the run, my salvation right on time. The moment I think it is all in my action---in my turning---I discover it isn't---it was in Christ's action of coming to me and staying right there by my side. It wasn't about my turning but about Christ's coming and staying. Christ's advent. In this always be glad because of the Lord. I will say it again---be glad. I will sing it over and over---be glad because of the Lord. That theme I will preach all my life. Be glad because of the Lord. Thanks be to God!
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Lord, I look to your advent. I look to your coming. I look to your arrival. I look to you and am eternally glad! You are here! ---Amen
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