creator – Praying Pint

29.n. “Put on the new self”

Colossians 3:12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Ephesians 4:24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

God has chosen the Christian, and chosen him to be something special in His plan. “Chosen” should be taken both as a comfort and as a destiny to fulfill. Compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience all have to do with relationships between us and others. We are to intentionally and purposefully put on these attributes of godly living for the single purpose of honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ. We are to govern how we interact and treat others. We do this by being able to distinguish that which is worldly and fleshly reactions and only serve self-interests and self-worth, from that which is honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ.

Humility is the “parent” of both meekness and long-suffering. Meekness shows how humility will effect my actions towards others; I will not dominate, manipulate, or coerce for my own ends, even if I have the power and the ability. Long-suffering shows how humility will effect my reaction towards others; I will not become impatient, short, or filled with resentment towards the weaknesses and sins of others. (Guzik)

We do well to continually check our actions and thoughts towards others by being sensitive to the quiets whispers of the Holy Spirit leading us toward that which honors and glorifies Jesus Christ.

29.m. “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you”

Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Romans 6:6   We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

James 4:1   What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

Romans 1:18   For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Ephesians 2:2-3   in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

1 Peter 1:14   As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

“put to death” is very strong and suggests that we are not simply to suppress or control evil acts and attitudes. We are to wipe them out, completely exterminate the old way of life.” (Vaughan) The sins mentioned in Colossians are a minimal list of the way the world lives and not the way Christians should ever live. Every Christian is faced with a question: “Who will I identify with, the world or with Jesus?” Who will you live for, self and its passions or for honoring and glorifying Jesus? Who will your serve, self or Jesus? When our eyes get pulled away from being focused on humbly serving, obeying, following, trusting, and relying on Jesus Christ something else comes into focus. If our hearts and minds had eyes, are they intently looking for more knowledge and understanding and godly wisdom to grow and mature in how we live our lives so that Jesus Christ will be honored and glorified? Paul is saying “put to death” our former earthly, worldly, and fleshly desires and passions. Don’t give them a hidden room in your heart or mind. Don’t give them a place to reside. Baptism symbolizes putting to death such desires and being washed clean of their stain and guilt. Put these desires and passions to death. The problem is that we don’t always put them to death. We may bury them deep but we have not put them to death. Somehow they are able to dig their way back up to the surface of our mind and bring to life these old ways of living. The importance of God’s Word in our lives is very instrumental in how the Holy Spirit will guide us in discerning worldly and fleshly passions and desires in our lives. I wonder if we truly even want to know such things. Do we actually think we can live two separate lives, one serving fleshly and worldly desires and the other living to honor and glorify Jesus Christ? This is not possible. Man cannot serve two masters and yet this is exactly what we try to do all the time. We neglect God’s Word and by doing so we open ourselves up to blindly walking down paths of earthly desires and passions, unable to recognize we are. Putting to death these earthly desires and passions do not mean Satan will not try to resurrect them into our lives. He continually tries. It is only when we are intentionally committed to living to honor and glorify Jesus Christ with heart and mind deep desire to grow in knowledge and understanding of His grace, mercy, and love that we will be guided through life, by the Holy Spirit, and be able to mature in discerning the difference between earthly and godly living.

21. “Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.”

Psalm 34:11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Proverbs 4:1   Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,

2 Timothy 3:15    and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Proverbs 8:17    I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Isaiah 28:9   “To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message?

Proverbs 22:6    Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Ecclesiastes 12:1   Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;

Ecclesiastes 11:9-10   Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.  Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

Psalms 32:8   I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Psalms 111:10   The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.

Proverbs 1:7    The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 2:1-9     My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,  making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;  yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,  if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,  then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.  For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;  he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,  guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.  Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path;

Think about how much time we invest in learning in our modern society. We begin with one year of kindergarten, then twelve years of graded school, then four years of college, then up to five years of graduate school. Then, for some professions, like the medical field, there are three to seven more years of specialty training. Some people spend twenty years or more learning because education is valuable and usually contributes to greater success in life. But how often do we think about learning to fear the Lord? That is, do we consider growing deeper and deeper in our relationship with Him as a “curriculum” of sorts? A curriculum that lasts a lifetime? This was a common theme in the nation of Israel. Citizens of Israel were expected to be taught how to fear the Lord—how to honor Him, trust Him, love Him, worship Him, and more. And the main vehicle for that learning was the Word of God—the words of His law (Deuteronomy 31:12-13). When you read and study your Bible, think of it as learning to fear the Lord—a curriculum that lasts a lifetime. (David Jeremiah)

It is foolish to think a person could or would become a doctor, lawyer, electrician, plumber, engineer, teacher, or another profession, by the mere fact of stating that you are. To become one of any of these requires an intentional choice to begin to learn, continue to learn, and gain the knowledge and understanding and the necessary and on-going skills to apply it. People are tested and certified as competent and given licenses to practice in various fields of study and vocation. Some specialize and become experts in a particular vein of their field of study. It all takes time, commitment, and dedication. Some may even commit to continual learning in their field until the day they die. This commitment and dedication are viewed as having been beneficial to society in some way, either to the whole or to a group, as in an engineer who works for a company that designs and builds medical equipment, or a lawyer who works for a firm that defends the rights of the abused, or a teacher/professor who instructs on a particular requirement for a degree, etc…. They have committed to having an impact in others’ lives by their commitment to knowledge and understanding in their field of expertise.

Oh that it was so with Christians, where continual commitment, dedication, and seeking to understand and gain knowledge of how to live to honor, glorify, follow, trust, rely and obey God all of their days. When people commit to a job or profession they start by learning precept upon precept and continue this process until they have achieved the minimum requirements to gain certification or licensure. Too often Christians believe they have obtained the minimum requirements to gain eternal life and they stop their dedication and commitment to gaining understanding and knowledge of God. How foolish would it be for a person to think that after completing kindergarten that they have learned it all and there is no longer any more understanding or knowledge to be gained? Yet, some Christians believe this to be true. Likewise, how foolish would it be to graduate from college after 4-8 years of study and then not continue to grow, learn, and stay on top of new developments within their field? And, even more, foolish is the person who does not apply or make any effort to apply the knowledge and understanding they have taken the time to gain. To end our lives in a state of neglect and complacency toward understanding and knowledge of God is to enter eternity with disregard for God and Jesus Christ His Son. Don’t end your life with this disregard. Spend time in His Word. Seek and desire to know more and more about how to honor, glorify, worship, follow, trust, and obey Him. Certainly, The creator of all there is, is worthy of all we have and all we do.

20.w. “Make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!”

Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

J.B. Phillips translates this vs, Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the Plan of God for you is good, meets all His demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.

Leviticus 18:30    So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.”

1 John 5:19     We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

1 John 4:4-5   Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.  They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

1 Corinthians 3:19    For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”

1 John 2:15-17    Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Ezekiel 18:31    Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!

Ephesians 4:22-24   to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,  and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,  and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians 3:10   and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Psalms 34:8   Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!

God’s word warns us that the “world system” – the popular culture and manner of thinking that is in rebellion against God – will try to conform us to its ungodly pattern, and that process must be resisted. The battleground between conforming to the world and being transformed is within the mind of the believer. Christians must think differently. “I don’t want to be conformed to this world. I want to be transformed. How do I do it?” By the renewing of your mind. The problem with many Christians is they live life based on feelings, worthy are only concerned about doing. The life based on feeling says, “How do I feel today? How do I feel about my job? How do I feel about my wife? How do I feel about worship? How do I feel about the preacher?” This life by feeling will never know the transforming power of God, because it ignores the renewing of the mind. The life based on doing says, “Don’t give me your theology. Just tell me what to do. Give me the four points for this and the seven keys for that.” This life of doing will never know the transforming power of God, because it ignores the renewing of the mind. God is never against the principles of feeling and doing. He is a God of powerful and passionate feeling and He commands us to be doers. Yet feelings and doing are completely insufficient foundations for the Christian life. The first questions cannot be “How do I feel?” or “What do I do?” Rather, they must be “What is true here? What does God’s Word say?” “How do I apply this or how does it apply to my life.” “What is in my heart and mind?” “How do I discern the intents and purposes of my actions?” “What things in this world are contrary to things of God?”

God’s Word must be more than do’s and do not’s. This would never transform a person from the inside. Meditation on God’s Word, however, will transform us. The problem is that we too often fall into the trap of only listening to what others have meditated on. We listen to our pastors on Sunday. We listen to radio preachers throughout the week. We may form opinions based on what they have said. We may even try to remember the three or four points they tell us are important. When is the last time we spent in God’s Word, asked God to give us wisdom and understanding, and meditated upon it? I must admit, very seldom, when our pastor is preaching, am I fully listening. I read the passage from which he is preaching. I cross-reference to other verses. I think about what God is revealing to me and then I give thought to this throughout the day. Some thoughts will stay throughout the week with me while I think about it and try to make sense of it. At the end of the day we are renewed and transformed in how we think, act, and do, by our thoughts and meditation on God’s Word. It is a shallow commitment to God when we spend no time meditating on His Word.

14.y.

John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Ecclesiaasties 11:5 As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

1 Corinthians 12:11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

Job 37:10-13 By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen.

Isaiah 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

Romans 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”

Jesus’ idea to Nicodemus was “You don’t understand everything about the wind, but you see its effects. That is just how it is with the birth of the Spirit.” Jesus wanted Nicodemus to know that he didn’t have to understand everything about the new birth before he experienced it. The same can be said about Creation, God’s love, mercy, and grace, God’s wrath, anger, and judgment, time and eternity, Holy Trinity (God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit), Redemption, salvation, and forgiveness, Earthly and heavenly, etc….we do not fully understand it but we see the effects. The root of the problem of not seeing or denial of these seeing effects (of God) is the lack of or limited faith in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The lame were able to walk. The dead were raised back to life. The deaf were able to hear. The sick were healed. Demons were cast out. Water was turned into wine. The sea was calmed. Seas were parted. Armies defeated. Creation (earthly and heavenly). God’s Word. The birth of Jesus. All of this and so much more are the many mysteries and wonders of God. We do not need to fully understand them to see the effects and glorious power, wisdom, and might of God. The writer of Hebrews tried to explain this when he said; “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is the key to beginning to understand things of God, creation, and His grace, mercy, and love. Without this beginning faith creation will be seen as nothing more than a big bang, people healed will be nothing more than a coincidence, the work of the Holy Spirit will be attributed to man’s ability to change, the Word of God will be seen as writings of men, and the wonderful glorious, power, might, strength, and unsearchable wisdom and knowledge of God will be seen as nothing more than a chance and coincidence of nature. Look around with new eyes of faith and begin to see the Hand of God in all of its wonder, glory, and majesty.

14.d. “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.”

Malachi 3:6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Exodus 3:14-15   God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”  God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Isaiah 41:13     For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

Isaiah 43:11-12    I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.  I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and I am God.

Jeremiah 32:27    “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?

Numbers 23:19    God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

1 Samuel 15:29    And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”

Isaiah 40:28-31     Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.  He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.  Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;  but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Have you ever changed your mind? Surely everyone has. What was it that you were so set on and then something changed your mind about the way you thought about it? More than likely you heard or read some new information that got you to think about your position or stance. Think about how many times you made up your mind about something based on the information you were told or read and thought was the truth. Based on this you formed an opinion and took a stance. Sometime later you found out the information you based your stance on was false. During the time between these two information time points, you have strengthened your stance and opinion and bias. It is hard once these opinions and biases are formed to get you to change your mind. Confusion, frustration, worry, fear, and anxiousness are all commonplace when lies are portrayed as truth. It seems as though we are living in a time of lies, half-truths, and truths. When God is defied and denied people’s hearts will see nothing wrong with leading people in lies and half-truths. When God is defied and denied people’s hearts will easily be misled.

God is “I AM”. He is not limited in any way. He is the truth. He can not lie. He is all-powerful. He is all-knowing. He knows the hearts and minds of mankind. He knows the thoughts all mankind has. He knows the intent of each person’s thoughts and actions. There is nothing hidden from Him. He knows the beginning from the end. He is the Alpha and Omega. There are no lies spoken or thoughts by mankind that can fool God. God is all truth, all-power, all-knowing, almighty, and always present. He promises in either blessing or wrath will surely happen as the sun rises and sets each day. Though a person may change for good or bad, God never changes.

12.j. “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.”

Habakkuk 2:18 “Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.” The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

Isaiah 42:17     They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.”

Jeremiah 10:3-5     for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.  They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move.  Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”

Jeremiah 10:14-15    Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them.  They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish.

Romans 1:23-25     and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.  Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,  because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Psalms 115:4-8     Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.  They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.  They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.  They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.  Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.

Isaiah 44:14-20    He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it.  Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it.  Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!”  And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”  They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.  No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”  He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

What is in the heart of man that they should even consider the need for an idol to worship? Why is there a desire at all? What is it they hope to gain by it? Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Romans 1:19-20 “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” Romans 1:28 “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”

Man is without excuse. God makes Himself known to man. He has shown them. He has also given man the free choice to worship, honor, and glorify Him alone. Yet, man chooses to deny God and intentionally choose to make and worship man-made idols. There is severe consequences for this choice both in this life and in eternity. No excuse can be given. No excuse will be accepted. The intentional choice to deny God and honor, glorify, and worship Him has a beginning in the heart of every man that does so. In this beginning, they make an intentional choice of self-reliance in what their hands have made or have been made by the hands of others. They become more and more blind and deaf to God and things of God’s. God is not mocked. Man will reap the rewards of their decisions. We do well to make sure things of this world do not become idols in our heart and mind. God wants all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

12.a. “They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,”

Habakkuk 1:12 Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

Psalms 90  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Revelation 1:8   “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Lamentations 5:19   But you, O LORD, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations.

Isaiah 40:28     Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

1 Timothy 1:17    To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 1:10-12     And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;  they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment,

Isaiah 57:15    For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Almighty, Everlasting, Holy One, Rock, Righteous, Alpha and Omega, Creator, Unsearchable, Immortal, Invisible, and Unchangeable, is our God!!!!!!!!! It is hard to touch the edge of understanding of how great God is. The Mighty One who reigns in eternity is the same one who dwells with those who are repentant. “The One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” Our God reached out to His creation in love through Jesus Christ, to redeem those who come to Him in a contrite spirit. It was not as though He needed to do this. He is God and could have destroyed His creation and started over but He chose to send a redeemer into this world to rescue those who would respond to His offer of redemption through Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve chose to defy God’s warning. They chose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I do not know how this all worked but at this point sin and our sinful nature took birth. Every birth from this moment forward has a sinful nature. This same sinful nature that drove Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden is the same sinful nature that drives us to willingly continue to separate ourselves from God. This sinful nature wants us and entices us to look at what this world has to offer more than the Word of God and His promises. This sinful nature wants us to water down the Good News of Jesus Christ to the point where it has no effect on the way we live. It wants us to water down the Good News of Jesus Christ so that the need for forgiveness, repentance, reliance, obedience, and humbly serving the King of Kings is not required. This should not be. Things of this world will never fully satisfy, but will surely disappoint. Things of this world will never give us lasting peace, but will surely rob us of rest for our souls. Things of this world will never give us lasting hope but will fill us with confusion and fear. Things of this world will not save our souls from eternal punishment and torment in hell but will fill us with a worldly wisdom that there is no punishment, torment, or hell. The grace, mercy, and love of God reached out to save us from our sinful nature. The Creator demonstrated this grace, mercy, and love by sending His only Son and placed our sins on Him as the only perfect, once and for all sacrifice. This perfect redemption came at a very high cost and yet, Jesus Christ paid the price willing for our redemption and forgiveness of sin. Our daily lives ought to be lived out in humble thankfulness and gratitude, full of worship, obedience, and reliance. Be mindful of your sinful nature and what this world is offering, they both lie. Turn your hearts, minds, and souls to the Almighty, Everlasting, Holy One, Rock, Righteous, Alpha and Omega, Creator, Unsearchable, Immortal, Invisible, and Unchangeable, God!! In this turning to God and away from self you will find purpose, meaning, peace, and rest. Eternity awaits us all. To some it will be eternity Heaven and others it will be an eternity in Hell. The choice is all yours and be assured that this choice has eternal consequences.

5.h. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!

Job 11:7 “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.

Psalms 77:19     Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.

Psalms 145:3    Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

Ecclesiastes 3:11    He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Isaiah 40:28   Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

Romans 11:33   Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Ephesians 3:8   To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

1 Corinthians 2:16   “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?”

We catch glimpses of the mysteries of God. We see men of God who searched deep, hard and long for this glimpse of God. In the end, they come to the conclusion that His greatness is unsearchable for when we capture the briefest of a glimpse we are no closer to understanding how awesome He is. We just see more and understand that He is greater than are the furthest imagination. When we examine and search for His love we find it greater and more encompassing. When we search out His might and power it is greater than all men who have been born before and now and in the future combined. When we search out His wisdom, knowledge, and understanding we are no closer to finding it than when we began, even if we were to search it out for millions of years. When we search out His grace and mercy we come to Jesus Christ and have an example but it still leaves us with unsearchable Holy qualities that are too high, too deep, and too wide to comprehend even the surface of it.

Certainly, we can meditate on God and His Word and grow more mature in our understanding and grow in our want to know Him more and more, and serve Him more, and honor Him more, and follow Him more, and obey Him more and this is our goal and purpose this side of eternity. In the scope of eternity we are here but a blink of an eye. Think about what it will be like to be in His presence forever and ever. Let not another day go by with neglect of honoring Him. He alone is worthy.

150. Within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.

1 Kings 14:21 Now Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. And Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their fathers had done. For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.

Ezekiel 16:47-48     Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.

Romans 1:24-27    Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,  because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!

Deuteronomy 32:18-21  You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.  “The LORD saw it and spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.  And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.  They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

Do you ever wonder how people get so far away from God that they replace serving, honoring, following, and obeying Him with something else? It is not as though God changed who He was or His steadfast love and holiness changed. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What changes in the lives of people that they no longer have a heart, mind, and soul for the one and only true God. I have an idea it was a slow decline over time. They allowed the very evil and wayward thinking of the people God drove out before them to find it’s wake back. It is not as though they woke one day and said: “I am going to do this really stupid thing I know is wrong against God”. No, it was more like a slow steady decline and turning of their heart and mind away from God and His word. They spent less and less time thinking about Him and more and more about themselves. They spent more time listening to those who have no heart for God than time in God’s word.

Acceptance of false teaching and sinful living is the beginning of the fall. Some may think since it is just the beginning of the fall it is not that bad. If you jump off of a cliff there is really no difference in the ending from the beginning. The outcome is the same, it is just the little bit of time between. It is not as though you can grab onto anything while you are in midair on a free fall. Such are the lives of many who spend little to no time in God’s word and their heart and mind are listening to that which does not serve, honor, or glorify God. It is a slow heating of the water and nothing aware of how hot it is getting before you are dead.

There is no one holding you back from serving, honoring, glorifying, following, and obeying God but you. You choose each day.