Eternally Minded

Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe, Doing exactly what the L ORD commands, doing it happily. Action is the key, do it immediately.  Joy you will receive!  Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe! I'm sure nearly everyone has heard that Sunday School song at one point or another. But if you take a close look at the words, some of them are very profound and challenging. That line, "Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe" is like a hammer to the ego when it sinks in. How often do we obey? Like, really obey? What is obedience? Is it just doing as we're told, or it there more to it than that?  Obedience is defined as a " compliance with an order, request, or law or submission to another's authority."  Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive... Hebrews 13:17 You can outwardly obey without being submissive on the inside. We do it all the time.  Obedience which is n...

Like a fog that mind sets on, I do my tasks Of all I'm asked, So I walk the weary day long. The world surrounds me where'er I roam. Themselves they see, Speaking blasphemy; It stays in my thoughts as I go home. I have no escape as time rushes by. Devotions are lacking. My soul is left wanting. Read a verse or two, check the time, and sigh. Where has my love for God gone? I do virtuous deeds. I fulfill all my needs. Is He to me but a pawn? Moments of seeking consume me. God's voice I can't hear. I pant as a deer. Where is His face? I cannot see. But I will remember His promises. Though my way seems dark, And my sin drawn stark, I will hope and cling to His faithfulness. Glory be to Christ! For He is holy. Indescribable. Incomparable. To stand before Him, I am not worthy. What no man can do, God can. Each act that is chosen, In every moment, God's known and has fit in His plan. Chri...

" God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel-- and God knew ."  (Exodus 2:24+25) The Bible is filled with the works of God. In the New Testament, Jesus performed countless miracles: healing thousands of the sick, restoring sight and sound to the blind and deaf, casting out demons, even raising the dead. During His time on earth, His presence changed the lives of everyone He came in contact with, and it continues to do so. Not as commonly known, God Almighty was very active in the Old Testament. When I recently read Exodus, I tried to take note of all the references to something God had done or promised to do. And there were a lot . So many that I was astonished. Fact is, God's providence surrounds us every step of our journey. He is orchestrating everything that happens, even if we don't know it or acknowledge it. (See one of our previous posts: Providence) Take the ocean...

The Holy Bible isn't just a rule book. Many read the Bible to know how God wants us to live our lives. Which is true; it contains God's detailed will for every aspect of our life, but if were just a rule book we would be hopeless: because we cannot keep God's law. The Holy Bible isn't just a story. It is a story of God's redemption for sinful people, but we don't read it just for information or to study history and good literature. The Holy Bible does not save you by reading it. We must hear the gospel in order to believe it, but reading it does not satisfy the wrath of God or undo the punishment for our sin. The Holy Bible isn't just to learn about God. We don't read it to know about, we read it to know God and draw near to him in gratefulness,worship,fear and love. The Holy Bible isn't read to gain more favor with God. As Christians we cannot be any better in the sight of God, because His Son's righteousness is laid on our account. So we s...

Moses said to the L ORD , "Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither in the past or since you have spoken to Your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue." Then the L ORD said to him, "Who made man's mouth? Who made him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the L ORD ? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak." But he said, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else..." (Exodus 4:10-13) Moses, a courageous hero of the faith, doubted the L ORD . He doubted His supreme control - that He actually knew what He was doing. When the L ORD planned to bring the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, He chose Moses. For His own glory, He chose to use a man who had a speech hindrance to speak to Pharaoh and be the means of God's deliverance to His people. The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph... And the virgin...

We have a tendency to try to fit God into a box. The problem is that an infinite God cannot fit into the finite boxes we create. One way we try to limit God is by limiting His sovereignty in our lives. What I mean by that is that we try to make God do what we want Him to or expect him to act in the way we think He should act. We expect God to bless those who do good and curse those who do wrong; which isn’t against God’s nature except that we look for these blessings and curses in our physical day to day. The result of this type of thinking is disastrous, because God rarely gives us what we think we deserve. When we see a good person lose a loved one, struggle financially, or suffer an illness, we think God is either cruel; that the person had some secret sin, or they didn’t have enough faith. When we see a wicked person thrive in his evil doings, we think that God isn’t fair, God delights in evil, or God doesn’t see or chooses to ignore their sin (Psalm 73). We can easily think t...

Without a doubt, everyone has needed forgiveness at one (or more) points in their lives. Whether you grabbed a toy from a friend as a child, gossiped behind someone’s back as a teenager, or was dishonest to an employer as an adult, you’ve had to humble yourself and ask for forgiveness. Then there’s the other end of the balance, where maybe you were the one wronged and you had to find it in your heart to forgive someone. Sadly, that stinging hurt is all too common. Today, when the respect for people’s feelings and emotions is more sensitive than ever, it's still in our nature to stick up for ourselves, even at the expense of someone else’s pain. We’ve all been here, right? Definitely. This happened to me. Only, I didn’t know about it until a little while ago. All I can say is, the Lord is gracious to open my eyes to it when He did. If it had been any other time in my life, I would’ve been full of hate, bitterness, and anger. But now, when I am closer to my Saviour...