The “Green Areas” of Life and the Peace of the Lord -
Purity 962
Purity 962 02/09/2023 Purity 962 Podcast
Purity 962 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of the sun setting directly over the
asphalt pathway of the stretch of NY-290 known as Green Lakes Rd comes to us
from yours truly as I decided to pull over and capture this scene while I was headed back to my hotel after paying a
visit to Green Lakes State Park yesterday afternoon.
During my temporary work assignment here in Syracuse,
I haven’t had the time or the inclination to go anywhere other than my
reporting location on Thompsons Rd and The Hampton Inn Suites where I am staying. But yesterday the sun actually came out and I
knew that if I just went back to the hotel after work yesterday, I would have
blown an opportunity to “see something” of God’s creation out here near
Syracuse. I’m not familiar with the
area and I didn’t feel like venturing too far from where I was staying because
sunset comes quick in February and I didn’t feel like driving around in the
dark on my return voyage back from where ever I decided to go.
A good rule of thumb for seeing the beauty of God’s
creation while on the road is to zero in on the State or National Parks in the
area. These areas that men had the wisdom to leave relatively untouched are easily
found on Google maps as green shaded areas. I guess I always knew this but I
really put the wisdom of “going to the green areas” to the test when I took my
new bride to Tampa on our honeymoon last year.
TammyLyn had never set foot in Florida and I was totally unfamiliar with
the Tampa area so when she looked to me to plan our honeymoon adventure I utilized
Google maps and each day would plot a course to hit various “green areas” in a
different direction outside of Tampa with each new day.
It proved to be a good strategy because not only did
my wife and I systematically explore a good deal of the territory around Tampa,
we had a wonderful time in each other’s company in the beauty of God’s creation
while doing it. While some locations
were better than others, I would say that you can’t go too wrong by going to
the “green areas” if you want to enjoy some peace and beauty.
So during work yesterday, I did a search for “state
parks” on the Google Maps and quickly decided that Green Lakes State Parks
would be the “green area” I would visit in the late afternoon.
Before you start exploring those green areas near
you, let me give you some advice: temper your expectations and appreciate what
you find no matter what it is. Some “green
areas” are better than others and if you go there “off season” they may not be
in their full glory.
The idea behind these trips to “see something” is
not to be dazzled by some awesome sight. The idea about going to the “green areas”
is appreciation and thanking God for providing the places we will see and the
life He gave us to experience it all. These
trips are a practice of gratitude, thanksgiving, and entering into the presence
of God as we recognize the beauty of His handiwork and the gift of our senses
and the freedom of movement that He has given us to experience. If we take these trips by ourselves, they are
a practice in solitude. If we go with company, we get the added bonus of
appreciating one another and the fact that we get to share the experience. So, we really aren’t going on these trips to
be “shown something” as in “This better be good!”. We make these journeys to
the unknow green areas out there to appreciate whatever we find and to thank
God when we find it.
So, it’s Thursday, and I don’t know if you have time
for an impromptu trip to one of the “green areas” near you today, but let me
encourage you to adopt this mindset, the mindset of a disciple of Jesus Christ,
no matter where your day takes you. The
path of Christian Discipleship is one of learning and communion with God. We
choose to follow His lead and to thank Him for whatever we receive knowing that
the momentary circumstances of life, whether good or bad, are all under His
control and we don’t have to look for or work for something worthwhile, because
we have already found it by finding Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Christ said that in John 10:10 that He came to give
us life, and life more abundantly or, as the NLT puts it, to give us a “rich
and satisfying life”. I particularly
like that phrasing because the richness of an experience is dependent on our
attention and our appreciation of it and our satisfaction of an experience is grounded
in acceptance and contentment. We are to
be appreciative, accepting, and content with what God has given us and when we
do that we find peace.
Christ came to give us peace. He said in:
John 14:27 (NKJV)
27 Peace
I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to
you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
The peace Christ brings surpasses any circumstantial
peace that we may find in one of those “green areas” out there. The peace we find in our lives in Christ doesn’t
come from “good conditions” it comes from the realization that our condition is
good regardless of the circumstances we encounter.
That’s what Christ meant when He said that “not as
the world do I give to you”. We can create peaceful circumstances or go to
peaceful places but if we set those up or “go there” without God, the peace
will eventually become sadness as we come realize that we can’t “keep the good
times rolling” – that the sun sets, the darkness comes, and the party comes to
an end.
No ,the peace we have in Christ is eternal and time doesn’t
take it away from us. Unlike the world’s peace, that crumbles under the weight
of time, as we go through time we come closer to the ultimate peace that we
will have when we enter God’s eternal kingdom.
So even though we may age on this planet, things really are getting “better
all the time” as we come closer and closer to that day when we will meet our
Savior face to face.
So rest in the peace that goes beyond all
understanding by having the child like faith of wonder that accepts what we are
given day to day, because we know that a loving Father has given it to us and is
with us to protect us and guide us every step of the way.
So keep walking and talking with God and thank Him
for all that you have and all that you will receive as you draw closer to Him
with each passing day.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible
Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verses are:
Psalm 34:12-13 (NLT2)
12 Does anyone want to live a
life that is long and prosperous?
13 Then keep your tongue from
speaking evil and your lips from telling lies!
Today’s Bible verse encourages us to not speak evil or to
tell lies if we want a life that is long and prosper us.
The psalmist gives good practical advice here because even
though we can’t guarantee a long life (that’s up to God) or a lifestyle of the
rich and famous, it is more likely that we won’t meet an untimely demise or go
begging for bread if we make a habit of not speaking evil or telling lies.
Honesty and people speaking positively is such a rare thing in
this world that people tend to appreciate it when they find it. So if we are
consistent in telling the truth and speaking good and encouraging words, others
will appreciate our character and may even decide to bless us.
As I have stated before on the blog, the first lesson I encourage people who wish
to be authentic in their Christian faith to learn is to always tell the truth.
As Christians surrendered to do the will of God, the first thing we should do
is to stop lying. Satan is the father of lies and our speech should not be similar
to his!
So speak the truth and choose to not speak what is evil but what it good, these are the ways of our Master Jesus Christ and whether we succeed in this world or not, and whether we walk this earth for a long time or not, we should know that the psalmist speaks the truth because if we are in Christ, we will have a long life (as in eternally) and we will prosper as the adopted children of the Lord of all Creation.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from A.W. Pink’s “The
Sovereignty of God.”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available on
many websites for less than $20.00.
THE
SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
By ARTHUR W. PINK
CHAPTER FIVE
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IN REPROBATION concludes
The “Larger
Westminster Catechism” (1688)—adopted by the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church—declares, “God, by an eternal and immutable decree, out of
His mere love, for the praise of His glorious grace, to be manifested in due
time, hath elected some angels to glory, and in Christ hath chosen some men to
eternal life, and the means thereof; and also, according to His own will
(whereby He extendeth or withholdeth favor as He pleases), hath passed by, and fore-ordained the rest to dishonour and wrath,
to be for their sin inflicted, to the praise of the glory of His justice.”
John Bunyan, author
of “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” wrote a whole volume on “Reprobation.” From it we
make one brief extract: “Reprobation is before the person cometh into the world,
or hath done good or evil. This is evidenced by Rom. 9:11. Here you find twain
in their mother’s womb, and both receiving their destiny, not only before they had done good or evil, but
before they were in a capacity to do it, they being yet unborn—their destiny, I
say, the one unto, the other not unto the blessing of eternal life; the one
elect, the other reprobate; the one chosen, the other refused.” In his “Sighs
from Hell,” John Bunyan also wrote: “They that do continue to reject and slight
the Word of God are such, for the most part, as are ordained to be damned.”
Commenting upon Rom.
9:22, “What is God willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known,
endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction,”
Jonathan Edwards (Vol. 4, p. 306–1743 A.D.) says, “How awful doth the majesty
of God appear in the dreadfulness of His anger! This we may learn to be one end
of the damnation of the wicked.”
Augustus Toplady,
author of “Rock of Ages” and other sublime hymns, wrote: “God, from all
eternity decreed to leave some of Adam’s fallen posterity in their sins, and to
exclude them from the participation of Christ and His benefits.” And again,
“We, with the Scriptures, assert: That there is a predestination of some
particular persons to life, for the praise of the glory of Divine grace; and
also a predestination of other particular persons to death for the glory of Divine justice—which death of punishment
they shall inevitably undergo, and that justly, on account of their sins.”
George Whitefield,
that stalwart of the eighteenth century, used by God in blessing to so many,
wrote: “Without doubt, the doctrine of election and reprobation must stand or
fall together.… I frankly acknowledge I believe the doctrine of Reprobation,
that God intends to give saving grace, through Jesus Christ, only to a certain
number; and that the rest of mankind, after the fall of Adam, being justly left to God to continue in sin, will at
last suffer that eternal death which is its proper wages.”
“Fitted to destruction”
(Rom. 9:22). After declaring this phrase admits of two interpretations, Dr.
Hodge—perhaps the best known and most widely read commentator on Romans—says,
“The other interpretation assumes that the reference is to God and that the
Greek word for ‘fitted’ has its full participle force; prepared (by God) for
destruction.” This, says Dr. Hodge, “Is adopted not only by the majority of Augustinians, but also
by many Lutherans.”
Were it necessary we
are prepared to give quotations from the writings of Wycliffe, Huss, Ridley,
Hooper, Cranmer, Ussher, John Trapp, Thomas Goodwin, Thomas Manton (Chaplain to
Cromwell), John Owen, Witsius, John Gill (predecessor of Spurgeon), and a host
of others. We mention this simply to show that many of the most eminent saints
in bye-gone days, the men most widely used of God, held and taught this
doctrine which is so bitterly hated in these last days, when men will no longer
“endure sound doctrine”; hated by men of lofty pretentions, but who,
notwithstanding their boasted orthodoxy and much advertised piety, are not
worthy to unfasten the shoes of the faithful and fearless servants of God of
other days.
“O the depth of the
riches both of wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments
and His ways past finding out! For what hath known the mind of the Lord? or who
hath been His counsellor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be
recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all
things: to whom be glory forever, Amen”
(Rom. 11:33–36).[1]
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tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the
mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts
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Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and
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My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian
encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ), her Facebook
Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on
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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this
publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to
reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries,
or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication,
and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the
author may represent.”
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Arthur W. Pink, The Sovereignty of
God (Swengel, PA: Bible Truth Depot, 1949), 113–115.
