Shadow

Look for the light at the end of the tunnel.

It's nearing winter and the days seem to be getting colder. I am remembering a day a year or two ago when the roofs of the houses in the neighborhood had been frosted over during the night. It was nearing midday, and most of the ice was gone, but there was a certain house that had a double roof overhang construction, so one part of the roof was higher than the other and it cast a shadow. Because the sun had nearly overcome the roof and fought back the shadow, the ice on the roof was practically gone as well . Under the cool reach of the remaining shadow however, there was still a definite line of frost coating the panels. This got me thinking.

As the shadow slowly died down, so did the ice creep back to the corners of the roof where it was the coolest and "most comfortable." If our lives and actions are represented by the ice, then the shadow is the protective comfort of the devil's subtle lies and the sun is the Son of God. The devil wants us to crawl back in our holes apart from Christ's reach, but as God fights back the shadow, he asks us to do the impossible: stand our ground and not melt away even when the sun is flashing us full in the face.
Stay strong, friends!

As for me, I look to the LORD for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light...The LORD will bring me into the light, and I will see his righteousness. Then my enemies will see that the LORD is on my side...with my own eyes I will see their downfall. ~Micah 7:7-8, 9, 10 (NLT)

Satisfaction : Complacency

As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. ~Psalms 17:15 (ESV)

If we are always unsatisfied with ourselves and our inferiority/sinfulness, then our hearts should always yearn for the God who is perfect in holiness. Let us never become satisfied with our lives in a way that allows for complacency and self-absorption to take over our walk.

And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. ~Luke 12:19-21 (ESV)

 

Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. ~Job 1:21 (ESV)

Kill & Destroy

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ~Colossians 3:3 (ESV)

What does that verse really mean? For most Christians, it means that there was a time when we killed our lives of sin and worldly cooperation to make new lives set apart for Christ our savior. That is true, but it leaves out something very important. Although we disposed of our old selves and allowed God to change our way of thinking and acting in this world of sin, it is still impossible for us to stay pure, holy and sinless the rest of our lives. We are held lock and key by Jesus because he was the one to destroy any hope of our old lives consuming us, but what we should never forget is that we are to constantly put our sin to death--every time we sin we are to confess and be reborn. Never forget that Christ's death and our acceptance of it are not a permanent means of escape from the world and that we must keep an open chat box with God for the times when we will stumble. Stay strong, friends, and continue to fight the daily battle without losing sight of God's eternal life for us.

American Cheeses

In America at least, where Christians are not generally physically persecuted, Cheeses is seen as a figure, a point to focus on, an excuse to follow in order to be called a Christian. It's much easier to keep our eyes shut to the light rather than to open them and have to get used to reality--it's much easier not to see the reality of Cheeses by your side unless you are in desperate need of him. Americans generally grow up getting what they want and enjoying life easily. While depression, bad family life, aloneness are big issues in the American society, people in those situations still don't look to Cheeses because those trials are not last resort efforts. Cheeses seems to either be a last resort or completely hidden these days by the noise of life. We can conclude that while we might not seem to need divine intervention in this life of small comforts, we definitely need Cheeses to get us into the afterlife. Go ahead and call him today--it's free!