Yes! There is Good News! 11.4.17

My computer tells me that this is the start of the 80th article I have submitted to our newspaper. We have covered a lot of ground over the past 79 weeks that this article has appeared. So, how much longer could one continue to write before all the concepts and ideas in the Word of God have been exhausted? May I take a stab at the answer and suggest that the word “never” applies here!

One of the things that we should try and get our minds around is that God’s word will outlast our thoughts, even if we would live a thousand lifetimes. Our God is an infinite God. The scriptures teach us that He always was and always will be. Did I say “get our minds around” the immensity of God? If I were to try to get my mind around the fact that God will always be, I might not have much of a problem. After all, I am alive and I can perceive that time will continue into the future. Throughout my life, time has always progressed toward the future so why shouldn’t I think it will continue? However, as I look back into the past, I have no perception of anything preceding my birth. I am told of history and may read about history, but my personal experience is void. How then can I get my mind around the fact that God had no beginning?

This is why I believe the Bible tells us things like: “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (1 Corinthians 4:18) A short few scriptures later Paul tells us, “We live by faith and not by sight” (1 Cor. 5:7). And then in his letter to the Colossians, Paul tells us to “seek those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

These are difficult commands for us to assimilate into our experience. And yet Paul does make them! These thoughts go right along with the topic we have been looking at the past several weeks – “how do we emulate our father Abraham?” Remember, we read in Hebrews 11:10, “For he (Abraham) was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” May I suggest that Abraham had his eyes fixed on those things which are not seen; he understood the eternal nature of the God he served.

We need to finish our look at this man Abraham by reading a little further into the faith chapter in Hebrews. In verse 11:13 it says this, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country- a heavenly one.”

There is one more important line here, but we are out of space. Good news for next time.