In 2 Peter 3:9 we find this concerning the Lord: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
Through the Law of the Old Testament we see the law convicting us of how sinful we are apart from the Lord. The Law serves to describe how impossible it is to be free from sin, if we only have the law. The law condemns us of sin. If we are truthful to ourselves we see this; if not, we are deluded, ignorantly bliss. We’ve all been there, are going there, or are determined not to go there – but our determination must be married with and determined along the line of grace.
Jesus gives us freedom from sin. He was tempted as we are but was perfect. Only in immersion with him, daily, momentarily, as we breathe each breath and commit ourselves to every task whereby we walk in this world, remembering him, can we truly experience the freedom in Christ. We are immortally destined for goodness in him, to be in his light, with God’s presence and companionship all the days of our lives; apart from which we are lost. The moment they accept and start walking in the light of the Lord, freed FROM sin and death, Christians experience the peace of Christ; but must walk in faith, in order to come into the wholeness of God – this may only take a lifetime 🙂 – but it will be a life well spent.
Christ said on the cross – “It is finished.”
It is not that God is silent when bad things happen here or when justice appears not to be meted out on our terms for the terrors of this world. Nor did he create the terrors of this world that are the result from separation from Him.
He is longsuffering, patient and waiting for any of us that would turn to him – his door, through Christ, is always open. We have but one thing to do – to enter in and abide in Him and as he draws us unto him, by being open and available and calling to us through his Holy Spirit, he will abide in us. This is where David of the Old Testament became convicted and rested, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee,” – Psalm 119:11.
It took David a long time to get there and he paid for his transgressions for it was his son, Solomon, who would build the temple and not him. Like Moses who was kept from entering into the promised land because of his anger; David was refrained in his sins. We all have fallen and are fallen, sinful; yet, we have grace and the Lord is merciful and, waiting, LONGSUFFERING.
Though it may appear cloudy God is there – waiting, brilliant and pure. Our path is narrow; but it leads to infinite care, comfort and fulfillment in God – and God is our Creator, full with infinite beauty and all things that, beyond this world of sin, and free from sin, are glorious. We need but anchor to this and lay our treasure up in Heaven. Though we are here for a blink of an eye, we need but remind ourselves of this daily.
When my children were very young I climbed a mountain and they saw me go up. One was scared and the other had no fear at all. One was a danger to himself for lack of fear and the other would not see the glory of the mountaintop view because of his fear.
Likewise, we are so when contemplating the glory to come. It will make this world seem but a blink. We must temper our anchoring with the fact that; though in the world, we are not of the world. If we want to see the glory of God, bathe in it and bring it back to this world we have to remember that this world is, yet, dangerous.
But to what degree? It can do but one thing, kill me and make the mortal immortal.
Otherwise, I must not refrain from revealing the source of my light, my Lord, Jesus Christ – longsuffering, that I might not perish; nor you, if you so choose to climb the mountain, tempered by fear of God and his grace; not by this world and its temporary hold on you.
I’m not asking you to jump off the cliff, like our US economy is doing. I’m just asking you to take a look into the book that shows all God’s heavenly glory; and yes, this world’s sin, which is simply this – everything apart from Him.
Nevertheless, there is this indesputable fact, the Lord will be known throughout the world and thus, the choice:
Isaiah 11:9 – “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
God simply wants us to be free from the terror of this world by abiding in Him. He is longsuffering in this cause, gave his only begotten Son for this cause; and, because he knows we are subject to sin, is waiting patiently for us to turn to him – but he is not absent. He is more glorious and powerful than the sun behind the clouds for he is the maker thereof and we are blind not to believe and think so.
It is we and not him who suffer from our not relating to him, though his suffering for us not seeing this so is long. So he waits. He has done all he can do, other than to wait for us to say, “Father, I’ve come home. Now, please forgive me and lead me for I have tried my way and have done so to the ends of this world, and it is passing; forgive me for being so clouded in my thinking…”
Reflections of a Tin Hatter 