God Gracious

Absorbed as we are in the details of daily life, we often fail to take the time to look at the big picture. It is only when we set aside the distractions of daily living to contemplate the wonder of our creation and the work of our Creator in sustaining us that we begin to put our life and its experiences in proper context.

If we are open to the Holy Spirit to allow the Spirit to nurture our faith and provide us with the grace we need to deal with the pressures exerted on us by the secular influences we face, then we are fortunate indeed. There are many out there being led down the garden path by the false gods of sexual freedom, sexual diversity and all manner of immorality that attack the foundations of family life. Modern secular progressive thinking, of course, approaches these issues in a vacuum without recourse to the Will of the Creator. As a result much of what is deemed by Society, its Legislators and Courts of Justice to be appropriate and even “good” contrasts sharply with the Christian ethic. Our opposition to societal norms where they fly in the face of Christian values exposes us to persecution as our own Christian paradigm moves us to proclaim the Will of God to all those who will listen. After all, we have been commissioned to preach the good news and we are moved to do this not only by duty but more importantly by love of God and neighbor. The enemy, who is intent on corrupting a whole generation, gleefully seeks to separate all from our loving God. We need to oppose him with the most powerful weapon we have which is love and that love will be infused with grace.

If we are serious about our faith we need to exhibit qualities of gratitude and humility. A whole generation depends upon our effectiveness in countering the efforts of the evil one to claim souls and thus deprive God of them. If we humbly accept our respective roles in the Church [Body of Christ] and thank God daily for the gift of life [including eternal life] we thwart the efforts of satan and his minions by modeling a hope that only lies in God. Particularly today, we live in a time of great spiritual warfare and our role in that battle is critical to the spiritual health of many.

We are being called to a fresh realization each day that while we may be in the world, we are not of the world. We need not embrace the ideology of a world that will fade away and we spurn its negative influences as if they were so much garbage. Instead we focus on the lost, who need a shepherd, and we recognize our duty to be the hands, feet, voice and heart of Jesus to all those poor souls who need to hear and embrace the good news.

Put on your spiritual armour anchored by love and the Word of God and in humility reach out to the lost with a helping hand reminding them of God’s great mercy. This is how we express our thanks to our Creator for giving us life and sustaining it.