| Death, life, hope “For the grave cannot praise Thee, death can not celebrate Thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known Thy truth.” (Isaiah 38:18-19) | ||
| A professed “life of faith” also means that one truly lives, through purposeful faith in God, revealed in Jesus Christ. That the dead don't praise God, and certainly cannot do anything any more, is hardly worth mentioning, for logical reasons. It is the spirit which gives life. The body without the spirit is dead (James 2:26) and the spirit of the LORD is always a spirit of thanksgiving and praise and life. The question is just, what does one actually mean with “faith”? Faith is not expedient. This means that it is not my faith which causes God to act. HE therefore only appears when I believe. Otherwise I would be the reason for God's work and power. But, this is not the case. Faith portraying genuine virtues is the pure and sovereign act and will of the grace of God. It is a revelation when we have faith, because the natural man definitely does not request it (1 Corinthians 2:14). And when we think about God on this basis, then we instinctively have the right perspective and attitude. We read in 1 Peter 5:5-6 “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” The humility to which we have been prompted manifests this realization - having been gifted faith from God, undeserving and unsolicited by us. Faith is humility in spirit. And we speak here of the spiritual life. One can live and nevertheless be spiritually dead, one can be rich and healthy on the outside and still sick and impoverished before God. All that we, as Christians, can throw into the balancing scale is the immeasurable grace and goodness of God. HE is everything, and we are literally nothing – we were once formed on earth and when we die it will be the same again – Ecclesiastes 3:20 “All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” If we are permitted to be Christians, this has its profound meaning and purpose and springs from God's eternal thoughts about us (Jeremiah 31:3). God has drawn us to Him out of pure goodness, compassion and mercy. We are now earnestly requested to humbly approach this incomprehensible Creator, as a people permitted to belong to God. We are not at eye-level height with the Almighty, but only those pardoned who still do not conceive the depth of this concept. We have no cause to think that we can approach God in any other manner, but in humility and respectful fear of God. God is not our mate. Who can fathom HIM? If we approach God with this Biblically-desired attitude, then God will reveal Himself to us and gladly have to do with us. And beyond that, He will also supply our living needs. To this it is written in Matthew 6:33 ''But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.'' God's righteousness is His grace, revealed to the world through Jesus Christ. God became human because no-one out of his own asked for God. The grace always comes from above, not from below! The Kingdom of God came to us – and many have twisted it around and haughtily mocked everything which was holy and precious to God. This is still true today. But, if we have faith, then this applies especially to us: Humble yourself before the LORD and HE will lift you up! In Jude 20-21 we read: “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” God is Light and Life (Ephesians 5:8) and God is indeed that which humans are not, in comparison they appear merely as a “baffled wind” (Psalm 78:39) – HE on the other hand is: Meek and humble of heart (Matthew 11:29). Amen. [mehr] Jörg Bauer | ||
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This post first appeared on Christian Devotions In The Daily-Message - English, please read the originial post: here
