STAYING FRESH AND FLOURISHING (5)

Thank you for showing so much interest in my blogging and especially this latest series. What a crazy world we are living in, what with the massacres in Kenya and Pakistan in the last 24 hours, I wonder if it is the enemy’s last try before Jesus returns. We know no one knows the day or the hour of the Lord’s return, but there are at least two things we can do:

1.Look for the many signs that are recorded in the Word of God,

2. Be ready for the Lord’s return by staying fresh and flourishing.

The sign of aging I want to look at today  is cancer. Of course it effects every age group bust especially the aged. Right now I have a special uncle (in his 80’s) who is really struggling with this cursed thing.  Now what do I mean spiritually ?

The writer to Hebrews talks about the root of bitterness (Heb. 12.15) springing up, and not only causing trouble in the believer, but many others  defiled by it as well. We have mentioned before that everyone of us  have been “bruised by the calamities of life”, everyone of us have been hurt by the things that had been said and done to us. The human response is to react, if not verbally, but to harbour unforgiveness and bitterness in our heart. The reality is the Christian life is a “no win situation” if we react we are the loser. I heard recently this excellent  illustration, we drink poison (harbour unforgiveness) but expect the other person to die. We will always be the loser unless we learn to forgive. If any of my past students read this they may remember me saying. “Your walk with God, and maintaining your peace is more important that the turkeys”,

We must remember that God is sovereign, that “all things work together for good” Rom. 8.28, the Lord has permitted the painful situation to occur because He wants to use it to work in our lives to make us more like Himself.  If you harbour unforgiveness  you block the agape love of God flowing in your heart, so we walk in disobedience because we cannot fulfil the Lord’s command to love one another even as He loved us, the proof of our discipleship is that  everyone will know we are His disciples because we LOVE.

I am not suggesting it is easy, often far from it, especially if you have to continue to come in contact with the person that hurt you particularly if it was obviously intentional. There are numerous times when a brother or sister may  hurt you but it was totally unintentional. We need to do as Paul tell us in Ephesians to speak the truth in LOVE, so that we can maintain the relationship with them.

His grace is sufficient, and we can forgive, as humans we are not capable of totally forgetting but we must not let the past hinder us in the present (or in the future).

We have surely hurt the Lord sometime by things we may have said and done, He is our perfect example, and just as He forgave us, so we can forgive.

In the Christian life we cannot afford to relax for a moment, we have our own depraved heart to contend with (Jer.17.9), and an enemy who wants us to fail.

WE CAN STAY FRESH AND FLOURISHING, JUST STAY UNDER THE SPOUT WHERE THE GLORY COMES OUT