Psalm 39:4-11 --- "LORD, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am. Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Selah. Surely every man walks about like a shadow; Surely they busy themselves in vain; He heaps up riches, And does not know who will gather them. And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You. Deliver me from all my transgressions; Do not make me the reproach of the foolish. I was mute, I did not open my mouth, Because it was You who did it. Remove Your plague from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand. When with rebukes You correct man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away like a moth; Surely every man is vapor. Selah
This has been on my mind recently as I've realized how time passes so quickly. As quickly as this time is passing our lives will also pass. When my grandpa died a couple weeks ago I wrote in my blog post about him, "...yet somehow his life passed as quickly as he would swat a fly." As I held his hand in the hospital, I felt that truth so deeply. I gained a better understanding of how short our lives really are. I've already lived nearly a fourth of what he did. That's not very long. But in all of these thoughts, I've found such an incredible hope and comfort in the truth in the above passage of Scripture - "And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You." As Christians, saved by the blood of Jesus, we do not sit around waiting to die. And we are taught in Scripture that we are not to heap up treasure for ourselves on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Nothing is secure here. That is not to make us afraid, but is a truth that God revealed to us in his mercy towards us, that we would fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. In this short, short life, let us fix our gaze on Jesus Christ! He is our hope. We wait for Him. We look for His return with earnest expectation and groan in longing for his glory to be revealed in us. Come, Lord Jesus!
I've been so hungry for fruitful evidence of my life in Christ recently and today I read this passage of Scripture. I was reprimanded, convicted, and yet encouraged by it.
2 Peter 1:2-11 --- Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to persevering godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore brethren be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
How awesome is that! I spent some time today reading, writing, and praying through that. There is so much to be gained from that passage.
Here is a passage of Scripture that I memorized recently. I love the Word!
Philippians 2:5-15 --- Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life..."
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