I am writing this blog because I was dealing with discouragement one day. I was running negative thoughts over and over in my head. I won't go into all of those negative details in this blog, because there none of your business! Just kidding, I value your help, but the best help that a believer can get when they are fighting negative thoughts, is from the Word of God. So that is where I will ask you to turn to; right to the first temptation, in Genesis 3. I want to argue that believers need to be constantly on their guard and need to fight against the temptation that will come, and to do this on a daily basis.
In this narrative you will notice that there are four seen or known characters and one promised One. The main characters are, the Lord, who is seen as the sovereign God over all of His creation, Satan, who was disguised as the serpent, Adam, and then Eve. The unseen character is the promised Seed (verse 16), who will one day crush the head of Satan. namely God's Son, Jesus Christ.
Now the story goes like this, The Lord created all things (Gen. 1-2), and told Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He told them, and this is important to my argument, that if they eat from this tree, they would surely die. This means that they would die physically, spiritually, and eventually suffer an eternal death in the lake of fire.
The serpent is said to be the most cunning of all the beast that the Lord God had made. This is a fitting description of Satan because of his deceptive qualities. Eve does not know who the serpent really is and she innocently answers his question. He begins by questioning her as to what God really said to Adam, and then deceives her into thinking that God did not mean anything bad from his warning. He twisted it to mean that God was actually keeping a good thing from her. Eve answers to the best of her ability, but seems to mess up on some of the facts, but lets not be to hard on her. The point, I think, is how he deceived her into not trusting God's Word to her, namely, he got her to question God's authority over her, His genuine love and care for her, and finally to doubt God's promise. The result is tragic and the ramifications have carried over into our very own life. We are born sinners, and would have suffered eternal separation in the lake of fire, if it were not for the promised One, who came and saved us. So if you have turned from sin, and completely placed your faith in God's Son, Jesus Christ, you are forever saved and need not worry of being separated from God.
How do we apply this narrative to our present lives as believers in Jesus Christ?
We don't have a physical appearance of the Satan who disguises himself as a serpent to deceive us, but Paul says in 2 Cor. 11:3, that he was fearful of Satan coming to the believers and deceiving them like he deceived Eve. Namely, that he would trick us into thinking wrong thoughts of Jesus, the Spirit, and the gospel. In other words, Satan is still at work and attacking us in our minds to not trust in Jesus , be led by the Spirit or not applying the gospel to our daily lives. I am guilty of this and needed to be reminded of who I am in Christ. I also needed to remember to continually keep trusting, and to even fight against not trusting God's promises toward me. We are in a battle that will continue until the old serpent is thrown into the lake of fire, and is no longer a threat to us. Until then we need to keep praying that the Lord will not need to lead us into temptation, and that when He does, we will learn, and keep trusting His Word toward us. So let's pray for Jesus to come even now? That's all for now. Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts with you, I hope they either brought you to Christ or built you up in the most holy faith. Blessings to you.
Even so come, Lord Jesus,
Gordon A Loop
Friday, January 7, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Do you really want Jesus to come back?
As believers or followers of Christ we should be anticipating His return to judge the earth and bring the new Heavens and new earth where righteousness dwells. But if we are honest we don't live like we are looking forward to His coming. Let me share some thoughts I got out of 2 Peter 3 today. They are by no means an exhausted study on the second coming of Christ, but just a challenge to the church, and to me. I was lead to 2 Peter while reading in Matthew 3.
At our Lord's first coming we read in Matthew 3 that John the Baptist was anticipating the coming of the Lord. He is seen crying out in the wilderness and saying to the people to repent because the Lord's kingdom is near. The fact that John is crying out means, at least, that he is filled with emotions regarding the Lord's coming. This is seen by his radical lifestyle and his fearless preaching, regardless of how he is perceived by the crowds. I know some will say that we live in a different culture and in different times. This is true, but isn't it also true that we are guilty of having to much of the culture in us, which could be why we don't take the promise of the Lord's return seriously, and then take the gospel out to the people.
Further, in 2 Peter 3:10, we read that the day of the Lord is going to come and it also tells us the nature of that return. There will be a destruction of the present heavens and earth and a re-creating of new ones. Then starting in verse 11, we are challenged to live a certain way, which is in holy conduct and godliness. In verse 12, Peter tells us what that holiness looks like, which is a looking forward to, and a hastening of the coming of our Lord. The question is, what does this mean, and what does it look like? The verb "looking," has the idea of waiting or expecting, and the verb "hastening," has the idea of causing to happen soon. If you take all of this together, the believer should be eagerly anticipating the coming of the Lord, and believing that it will come quickly. Do we live this way? I would argue no, we don't. Perhaps it is because we have fallen from our own steadfastness and have been led away by the wickedness of the world? How we do we show that we anticipate His coming?
One commentary put it this way, "By praying for His coming, furthering the preaching of the Gospel for a witness to all nations, and bringing in those whom "the long-suffering of God" waits to save, we hasten the coming of the day of God. The Greek verb is always in New Testament used as neuter (as English Version here), not active; but the Septuagint uses it actively. Christ says, "Surely I come quickly. Amen." Our part is to speed forward this consummation by praying, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" ( Revelation 22:20)." So we look forward to His coming by praying for Him to return quickly. My last point is that Peter gives the church a commandment in verse 18 to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ. This commandment follows the warning of falling away from living this holy life. So how do we avoid falling away with the wickedness of the world? We avoid it by growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Are you growing in this way? May we be found by Him to be faithful to the end. Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts with you. If you enjoyed them, please become a follower and share it with your friends.
At our Lord's first coming we read in Matthew 3 that John the Baptist was anticipating the coming of the Lord. He is seen crying out in the wilderness and saying to the people to repent because the Lord's kingdom is near. The fact that John is crying out means, at least, that he is filled with emotions regarding the Lord's coming. This is seen by his radical lifestyle and his fearless preaching, regardless of how he is perceived by the crowds. I know some will say that we live in a different culture and in different times. This is true, but isn't it also true that we are guilty of having to much of the culture in us, which could be why we don't take the promise of the Lord's return seriously, and then take the gospel out to the people.
Further, in 2 Peter 3:10, we read that the day of the Lord is going to come and it also tells us the nature of that return. There will be a destruction of the present heavens and earth and a re-creating of new ones. Then starting in verse 11, we are challenged to live a certain way, which is in holy conduct and godliness. In verse 12, Peter tells us what that holiness looks like, which is a looking forward to, and a hastening of the coming of our Lord. The question is, what does this mean, and what does it look like? The verb "looking," has the idea of waiting or expecting, and the verb "hastening," has the idea of causing to happen soon. If you take all of this together, the believer should be eagerly anticipating the coming of the Lord, and believing that it will come quickly. Do we live this way? I would argue no, we don't. Perhaps it is because we have fallen from our own steadfastness and have been led away by the wickedness of the world? How we do we show that we anticipate His coming?
One commentary put it this way, "By praying for His coming, furthering the preaching of the Gospel for a witness to all nations, and bringing in those whom "the long-suffering of God" waits to save, we hasten the coming of the day of God. The Greek verb is always in New Testament used as neuter (as English Version here), not active; but the Septuagint uses it actively. Christ says, "Surely I come quickly. Amen." Our part is to speed forward this consummation by praying, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" ( Revelation 22:20)." So we look forward to His coming by praying for Him to return quickly. My last point is that Peter gives the church a commandment in verse 18 to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ. This commandment follows the warning of falling away from living this holy life. So how do we avoid falling away with the wickedness of the world? We avoid it by growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Are you growing in this way? May we be found by Him to be faithful to the end. Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts with you. If you enjoyed them, please become a follower and share it with your friends.
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