Final Posting of 2009

Now that the holiday season is upon us, I have decided to make this my last posting of 2009. We’ve finished our study of a portion of the life of Corrie ten Boom as relayed to us in her own words her from her book The Hiding Place. As I stated earlier in our study, this book tells of a few years in Corrie’s life, while a second book Tramp for the Lord, relates her experiences through the end of her life (another 20 years!) as she traveled all over the world in miraculously God-ordained ways for His Name’s sake. She who had such uncertain faith through these trials, had such strong faith in years to come, a testimony to the grace and mercy of God who brought her to that place, as His Word promises He will do for each of us! We might revisit her later years in a study sometime in the future, but as we close this year out, I think there is so much to remember and reflect upon from all that we have learned from Corrie and Betsie thus far.

We learned about obedience to God, no matter how difficult that road of obedience might be to walk. I am reminded of the words of the Lord from Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” The strait gate with the narrow road leading to it is the one that leads to suffering as our Lord suffered for us. Paul appears to be confirming this with his words in his letter to the Romans, chapter 8:16-17: “the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

If the narrow road means following in the sufferings of Christ (denying our flesh, suffering persecution for His Name’s sake, and even death, as Betsie and Papa ten Boom did, rather than be disobedient to God), then the wide path must be the direct opposite of that: serving our flesh rather than God, doing whatever it takes to remain in our comfort zone even if it means being disobedient to God, leading lives not full of the Spirit of God, but full of self, rationalizing our way right into hell, but being deceived the entire time by the enemy, Satan, so that we will not correct our path, but continue on to destruction, taking many with us, rather than saving many from the fire.

What is important to remember is that unless we are surrendered completely to following Jesus Christ and surrendered also to being filled with the Holy Spirit (the One Who produces the courage and strength of Jesus Christ in us) we cannot walk that narrow road. In our own strength alone we will fail. Jesus told His disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait for The Comforter, The Helper. Once they received the Holy Spirit, THEN their real ministry and service to God began. They did not go in their own strength. And in one day 3,000 were saved, and in another day 5,000 were saved, and today (because their ministry was of the Holy Spirit, not of themselves) 33% of the world population claim to be Christian (reported in 2000). No other religion even comes close in number, although it saddens me to think that only a 1/3 call themselves Christians world-wide, showing how much work there is left to be done for the Lord. But the point is, how can anything we do in our own efforts possibly come close to comparing to the work of God Himself? If God is to get the glory then it must be HIS power working through us. It can be no other way.

The second thing we learned from the ten Boom family was about faith. What faith looks like in action, and in fact, that without corresponding action it is not faith at all, but only lifeless words.

And on the opposite side of that coin, that actions without faith are sin for “without faith it is impossible to please God” no matter how many good works we do. I think of all the social do-gooders of Hollywood fame or those who are famous for their positions of wealth, who adopt orphans and feed the hungry and create social and educational programs for the poor...all of which are excellent works, but all of which mean nothing as far as saving their own souls or even the souls of the ones they help. Their work leads no one to Jesus Christ, and therefore none are saved; only some immediate suffering is relieved, but eternal despair looms on the horizon for both giver and receiver of this kind of salvation. The do-gooders have not pleased God at all, as there is no reconciliation between them and God, for the only reconciliation between man and God is Jesus Christ. The social do-gooders who walk the wide road (speaking of those only who do not know Christ, for there are a few in that social arena who DO know Christ) often deny and even mock the name of Jesus Christ, and the end of their road is destruction as we just read in Matthew 7.

I thank God for the faith He has provided each of us who believes, to receive His Son Jesus as our Lord and Savior, cleansing us of our sins, and causing us to live in ever-increasing faith in GOD! That faith then produces corresponding works of God, and when Christians go forth to help those suffering in the world, not only is suffering relieved, but that relief is eternal versus temporary, for along with the physical aid, spiritual salvation is offered to all who will receive it! Many are saved from the fire, both present and to come, and they are given real hope…an everlasting hope in the resurrection power of God through Jesus Christ in their lives for eternity!

The third thing we learned was about love. Specifically what our perception of love is: is it love as we know it (love for mankind as evidenced by even the God-less people of the preceding paragraphs), or love as GOD INTENDS it to be displayed through us?

The love of God is by choice and does not involve merit in the one receiving the love (agape). Many of us have “brotherly” love (phileo), which is altogether different, although there are some who lack even that. And as disciples of Christ, we are definitely to have phileo or brotherly love. But if that love begins and ends in us (as in the do-gooders example), then it is not of God (agape), but of the world alone. Agape love involves a deliberate decision to love, rather than love resulting from a sentiment or feeling. It is un-warranted love, unmerited love, and most importantly it is unchanging love since it is not subject to the caprice of emotions. Once decided upon, that love is faithful and consistent, never changing. That is the agape love, with which, the Bible tells us, God first loved us and then we loved Him.

Before we love our brethren as God intended, we must first have experienced and been filled with the agape love of God and towards God. That can only happen if we are born-again by the power of God through Jesus Christ. We are to be dead to self, and alive only to Jesus Christ who lives and reigns in our mortal bodies. The love that Jesus displayed while He walked this earth was the agape love of the Holy Spirit (God Himself) dwelling within Jesus, enabling Him (as the Holy Spirit does with us also) to love God first and foremost and then to love His brethren also, esteeming them to be higher than Himself, even to the point of crucifixion for their sakes. That love must reign in our mortal bodies so that we can then love God and others. But it comes from Him to us, it does not originate within ourselves, for there is nothing good in us. All of our own works that are not directed or born of God’s will, will be burned in the fire, they will not stand as evidence of our love in the courtroom of God.

Jesus said, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self.” (Matthew 22:38-40) To attempt to do the second commandment, without first having a new heart towards God given to us by God Himself enabling us to do the first commandment, results in us being fruitless (displaying no fruit of the Spirit as seen in Galatians 5 and therefore unable to draw other souls to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through our testimony) and any branch that bears no fruit is cut off and cast into the fire. In John 15:6 Jesus says “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” That last is a description of hell, of course, reserved for those in whom Christ does not dwell.

But for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, who have been filled with God’s agape love shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who have been born again, washed and set free from our sin by the resurrection power of God by grace through faith in the blood of Jesus shed for us, who recognize that our very existence and usefulness comes only from the root of the vine (Jesus) which sustains us as a branch bearing fruit, who abide in the Word as He abides in us, who love God as evidenced by our very acts of faithful obedience to Him, who rejoice in suffering for His Name’s sake, who worship God with a heart full of thanksgiving in all situations whether hungry or full, rich or poor...FOR US the horizon looms with love and joy and peace and all the blessings of God, including eternal life, no matter what the world’s economic or political future holds. For we serve the One True God who promises never to leave us nor forsake us and Who loved us enough to die for us.

There is a lot to be thankful to God for this Thanksgiving. There is a lot to worship God for this Christmas.

May you be a “fruitful giver” of God’s love toward all mankind through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, during these holidays and for years to come.

Have a happy Thanksgiving, a blessed Christmas and a prosperous New Year, “prospering even as your soul prospers”, God keeping us all.

See you in January.