HE’S COMING BACK

Time with Jesus - 14 July 2013

Hi all,

What is a mixed blessing? We might say that it is something good which happens, mixed with something not quite so good. An example of this can be described as follows: You are feeling a bit hungry. You see an apple in the fruit bowl. It’s exactly what you would like to eat. You pick it up, take a bite and start enjoying a delicious piece of fruit. When you have eaten half the apple, you take a better look at the half-eaten apple in your hand. Within it you see half a worm!

Not my Mother-in-Law

Another example concerns the mythical family we read about and laugh about somewhat inanely. In this case there is a man, his wife, his mother-in-law whom he strongly dislikes and his brand new, recently purchased and very expensive top of the range Mercedes. 

The story is that his mother-in-law borrows the Mercedes and drives along Chapman’s Peak Drive from Fish Hoek to Hout Bay. Half way along the road, she accidentally drives the car off the road, crashes onto the rocks below and into the sea, where she drowns. 

Apparently, for him this is a mixed blessing! At this point it’s necessary to say I’ve never owned a Mercedes. Also I dearly loved and miss Phyllida’s mother!

Another mixed blessing concerns an entirely fictional tale about the Apostle Paul. He is permitted to return to earth briefly to have a look at the New Testament. He turns the pages to read some of his letters. There, horror of horrors, he finds each one has been “chopped up and divided”, rather badly, into chapters and verses. He shakes his head and mutters under his breath, “That’s not how I wrote them!”

Psalm 23

The Chapters and verses in the Bible are a wonderful example of a mixed blessing. You can easily find a particular Scripture. e.g. John 3:16. You can learn it and quote it to others. That’s a great blessing for the likes of you and me. But this has made us lazy. We don’t really have to “know” the Scriptures. Instead we can consult a concordance and find what you are looking for. 

That in itself has been a blessing. But it’s a blessing in disguise. Without this uninspired division into chapters and verses, we would have to know the whole book very well, in order to point to what we wish to quote.

We also wouldn’t have our problem of thinking 1) God inspired this system. 2) The chapter and verse “divisions” are suitable and correct.

1 Corinthians is a case in point. 1 Corinthians 12 to 14 all refer to the same topic. In Paul’s letter he was speaking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the “love” chapter (1 Cor. 13) is an integral part of his teaching on the Holy Spirit’s gifts. You cannot cut out Chapter 13, isolate it on its own, read it and understand it correctly without considering Chapters 12 and 14. That would be tantamount to my talking about your navel and forgetting your head and feet! Perhaps a better way to understand chapter 13 is to see it as the hinge on which Chapters 12 and 14 hang. These two chapters function best in the light of Chapter 13.

What has this to do with today’s readings? I’m glad you asked. They all refer directly or indirectly to the first and/or second coming of Jesus. This has happened once and will happen again. For a Christian, His coming again is not in doubt and we look forward to it with Godly anticipation. For many it will be a far from happy event. There is a sense in which we are living – or trying to live - in 1 Cor. 13. Behind us is 1 Corinthians 12. In front of us is 1 Corinthians 14. Our Christian living needs to be a reflection of the very character of God; love itself. It is the link between “now” and “future”. We are saved by “faith”. We live in “hope” for the future. For this to be meaningful, a life of “love” is needed. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit are useless without “love”, hence the inclusion of 1 Corinthians 13!

These Three Will Last Forever
Faith - Hope - Love

Paul wrote, ¹³ Three things will last forever--faith, hope, & love--& the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor. 13:13 NLT So let’s celebrate the fact that He will return! For the world this will be a mixed blessing. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Shalom,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – 14 July 2013			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
©	These devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it is for non-commercial Christian purposes					©
	INTRODUCTION		DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	HE’S COMING BACK
Nearly all of us have heard stories about children and their fathers. One of my favourites is about a little girl and her dress. She had been shopping with her mother and saw the prettiest dress. She called her mother to show her the dress. “Mommy, please buy me that dress” she asked with all the breathless enthusiasm that’s unique to children, Mommy also liked it and said. “Ask your father and see what he says”. That evening the little girl was sitting looking out of the window, waiting for her dad. When she saw him, she rushed outside and jumped up into his arms, “Daddy, Daddy, please will you buy me the dress I saw while out shopping with Mommy. “Honey”, he said, “let me first talk it over with Mommy”. Later, as they were having their evening meal, Daddy said to Mommy, “What’s this about a new dress for our daughter? They all chatted about it. Then he said to his daughter, I’ll take you shopping on Saturday and buy that dress. The little girl yelled with delight. “Daddy’s going to buy me that beautiful dress on Saturday” For the rest of the week, she told everyone “Daddy’s going to buy me a new dress on Saturday”. On Saturday morning, he did! There are more parallels to the Christian life in this story than we could shake a stick at. Perhaps the best is the fact that the little girl believed her father. “Saturday’s coming” she told everyone. She had confidence in her father that he wouldn’t let her down. Her faith and hope were “mixed” together and it happened. She couldn’t see the dress but she knew it was hers. We need to be like that little girl in our trust of our Heavenly Father. Jesus has said He will return again for His people. Let’s not get into a theological debate about the second coming of Jesus. Pre-trib, Mid-trib or Post-trib, is not the issue. Let’s not ‘con-trib’ to the ‘other-tribs’! All we need to know is that He is coming and He wants us to be expectant. He also wants us to know that because we cannot see Him, He is more real than Table Mountain! Our confidence must be in Him and His promises, in spite of Him being invisible. He is bringing us our reward for being faithful and obedient. How do we know? Because He has told us. Like the little girl, our “Saturday’s coming”! It will come whether we believe it or not! So let’s rejoice that the One we serve is the invisible God, not one we have cobbled together. Such “gods” are as much use as an udder on a bull! Hand-made gods will crumble and fall. But our God; the invisible God, won’t change one “iota”. We don’t have to understand it scientifically. All we must do is believe. “Saturday’s coming!” Jim and Phyllida Strickland			14 For I hope to see you soon, and then we will talk face to face. 3 John 14 NLT	I wonder what He looks like, our Great and Triune God. He’s sure to be unusual, but that does not mean odd. I know the Lord told Philip, He looks just like His Dad. But Lord that can’t be features; for you with flesh were clad. And yet we know You came here in the body of a man. You worked a special miracle, the way no other can! So you were fully human for everyone to see. Yet you were also God the Son, both simultaneously! I do not understand it. Thank God, there is no need. The mystery of Godhood, The Trinity indeed, Is so way out beyond me, I must format my mind! Because to everything You are, I’m absolutely blind. But somehow that’s exciting. Because the things I see, You’ve told us in the Scripture, are not reality. The things which we can see today will crumble and will fall. The size is not important; it may be large or small. But none if it is permanent. It’s sure to pass away. But that which is invisible, is always here to stay! And since we cannot see You, we know that You are real. If we could really see, or smell, or taste, or hear, or feel, It would be a delusion and not reality. And so my God I thank You that You we cannot see. And yet we long for contact with You in ways we know. Hence, our human nature, desires that You show Your people what You’re really like. It’s hard to truly love, A God Who is concealed from us and dwells on High above! This must have been the reason, why You Lord, said that day. You have seen Me, Philip, My Father looks this way! He didn’t mean a photograph. He meant what Philip saw, Was God disguised in overalls. His Father was much more, Like Jesus in His character. In fact they both were One. And they will still remain the same when sight of Him has gone. But one day He’ll come back again. Be patient and please wait. Every day that passes brings us closer to that date. So live in expectation and live your life this way. Live as though you’re certain that tomorrow is the day. Put your “house” in order and live in constant hope. Trust His Holy Spirit and you will more than cope. Celebrate His goodness; shout praises to the King! “We trusted Him, He saved us!” is what we will all sing! Jim Strickland Written 14th July 2012
			1 I wish you would open up your heavens and come down to us! I wish the mountains would tremble when you show your power! Isaiah 64:1 NIrV
			For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah. 1 As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, O God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before Him? Psalms 42:1-2 NLT
			14 Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices. Song of Solomon 8:14 ESV
			20 But we are citizens of heaven. And we can hardly wait for a Saviour from there. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:20 NIrV
			13 That's how we should live as we wait for the blessed hope God has given us. We are waiting for Jesus Christ to appear in all his glory. He is our great God & Saviour. Titus 2:13 NIrV
			1 This letter is from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, appointed by the command of God our Saviour and Christ Jesus, who gives us hope. 1 Timothy 1:1 NLT
			8 You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him--with laughter and singing. 1 Peter 1:8 MSG
			20 He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon!" Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! Revelation 22:20 NLT
			9 In that day people will proclaim, "This is our God! We trusted in Him, and He saved us! This is the LORD, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation He brings!" Isaiah 25:9 NLT