eternity

Today’s Service

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

In my quiet time this morning it was as if God held up a mirror to show me how little I valued those moments compared to Him. Yes I lingered for a brief prayer and spent time in His word; but all the while the wheels of my mind were sprinting ahead towards my future plans. Yet as the apostle Peter points out to us –

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 2 Peter 3:8

We all too often lose the value and purpose of the moment of prayer and quiet because the hurry within our hearts drowns out the still small voice of God. We demean the intimate contentment with the Lord Jesus as if something later in the day or tomorrow or next year has more value in His eyes.

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But God delights in the moment. He rests in it as Jesus rested by the well. He has no sense of hurry or fearful anxiety of urgency.

He is never forced into action in a crisis. He rests in the moment like a butterfly who happily enjoys each flower without wishing He could hurry on to the next. He is not only the way and the truth – He is also like the clock of life itself and all time stands still in His presence. There is neither tomorrow nor yesterday with Him. He is the Great I Am! Whatever humble word, shy smile or simple sacrifice Jesus gives us for today is more precious to Him than any act of service we are planning for the future. The God who knows the beginning from the end also knows our hearts. If we will simply walk with Him by faith in this moment, His promise is that He will walk with us all down through the corridors of eternity!

 

 

People are a Loan Not a Gift

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

img_5240The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,                                                                                        The world and those who dwell therein. Psalm 24:1

This week of my cousin Tom passed away. (He is the one peeking over my God’s mother’s shoulder) Tom was a gentle man who we thought would somehow always be there. He and I were born the same year, had been on summer vacations, horse back riding and even briefly played in the same band.together. It seemed my quiet cousin would always be there and yet he is suddenly gone.

How often we say things such as, “She is one of God’s greatest gifts to me! or What a gift God gave us with this son or daughter!” But in reality none of those we love so dearly belong to us. The time we spend here on earth together is just a short term loan.God holds the appointed time the loan will be called in, in His hands. They are not ours but how we treat those God has trusted into our care changes us for eternity.

Sometimes people are like little birds singing outside our windows. We may throw them a few crumbs but we don’t realize the value of their songs until the day they are silent. People are a loan. We do not possess someone else’s life, they belong first to God. How I miss Tommy today. I cannot go back to say or do something more for Tom but his sudden absence stirs something in my heart to treat with more earnest and sincere love those who remain behind.