Isaiah 4:3
And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem
See other references to the book of life and the enrolling, enlistment, recording of those in it HERE.
Those enrolled get their name on the list by grace through faith in Jesus alone.
The velvet rope remains closed unless your name is on the list.
It's not a matter of you knowing the Owner of the club, it's a matter of the Owner of the club knowing you and putting your name on His list.
Everyone trying to get into the club knows the Owner.
Only those whom the Owner knows get in, however.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
day no. 13,071: origins
Acts 17:26
From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.Happy Birthday Dad!
My dad is 76 today!
Without you, there'd be no me.
Also, it's my parents' 37th wedding anniversary today!
Still going strong after all these years.
Without your marriage, there'd be no me.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
day no. 13,070: the reason is entirely unreasonable
Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be as white as snow;though they are red like crimson,they shall become like wool."
It is utterly ridiculous that God would suggest that a meeting of minds between us and Him would reasonably produce our salvation.
God's logic is this: look to Me and be saved.
The meeting will NOT involve God pretending we aren't sinners.
Nope.
He will not tolerate our sins as mere blunders on an otherwise unblemished resume.
They are blood red.
And He will shed red blood to make them white as snow.
They are permanent blemishes that ruin us like worn out fabric.
He will make us new material altogether.
“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be as white as snow;though they are red like crimson,they shall become like wool."
It is utterly ridiculous that God would suggest that a meeting of minds between us and Him would reasonably produce our salvation.
God's logic is this: look to Me and be saved.
The meeting will NOT involve God pretending we aren't sinners.
Nope.
He will not tolerate our sins as mere blunders on an otherwise unblemished resume.
They are blood red.
And He will shed red blood to make them white as snow.
They are permanent blemishes that ruin us like worn out fabric.
He will make us new material altogether.
Monday, August 4, 2014
day no. 13,069: our chores no more!
Ephesians 2:15
...by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he (Jesus) might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace
Jesus abolished the Law in His person by living out the Law and nailing it to the Cross along with our sins.
Having lived the perfect life and died a sinner's death, He becomes a double-cure:
He is the tree of life from which we ought to have eaten and He is the gruesome death deserved after consuming fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
...by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he (Jesus) might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace
Jesus abolished the Law in His person by living out the Law and nailing it to the Cross along with our sins.
Having lived the perfect life and died a sinner's death, He becomes a double-cure:
He is the tree of life from which we ought to have eaten and He is the gruesome death deserved after consuming fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Friday, August 1, 2014
day no. 13,066: the end of the great experiment
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Here is conclusion to the great experiment.
Fear God and keep His commandments.
That is the duty of each and every man and woman.
God will judge every deed, every word, every thought, every ambition, every intention, etc...
Nothing will remain secret or unexposed.
The good and the bad will both be brought to the light.
Believe and behave in response to who He is:
Fear, love, respect, honor, appreciate, value and worship Him.
Observe, study, apply and teach what He commands.
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Here is conclusion to the great experiment.
Fear God and keep His commandments.
That is the duty of each and every man and woman.
God will judge every deed, every word, every thought, every ambition, every intention, etc...
Nothing will remain secret or unexposed.
The good and the bad will both be brought to the light.
Believe and behave in response to who He is:
Fear, love, respect, honor, appreciate, value and worship Him.
Observe, study, apply and teach what He commands.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
day no. 13,065: making many books
Ecclesiastes 12:12
My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
There will always be something that you don't know.
Just accept it.
There is only so much that is actually worth knowing.
And no matter how much you know, if you don't know the stuff worth knowing, you don't know much.
If you ignore first things for knowing things 2 through 50, you still haven't learned that first things should be first.
Knowing more about God is beneficial inasmuch as you worship Him for Who you know Him increasingly to be.
People don't hire new employees based on resumes alone.
Resumes are great and helpful in understanding who a person is, but you have to actually meet with the person to color in the gaps left merely by looking at information about a person.
Don't merely study God's resume.
Don't not study it, but don't study just that.
Get together with Him face to face and get to know Him.
He is worth knowing to the exclusion of everything else.
My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
There will always be something that you don't know.
Just accept it.
There is only so much that is actually worth knowing.
And no matter how much you know, if you don't know the stuff worth knowing, you don't know much.
If you ignore first things for knowing things 2 through 50, you still haven't learned that first things should be first.
Knowing more about God is beneficial inasmuch as you worship Him for Who you know Him increasingly to be.
People don't hire new employees based on resumes alone.
Resumes are great and helpful in understanding who a person is, but you have to actually meet with the person to color in the gaps left merely by looking at information about a person.
Don't merely study God's resume.
Don't not study it, but don't study just that.
Get together with Him face to face and get to know Him.
He is worth knowing to the exclusion of everything else.
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
day no. 13,064: are you devoted to a personal cause or to a Person who was and is the first cause?
I came across this today while reading Mr. Chambers
"Paul was devoted to a Person, not to a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ’s. He saw nothing else and he lived for nothing else."
It is easier to embrace principles than it is to embrace people.
It is easier to die on hills than to die to yourself.
Without Him our practices and principles point only to human progress.
Humanity will never progress to the point of paying off the debt that is owed in full.
Jesus paid it all.
The Person and work of Jesus Christ alone are the hope of humanity.
"Paul was devoted to a Person, not to a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ’s. He saw nothing else and he lived for nothing else."
It is easier to embrace principles than it is to embrace people.
It is easier to die on hills than to die to yourself.
Without Him our practices and principles point only to human progress.
Humanity will never progress to the point of paying off the debt that is owed in full.
Jesus paid it all.
The Person and work of Jesus Christ alone are the hope of humanity.
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