Praise the Lord for the first day of
February. It is already Springtime somewhere on God's wonderful
world. The Lord blanketed our region with some fresh and magnificent
snow. It is a snow lover's paradise. People of all ages enjoy
the wonderful creation and its beauty. As the sun begins to dawn the
hills and meadows are sparkling. Praise the Lord for His imminence in the
world, and for His intervention and even Holy interruption in the affairs and
events of the world. His unseen hand, mighty and merciful is at work in this
world. Praise the Lord for the One who hears our prayers. He knows
our names. He answers our prayers. Thank you all for praying
fervently and passionately for me. I am feeling stronger and feel the
wellness of the Lord within and without. I am deeply grateful and
thankful. Alice and I will be driving to Boston today for a routine visit
with my doctor in Boston. The best part of this trip is being able to
visit with our grandchildren in Boston: Micah, Simeon, and Ada. Micah is
now 11 years old. She is a born musician, who is gregarious and friendly,
and is blessed with s servant heart. Simeon is 9 year
old. He is energetic, and is very creative with an engineering
mind. He can build some amazing and spectacular structures with
Lego. He has deep knowledge about the Lord. Ada just turned 6
last month. She is daring and bold, and very independent at times.
They are all winsome and beautiful. We thank Jesus for them.
Robert
Bellah, in his book, "Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in
American Life", which is a sociological study of modern America, and
probably the most important book written in the 80’s, quotes one of the people
in his case study as saying, “I don’t think there are answers in life. I
think there are only really good dialogues.” When Bella asked what a good
dialogue might be like, the person said it would be one where “there’s just no
one right.” How typical of so many in our culture today. The
problem we are faced with is that there is Someone who is right, and until we
learn to submit our minds and hearts to him, until we learn to follow him and
seek for his truth, we will miss the whole point of life. It is that
crucial. Dr. Richard Lenski, a great Bible teacher and writer, once said,
“The Gospel is not. . . an argument, a piece of reasoning that is gauged to
convince [people]; it is only an announcement. And the astounding thing
about this announcement is the fact that it meets our hearts square on, in a
direct clash, that it aims to reverse them completely, to set them going in the
very opposite direction.”
When
we meet Jesus face to face, our lives are changed. He captures our lives
and seizes our hearts and transforms them through His wonderful grace and
power. in this direct confrontation, Jesus always wins. In the
words of Bishop Gustaf Allen, "Christ is the Victor, and He never loses a
battle." We come to Jesus in full surrender, with our mind, our
heart, and our will made subject to Him. In the words of the hymn writer,
"All to Jesus I surrender; all to Him I freely give. I will ever
love and trust Him, in His presence daily live." We report to Him,
once we have surrendered to Him and become His captive, and it is there that we
find our total freedom. In serving Christ there is perfect freedom.
According to St. Augustine, "God was a master, 'whom to serve is perfect
freedom'".
The
Bible says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone
who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who
earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). There is a peace and a confidence
that comes when we realize that God is more real than we are, and we surrender
to his truth. What is important is not so much that we believe in
him in a general sense, but whether we belong to him body and
soul. We cannot exist one moment without him. We need him
and we need to understand that He is with us, and that He has a direction for
our lives.
The
Bible says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we
do not see. . . . By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s
command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews
11:1,3). He is so much more than just impersonal or
artificial Intelligence. He is irresistible Joy. He is
eternal, inexhaustible Love. He is rapturous Beauty. He comes
to us and opens himself to fellowship with us, his creation.
In Christ,
Brown
