A World Gone Mad

I continue to be amazed by God’s truths revealed in His word. It’s interesting that in the chapter immediately following Acts (where we see the birth and growth of the Christian church), we find a chilling prediction of today. There is nothing I can add to these words -- except our hope in Christ.

“But God's angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn't treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.


"So God said, in effect, "If that's what you want, that's what you get." It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!


"Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either—women didn't know how to be women, men didn't know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.


"Since they didn't bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it's not as if they don't know better. They know perfectly well they're spitting in God's face. And they don't care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!” Romans 1:18-32, The Message


These words from my heart are heavy, burdened for a world that seems so out of control. But the hope of Christ offers anyone, ANYONE, the gift of forgiveness, a peace that goes beyond human understanding, and eternal life.


My prayer is that these truths will speak to someone today and they will realize just one person can make a difference if they are willing to reach out with the Good News.


There's a song by Casting Crowns called "Until the Whole World Hears." Listen to the lyrics (you can find it on YouTube or visit Casting Crown's web site -- www.castingcrowns.com), and then do something.


Blessings, Francine

The God of Always

“If I go up to the heavens, you are there, if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalm 139:8-10, NIV

While God has always been … and always will be, there is a comfort in knowing He is the God of Always. He is always there … beside us, with us. David talked about that in this Psalm.

In fact, David also said in verse 5, “You hem me in – behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.”

In the darkness when our worst fears become reality, God is there. While it may be hard to understand how a loving God could allow the most horrible of things to happen, we cannot blame Him.

We can try to figure out the why’s and the how’s of all the bad things that happen but we may never truly understand. That’s not the point. The God of Always had a Son. In the midst of heartwrenching pain, He is our comfort – He is our victory.

Jesus was and is there with us. In fact, He was and is there beside us, not only weeping and heartbroken by our suffering but feeling what we feel. He is doubly pained within whatever circumstances we find ourselves. Imagine – Jesus experiencing horrors of our worst nightmares that become the reality of our lives.

Oh, He knows what we experience. Maybe even more than many of us will ever realize. And because of that He can comfort us. The Holy Spirit knows the subconscious turmoil that even we can’t begin to comprehend. And Jesus comforts us in ways we can’t understand or explain.

You see, the God of Always sent His son to not only take on the burden of our sins, but to reclaim us and make us whole. We will never be the same again … yet, is anyone ever the same?

We cannot un-do the pain we’ve suffered. But we can move from victim to victor through the victory Christ won on the cross.

“... and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20

Blessings, Francine
 
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