Don’t Just Marvel: BELIEVE!

Scripture:  John 14:29 (NKJV) - Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you will believe.
   
Many years ago I heard a preacher say that he daily read God’s Word and afterwards the daily newspaper.  He said that he needed, as do all Christians, to be reminded from the Holy Scripture of what God says is happening and SHALL happen in this cosmos; he then read the newspaper to see what humankind was up to.  In God’s supernatural Word, we can read of events that have occurred (i.e., historical events) as well as about prophecy—events that have not yet unfolded, though they certainly WILL as surely as the sun and moon rise and set daily!
     
The Greek verb “marvel” is “thaumazo,” and means “to wonder at.”  Are you marveling, dear reader, at any of the phenomena taking place in the world today? His Spirit warns us of these things in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, so we should CEASE marveling!  Someone born in 2010 may NOT be marveling at increasing reports of same sex marital unions and other acts of sexual immorality; they were BORN in the midst of these sins as a “normal” societal backdrop, unlike we “baby boomers.” We all, however, see that the Spirit ages ago foretold of the emergence of a concentrated list of sins for which Christ died in 2 Timothy 3:1-5.  We should therefore be neither frustrated nor perplexed about the heightened reports of political corruption and corporate greed, or the deplorable state of many of our nation’s public school systems—to name just a few evidences of humanity’s decline (particularly in our own nation). However, there exists a GREATER MARVEL worthy of our daily consideration!    
     
That the holy, eternal, perfectly JUST God would send His only begotten Son, born of a virgin, to this fallen world to die in history so that WE could be forgiven of all our sins and RELEASED from sin’s bondage, having accepted His gift of personal salvation, is in itself a marvel!  (John 1:12)  That Jesus Christ raised the dead, restored physical and spiritual sight and hearing to blind and deaf folks (including you and me), and had the divine temerity as the Lion of Judah to confront the self-righteous religious “elite” of His day and ours about their need to repent and believe on His holy name as God the Son, the Bread of Life, and the Living Water--- now THAT’S a body of facts deserving of our marveling!

Prayer:  Oh, dear Abba, thank You for the breadth and scope of Your Holy Word which warns us, convicts us, comforts , strengthens, and equips us to wait patiently, purposefully, and reverently for the  imminent return of Your Son, our Conquering Redeemer and Lord! Amen!

(by Denise Diggs)