When we finally resolve to press onward in the day that the Lord has given us today, trusting him to keep us safe as we explore more options than we have found in the highly acclaimed glorious future kingdom theory found in our church, we are set free in the Lord to ask the serious questions that every Christian needs to ask.
And this is a very good thing that is by no means off limits with God.
We have every right before God to conduct our own search for real truth.
In fact, God welcomes and rewards it! Those who seek, find.
When it comes to the words of men we must proceed with the utmost caution, and check their hypotheses and theories against the real authority, i.
e.
his Word, which "is profitable for instruction..
" (II Tim 3:16).
God has given us his Word of truth to help us, and this is our real lifeline out of the muck and mire of humanist-centered ideas and inventions.
It is the one reliable line back to God whenever we feel that the ways of men seem to be falling short somehow.
We may not quite have realized it yet, in the midst of all of the human church programs that eat up so much of our valuable, God-given time, but when we finally do get around to spending more quality time with God's Word, we see some things in it that give us serious pause to just cogitate, and ask serious questions.
Maybe even, very soon, we start to realize that there is something so compelling that we must attend even more to this precious Word.
It begins to gnaw on us, with even more questions than we first had.
So we continue onward, hoping to find some long sought after answers.
But then something else happens.
We actually begin to realize that something else is present.
We start to see that the Word of God seems indeed very much alive.
It seems to exude a certain life-giving element that is a bit intangible at first, and we cannot quite grab a hold of it.
There are so many loose ends to connect to something somewhere that might give it all some greater substance and meaning somehow.
Then we come upon the words, Good News, and then further on new covenant.
Aha! New covenant! Here is the glue that I've been searching for that fuses all of this Good News together in a very meaningful whole! New covenant.
What actually is this? Here is an excitement, indeed, perhaps even a small ray of light that seems to take on an excitement and life all of its own.
How strange, just these two little words, but, well, pretty powerful, I have to say! A little mysteriously, at first, the phrase, new covenant, grows within me.
It seems to have its own mysterious kind of energy and vitality that speaks to the here and now deep inside me.
It doesn't point way off to the airy fairy far-off future, either, but right now, where I stand inquiring of God for my need.
Right now! Some evangelists of the day will pooh-pooh this approach of inquiry, saying, oh, no, this is just too much for you alone.
This smacks of narcissism, and you don't want to think that much of just your own personal need, now do you? Best to follow our lead and just leave such needs of your own sitting right where they are.
It is forbidden territory to think of your needs, when the future glorious earthly kingdom will attend to all that later on.
Just leave it all alone, in God's hands, for a better day that He will make more satisfying, perhaps, some day later for you.
Just follow the great program that this church provides, and it will all be just fine! You really need to attend to these other things for now! Nonetheless, this new compulsion still continues to nag at you, and so you think, what harm can my pursuit of God's Word do to me? After all, He did write it all down for me, that I might profit by what it says, didn't He? So, why not! And so you press on, maybe even staying home from church a few times just to read more of your Bible.
The mysterious new covenant continues to grip you in a whole new universe, it seems.
It becomes very hard to set it aside, and just ignore it.
It is really just too exciting and tantalizing, and you are beginning to feel an extra lightness and spring in your steps.
You even feel like breaking out in a few light dance steps! Or, say, something a little peppier.
Well, really no harm in that, either, I guess! I sure hope God understands! I just have to do something physical with all this happy new feeling that seems to be overtaking me.
Obviously things are now spinning out of control in my life! Oh, dear! But, oh, my, ain't it just grand! Well, who cares what people think? Such a forbidden gladness has taken me quite over, and made me uncontrollably joyful and happy in its mysterious hold on me and power over me! My, oh, my! My whole outlook seems to be changing! My very perspective has changed! I feel so much better! Who cares about any other day in the future, wherever that may be! I have my God with me right now, and this is nothing short of new, and wonderful, and great! This is what I really have always wanted instead! My Lord and my God, I've seen with new vision at last! I am indeed most richly blessed by your holy Word and in your most wondrous Presence and power.
You've given me the miracle that I've been waiting for! And, how strange, it came at me so accidentally in just my reading of your precious Word! Thank you, dear Lord, thank you! But you know better, my dear Lord.
You know you meant it to be no accident at all! Your precious Word is alive, just as you are alive.
Praise your dear name, my Lord and my God!
And this is a very good thing that is by no means off limits with God.
We have every right before God to conduct our own search for real truth.
In fact, God welcomes and rewards it! Those who seek, find.
When it comes to the words of men we must proceed with the utmost caution, and check their hypotheses and theories against the real authority, i.
e.
his Word, which "is profitable for instruction..
" (II Tim 3:16).
God has given us his Word of truth to help us, and this is our real lifeline out of the muck and mire of humanist-centered ideas and inventions.
It is the one reliable line back to God whenever we feel that the ways of men seem to be falling short somehow.
We may not quite have realized it yet, in the midst of all of the human church programs that eat up so much of our valuable, God-given time, but when we finally do get around to spending more quality time with God's Word, we see some things in it that give us serious pause to just cogitate, and ask serious questions.
Maybe even, very soon, we start to realize that there is something so compelling that we must attend even more to this precious Word.
It begins to gnaw on us, with even more questions than we first had.
So we continue onward, hoping to find some long sought after answers.
But then something else happens.
We actually begin to realize that something else is present.
We start to see that the Word of God seems indeed very much alive.
It seems to exude a certain life-giving element that is a bit intangible at first, and we cannot quite grab a hold of it.
There are so many loose ends to connect to something somewhere that might give it all some greater substance and meaning somehow.
Then we come upon the words, Good News, and then further on new covenant.
Aha! New covenant! Here is the glue that I've been searching for that fuses all of this Good News together in a very meaningful whole! New covenant.
What actually is this? Here is an excitement, indeed, perhaps even a small ray of light that seems to take on an excitement and life all of its own.
How strange, just these two little words, but, well, pretty powerful, I have to say! A little mysteriously, at first, the phrase, new covenant, grows within me.
It seems to have its own mysterious kind of energy and vitality that speaks to the here and now deep inside me.
It doesn't point way off to the airy fairy far-off future, either, but right now, where I stand inquiring of God for my need.
Right now! Some evangelists of the day will pooh-pooh this approach of inquiry, saying, oh, no, this is just too much for you alone.
This smacks of narcissism, and you don't want to think that much of just your own personal need, now do you? Best to follow our lead and just leave such needs of your own sitting right where they are.
It is forbidden territory to think of your needs, when the future glorious earthly kingdom will attend to all that later on.
Just leave it all alone, in God's hands, for a better day that He will make more satisfying, perhaps, some day later for you.
Just follow the great program that this church provides, and it will all be just fine! You really need to attend to these other things for now! Nonetheless, this new compulsion still continues to nag at you, and so you think, what harm can my pursuit of God's Word do to me? After all, He did write it all down for me, that I might profit by what it says, didn't He? So, why not! And so you press on, maybe even staying home from church a few times just to read more of your Bible.
The mysterious new covenant continues to grip you in a whole new universe, it seems.
It becomes very hard to set it aside, and just ignore it.
It is really just too exciting and tantalizing, and you are beginning to feel an extra lightness and spring in your steps.
You even feel like breaking out in a few light dance steps! Or, say, something a little peppier.
Well, really no harm in that, either, I guess! I sure hope God understands! I just have to do something physical with all this happy new feeling that seems to be overtaking me.
Obviously things are now spinning out of control in my life! Oh, dear! But, oh, my, ain't it just grand! Well, who cares what people think? Such a forbidden gladness has taken me quite over, and made me uncontrollably joyful and happy in its mysterious hold on me and power over me! My, oh, my! My whole outlook seems to be changing! My very perspective has changed! I feel so much better! Who cares about any other day in the future, wherever that may be! I have my God with me right now, and this is nothing short of new, and wonderful, and great! This is what I really have always wanted instead! My Lord and my God, I've seen with new vision at last! I am indeed most richly blessed by your holy Word and in your most wondrous Presence and power.
You've given me the miracle that I've been waiting for! And, how strange, it came at me so accidentally in just my reading of your precious Word! Thank you, dear Lord, thank you! But you know better, my dear Lord.
You know you meant it to be no accident at all! Your precious Word is alive, just as you are alive.
Praise your dear name, my Lord and my God!
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