In him we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
which he lavished
upon us, in all wisdom and insight making
known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set
forth in Christ as
a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven
and things on earth” - (Ephesians 1:7-10).
Somewhere on the African Plains - Where's the road? |
Growing up on the periphery of the great Serengeti Plains
was a fantastic privilege. If only I had
my I-phone! Well, on second thought, I
am glad I didn't have one because I have noticed a growing reliance on the
thing. Not only am I obsessed with
staying in constant communication with far too many people, but I am
increasingly becoming more reliant on Siri’s voice in my ear bud to tell me how
to get places!
Most of you may not see any problem with that, but too me it
is a big deal. To understand, why let me
take you back to my childhood in Tanzania.
First, understand that in those days there were many times that the
roads we traveled were nothing more than tire tracks across the Savannah, and
at times even they would disappear. A
game my father would play with me was once out in the middle of nowhere, he ask
if I could find my way home. He was amused by my uncanny ability to get back to
where we needed to be without the help of a map, compass or even an I-phone.
Truth be told, I have always had decent directionality, but
the key to my success was that my father taught me to be aware of my
surroundings. Therefore when you head
out into the bush it was essential to be are aware of hills, trees, etc., so
they can be used as points of reference to get yourself back.
To this day I use landmarks to remember where I am to the
point that I often can’t tell you the names of the roads. But sadly, I am concerned I am starting to
lose that skill. Yes, it may be the
aging process, but I think it is because I get caught up in my thoughts and
simply trust the voice in my ear bud to tell me where to go. The problem comes when Siri loses that
essential GPS signal and all of sudden you have to figure out where you are!
When you haven’t been paying attention and don’t carry one of those old
fashioned paper maps, that’s a problem!
I have found that many of us live our spiritual lives in the
same fashion. We get so caught in the
present that when even a minor glitch occurs it is tremendously
disruptive. No, this not the fault of
all of our gadgets, but has been a problem since the Fall when sin polluted our
lives and consequentially we gained a tendency toward self-absorption. The more into ourselves we become, the less
we are aware of our surroundings and specifically for Believers the more we
miss that God is doing something glorious.
As a result we often feel spiritually lost, not know where we are, or
what to do. We lose perspective.
However, the God of all grace who has forgiven His children
of the all their trespasses, also promises grace to help us see the picture
when all is lost. In fact, He lavishes
us with wisdom and insight into what He is about. On the micro level that is an awareness of
our sin, and His wealth of grace that covers every sin, past, present, and
future. He has always loved us and always
will! On the macro level it is that He
has a plan that is being worked out right now for “the fullness of time”. Pause
and think about that for a minute. God
loved His children “before the
foundations of the world” and has a plan that takes them through the “the fullness of time”. That is incredible!
This “fullness of time” began when Christ came to earth
(Galatians 4:4), where He began a glorious re-creation process of taking us
back to a big and better garden where there is a uniting or reconciling of all
things in Christ. The new heavens and the
new earth will be free of the consequences of a fallen world. In fact, ““For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the
pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:22).
Here is my point. As
you look around please understand that if you are a Believer in Jesus Christ
you are not lost! He has you in His
hands, and as we will see in the next blog, He has given you something far
superior to an I-phone to get you home!
If you are looking around and are concerned that our world or our
country is lost, please know that King Jesus reigns over all things and His
kingdom is expanding right now! Nothing
can stop it!
You are not lost, and all is not lost! Now that is good news!
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