Jacobs Thoughts and Doings

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”   So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.  What can mere mortals do to me?”

Hebrews 13:5, 6

Love of money!  This usually means, I need more!  Who has enough?  The Spirit of the Lord speaks gently to me, “You have enough! Be content with what you have.”

We need money, that we know, but when that pushes God aside and we begin to depend on money, we will certainly lose our faith in God and exchange that for faith in our ability to get and manage money!  The writer to the Hebrews challenges us – me – to depend entirely on Jesus, not money.  In our time, this sounds a bit strange but it is eternally true.  Lord, teach me to depend on You, entirely and always!  And many thanks for looking after my financial needs with your loving care.

One thing is for sure, there will be no money in glory!  God is enough.  I rest on that.

This may not sound great to you!  It was huge for me.

I had spent several years in Africa and tried to view the world through their eyes, the best I could.  That was a struggle, to be sure.

I did not expect the change that overcame me when early one morning on the coast of Somalia I experienced something that really upset the cozy world I grew up with – that is that the earth revolves around the sun!  But that did not prepare me for the moment when, as I stood on the beach of Somalia, looking east, I assumed that I would see the sun coming up.  Behold, I saw and detected something that I never experienced before – instead of seeing the sun coming up, I saw something that I could barely believe.  I saw the earth going down!  The sun did not change one bit.  I stood there, amazed, because I did not see the sun rise, I saw the earth fall!  It slipped downward.  In the morning? Yes. I was experiencing something new, something that would change me, deeply.  That experience so changed my way of looking at reality that it almost undid me.  It was a new world!

That experience helped me greatly.  Different cultures often have different ways of viewing reality.  They are shaped by their view of the world as I am shaped by mine.

So, where is Jesus in my view of the world?  He is the sun!  We revolve around Him!  Earthly things are temporary, at best.

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way.

2 Thessalonians 2:16

I cannot begin to take the initiative in my desire to experience the peace of God, in fact, this scripture reminds me that this revelation is of God who gives me true peace that I need now and forever.  It is revelation of God’s own mercy and grace.

This marvelous peace is not something that we discover or earn, it is a gift of God, entirely.  It is His peace and He alone gives it.

I have countless reasons to be troubled!  How about you?  The invitation to receive God’s peace is precious beyond thought.  As believers, this is indeed not only possible but essential for our life with Him.

Now we who have believed enter that rest.

Hebrews 4:3

A few years ago, I wrote a book containing 365 meditations on the book of Hebrews.  It was a blessing to write it and blessed many who have read it and still do.  When writing it, I recall how overcome I was with idea of one of God’s greatest gifts to us who believe, rest!  Today that is even more real and a gift that is just too good to believe, except God has provided us with it, rest.  The writer of the Book of Hebrews exalts in it.

I wrote that book when I was in full health.  Today as I am aging, I am learning all over again, it seems, the blessing God provides for me and all who believe, REST.  It is a gift that I have not thought too much about, but a wonderful gift it is!  In the blizzard of changes that I am going through these days, physical, emotional and even spiritual, that rest is tested.  Praise God, I do believe I am at rest!  As we sing, I am resting on the everlasting arms.  For one thing, I have nothing else to rely on.  But that is not a bane but a blessing.  It is what we learn in our life with God, to embrace HIS REST.  When all fails, my rest in God does not fail or disappoint, it is forever.

I begin this 2019 resting.  Lord, grant me daily rest, undeserved but much appreciated.

“God is exalted in his power.  Who is a teacher like him?

Job 36:22

Bless Job!  He went through a lot – things that tried his soul.  The book of Job traces his problems.  The remarkable thing is that after all is done, Job confesses with all his heart that God is all powerful and the mighty teacher!  This gives us all hope.  If Job can come through it all with this testimony, we can certainly depend on the power of God like he did to cause us to understand and to give us peace in life’s challenges.

I am now in my nineties and can understand this better than ever.  I stand with Job saying with all my heart that Jesus is my teacher, has been and ever will be.  The issues facing us as we add years open doors for us to grasp Him by faith and cling to Him, always!

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.  You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.

Psalm 73:23  24

“Yet.”  No matter how weak I am.  No matter how I see my needs, I know one thing, after all the “yets” of life, Jesus is always with me!  Is there a more wonderful word of consolation, of love?  I think not.

Why can we have this confidence, that God loves us?  By embracing this truth, that God upholds me with his right hand.  God knows my weakness.  He knows that his hand grips me.  That hand grip assures me of His unfailing love.

That gives us hope and confidence to face the new year with all that it will bring.  Therefore, I need God’s guidance, daily, hourly.  That will enable me to walk with Him.  With hands holding one another we walk into the year with confidence, knowing that God’s hand pulls us to his eternal glory.

May this be in my mind, in my heart and in my prayers as I enter this year, 2019.

Before the fireworks and all that we have a nice, cozy meal of fondue.  Jane orders the mix on the internet.  We are very fond of this meal, enjoyed almost every New Years’ eve.  The bread is ready, the fondue will arrive shortly.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

 Philippians:3: 13, 14

Our Daily Light begins the year with this marvelous teaching.  For some, Paul was a super Christian.  He did not see it that way. There was much more, he wrote, that he can take hold of.  In Christ, we never stop growing.

The secret as we begin the year 2019 is to put the past behind us, in a good way, and to strain toward what is ahead.  What is that?  Paul wrote that he desires to win the prize for which God has called him heavenward in Christ Jesus.  That, he proposed, is a good plan for us, as well.   He encourages us to expend our spiritual energy to follow Jesus, no matter what.

We live on the earth, but we are pulled toward heaven where Jesus reigns.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.

2 Peter 1:5 – 7

This is the last day of 2018.  I can not begin to cite the new realities, or old ones rediscovered, in this year, now coming to a close.  I faced new personal challenges, health issues and other matters.  I released myself from serving on committees, a feature of my life all these years.  After two accidents I have given up driving.  I have done little travel outside of the local running, a change that I knew was coming.  It did not seem as difficult as I had at first imagined.  My personal health is one thing after another, especially a deterioration of what my blood should be doing.  As we humans grow older, we do find ourselves in new contexts, certainly.

Enough of that.  What really matters is what I am learning about walking with Jesus, looking to Him to take me by the hand.  Peter notes them one after another.  Faith.  Goodness.  Knowledge.  Self-control.  Perseverance.   Godliness.  Mutual affection.  And, to bind it all together, love.

I keep thinking I have learned to walk with Jesus.  Seeing this list, I bow my head and submit myself, once again, to the loving care of my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.  I need his Holy Spirit to infill me and instruct me in the way of faith.