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Fading
Glory
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 And if what
was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that
which lasts! (2 Cor. 3:11)
Oh, the glory of fall!
I’m so glad I live in a place where you really have four seasons.
So what if number four lasts a little longer than it needs to.
The
rest of the year makes up for it.
Here again is the Liberty Tree, back for a return engagement on this
website. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it sure
isn’t the same as being here in person. Trying to convey by way
of photography the beauty I see here is a vain effort.
Speaking of fading glory…on the radio recently I spoke about living in
the New Testament. Too many Christians (and preachers) seem to be
stuck in the Old. In the chapter from 2 Corinthians cited above,
Paul referred to what he called the “ministry of death.” The
ministry of death is law; it is the Old Testament. Law cannot
change you from the inside—it can only punish you on the outside.
Paul acknowledged that this “death ministry” came with glory, but it is
a “glory now set aside” (2 Cor. 3:7—NRSV). I wish all
Christians would set this death ministry aside. We need to stop
attributing natural disasters to the judgment of God, as if Christ had
never come. Today God is exclusively working through His Son the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says in John 3:17 that “…God did
not send his Son into the world
to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
Jesus
didn’t come to extinguish His enemies but to die for them. Thank
God,
we are still in the day of grace. The day of judgment is coming,
but
it hasn’t come yet and it’s not for us to bring it on prematurely.
Some Christians say that God sends natural disasters to “remind us of
His awesome power.” In other words, from time to time God says to
Himself, “I think I’ll wipe out a few thousand people just to prove I
can
do it.” I’ve read through the four Gospels many times, but
somehow
I’ve never noticed Jesus Christ going around snuffing people out just
to
show He can. When James and John wanted God to do this very thing
in
Luke 9:51-56, Jesus rebuked them sharply.
I talk about this subject in a bit more detail in the radio program entitled “Jesus Christ and Natural
Disasters.” Ironically, because of power outages caused by high
winds in our area, many of the listeners to WHAZ didn’t get to hear
this program on the day it first aired. But we’re not about to
let the devil off the hook. We
are replaying that program this Sunday, and he can do what he
likes.
If he knocks us off again, we’ll just play it again until he runs out
of
ideas. (Actually, he ran out of fresh ideas centuries ago.)
I would urge you to listen to this 15 minute broadcast online if you
want to hear more about this subject. I believe there is much
misunderstanding in the Body of Christ today about this.
To listen to “Jesus Christ and Natural Disasters”
click here. The point is simply this:
“that which lasts” is the ministry of God’s grace expressed in His Son
Jesus Christ. The glory of this permanent ministry is far greater
than the glory of the “ministry of death,” which glory (thank God) has
faded away.
To see the Liberty Tree story click here.
To see the Beautiful
Sacandaga Lake story click here.
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