A
Thought for the Day – 006 – Kingdom Authority
Philippians
1:21-22– For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the
flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor, yet what I shall choose I cannot
tell. (I do not know) Fruit is a labor of godliness by living in Christ, while a
labor in the flesh are the results of the deeds of the flesh or
ungodliness.
Comments
and challenges
On
his deathbed, Matthew Henry said to a friend, “You have been asked to take
notice of the sayings of dying men – this is mine: that the life spent in the
service of God and communion with Him is the most pleasant life that anyone can
live in this world.”
The
depth of life lived in this world can run deep into the ruins of darkness and if
you have any longevity of life you know where those depths can take you. For
some of us we come to know that those depths can be used of God to bring us to
His Throne… notice Psalm 51:17 – The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A
broken and contrite heart – These, O God, You will not despise.
And
yet there remain many who see God as an angry deity who is the cause for their
path of darkness. Now for me this sets up a thought or two. Whether true or
false the reader should decide. The first thought is that all of mankind is
subject to death of which we can all agree… death is certain; life is not. Thus
the pathway of life from the very day of birth is death. For example and some
would argue that a babe on mom’s breast has no fear of death, but take the babe
away from mom for just a short season and observe the reaction.
In
doing such a thing two noticeable things happen very quickly. One; the babe
cries out and becomes insecure and, two: the one who took the child from his or
her secure position becomes guilty and sorrowful. This beginning of woes for the
infant is the ongoing path into darkness that one day, as an adult; would think
to steel the milk from the babe.
Notice
if you will King David’s acknowledgement of this in the opening words of Psalm
51:1 – Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to
the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. King David
does not have one transgression to confess to God, notice in Psalm 51:3 – “For I
acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me” his path of life
like all of us; whether saved or unsaved can lead us to depths of darkness that
drive us to our knees. This is a good thing!
No
it is not God who is the destroyer of life; it is we ourselves who are born to
die. Now for the second thought. If death is certain and God is Life then the
force of death must have a ruler? The answer is that we are born into the
kingdom of Satan, he is our authority, or more meaningfully put, he is our god.
Thus when we say things like, “God is an angry god who seeks to kill and
destroy, we are correct. The god we follow is not the God of the Holy Bible, but
he is (Satan) the god of this world, who stole your life and mine.
And
Jesus said to them again: “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the
sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did
not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will
go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to
kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may
have it more abundantly.” John 10:7-10
For
me the choice to live abundantly is the only clear choice, I hope in some way
that if you are trucking down the darkness path that you may come to know that
your life is not abundant and that what you now have is the certainty of death
and the angry god who seeks to destroy you and cannot say… “for me to live is
Christ and to die is gain”. Nor is your labor in life
“fruitful!”
Hebrews 9:28 - so Christ was offered to bear
the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear a second time
without sin unto salvation. Jesse
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