Robert J. Morgan says this about where we are at this point in our memorization of Scriptures, "When you've memorized Genesis 1:1; John 1:1, John 1:14 and John 3:16 you have the entire Bible in the palm of your hand. These verses are the four corners of God's Word."
Can you believe we've finished four whole weeks!?! That's amazing to me --- it seems like we just got started! OK - here we go - can you say them with me? Try not to look!
Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
So do you feel that you have the four corners of God's Word in the palm of your hand? In the center of your heart? What do you have right now as your armor?
You have the fact that God created everything...that all we see, hear, and breathe is from God. That "every good and perfect gift comes from above." You know that Christ, the Word of God, the living testimony to God eternal, was present at creation; He is and was and forever will be. You know that Christ was sent by God to earth in human form, that His glory was revealed to those who lived to testify to His holiness, and that He came with the fullness of God's grace and God's truth. You know that He came because of God's love for this fallen world. That God SO loved the world that He sent Christ to us, and all we have to do is to believe in Christ as God's Son, to grab hold of the love that was the driving force behind Christ's journey to earth, and through that belief and the transformed life that follows, we can be confident that we will not perish, but that we will have everlasting life.
Is the idea of everlasting life with God as thrilling to you as it is to me? When I read Paul's words in 1 Corinthians, I get goosebumps thinking about just how wonderful it will be. "However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." As much as I enjoy this life, as beautiful as a sunset or sunrise sometimes appear, as wonderful as it is to have a granddaughter wrap her arms around me and say, "I love you" (and that is truly wonderful) --- heaven will be better. There is nothing on this earth that will compare to what God has ready for us. (I do believe the embrace of a grandchild will be the closest thing!) God longs to have us with Him for eternity, and when Jesus said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" you can trust that His preparations will result in something beautiful. Just as a groom prepares a place for His bride in order to take her breath away when He carries her across that threshold, Jesus is getting things ready for His bride, the church, and continuing to put the final touches on each nook and cranny...I think He is going to say, "Just look at what I've been doing....preparing your place...just for you."
And I do believe we will be breathless..not so much from the magnificence of what has been prepared for us, but by the fact that we are in the presence of God Almighty.
That's where I want to live...and I know that's where God wants me, and that's where He wants you. Won't it be amazing when we see each other there, maybe some of us for the first time! I'm so looking forward to meeting you there!
Thank You Lord Jesus for making life eternal a possibility for a sinner like me! Thank You God the Father for Your plan of salvation! Thank You Holy Spirit for assuring me of the truth of everything that the Word promises!
Life is good...eternal life is better!
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