Friday, November 20, 2020
Given this Beauty,
To Claim to be Self-made
OR
to Worship God as the Giver of Everything,
For which do you think God created the universe?
Daniel 2:21
He changes times and seasons, deposes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
Revelation 15:3-4
They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: ‘Great and amazing are your deeds, Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, King of the nations! Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your judgments have been revealed.’
Words of Grace For Today
While it is so easy to proceed through life under the illusion that one has made one’s own success, or to accept that one should have and failed by not making one’s own success; this is the curse of persistent evil from generation to generation. We learn that one must work hard. The modern myth is that everyone is equal and has equal opportunity; thus those that are wealthy, powerful, and famous have done something to make it so for themselves. And everyone else has failed to live life the way it should be lived.
God gives us all sorts of signs, messages, and roadblocks in life to help us see that God alone determines who the powerful are, and which powerful people fall. God alone gives knowledge and wisdom to whom he chooses – though it is not the self-help book kind of pull yourself up and make something of yourself. God alone changes times and seasons
(though one has to wonder if Daylight Savings Time is not the work of the devil to disrupt our lives on such a fundamental basis – all so that the wealthy can become wealthier, at the expense of the safety and sanity of the populous.)
God alone is pure holy. God alone judges the nations. God alone is just and true, always.
Wealth, power, and fame may seem to be attractive, something to strive for, something to covet. Who would not wish that life be at least a bit, if not considerably more comfortable, secure, controlled, and longer. This is not, though, what God created us for.
God created us to worship and praise God, in all we say, do and hope for. God makes it possible for us wretched sinners to do this, by Grace alone, through Jesus’ sacrifice to redeem us and free us from our sins.
So what will you do this day?
Will you strive to make your own way in life? And take the credit for your success … or for your failure to become wealthy, powerful, and/or famous?
Or will you give God thanks and praise for all the life, the gifts, and the wisdom that God pours out on you each day?
The sinner in us will certainly strive to make itself.
The child of God, saint by God’s Grace, will recognize the giver of everything
with a grateful heart
and with a voice, with hands, and with feet that reflect Christ’ Grace to everyone.
We are simultaneous saint and sinner, all the time, everyone of us. We can but beg for God’s mercy, grace and love.
What a beautiful life!