Living for the moment ... only to be undone by passing of these moments

"I trust in you, O LORD; I say, 'You are my God.' My times are in your hand; rescue me ..." Ps 31:14-15

Ah, the great struggle to see and leave my times in Your hands, 
O Lord, my God and Rescuer!
Surely there is no better sign that my faith is captive to an illusion, 
then my endless attempts to make You, 
the Triune God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit, 
the God in whom I live and move and have my being (Ac 17:28), 
fit and conform to my living, moving and being. 

How I strive eight ways to Sunday to see and to put You 
into myself, my times, my trials and my triumphs, 
rather than seeing by faith that You, O Lord, 
have put me and all that is mine, my sin and my all, into Christ. 

How often am I caught up in the moments, 
living by and for these moments, 
only to find myself and my living 
undone by the passing of these moments. 

How foolish I have been!  
How shall my Lord, who has promised to be at work in all things for my good (Rm 8:28), 
keep this promise if all these were not in my Lord's keeping and care? 

Have mercy Lord and forgive my clouded faith and lack of faith.
Surely as my times are in Your hands, so am I. 
Grant me Your Holy Spirit that my mind may be set on the things above, for I have died and my life is hidden with Christ in You (Col 3:2-3). Amen.

- pmwl

The temporal constantly throw it's gauntlet at the feet of the ageless and eternal that is in us.

Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! ⁶  He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. Psalm 126:6

In the walk of faith, we tend to look at the struggle and challenges of life, as if they are against the "me" that is now, the "me" that is today.  Forgotten is the fact that those who are in Christ are no longer bound by today, yesterday, or tomorrow.

When these moments, hours and even days of our lives come to us, be they in suffering or in pleasure for us, they come as a challenge to the eternal that the Lord has put within us.

The swift, countless and ever busy things of our temporal lives constantly throw down their gauntlets at the feet of the ageless and eternal that is in us.  Seeking by enticement or trial, to lay claim to us and our souls, and thus define and determine who and what we are.

The real battle in life for the believer is never between the "me" that was yesterday and the "me" of today, nor between the "me" of today and the "me" I might become tomorrow.  Being baptized into Christ - He has met the real sinful me as I was yesterday, as I am today and as I will be tomorrow and I am forever saved. 

The real and ongoing struggle of faith is always between the "me" living through the experiences of life today and the "me" that is forever saved, alive and safe in the eternal life of Jesus Christ.  

- pmwl

The tree God plants ...

“See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!” But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. Psalm 52:7-8

The wind that blows can never kill

The tree the Lord, plants;

It blows from east, it blows from west,

Its tender leaves have little rest,

But any wind that blows is best.

This tree the Lord plants

Makes deeper roots, grows higher still,

And spreads its limbs, for God's good will

Excels to meet, its every want.

No storm has power to ever fell,

The tree the Lord does grow;

No thunder’s crash, nor beating rain,

Nor lightning flash, nor hurricane;

When they are spent, it shall remain,

This tree the Lord knows,

Through every storm it stands fast,

And from its first day until its last

By His grace, still fairer grows.

- pmwl

When Lord made Himself a butcher and a tanner for me

"And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them." Genesis 3:21
When the Lord made skins for Adam and Eve, He made himself the butcher of animals and the tanner of skins to clothe them with earthly garments, This He did, knowing that He would allow them to be His butcher and the tanner of His skin as they would work His flesh and His skin with all the tools and skill of sin.  Then they would stretch Him out on the cross so that He might be made ready for the curing heat of God's wrath and made fit for clothing all mankind with His righteousness.
 Lord how great is mystery of You and Your ways of love and grace for Your fallen creation.
Thanks be to Thee, my Lord and my God.

- pmwl