On the Road

There are times in our lives that this road we travel, as believers, is filled with hills, stops, curves, smooth sections and rough sections. There are those roads that are wide-open and you can see what is coming for miles in all directions. Then there are those roads that are lined with trees and you cannot see what is around the next bend. Sometimes the sun is shining bright and other times the moon is not even out.

No matter what section of road you may be on today, there are promises that we can claim to give us confidence to keep going and to not give up. In Romans 8, the Apostle Paul gives us a wonderful promise of God’s love and the promise of Christ’s presence in our lives.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  

As it is written

 “For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we               are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39 ESV)

Those who would want to separate us from God cannot, life and death cannot; nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of Christ. So, in light of this truth and promise, what is there to fear? What part of the road, no matter its condition, should discourage us? With the wonderful promises of God, we should face each situation with the confidence of “conquerors” and not give into fear or the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6) or his desire to devour us. (1 Peter 5:8).

To borrow a term from the 70”s; “keep on trucking” with Jesus!

No Rejoicing Here

The events of this week have been incredible. Our national leaders and our military have done a great job in seeking justice for all the lives lost on September 11, 2001 and those lost before and after, that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for taking. I am grateful that our Navy Seals were not injured or killed during the recent mission to find Osama Bin Laden.
What saddens me is the unfortunate reaction of some Christian in "rejoicing" at Bin Laden's death. Whether he was deserving of death or not, we should not rejoice in it. There is only one reason that we should not rejoice in the death of the wicked and that reason is because God does not rejoice in the death of the wicked. Ezekiel 33:11 states "Say to them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?'"
The principle here is that God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked. His desire is that all would come to repentance and faith in Him. We know that not everyone comes to faith in God through Jesus Christ our Lord, but we should not rejoice in their death.