Echoes From the Campfire

I don’t have the time or the temperament for machismo games.”
              –Lou Bradshaw  (Along the Way)

    “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
              –John 10:10 (NLT)
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Ain’t that the truth.  There are far too many so-called adults who continue to play along with life.  Many have the “Peter Pan Syndrome” and don’t want to grow up.  I once had a student ask me if I thought he was an adult.  I replied, “Do you accept responsibility without being told?”  He didn’t reply, and I had my answer.
    People tend to more and more run away from life and their responsibility.  Life is not a game, no matter how many are playing.  Sooner or later the game is over and then instead of accepting responsibility they begin to cast blame or make excuses.  Grow up!  Fight the good fight of faith and redeem the time!
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    So in the midst of life in this troublesome world, we, as believers should be calm and have peace in our souls.  One way to find out if a person is a “real” Christian is to bring face-to-face with a world situation and ask them for their explanation.  Ask them how they are affected.  We must be perfectly clear about what the Word of God says about this world and its history.  It tells us that in this world there is evil and it has been ruined by sin.  Listen!  “The trouble with men and women, with life and with history is radical–it is sin.  Lloyd-Jones states, “Sin is something that does not merely affect the surface of life; it affects the very source.”  The result is that the life of this world is under the control of sin, under the control of Satan.
    “Sin is a radical problem and the world cannot now and never will improve itself; there is no hope for it in that way.” (Lloyd-Jones).  Therefore, man should not be surprised at what is happening in the world.  There is a problem with evil and it resides in the human heart.  Look around and see the atrocities than man creates daily.  The world is as it is because of man’s disobedience and sin.  One thing that we must see clearly, “God’s plan and purpose is not to reform that world but to take and save the people out of it.” (Lloyd-Jones)  Those who follow Jesus will be taken to another kingdom.
    On this earth there is currently a kingdom of darkness and a kingdom of light, and these two kingdoms are here together in this world.  Eventually everything sinful and tarnishing will be purged out of the universe.  This world, as we know it, will be destroyed, and there will be a new heaven and new earth.  People try to fix the times and the seasons or they scoff at the idea that Christ will return.
    Take heart, friend of God.  Whenever it is time to die you will have Christ there beside you.  You will not be going to a great unknown, but to a place He has prepared for you.  Jesus will be there and we shall be like Him.  “In the midst of he darkness and the confusion and the uncertainty of this modern world, if you want rest, if you want peace, if you want quietness of heart, you will not find it by trusting to ideas as to the reformation of this world, for these are all being falsified before you eyes.” (Lloyd-Jones) Instead why wonder what is taking place?  

         “Men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?  this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
                 –Acts 1:11

Want calmness of spirit?  Look up.  Want peace in troubled times?  Look up.  Want assurance for the weary soul?  Look up.  He is coming again, and coming soon.