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Tag Archives: hope

WHAT KIND OF MAN?

10 Wednesday Apr 2019

Posted by Ron Thomas in Sound Doctrine

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healing, hope, Jesus

What kind of man is Jesus? He was no ordinary man, that is for sure. Yet, He came to this earth to endure the life ordinary men must live. Ordinary men are both those who are dressed in rags and those dressed in the finest of clothing, to say nothing of those in between. Jesus was no ordinary man, but He became ordinary for you and me.

Isn’t it good that He did? For certain! When there is one of us that struggles with sin, never thinking we are going to be able to overcome, is it not good that to Him each can turn? When there is one of us that struggles with the weight of the world against us (as we view the world), is it not good that to Him one can turn and see that He, too, struggled? When there is one of us that is lonely beyond measure, is it not good that to Him one can turn and find comfort and companion as each reflect on His time in the Garden of Gethsemane?

Jesus was able to sleep in a boat when the Sea around Him was tumultuous; the disciples were greatly afraid, even awakening Jesus to ask Him if He cared. Jesus cared, and in His answer to those who awoke Him He asked, “Where is your faith?” Seems a strange question, I suppose, but in fact it’s not strange at all. Perhaps in this question, the answers to man’s greatest struggles are found.

Where is your faith? My faith is in my inability to do as I know I should and to do as I know I want to. Is that not the problem? My faith is in me, or not in me (if you will). Because one’s faith is in self, the eyes of focus have been taken off Jesus. Yet the Holy Spirit exhorts that we are keep our eyes tuned straight ahead. The writer of Hebrews wrote, “Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (12:1-2, ASV).

Reflecting on the examples in Hebrews 11, the Holy Spirit said we should also reflect on them. One reflects best, in this circumstance, when one’s eyes are taken off oneself and places it on something else, namely, those who have walked ahead of us. We should also make a conscience decision to lay aside the weight that easily sets us back. How does one do that? To begin, get on your knees, then (second) remove your eyes off the object that tempts you; thirdly, most importantly, let each of us look unto Jesus. Not only because He is there to help us, but also because He is the author of salvation. This means we have come to understand that there is nothing in me that can make things right, but I can turn to Him who is the essence of right and know that He already made things right. What He requires of me is trust and obedience (cf. Luke 6:46).

Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God’s throne. What kind of man is Jesus? He is no ordinary man; He can tame the Sea, He can heal a demon-possessed person, He can overcome the academics of His day, He is the one who values one human soul over a heard of life-stock, He can tell a lonely and sinful woman to “sin no more.” He is the Lord!

While people fear the unknown and the world of demons, the demons fear the Author of Life.

Jesus is the man!

 

I Want God!

13 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by Ron Thomas in Uncategorized

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hope, Proverbs, Word to the Wise

There are a great many people living in this world who want God. They want God because only God makes sense with regard to meaning and purpose in life. There is nothing that atheism, agnosticism, or even some forms of skepticism can offer—it is always negative. Yet, for the people who want God, they don’t want God on His terms, but on their own. Because they think and live this way, they are not interested, many of them at least, in hearing anything of God’s will as expressed in the Scriptures (Bible). The Scriptures are rather clear about such an approach to life, and one can read it from Proverbs 14:12. There is a way which seems to be right with men, but the ends of it reach to the depths of hell (Brenton’s translation of Greek Old Testament (LXX)). Why is it that people struggle so much with this? It is not a struggle so much, but a desire to sooth one’s conscience when there is guilt laying within that is not addressed. RT

Atheism’s Dread

28 Wednesday Jan 2015

Posted by Ron Thomas in Uncategorized

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Tags

answers, atheism, existentialism, hope, materialism, reality

A few days back I received an email attachment from an atheistic friend of mine. He wrote some observations on what he perceived as the development of religion in relation to what he called “reality.” Reality in this context is nothing more than the materialistic philosophy of existence. When one analyzes the foundations and meaning associated with this philosophy embraced, it’s not long before despair is invited to set in. Near the end of his little treatise he wrote:

Thus, for those who want more to life than life itself, there is an alternative to reality which promises life in the great beyond. And for those who seek answers which existential being by its very nature simply cannot supply, those answers are found via the medium of the alternative to reality which is known as religion.  Thus, in this alternative to reality there is the hope, the purpose, and the meaning which is lacking in existential reality.

My notes on the document are as follows: “Life cannot be successfully defined in such a narrow way. The alternative to the philosophy of materialism (which Dave calls reality) is reality which deals with the whole of man, not just a part as atheism does.”

Earlier, in his treatise, he called this reality which he embraces as chaos and an absurdity. This is the true form and dread of atheism.

There is, indeed, more to life than the atheistic naturalistic way. Jesus said he is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). In fact, life can be no better than that which the Life-Giver gives (cf. John 10:10).

A Forgetting Lord

01 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by Ron Thomas in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

forgiveness, hope, Hosea

A hope that belongs to the child of God is when the Lord will remember the sins of His saints no more. That is a very encouraging thought; we struggle continually with our own failings, wondering why we can’t seem to get it right. The Lord’s response to His servant is understanding and mercy. He requires of us, however, a spirit of penitence; in other words: we need to hear His word, change our thinking, and then change our behavior. The importance of this can’t be over played. On the other hand, those who refuse, but want to “play church,” the Lord said to His people a long time ago that He will not forget what they have done and what they were (at that time) currently doing (Hosea 7:2; 8:12-13).  Playing with the Lord’s memory is a disastrous thing! RT

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