A Child's Prayer-Song: "Jesus, Hear Me"

I wrote this song last year when a little friend went through a traumatic experience and I was thinking of ways to help children express their feelings to God. A week ago this same little boy lost his best buddy to a battle with cancer. Once again we are wondering how to help a child deal with loss. I share this song once again in the hope that it would encourage someone else to tell God how they are feeling, and listen to the comforts of his word. To all I echo this expression of blessing: “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” (II Thessalonians 3:5)

Turning Worldly Insults into Worshipful Expressions

          The world has a habit of taking wonderful expressions of language and corrupting them with all manner of sinful and oppressive concepts. We all know that the name, “Jesus Christ,” is a preferred curse word all around the world, even though Jesus has been given “the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).

          It is not surprising that the term “Big Brother” would also be marinated in the world’s expressions of defiance against God our Creator. We have been conditioned to think of Big Brother as an impersonal government force that spies on everything we are doing and manipulates our lives towards mindless submission to authority. A popular TV show uses the designation “Big Brother” to showcase all manner of human depravity. These negative scenarios condition our minds to think of such a title in some kind of negative way, when it is really a most beautiful designation.

          When I think of Jesus as my Big Brother, I am drawn to Scriptures like this: “For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, ‘I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise’” (Hebrews 2:11-12).

          Another Scripture declares, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29).

          There is a special gift of comfort and encouragement to anyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ because everything we are told about Jesus is ours in his relationship to us as our Big Brother. We are the “beloved children” of God who can now “walk in love, as Christ” our Big Brother, “loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

 

Considerations ~ The Way Things Look When God Opens our Eyes

          The book of Revelation is another way of saying the same thing as this: "When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, 'Alas, my master! What shall we do?' He said, 'Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.' Then Elisha prayed and said, 'O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.' So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." (II Kings 6:15-17)

          Revelation opens our eyes to the overwhelming work of God in the heavenly realm. God's children must not be afraid, for those with us are more than those with them. And, if you can't see this, tell God you would like to have, "the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come." (Ephesians 1:18-21)

          The Lamb standing before the throne of God, looking like it had once been slain, but now very much alive (Rev 5:6), is all the proof we need that God has all rule and authority and power and dominion over whatever we are facing.

          Or, as another beloved Scripture declares, “God is our refuge and strength,
    a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear…” (Psalm 46:1-2) Since God is every bit the refuge and strength he has always been, let us join those who “will not fear” no matter what the world, the flesh, and the devil claim about their fleeting moments in the spotlight.

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

 

 

Revelation Videos ~ Study 36 ~ The Twenty-Four Elders Who Worship God

We have much to learn from the experience and the example of the twenty-four elders in their worship of God (Revelation 4:9-11). Here is a small effort to welcome the ministry these twenty-four elders are giving us in their testimony concerning the one who sits on the throne. May we be encouraged to follow their example.

 

 

 

Pastoral Pings ~ The Now and Then of Knowing God

          This morning I was considering where Jesus was positioned in the heavenly throne room as revealed in Revelation 5. It suddenly became clear to me that there was a connection between where Jesus was in relation to the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders, and what these twenty-eight persons testified, declared, and praised about him.

          It also stood out to me that their view of Jesus, and their praise of Jesus, was a gift to us down here who cannot presently see him in the same way. In essence, their place in the divine revelation constantly declares to us that they see the Triune without any worldly, earthly, or devilish interference, so we should pay attention to what they say about him rather than what we hear from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

          I was then drawn to consider this through Paul’s expression: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”[1]

          Paul described his present experience as seeing “in a mirror dimly,” and knowing “in part”. He spoke of the future as a time when he would see “face to face”, and “know fully”. In fact, the future “knowing fully” would be to the measure of how fully Paul had already been known.

          Since we are living in an earthly experience that limits how much we can see and know of heavenly realities, and yet there is coming a time when we will see and know the heavenly realities in that face-to-face-fully-known kind of way, God connects the two timeframes with divinely inspired revelations.

          In other words, even in this time of limited sight and understanding, we are given beautiful pictures of what things are like in heaven in order to give us faith that there are much better days ahead when we are forever with the Lord. While we are waiting for that day, the four living creatures, and the twenty-four elders, along with others soon to be introduced, tell us the truth about what the Triune God is like as witnessed by those who presently see him face to face, and presently know him fully.

          The encouragement to me today is to accept the limitations of living in the here-and-now, but with my eyes fixed on what is happening in the there-and-then. I must accept the humility of living every day in the knowledge that I don’t know as much as there is to know, and I do not know personally as deeply as knowing personally can be experienced. I do see in a mirror, but dimly. Things seem far off. The mirror seems crinkled and dusty. It is to be expected that Scripture both confounds me and delights me each time I look into it.

          At the same time, I am encouraged to look to what things are in the present time for all those who are in God’s presence without any filters restricting how well they can see him and know him. I can read the divinely inspired record of their praises to the one who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, and realize that their testimonies are completely trustworthy in contrast to the claims and prideful boasts of those who do not see him or know him at all.

          On those days, and during those times, when I struggle to see anything in the word of God clearly, and meditating on Scripture seems to raise more questions than answers, I can still turn to the visions of the way the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders speak of the Triune God. One day, I will see him and know him just like that. Or, as Paul said, “even as I have been fully known”.

“Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”[2]

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

 

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[1] I Corinthians 13:12

[2] I Thessalonians 4:17-18

Considerations ~ The One Who Stands Before the Throne

This past couple of days I have been focusing on this verse: “And between the throne and the four living creatures…” (Revelation 5:6). We know we will see Jesus standing there, and he will look like a lamb that was slain while fulfilling what the angel said about the lion of the tribe of Judah being worthy to open the scroll and the seven seals.

However, what is really standing out to me is the position of everything in the heavenly throne room. The throne, and the one who sits on the throne, is the center of everything, always, no matter what things look like here below. The book of Revelation gives such a different picture of things than what we see with our physical eyes, and so it is such a great gift of grace to give us something on which we can anchor our faith while being bombarded by the false claims of the world, the flesh, and the devil, all taunting us to believe what we see instead of what God says.

While there is incredible symbolism in the revelation of the throne room of God, the pictures are also very clear declarations of the authority of God, and of the Lamb, so that we can endure whatever we are seeing, keeping our eyes of faith on the pictures in Revelation, rather than the experiences of things on earth.

This means that we can take anything we are facing, any ways our flesh tries to interpret what we are seeing, and lay it down before the throne of God in submission to his will and purpose. There is something God is doing on a much grander scale than any of us can measure. It is also beyond our ability to organize into timelines that tell us where we are in the grand scheme of end times prophecy (in spite of what the many prophecy experts claim).

Instead, we can trust God that, whatever looks so dark and dismal to us today, and however God leads things to the final day, the return of his Son, it will be just like the pictures in Revelation had told us to believe. And so we fix our eyes on Jesus, the Lamb standing between the throne and the four living creatures, and we consider what the picture of him as a living Lamb, with the appearance of being slain, is to tell us about our circumstances that often appear to be “dead” (depressing, discouraging, despairing, etc).

The bottom line is that there is a throne in heaven that triumphs over every other throne, and there is one seated on the throne who has eternal and infinite power and authority over all other manifestations of power and authority in our world. And, before this throne, is our Savior, standing ready to carry out all the Father has in mind. As he did on earth, so he will do in heaven, “But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working’” (John 5:17).

Since the Triune God “works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13), let us be those who “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

 

 

 

 

Considerations ~ When Blind Scientists See

Before accepting a claim from the scientific community, we must first ask whether we are talking about blind scientists or seeing scientists. God, the creator of all that science explores, declares, “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (II Corinthians 4:4). The reason that brilliant-minded scientists believe in evolution, or take their stand as atheists, is not because of what they see, but because of what they do not see.

If the blind scientists could see what the open-eyed scientists see, they would affirm what God’s word has already made abundantly clear, “For by him (Jesus) all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).

They would also give their “Amen” to this glorious description: “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3). Once we “see” this reality by faith, we will add our hearty affirmation to what a skeptic of old declared when his eyes were opened to the authenticity of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. He stated the obvious in a most personal way when he declared, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)

We are obviously invited to do the same.

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

 

 

 

 

Pastoral Pings ~ Reverencing our Hearts with Reference to Heaven

          One of the fascinating things I have learned about children is the way they will consistently reference to the adults who are watching over them. Sometimes they will give a glance at a caregiver just to see if everything is okay, or if the caregiver is noticing them. Children love to see adults smile on them as they are enjoying the serious activity of play.

          Other times children give a sneaky look to see if the caregiver is watching because they have something mischievous on their minds. At these times, they hope the adult is looking in another direction because they want to “get away” with something they know they should not be doing.

          One of the fascinating things about the book of Revelation is how it meets our never-outgrown need to reference ourselves to our ultimate caregiver, our Father who is in heaven. The description of the heavenly throne room of God in Revelation 4 and 5 gives us the focus for our referencing, and satisfies all we could ever require for both our security (how God behaves toward us), and our sanctification (how we behave toward God).  

          When we are going through all manner of troubles and hardships, we can look at the revelation of God’s throne room, and the description of the one who is seated on the throne, and see how he is looking upon us, and caring for us, and watching over us, and carrying out plans and purposes that are for our good, no matter what things look like in the world around us.

          The one who is seated on the throne is the center of all things, the ultimate power and authority. Every beast, antichrist, prostitute, Babylon, false prophet, army of the earth, or expression of the red dragon himself, is taken up by the power and authority of the one who sits on the throne so that every expression of trouble and hardship is worked for good during all the years of our earthly lives. At the same time, all God’s children will be safely gathered into the eternal paradise where there are everlasting pleasures at the right hand of the one who sits on the throne forever and ever.

          Because our heavenly Father is the center of everything, God’s children can reference ourselves to his throne and see that all is well no matter how much earthly experience suggests otherwise. We can hear our Father’s voice calling, “’You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off’; fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”[1]

          At the same time, we can reference ourselves to this highest of thrones when we are tempted by the world, the flesh, and the devil, and see that there is never a time that his eye does not see what we are doing. The same eye that sees all we are going through when we feel abandoned and alone, is the eye that sees even the smallest thought and intent of our hearts when we are teased by earthly fears and pleasures to leave that narrow road that leads to heaven.

          There are wondrous applications of the double-sided coin of referencing to the throne room of heaven, far too many to justify calling this a Ping, so I will conclude with this divinely inspired exhortation and let it speak for itself: “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”[2]

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

 

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[1] Isaiah 41:9b-10

[2] Hebrews 12:28-29

Pastoral Pings (Plus) ~ The Throne that Breaks our Pride and Builds our Hope

Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”[1]

          This paragraph has mesmerized me for a week. This morning it settled into a heartbreaking and hope-building picture that left me built up and encouraged in a way that only grace could accomplish. It is actually difficult to jump in to a conclusion without giving you a week’s worth of journey, but I trust that these few thoughts will stir you up to read the book for yourself, and join with other believers to delight in the one who sits on the throne.

          The first four chapters of Revelation have led us to clearly see that there is one who is “seated on the throne” of heaven, and that this throne transcends every other throne, power or authority we could fabricate or imagine. Now we are drawn to look at his right hand, the strong hand of the Lord God Almighty, and consider that he holds in this hand a scroll containing words that belong to him alone. Not only do this scroll and these words belong to him, but the scroll is sealed with seven seals, the signature of God’s completeness in what is in the scroll, and his completeness in sealing it against all intruders.

          While we are overwhelmed with the wonder of the words that God has written on the scroll, and the inescapable certainty that this scroll of words is held in the strong right hand of the one who is seated on the throne that is above every throne, a mighty angel comes to center stage and voices the obvious question, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”

          Suddenly the silence is deafening! There was not one person in heaven, including this mighty angel, nor one person on earth, who was able to open the scroll. Immediately the prophet begins to “weep loudly” because “no one was found worthy” to open the scroll or to look inside it.

          What this taught me this morning is that this revelation is death to all human pride. There are words written by God, ordained by God, sealed up in the strong right hand of the Lord God Almighty, and there is not a man or woman, angel or demon, who can open up the thoughts and words of God and look inside them. Pride is broken. There is no hope in people; there is no hope in angelic or demonic beings. No one can enter into what God has written by his own will and authority.

          On the other hand, the children of God have great reason for hope. We will face all manner of enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ who will attack his good name with their philosophies and religions, their antichrist atheism and evolution, their godless and unrighteous expressions of utter wickedness, and yet they will not touch the words that God has written. Even when the whole of the earth gathers against the one who sits on the throne, they will not be worthy to open the scroll and read what God has written, let alone interpose their thoughts and desires on the sacred words of God’s scroll.

          Which leads to the timeless exhortation to God’s people: “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” In other words (while remaining true to the words on the scroll), our pride is crushed, and our hope is built up, because Jesus Christ alone is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals, to look inside, and to bring all God’s plans and purposes to fruition. No one can open the scroll, and no one can stop Jesus from doing so.

          While on my journey to become like Jesus, this week has been both pride-shattering and hope-building. God doesn’t renovate. He demolishes what pride has built in order to give us what grace is building. He teaches us “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”[2]

          So, with the eyes of faith on the one who sits on the throne, and his strong right hand, and his perfect scroll of plans and purposes sealed with divine completeness, and opened by the divine Son of God, let us submit to the work of God to break our pride and humble us, and let us surrender to God’s work of renewing our minds and clothing us with the new self, the one that is created to be like Jesus Christ in true righteousness and holiness.

          After all, the words of Scripture are one with the words on the scroll, and guarantee that, “…until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”[3] And, as the one who opens the seven seals promises in Amen to the Father, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”[4]

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

 

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[1] Revelation 5:1-5

[2] Ephesians 4:22-24

[3] Matthew 5:18

[4] Matthew 24:35

Pastoral Pings (Plus) ~ A Book that Monitors the Activity of God

          Our daycare uses a video-monitoring system to view what is happening in each of our rooms. This is especially helpful for monitoring babies while they are napping (it’s almost like we are there in the room with them). There are a couple of places in our house where the view from different cameras overlap. Where this happens, there is a very interesting contrast between what is seen in the monitor, and what is seen by the naked eye.

          Looking through the monitor, there is the appearance of one camera shining a light into the path of the other camera. However, looking into that room with the naked eye reveals that everything is very dark. The difference is due to the fact that the cameras are emitting infrared light, invisible to the naked eye, but visible to the camera.

          There is a sense in which the Bible is like the monitor to a spiritually infrared camera system. Those who look at life without this monitor, see only darkness. They would even deny that there is any light in the room, or on a subject, whatsoever. The simple explanation is, “I will believe it if I see it; I don’t see it, so I don’t believe it.”

          At the same time, those who look at life through the monitor of the Bible see for themselves that God sheds his light on everything. God’s monitoring system sheds light on our origins, our circumstances, moral dilemmas, world events, issues of body, soul and spirit, the connection between the physical and spiritual realms, and any other categories we would use to describe anything we go through.

          I appreciate that people who do not see the light of God are understandably perplexed, perhaps frustrated and bewildered as well, when someone claims that they not only believe in God, but that they know him through faith in Jesus Christ.

          On the other side, I know what it is like to look through God’s monitoring system and see the light of God making sense of everything, including God, and including me, so I also experience a sad disappointment that others see only darkness where I see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Corinthians 4:6).

          It is interesting to watch a little one waking up from a nap and looking directly up at the camera as if wondering what the red and green lights indicate. To them, the room they are in is dark, and yet they can see that the lights on the camera indicate some kind of activity going on.

          It is also interesting to watch children discovering the monitors we use, and figuring out how we see things from our viewpoint. Eventually they will begin having fun showing off in front of the camera knowing their daycare buddies are in another room watching from the monitor.

          With regards to the Bible as the word of God, our first association to this God-inspired book may be that we admit that the red power light is on, and that it deserves a place among all the other religious literature of the world. Maybe we come to wonder if the green light could actually mean that God is conscious of us, aware of us, noticing us, and maybe even thinking of us, and having something he would like to say to us.

          Such curiosity is an invitation to open the Bible as the monitoring-system of God and discover how God’s light illuminates our world so that we can actually see what is going on, and understand how God is still at work in his world to this very day.[1]

          God’s monitoring system declares about Jesus, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”[2] People living without God don’t see this, but the life that is in Jesus Christ is the light of the world, and anyone who looks at life through the Bible discovers that there is plenty of light to see that such a thing is true.

          The same part of the Bible adds, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”[3] Just because people in the darkness cannot see the light does not mean that the darkness has overcome the light, or restricted it whatsoever. The light of Jesus Christ shines in the darkness, and anyone who looks through God’s cameras can see that it is so.

          In Jesus’ own words (God’s word quoting God’s word, so to speak), Jesus said, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”[4] Believing in Jesus is looking into the monitor of God and seeing the light of Christ that has come into the world. We experience what it means that, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”[5]

          Why should I share this with you? Because I am part of, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”[6] With that in mind, while the world around me prefers walking in the darkness,[7] I invite you to join me in welcoming this invitation: ”O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord,”[8]and, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”[9]

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

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[1] “But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working.’” (John 5:17)

[2] John 1:4

[3] John 1:5

[4] John 12:46

[5] Isaiah 9:2

[6] I Peter 2:9

[7] “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” (John 3:19)

[8] Isaiah 2:5

[9] Isaiah 60:1

Pastoral Pings ~ From Fear of Counterfeits to Faith in the Real Thing

          There is a real danger in thinking that we need to be so different from the counterfeits that no one would ever suggest we were, you know, “one of them”. What we forget is that the world, the flesh, and the devil have conspired very strategically to be as close to the real thing as possible without actually being real.

          This means that, the real thing is also going to be very much like all the counterfeits in one way or another. As real money is very much like the best of the counterfeits, so the real truth of God is going to be very close to the best counterfeit versions of God.

          As soon as we start thinking that we need to be as far removed from counterfeits as possible so that no one associates us with “them”, we have fallen into the very trap the counterfeiters have set for us. When a fear-response moves us far away from the counterfeits, it also moves us away from the real thing, the true Lord Jesus Christ, and the true gospel of salvation.

          Our aim is not to act so different from the pretend Jesus that we are also acting different from the real Jesus, or to act so different from the counterfeit gospels that we are also living different from the real gospel. Our aim is to be so much like Christ that those who know Christ will know us in Christ. Our aim is to be so tuned to the truth of the gospel that those who are saved to worship God in spirit and in truth will walk with us in fellowship without regard for all those who say we look just like those “other” guys (whoever those other guys are).

          Paul gave us this picture that helps us stay true to the truth of Jesus even when naysayers, watchdog groups, and religious hypocrites threaten us with branding as cults, chameleons and counterfeits: “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.”[1]

          There are always going to be those who are being saved, and those who are perishing. There will always be sinners repenting and putting faith in Jesus to the same gospel that causes religious hypocrites to turn their noses up at this Jesus who is a friend of sinners, calling him a counterfeit. There will always be “sinful” women weeping over Jesus’ feet in love and thankfulness that these feet carried such good news of forgiveness to their hearts, while the religious elite sit across the table with hearts too full of prideful disdain to realize that this one they think is a blasphemer is actually the real Savior for their world.

          Our aim cannot be to be so different from the counterfeit Jesus that we no longer are like Jesus. We cannot steer so far away from the counterfeit gospels that we turn away from the true gospel. We cannot recoil from counterfeit churches to such a degree that we leave Jesus’ true church just because of what people think we “look like”.

          Instead, we must seek to be filled up with the Holy Spirit of the Living God in all the realities described in the living words of God, and let those who are being saved discern the aroma of Christ in us as the fragrance from life to life. There are enough counterfeits leading people on the wide path of destruction. Let us be those who pursue the narrow way of “spirit and truth”, and “truth in love”, even if we are labeled as counterfeits for doing so. Being “real” in Christ will reap a real reward when Christ comes in his glory. As his word says, “But God's firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are his.’”[2]

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

 

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[1] II Corinthians 2:15-16

[2] II Timothy 2:19

Considerations ~ Following in the Steps of our Elders

QUESTION: How often do the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne?

 

ANSWER: “day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!’”[1]

 

QUESTION: What example do the twenty-four elders set for us in their response to the worship the four living creatures present to God?

 

ANSWER: “And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.’”[2]

 

QUESTION: What can we do to respond to the praises expressed by the four-living creatures after the example of the twenty-four elders?

 

ANSWER: Gather with other believers to “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need”,[3] and use all manner of “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs”[4] to express “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth… Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!... To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”[5]

 

          From my heart,

          Monte

 

© 2013 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)

 

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[1] Revelation 4:8

[2] Revelation 4:9-11

[3] Hebrews 4:16

[4] Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16

[5] Revelation 5:9-14