Beginning to End

I dwell on this a lot. In the beginning...the Word was. In the end...the Word will be. I'm thankful I know this Word...this Man and His written Word...who is the Word! To see what He has created, to be part of His creation, to have even a smidgen of understanding of His Word...which means knowing Him. Life can't get much better.

So I'm letting His Word speak today. Nothing can beat His Word, the truth. 

Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. (‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:1,31‬)

In the beginning was the Word, 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 nothing was made that was made. (John‬ ‭1:1-3‬)

Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. ‭‭(1John‬ ‭2:7‬)

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.‭‭ (Revelation‬ ‭22:13-14‬)

Titus 1:1-3 - Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior...

‭‭

Paul was addressing Titus, a fellow believer and follower of Christ. These letters Paul wrote to various people were to encourage, admonish or strengthen the addressee. In this case it was to build up believers' faith and their knowledge of the truth...in what Paul preached...simply, Jesus Christ. 

Paul started off with a bit of an introduction, as he usually did. He called himself a bondservant of Christ. If we are followers we are all called bondservants. If we are in Christ we take on the attitude of one willing to allow our God to direct our lives. This is not in the sense that we are puppets but we allow His Spirit to guide us to do the right thing, the best thing. Another way to put it is He must increase, but I must decrease. (John‬ ‭3:30)‬ ‭ Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke‬ ‭9:23)  It's safe to say this is where God loses people. 

Faith in God and having truth of His Word are part of a godly nature. As is explained next, with these we can have the hope of eternal life, which God promised us right from the start. If we believe all He says is true we do well. There's no picking and choosing scripture. It comes as an entire truth. The Word was written to teach, rebuke, correct and train in righteousness. (2Timothy 3:16)

The last part of this scripture shows that Paul preached these words, as did Jesus and any other follower of the Lord. Sometimes Jesus' words can be hard to swallow. Might I say this may be conviction. A person might not be adhering to these words. Are we ever perfect? I know we are not. But if we disregard something the Bible teaches as true, we are sinning. But God can use these words to change our thoughts, reveal truth.

We are called to trust and believe that God's words and His Word (and Jesus the Word) are all meant for our good. I listened to a sermon the other day about a specific sin. The pastor illustrated a box. Within that box were God's specific standards regarding the subject. It clearly defined what the Word says. Anything outside that box was sin. That's why there is a Bible. That is our "box," our boundaries.

Still, none of us is ever perfect but we should be striving to adhere to God's commandments and all other proverbs or parables He has chosen to help us. A parent scolds and sets boundaries for a child as protection. Think of God, our Father doing the same through His Word. If we are not following them we are as disobedient as any strong-willed child. 

If we follow Christ, we have become His children. What a privilege that is. If we are proud of our Father, in awe of Him, we want to talk...or write...about Him. We want to share who He is and what He has done for us and what He can do. We want to edify and bring hope to others. We want to glorify Him in our lives. When we are obedient to Him, He truly does lavish us with good.

Being a bondservant is not a bad thing. If you ever worked for someone who was great to work for, had integrity and honesty, didn't you want to do the best you could? Haven't you spoken of this employer? Haven't you even been amazed at how great it was to be part of his team? That's how I feel about God. I'm so thrilled that He cared enough to tap at my spirit that I would recognize Him and receive Him. But this is better than any job...this is as permanent as I am willing to allow it to be. As long as I remain grounded in His Word and strive to learn and change, I have that hope for my future. 

Titus‬ ‭2:11-14‬ ‭- For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Because of One Man's Faith

Matthew 8:8,10-11 - The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed." When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven."

Jesus healed this man's servant. He did not see him nor touch him. But He saw only the faith this centurion had in Him. What a testimony this man now had and I'm sure he shared the account with anyone who would listen. And this Jesus and His Gospel was heard, shared and drew more into this same faith.

If people would hear our testimony of God having redeemed, healed, delivered and provided in our lives, how many more would seek Jesus? Because of this one man's faith there have been about two thousand years' worth of people who have come to this same faith, of whom I am one. 

Anyone who turns to Christ with this same faith will be able to sit down with some very prominent men and women in the Bible someday in the kingdom of heaven. Oh, that people would wonder in our faith and would want to hear our testimony, believe in it and believe the truth of God's Word. 

Roman's 10:16-18 - But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes indeed: “Their sound has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” 

The Word, God, Life and Light

John 1:1-9 - In the beginning was the Word, 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 nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness to of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

The first paragraph makes my heart leap. The enormity of all that is said in those four sentences... Jesus is that Light. I know I've repeated this many times. Jesus is the Word. He was with God because He is God. Since God created all things that were made then Jesus was part of that also. Since God brought life to this world, Jesus did too...and He is the life. And the Light. Of the world. That anyone who believes (condition below) in this Light, because of anyone who witnesses of that Light, might have this life.

Condition? Spiritually we are dead to our sins and the Light exposes those things in the darkness (of our hearts), which is the first step to life in the Light, in Christ. This is probably the biggest obstacle because no one wants those things hidden in darkness exposed, or wants to admit that some of the things we do are sin.

Do you see? Jesus is the true Light which would love to give light to every man who has and will come into this world. He came for all mankind. He came as the Light to reveal Himself. He comes to bring life but it means admitting the sin we have so He can forgive us of it. Allow the Light into your life and that you too might become a witness of this Light. 

Ephesians 5:13-14 - But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”