Here we are approaching mid October. 2020 has been a year swiftly moving but full of lessons for us all. As the leaves turn from the lush green of summer to the golden hues of Autumn it is time to think, and reflect. In full array of peak color, the foliage falls to the ground, and a new season unfolds as we are reminded that time is passing and life is very brief.
What are the lessons such drastic change have brought to our minds and souls in this time of uncertainty and upheaval? Im sure we would all have a different story to tell. For myself, I am learning that I need to trust God more, a lot more. For He giveth beauty for ashes. Though these lessons of life are not easily grasped, they are faithfully taught by one whose way is best and has taken upon Himself the charge of keeper of my soul. There are times when His way is clouded, dim, and the path unclear. He is no less in charge of my destiny and my well being. His way is best. Tragedy strikes, losses mount, and there are those moments when we wonder, is life over for me? If you still have a beating heart, life is not over for you, and the shepherd of your soul has work for you to do, and blessings to be enjoyed. This is the GOD of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. The God who can take your life, if he wants to, and allow it to be shattered, all your dreams wiped away, only to your utter amazement, to recreate, in His time, something more beautiful, precious and awe inspiring than what had been before. He is the creator, the great shepherd of our souls, and sometimes I wonder if we truly know Him very well after all. Or are we like David, and would have to confess, Lord I am a stranger with thee, a sojourner in this life ,as were my fathers who have gone before me.
Life is a gift given by God. Life passes, and one day it ends. For all of us, this is true, each one of us, no exceptions. We shall all give an account to our most high God one day. The greatest task in life is to receive Jesus Christ, to welcome Him, and trust on Him for eternal life. We may sin, be trapped in some kind of sin, falter repeatedly, yet He offers eternal everlasting forgiveness. But if we fail of faith on Him, we have no hope. The stark reality is that we don’t have forever to get it right. The Bible says our lives are but a vapor. Here for a little while and then gone away. Its so true! As I walk in the woods, listen to the birds, hear the wind blow the crisp dry leaves across the ground, and look at all that God has made, I realize how transient I am. I cannot possess what is before me, or anything that I see with my human eye. But Christ, He offers Himself to me! I may posses Him. He that hath the Son, hath life, He that hath not the Son hath not life. John 5:13. I can have Jesus Christ. There is little time to waste indulging the flesh, though it constantly beckons us to do so. It is our loss if we give in.
One day soon we will be in eternity, either at the throne of God worshipping Him, or in the abyss of hell cursing Him in torment. All of us will consciously experience one of these two realities. What determines our fate? Good works verses evil? A morally upstanding life? Surrender to a sacrificial life of service? The truth is that the grace of God cannot be earned. Salvation is of the Lord! I cannot earn God’s grace, or His favor or eternal life. I must receive it. I cannot offer anything to Him, I must take from Him. It shouldn’t be hard. Most people easily accept a free gift, but this is hard. Surprisingly hard. As I take communion I must take eternal life from Him in faith, for that is the only way to get it. To take it from Him, as He offers it. But oh to ignore Him, to refuse Him, is certain death.
Sadly, the big lie that trips us up, is the belief that we must somehow make ourselves worthy to God….an impossible task. The lie goes, we must love him first, repent of who we are, and forsake the very essence of our being and become an offering to Him! This is a false hope, for He knows all about who we are. He came to seek and save that which was lost. He did not come to save the righteous, but rather the sick, poor, naked, blind, and ungodly. He offers us who He is! He does not ask us to transform who we are to be saved. That is His work, and His alone. He died to save us from that person, that wretched old man of sin. That is why He came, to be our Saviour and offer up His life a ransom for many!
Sarah Hopkins Art 