Hello, Darkness My Old Friend – A New Day, A New Life - Purity 576
Purity 576 11/15/2021
Good morning
Today’s photo of a raccoon peaking over the horizon of the tree line at
the rear of a property in Picayune, Mississippi comes to us from friend who referred
to this visitor as their “backyard friend”.
As cute as they may be raccoons are also known as “trash pandas” in some
circles because of their penchant for knocking over trash cans and making a mess as they seek to satisfy
their appetites for table scraps. This
little “backyard friend” may not be a
welcome site to those who have experienced the results of their nocturnal adventures
and have decided that their cute looks don’t outweigh the trouble they
cause.
In recovery circles, those who have overcome undoubtedly have some “friends
in low places” that they had to leave behind because no matter how cute and
friendly they were their friendship wasn’t worth the trouble they caused. Likewise abusive relationships, which began
in love, have to be abandoned when it is clear that the abuser refuses to change
and to come under the authority of an accountability system that will end their
abusive ways.
People locked in addictive cycles or patterns of abuse may refuse help
or attempts to change, and that is their decision, but those who have suffered
because of their associations with them can also decide that their relationship
with their abuser or fellow addict will end and that their new lives without
them will be free of the “trash” that their old addicted or abusing friends
continually brought into their lives.
It's Monday, so it’s the beginning to another work week and quite possibly
the beginning of a new life for each of us as we may have grown sick and tired
of being sick and tired. When we go
around the merry go round of this world long enough, we may begin to see that
the things the world promises to make us happy or to ease our pains are a lie.
When we have suffered long enough with addictions to alcohol, drugs,
sex, or food, we see that these things were never intended to fulfill us and that
something is missing in our lives.
Likewise, no matter how healthy or unhealthy as our interpersonal
relationships are, we may come to a point where we see that our relationships
also fail to completely fulfill us.
When the things and people of this earth fail to satisfy us, we should
realize that the thing that is missing in our lives is God.
God has given us life and made us in His image to enjoy the gift He has
given us and to represent Him. When we
ignore God and do things according to our ways and desires, we will eventually
suffer loss and pain and question why things have to be this way.
Instead of seeking for meaning and truth with our lives, we only sought
to avoid pain and seek pleasure not realizing that our temporary nature would
never allow us to find lasting satisfaction.
Our plans to avoid pain and suffering and only have pleasure through our
best efforts were short sighted because they ignored our fundamental nature and
the higher meaning behind our existence. In our attempts to “build ourselves up”
or have a “good life” or a “good time”, we failed to consider the Creator’s
plans and intentions for us.
Of course we are often not alone in our search for happiness and will
surround ourselves with people who agree with our philosophies of life but just
because we get someone to agree with us doesn’t mean that our ways are the
right way.
At one point in a previous relationship, I realized that I had made some
very wrong assumptions about life and felt like I had led myself and the people
I was with into a dead end. Like a group of survivalists in a zombie apocalypse
movie, we had decided to ignore the signs of danger or got caught up in meeting
our desires and foolishly had chosen a path that would lead to our death and destruction.
Having seen the light and a way out, I had turned to tell the others in
my party that I had found a way out but discovered that they were either
unwilling or incapable of going with me.
At that point, I had a decision to make. I could stay with my friends in
the darkness and continue to ignore the danger we were in and enjoy meeting our
desires until our eventual demise or I could choose the hard path of escape
where I would have to not only leave my friends behind but also choose to leave
behind some things that I considered to be a part of me as a person: some tangible
personal possessions and some intangible things, like the ways I thought about
life, about myself, and about the roles I had within relationships that would have
to end.
The One who showed me the light was God and I could choose to go with Him
and live or choose to stay where I was and eventually die. He assured me that His was the way that was
right and that lead to life more abundantly, but I was still free to choose
which way I would go.
I chose to put my trust in Jesus Christ and have followed Him ever
since. The going hasn’t always been easy,
and I have had to suffer many loses on the path to a new life, but He has never
left me in my struggles, and He has brought me continually out of the darkness
that I was in.
My old friends who live in the shadows beckon me to come back sometimes
and I may find myself occasionally listening to their siren song and may even slip
up and make a misstep or two as I walk but God has won my soul and my love and when
I fall down, I get back up and keep walking in His direction.
The meaning of life is to make peace with God by placing our faith in
Jesus Christ and then endeavoring to discover what God’s will and purpose for our
life is.
His will is clear in scripture: our sanctification: to be more like Him,
to walk in His ways for living.
His purpose for us is also clear: to love Him and to love our neighbors
as ourselves. Scripture also states that He has prepared good works for us to
walk into.
So although the specifics of our lives here on earth aren’t spelled out for
us, we have the freedom to grow in the things that are clear in scripture and
to discover what God has for us on the journey of our lives.
Our current physical location should clue us in because we can only do and
walk into the path that is before us. So
walk in the Lord’s way for your life where you are and if you feel that you aren’t
where you should be, ask the Lord to guide you in the way you should go and get
moving in that direction.
It’s a new week, it’s a new day, and when you keep walking and talking
to God it can be a whole new life. So
take the steps today to draw closer to Him into the life He has for you.
You may have to leave your personal darkness and your friends in the shadows
behind but the only life you will have in the future will be in the Lord’s
presence.
So choose to live and start walking towards that One that works
everything for good for those who love Him and are called according to His
purpose.
Today’s Bible verse
is drawn from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is :
Psalm 119:50 (NLT2)
50 Your promise revives me; it
comforts me in all my troubles.
Today’s verse reminds us that God’s promise
can revive us and give us comfort.
There are many conditional promises in
the word of God, like:
Philippians 4:19 (NKJV)
19 And my God shall supply
all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
And
John 3:16 (NKJV)
16 For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Well there are two good ones: That God will
supply all you need and that you will not perish and have everlasting life.
If you notice these promises are conditional on
having a relationship with Jesus Christ. So you have to believe that Jesus is Lord and
Savior and put your faith in Him but when you do you are forgiven of all your sins,
made spiritually alive, and adopted into God’s royal family. In Christ, we
receive everlasting life, and all our needs are met.
So as today’s verse tells us, God’s promise can
revive us and give us comfort in all our troubles.
The assurance of our salvation, eternal life, and our unbreakable
relationship with God should give us joy and hope to fuel our life’s journey. If we remember God’s promises, and there are
lots more to discover in His word, we
can be revived daily and be comforted if trouble comes our way.
God is with us. He loves us. He will never leave us or forsake us.
So be revived by these truths and by His presence and keep walking and talking
with the One who will comfort you all the days of your life.
As
always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from
prominent Christian counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with
their walk.
Today we continue sharing from June Hunt’s “Evil
and Suffering… Why? Is God Fair?
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase June Hunt’s books for your own private study and
to support her work.
G. What Is the Problem of Good?
The Bible says, "Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of
as evil" (Romans
14:16). If the problem of evil is an argument for atheism, then the problem
of good is an argument for theism. Simply stated, the problem of good is that
God must exist in order for ideas such as goodness, fairness, love, and
equality to have any meaning. The problem has 5 parts:
1. If there is no God, then nature is supreme.
God is by definition the "supernatural creator of the universe."
If there is no supernatural creator of the universe, then nothing is left
except nature. Thus the laws of nature are supreme.
2. If there is no God, then nature operates by the principle of
"survival of the fittest."
Nature is therefore, cold, harsh, and indifferent. The "fit"
creatures that adapt to their environment survive. Those that don't adapt,
perish. Thus, that which is smarter, stronger, prettier, quicker, or in any
other way more fit to survive are more valuable.
3. If there is no God, self-preservation is the only ethic in
"survival of the fittest."
In "survival of the fittest," self-preservation is the law of the
land. If one can flourish by deception, then deception makes him
"fitter" than others. If one flourishes by violence and brute
strength, then strength makes him "fitter" than others. If murder,
rape, theft, genocide, betrayal, or hatred contribute to survival and
prosperity, then the act becomes "good."
4. If there is no God, concepts such as goodness, fairness, love, and
equality are irrelevant to self-preservation.
Self-sacrifice toward others plays no part in self-preservation. Under this
model, self sacrifice—or being "nice" to others—is not
"good" since it will not benefit oneself. Because all acts of
self-preservation are "good," there is no such thing as a crime. Love
is an illusion, unless it is the kind of love that is self-seeking. Equality is
meaningless unless it refers to making oneself equal to those who otherwise
would be "fitter" than oneself.
5. Conclusion: If there is no God, then concepts such as goodness,
fairness, love, and equality are illusions.
People search in vain for any basis for goodness, fairness, love, and
equality apart from God. "Survival of the fittest" has been used to
justify everything from slavery to genocide. Naturally, these practices are
abhorrent to most people. This innate sense of goodness, fairness, and love is
a powerful argument for the existence of God. Because we personally
desire the virtue of goodness and because it is desired around the world, such
goodness reflects the image of God.
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21)
Argument: "A God of love cannot be at the same
time a God of wrath. These 2 attributes are incompatible."
Answer: Love
and wrath are not incompatible and can certainly exist at the same time
within the same person.
- A mother
who intensely loves her baby will, at the same time, have wrath against a
child molester who intends to harm her baby.
—She might even have wrath against her own beloved child for being disobedient and for being disrespectful to her. - When you
read that "God is love," the Greek word for "love"
used here is agape, which means an unconditional commitment to seek
another's highest good.
—God is never without His love for you. - God's
wrath is in response to sin and is expressed against anything that seeks
to harm you or any other object of His love.
—This truth was illustrated in the Lord's defeat of the Egyptian army as they pursued the Israelites in order to destroy them.
Recorded in Exodus ...
"The enemy boasted, 'I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will
divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my
hand will destroy them.' But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered
them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.... In your unfailing love you
will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to
your holy dwelling." (Exodus 15:9-10,
13)
Question: "Did God know that Adam and Eve would
sin?"
Answer:
Because God is all-knowing and all-present, He is not bound by time. He knew
that Adam and Eve would disobey Him. Yet He chose to create them and to give
them free will so that they too could make choices. They would not be His
pre-programmed robots. Scripture is clear that God's plan for the salvation of
mankind was in His mind even before the creation of the world. (Robots would
not need salvation.) The Bible says ...
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" (Revelation 5:12)
Question: "Couldn't God have made a world without
evil?"
Answer:
Yes... however, He also knew that a world of limited moral freedom would
actually be an inferior world because virtues are defined by their opposites.
For example, a person can be selfless only if selfishness stands in
opposition to it.
- —Being
selfless implies the possibility of being selfish.
- —It is in
overcoming self-centeredness that character is developed and virtue
attained.
Although creating a world that became corrupted by evil required God's
sacrificing His Son in order to defeat that evil, in His omniscience God knew
that such a world would be the best world in which to prepare people for the
best of all worlds—heaven itself ...
"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and
the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.... And I
heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with
men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will
be with them and be their God.'" (Revelation 21:1, 3)
Biblical Counseling Keys - Biblical Counseling Keys – Biblical Counseling Keys:
Evil and Suffering... Why?: Why God? Why?.
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory
over the Darkness” or “The Bondage Breaker” series of Discipleship Classes via
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at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts,
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