Previous Reflections
REFLECTIONS
June 2nd, 2013Marshal your troops, O city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah…out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
He will stand and shepherd his flock
And he will be their peace."
Micah 5:1-2, 4-5
A Tough Place to Live
The world is a tough place to live. The horrors of war invaded it shortly after creation. Since then young men have bravely served on the frontlines of battlefields to defend their causes. Some, like Benjamin, do not return from them. But even those who survive do not return unchanged.
The battlefields of war are not the only places where living is tough. Each day battles rage within us against sin and evil. We confront those enemies that draw us to the frontlines of battle against influences to replace love for God and one another with hatred, avarice, sexual compulsions, and covetousness.
Some lose their lives on those battlefronts; but even those who survive do not return unchanged. The battle is one that can’t be won without help. So God gave us a Savior. He gave his only Son:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
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 2:6-11)
Yes, the world is a tough place to live. But we are blessed with a Savior. Jesus Christ is Lord. In him we find perfect peace.
You are the light of the world,
Richard +
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