Doom's Day

“And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them…” The disciples were in the midst of the sea, toiling in the storm. Jesus was on high, praying. It was when His elect were engulfed in darkness, with the wind and the waves raging all about them, that Christ left His place of intercession and came to them, walking on a liquid floor.

Throughout the Scriptures, you find God always showing up at the last minute. You can look for Him when all hope is taken away. He waits till the fourth watch, when it’s the darkest, so that we will not be tempted to say later, “…mine own hand hath gotten me this.”

And so it will be with His Second Coming. The darkest hour of the night is just before the dawn. The morning watch (3 a.m. to 6 a.m.) is when those who are watching can see the “Bright and Morning Star.” As the night intensifies, you can look for “The Star” to show up.

This is not a Doom’s Day approach; it’s about His Glorious Appearing.

Getting Into Hot Water

Jesus didn’t get into trouble with His Jewish brethren for glorifying God. He got into hot water because He glorified Him at their expense. As long as He didn’t bring them and theirs into the picture, everything was fine. But when He put God before their exalted personalities (Abraham, Moses, etc.) and their religious rituals and rites (the Sabbath, Circumcision, etc.) they went after His scalp.

Not much has changed from those olden times. Many of the brethren today are all for glorifying God, as long as it doesn’t show them up. But, if you take away the outward spiritual tinsel, leaving them bare, with God towering over them, they’ll be looking for a cross to nail you to, also. Characteristically, these personalities and pet projects that are passed off as spiritual, must not be overshadowed by God; He is to take His place at the end of the line.

People such as this can never sincerely pray the prayer of A.W. Tozer: “God, glorify thyself, and do it at my expense.”

You Can't Change the Unchangeable

“Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” There are some things in our lives that will never change. True, God can give both of these a new nature. The Ethiopian eunuch can testify to this as well as the leopard that lies down with the kid. But neither has a change of their skin or spots. They will always remain the same. Some are like Sisera’s mother, anticipating something that is never going to happen.

We need to read again the little “Prayer of Serenity”:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

C.S. Lewis says, “Don’t you think the things people are most ashamed of are those things they can’t help?” I believe this to be true. But I also believe we should be ashamed of those things we can help and refuse to change.

I can’t change the wind’s direction, but I can change my own.

Are Babies in Heaven?

There is a difference of opinion on the above question. The Scriptures are not too clear on the subject. My personal belief is that they are not; my reason for saying this is the same as that of no old people being there: imperfection. What mother going to Heaven before her infant would want it to remain a baby on earth? She would want it to grow and mature. It seems to me we will all be of a perfect age. Our Lord died in the prime of life and stayed that way.

No matter your position on the subject, one thing all of us should agree on is that maturity is one of the great necessities of life. Most all our problems stem from this lack. We hear a lot about growth today in the Christian realm, but Peter tells us that along with growth, there should be knowledge of the Lord Jesus. The result of growth without knowledge is retardation.

Paul told the Philippian believers he had lost everything for the knowledge of Christ. C.S. Lewis said, “The process of growing up is to be valued for what we gain, not for what we lose.”

A person doesn’t know anything until they know Christ intimately. (Col.2:3)

*Faith's Funeral

“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone...For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” A living faith has works; if not, it’s in a coffin. Is it any wonder that we are exhorted to “...be careful to maintain good works.” The judgment seat of Christ is not about the existence of works in a Christian’s life, but the quality of their works. We are to assume all believers have them, of one “sort” or another.

Jesus told His disciples that when men saw their good works, they would glorify the Father in Heaven. Good works are something we can leave behind for our loved ones to remember us by. “Dorcas...was full of good works...and all the widows stood by him [Peter] weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.” And, ultimately, they will follow us to Heaven: “...and their works do follow them.”

If James were living today, I imagine he would have come from Missouri—the “show-me” state. “Shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” In other words, James believed we ought to “put-up or shut-up.”

Like a rowboat, the Christian life has two oars—faith and works; take away one, and you go in circles.

*Were or Are?

“And such were some of you." It is not "then"; it is "now." It is not the past; it is the present. It is not what you were; it's what you are that counts with God and is what should occupy our minds. An old Methodist preacher used to say, "A person who builds his life on his past is destined to fall."

Paul only gave his testimony two times in Acts. That's twice in some thirty years, and both times it was given out of necessity. The Apostle's epistles give little space to our being "in Adam" in comparison to our being "in Christ." Dwelling on the former can bring on a state of defeat, but dwelling on the latter brings victory.

Constantly inspecting a corrupt corpse can cause morbidity and depression. Like the man of Gadara, we need to leave the tombs and go among the living. The Prodigal's father said of his son, "This my son was dead, and is alive again." Let us dwell on the "is," not on the "was."

A person can do nothing about who he was, but can, who he is.

*One Bad Experience

I was a boy of eight or nine and had just finished playing baseball on an extremely hot day. I stopped at the corner ice cream parlor on my way home and got a delicious, creamy, vanilla ice cream cone. After consuming about half of it, while heading for the house, I got horribly sick and brought it all up. From that day, I never ate that flavor again until recent years.

How many of us in life are like this? We spend years blaming others for one bad experience, when all the time, it would never have transpired had it not been for the condition we were in at the time. What is so pitiful about the whole thing is that we could be enjoying that thing or person we blame if we only admitted it was not them or it that was the cause, but us! I now thoroughly love vanilla, but cringe when I think of the wasted years of enjoyment I forfeited by living on one bad experience.

*Divine Interruption

“While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell...” In recounting this event to others, Peter said, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell…” I am so thankful to say that I have been in such services—services where God interrupted preaching, singing, and even the praying. I was once asked, “What do you do when God gets in it?” My reply was, “I get out of it.”

The Bible teaches order, but not at the expense of God interrupting that order. I am not against bulletins listing the order of the service, but let us be careful we do not organize God out of them. You cannot dictate time to an eternal God.

Let’s be more concerned about our heart’s burning than the Sunday roast.