The God of Balance

Read: Isaiah 55:5-9

“May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in your faith, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, your whole life and outlook may be radiant with hope.” -Romans 15:13

Some of my friends and family are afraid to rely on God for their needs, because they see Him as an angry Being ready to pounce on our smallest mistake. I understand how they feel, because I used to view God as a wrathful ruler, extracting a great price from His followers. I imagined him like the perceived Wizard of Oz…with smoke and fire and angry words and faces. What I did not understand at that time is that God’s people fear Him, not because of His fury, but because of His love.

During my first year of college, God revealed to me that He is not a punisher, but a provider for those who trust in Him. He is not wrathful, but graceful. He is not hateful, but loving. He does not extort, but gives liberally to all who will ask of Him. God constantly reaches out to those who do not know Him. And when we take the chance and trust Him with our life, we feel His divine forgiveness pouring over our soul like a waterfall (Psalm 130:4). We can readily forgive the harm others inflict upon us, because we have been forgiven much as well (Luke 12:48). 

Another reason people do not trust in God as their Savior is because of Satanic lies that they believe. They worship the creature rather than the creator (Romans 1:25). They follow humanistic reasoning and worldly perceptions rather than asking God for true wisdom from above (James 3:17). They allow science and history revisionists to overrule the principles they learned at their mother’s knee. They reject the Gospel and cling to fables instead of to the Truth (2 Timothy 4:4; John 14:6).

Unbelievers say that we are misinformed, brainwashed, deceived, unenlightened, narrow minded, misled and bigoted. They cling to the flotsam and jetsam of their shipwrecked lives, not realizing that they are inches away from sinking into eternal damnation. All it takes for them to be saved is for them to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and to allow Him to lead them by His Spirit into all truth (John 16:13).

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, shower those who do not know You with Your loving kindness. Cause them to desire the fullness of a life found in You. Give them a vision of Your mercy and grace. Open the eyes of their understanding and trouble their dreams until they reach out and allow You to enfold them in Your sacred heart.

Thought for the Day:

God is not constantly watching out for you to sin, but He is always watching out for you.

Living Stones!

Read: Ephesians 2:19-22

“You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house,” - 1 Peter 2:5

An opal stone comes in a variety of hues  - black, white, orange, navy and green to name a few. Although their color may vary, they are all shot through with iridescent swirls that attract attention and mesmerize gem lovers like me. Opals are not found in large veins like many precious stones. Small clusters of gem-quality opal material may be scattered over a large area of miles in each direction. A fine gem quality opal is more rare than rubies and emeralds. It is a more natural gem, and is of brilliant beauty and obvious worth, even in its natural state. My favorite aspect about them is that opals are considered to be living stones.

Opals contain 3% to 10% water. They form in the cleft of almost any rock, but mostly in rocks such as limonite, sandstone and rhyolite. Fine-grained impurities determine their base color. Light deflecting through opals hits hard, transparent silica spheres, producing the luminous rainbow colors. Depending on the size of the spheres, varying colours of the spectrum are diffracted. So, it is a combination of deflection (bending) and diffraction (breaking up) of light rays that creates the colour in the opal. The orderliness of these spheres separates precious from common opals.

Opals must be protected from heat and detergents that "dry" the gem. Heat treatment is catastrophic!! In addition to cracking, loss of water in the stone causes loss of their brilliant iridescence. Jewelers encourage opal owners to soak this brilliant stone in mineral oil to retain its sparkle.

Many biologists believe that all stones are living, and they have done tests that suggest that stones actually breath, have a heartbeat and move. Marianna Anisosyan, a therapist and expert in biological energy, believes, “Stones undoubtedly possess energy too. Every stone carries a certain amount of life in it.” You already know where I’m going with this analogy, don’t you?

This gives so much more meaning to Luke 19:40, “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” God has a back-up plan. If we fail to praise His name, the stones will cry out in our place. I don’t want any stone praising God in my stead. I plan to praise Him every moment of every day, as well as with my dying breath.

The opal is a lovely type of the Church. 1 Peter 2:5 refers to Christians, as living stones. We can take a lesson from the delicate opal and relate it to our Christian walk. True, authentic Believers are not found grouped together, but scattered all over the world. God forms us in the cleft of our Rock, Jesus Christ. We thrive on the water of God’s Word. Fine-grained impurities in our carnal nature make us uniquely human for God to use for His glory. As we maintain a God-conscious orderliness in our priorities, we reflect His glory in varying degrees of spirituality. Soaking in the “oil” of His Spirit gives our life the glowing colors of His radiance. God also promises to prevent our life’s circumstances from wavering to extremes of hot or cold, so that we will never crack! (John 16:33)

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, immersed me in Your Spirit, so that my light shines so brightly that men will see my good works and glorify You (Matthew 5:16). Help me to remember to drink from Your Word and to remain hidden in the cleft of My Rock.

Thought For The Day:

The Master Builder only uses living stones.