Unshaken

While studying Revelation in #BSF this week and reading about the seven bowls of judgment in chapter 16, I was stopped by this verse: "And a great earthquake struck—the worst since people were placed on the earth."

Mankind has seen some pretty horrific earthquakes in our time on earth. But none, the Bible says, compares to the one coming when God unleashes His final judgment. As I continued to study over the next two days, the word "unshaken" kept returning to me, along with a verse I could almost remember, yet...didn't.

Finally, I sat down and did some searching and found the verses I was trying to recall. They were SUCH an encouragement, especially in light of how the kingdom of darkness will someday will be shaken to its core and thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, when all evil and wrongdoing will be judged accordingly by God's justice and sovereignty.

The verses are from Hebrews 12...

"Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: "Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also." 

This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain. Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is UNSHAKABLE, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire." (Hebrews 11:25-29)

God is merciful AND just. The two attributes go hand-in-hand. And, as believers in Christ, we're eternally grateful.

Among all your reading this week, be sure to read the most important book of all—His. What encouragement—or conviction—has God's Word given you this week?

What I know for sure

We're studying the book of Luke at church for the next year, and one of our first lessons centered around what we know for sure. 

The book of Luke starts out:

Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught.

Did you catch all the bolded words (and circled in my Bible to the right) in that opening passage that point to how Luke, the physician, painstakingly researched and investigated all the minute details, then penned a careful account (not a quickly jotted down note) so that Theophilus could be CERTAIN of what he already knew?

Five thoughts stuck with me from Lloyd's sharing that Sunday:

1) You can't be sure about everything, but you must be sure of some things.

No way are we ever going to perfectly understand everything in the Bible and be totally right in every single opinion, much less agree about them all (here on earth). But there are some things that we MUST be sure of. Luke is going to tell us what those things are...

2) Certainty doesn't come by looking at ourselves, but at Jesus Christ.

We don't grow in our faith by looking at or within ourselves. Our faith is strengthened and our confidence in our salvation is made more certain when we fix my eyes on Him, the author and perfecter of our faith.

3) Certainty doesn't come in an instant, but with time.

God is often depicted as a farmer in the Bible. Jesus used this analogy in many of his parables. One of the attributes of a farmer, a good farmer anyway, is patience. Crops may be planted in a day, but it takes time to produce a harvest. It's the same with the heart.

4) Our deepest convictions are born from our deepest pain.

This may sound familiar. It's similar to what Rick Warren wrote in The Purpose Driven Life. Just as God is going to work through our deepest pains and will enable us to minister to others who are hurting in similar ways, so our deepest convictions––the beliefs that are going to be rock solid for us––are going to be rooted in our deepest wounds.

5) There's no certainty apart from application, from living what you know.

Very simply, if we're certain of something, we act on it. That belief changes our lives. Likewise, whatever we "know" is going to inform how we live. How we treat others. How we make decisions. Dare I say how we drive? How we react in the check out line? Because when we know something for sure, it changes everything.

Before Lloyd started sharing that day, he asked us to jot down some things we knew for sure. This is what I wrote:

I know for sure that the love (agape) we experience here has no end, because God is love and He is eternal. I know for sure that God is sovereign, merciful and just, and that He has my eternal best at heart, and that He will move heaven and earth––and already has, through Christ––to save me.

I'd love to know…what do you know for sure?

And lest you think I'm not eating Dove Dark Chocolate anymore (what were you thinking!), here's my wrapper from yesterday. It's so true of God's love. It says: A good love is delicious, because you can never get enough.

Wishing you some "good love" today...