Good morning,
Well, it is still raining in California and the water levels keep rising. In some places we are having to deal with floods like we haven’t seen for 20 years. We are grateful that our God is in charge of how much rain we get and are thankful that we can trust what God is doing as an important part of his plan for our state and for our world. What we are also having to deal with is a flood of anger and hate that is impacting every part of our lives. Although we are not facing anything like the hate and death we see happening in the middle east, we are faced with hateful people in our government offices and public leadership that is totally new to our former Bible based country. Hate is in and respect for the laws of our land and those who try to enforce these laws seems to be a thing of the past. Our enemy, Satan, is doing his best to convince his followers that people who love and obey the God of the Bible are the real source of the problems we are facing today. The good news is that what our enemies, spiritual or human, are saying isn’t what our creator God is thinking about those of us in his eternal family.
Paul. when writing to the Christians in Ephesus, tells us and them the truth of who we are and how God feels about those of us in his family. He writes, Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.(Eph.1:4) God knew right from the beginning who would turn to him, repent of their rebellion, and accept his offer for salvation and eternal life. Of course God knew we would be sinners, but he also knew what Jesus would do when he came to live and die for us 2000 years ago. When God created our world he also had to answer to the sin that would be a part of all of our lives. Paul goes on to write, God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.(v.5) When God looks at us, he loves us. God knows us and is with us through all the ups and downs of living in a sinful body and in a sinful world. When our Enemy accuses us, or people around us accuse us of being the source of the problems in our world, God just laughs.(Psalm 2:4) Why should God laugh? So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.(Eph.1:4) While our enemies do their best to cover us with guilt, our God and Savior pour out their glorious grace on each of us who belong to their eternal family. Thank you dear Father for your deep love, your total forgiveness, your awesome grace that more than covers the hate we face in our fallen world.
Ephesians 1: 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.
Roy Wisner
