THOUGHTS

March 19, 2020

Sunshine! 

 I sat outside this morning and probably soaked up more than my quota of sunshine this am. 

 I think I might hoard it, in fact.  

"It was the kind of March day 

when the sun shines hot,

and the wind blows cold,

when it is summer in the light

and winter in the shade."

Blessedly, there is not even a cold wind.  May all those with children be encouraged by letting them play outside.  However some, including my grandchildren close by and other relatives farther away, have been burdened with kids fighting the flu bug.  It's sad when you hope the child throws up so the fear of the Corona virus diminishes.  Likewise, from the California northern coast to Utah, earthquakes shook up friends beyond their other anxiety.  Still, God has not been shaken from His throne.

"O grandest gift of the Creator,

--O largess worthy of a God,--

Who shall grasp that thrilling thought, 

Life and joy forever?

For the sun in heaven's heaven is Love that cannot change,

And the shining of that sun is life, to all beneath its beams:

Who shall arrest it in the firmament, or drag it from its sphere?

Or bid its beauty smile no more, but be extinct forever?

Yea, where God hath given, none shall take away,

Nor build up limits to His love, nor bid His bounty cease;

Wide as space is peopled, endless as the empire of heaven,

The river of the water of life floweth on in majesty forever."

Martin Farquhar Tupper

Here's another excerpt from Colonel Brengle from "The Way of Holiness."

"Why should we be holy?  We should be holy because God wants us to be holy.  He says, 'As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation: because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.' God is in earnest about this.  It is God's will, and it cannot be evaded.  Just as a man wants his watch to keep perfect time, his gun to fire true, wants his friends to be steadfast, his children to be obedient, his wife to be faithful, so God wants us to be holy.

To many, however, the command seems harsh.  They  have been accustomed to commands accompanied by curses or kicks, or blows.  But we must not forget that 'God is love,' and His commands are not harsh, but kind.  They are meant for our good.  If a railway train could think or talk, it might argue that running on two rails over the same road year after year was very commonplace  But if it insisted on larger liberty, and so jumped the track, it would certainly ruin itself.  So the man who wants freedom, and refuses to obey God's commands to be holy, destroys himself.  The train was made to run on the tracks, and so we were made to live according to Gods commandment, to be holy, and only in that way can we gain everlasting good.

Oh, How tender are His words!  Listen.  'And now, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord, and His statutes...for thy good?' (Deut. 10:12,13)

For thy good!  Do you not see it, my brother, my sister?  It is 'for thy good.'  There is nothing harsh, nothing selfish in our dear Lord's command.  It is 'for thy good.'  There is nothing harsh, nothing selfish in our dear Lord's command.  It is 'thy good'  He is seeking.  Bless His name! 'God is love.'

We should be holy, because Jesus died to make us holy.  He gave Himself to stripes, and spitting, and cruel mockings, and the crown of thorns, and death on the cross for this purpose.  He wants a holy people.  For this He prayed.  'Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth.' (John 17:17)  For this He died.  'Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.' (Titus 2:14)  'He loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it, ...that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy, and without blemish.'  Let us not disappoint Him.  Let not His precious blood be spent in vain."