Exploring the holy texts

People often think about and wish for the opportunity to travel through time. Imagine having the ability to transport ourselves into the past or into the future. Truthfully, we’ve all possessed this ability our entire lives but we didn’t recognize it as time travel, we merely viewed it as living our lives. However, the Bible gives us insight into this ability in Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Whether we realize it or not, we determine our futures by the decisions we make or don’t make today; conversely our present has been determined by the decisions we have made in the past. Let that paradox soak in for a moment. Each and every day of our loves we are confronted with decisions to do or not do something. Because of my faith in Jesus Christ and study of His Holy Word in the Bible, I can state with blessed assuredness that those decisions had competing influences that were driven by motivations and opportunities to move towards God or away from Him — obedience to God to honor Him or obedience to the flesh to honor (gratify/satisfy) ourselves. And, what ever decision(s) were made impacted the course of our lives even seemingly small or seemingly unimportant decisions. However, there are certain decisions that we need to pay particular attention to because rather than being decisions, they are in fact temptations that we need to flee from. The verses in 2 Timothy 2:22-24 offers the following guidance, “Run from temptations that capture young people. Always do the right thing. Be faithful, loving, and easy to get along with. Worship with people whose hearts are pure. 23 Stay away from stupid and senseless arguments. These only lead to trouble, 24 and God’s servants must not be troublemakers. They must be kind to everyone, and they must be good teachers and very patient.” Many, not all, but many of the blessings or punishments we experience in middle-age are the result of decions made in our younger years. The decisions were like seeds planted — some good seeds and some bad seeds — and overtime these seeds will bear either good or bad fruit. So, does this mean we are chained to our past if we made regrettable decisions. Absolutely not! You see, that’s where God’s grace steps in. Before Jesus Christ came and served as the payment for our sins, we had zero hope for redepemption. We were stuck with only the consequences of breaking God’s law which is sin and eternal separation from our Heavenly Father. Oh, but, hallelujah, God saw the sin dilemma and provided a solution by offering His one and only Son, Jesus Christ as the ultimate sacrifice for our sin so that for all time, anyone calling on the name of Jesus in spirit and in truth could and would have their sins forgiven. However, they may still suffer punishment for the indiscretion but the sin will be forgiven by God. God is the ultimate time traveler because unlike humans, He is not bound by time. Because God is omnipresent (every where) and omniscient (all knowing), we can experience hope and even peace in the midst of troubles. However, rejecting God’s accommodation for having our sins forgiven means we carry the full weight of the sin including the judgement. So while a Christian who makes a poor decision and sins against God and repents will have their sin forgiven even if they must suffer consequences such as going to jail or paying a fine; people who do not seek God’s forgiveness for sinning against Him stand to extend their suffering. When we sin against God by mistreating others, the wisest thing we can do is humble ourselves and seek God’s forgiveness: “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.“ Colossians 1:13-14. Amen.

#Bible #exploration