Well, Easter has come and gone, the ears have been eaten off of the chocolate bunnies, the potato salad is gone (or should be so throw it out), the left over roast and ham is eaten. But I'm still thinking about it (Easter, not the ham, although it was quite good). In fact with Easter out of the way, I think I'm getting down to the nitty and the gritty of it. Paul wrote a lot about it. Continually he wrote "I preach Christ crucified", "I am crucified with Christ", just take a look at the 1st and 2nd chapters of I Corinthians. Galatians, Hebrews, etc. This preaching 'Christ crucified' is what makes it all work. In I Cor 1, he writes that basically there are two kind of people who reject this 'crucified Christ'; those looking for a sign, a miracle, physical evidence that Jesus is the Messiah and those looking for a logical argument (ch 1, v 22). The Apostles including Paul, gave them those arguments. There were displays of miracles and they could reason from the scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah, the Lord, the King, the Lion and the Lamb, etc. The problem wasn't and still isn't for a lack of evidence, the problem is unbelief, fear, and a clinging to the old life. For those who believe in the crucified Christ, in ch 1, v24; Paul writes that He is the 'power of God' and the 'wisdom of God', i.e., power = the display of evidence, and wisdom = the apologetics side, the good argument.
When we cling to unbelief and fear, there will never be enough miracles, never enough logical proofs, never enough demonstrations of any kind that will make us believe. He gives us enough, actually more than enough so that we can believe. Not only faith for salvation but faith for daily Christian life, to walk out and work out our salvation. Now to tie it back to former posts, to do this daily requires change or repentance. We don't even really have to seek change out, in fact I think it's best that we don't, and just trust Him to bring it to us. He knows more about what we need than we do. Only do the things I suggested before; pray, study scripture, fellowship and so forth. These things put us in the right frame, the right mentality to receive the gift of repentance.
Recently I have been watching 'The Gospel of John' on youtube.com , taken from the Good News Bible (I think), I am struck by how the leaders who should have known, who I think really did know, that Jesus was the Messiah, kept asking 'who are you', 'prove to us who you are', etc; and yet in spite of the miracles, the healings and so on, they refused to believe. They chose willingly to remain in unbelief, pride, fear, doubt and in the end, lost their place and the temple (destroyed in 70 A.D.). If they had believed, even with the temple destroyed, they would have had an Eternal Temple, as that is what Jesus is. He does the work of the cross, the Holy Spirit is sent and the work of the Church (His Bride) begins and he goes to the Father to prepare a place (a real Home) for His Bride. In Ephesians (you will have to read the whole book, but see 4:13,15), Paul writes that the Church must 'grow up' until it reaches the full stature of Jesus. That is some big shoes to fill, but this is the Word of God, not something I am making up. How does it happen? Read Ephesians, but if you at least follow Ch 4:11-16 you will find out that He gave Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers to perfect the saints (us), that we become one in unity, until we reach the size of Jesus. (That is what it says.) And that we all do what we are supposed to, supplying what we can to the rest of the body of faith and we do this through love. This is the Big Gospel.
I wrote last time that I strongly encourage praying the Lord's Prayer as a good place to start (and finish for that matter) and a good friend Tracy Hernandez (of Leonard & Tracy fame) wrote a paraphrase that I recommend as being worthy of serious prayer and meditation. I relay it here with permission.
Our Father in Heaven-
You are so incredibly and amazingly holy. I pray that your plan, your ways, your heart would be alive and flowing freely here on earth, just as in heaven. I thank you for being so close to us, providing for every need we have, every day. And I thank you for forgiving me over and over again even when I don't deserve it. Teach me to have that kind of forgiveness for others. Lord, please keep me away from all that is evil. Don't let me be tempted to follow after the lures of this world, but to keep my eyes fixed on you. For all of this will soon pass away, and it is You, Your Kingdom, Your Power, and Your Glory that will last forever.
So I recently published on Kindle, so you can get some fiction for $1.49 that I wrote on the themes of 'Hope' and 'Change'. Look for my name Marty Shrader or the title 'Highway 50 Tales and Two More' and the paperback edition should be out anytime on www.amazon.com (paperback edition is $9.95)
