LEARNING DAILY

1 Peter 1:20-21, He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who through Him believed in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

I have been thinking about the things going on in this nation, what people believe and what they do. Think about the outrage occurring over the issue of abortion. Consider the problems of men competing in women’s sports as females. Have you been reading about parents no longer having a say about reconstruction surgery of their children? Moral issues are being decided at the highest levels of government as well as being placed in the hands of liberal judges.

 I read this statement some time ago by A.W. Tozer, “No nation can rise higher than its conception of God”. He went on to write when ancient Rome began to have a loose belief in God it began to rot away. I believe that might apply to the United States of America. This is not something that just occurs suddenly. I am old enough to remember reading the headlines that stated, “God is Dead”! I don’t know if this was the beginning of when America began to have a loose belief in God or not; all I know is American thought and the actions of people is not too different than the people of ancient Rome. Life for people of Rome caused the empire to rot inwardly and it did not stop until the Roman Empire fell.

Peter wrote that the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was part of God’s plan – even before the world was created. This was not some improvised plan that God needed to come up with because Adam and Eve surprised Him by disobeying His command. It was always God’s plan to send His Son to offer those who would place their faith in Him a way of salvation and to place them on a narrow way in order to make them ready to walk into eternal life in His kingdom.  It was in the “last times” that God chose to send His Son into the world. God’s purpose for doing so was to reveal Himself and to save whosoever would believe in Him.

 Peter writes it is through the Son, Jesus, a person begins to have true belief in God. It is only the faith in Jesus that allows us to come to the Father and then to walk that narrow way so often written about in this blog. Jesus is the only way, the only truth, and the only life. It is only by trusting Him that enables us to walk with the Father. Believers must get this down in their heart because any beginning with God that is inadequate or different leads to weak faith.

1 John 5:10 tells us that if one does not believe God has sent His Son to save us, rejects the truth and make God a liar. The only way one gets to know God is to read/study/meditate on His Word. Faith comes by hearing and reading the Word of God according to the Apostle Paul.

Hebrews 10:23 adds to this by telling us that if we do not waver in our faith and hold on to our confession of faith in Jesus we will go to Heaven. That adds to what has already been written here – Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s will for every Believer, so Believers need to “hold fast” to His promises by doing our best to resist every pressure which tries to take us of the narrow way! That means Believers cannot, must not be careless in the way they live their lives or in their walk of faith. “Hold on” to the faith you have, continuing to trust in Jesus Christ because of what He has done and continues to do as you walk the narrow way. His promise to all Believers is to be faithful to us as we “hold fast” to Him.