A Message From Brother Grimes

[1] Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
[2] I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
[3] Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
[4] Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
[5] I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
[6] Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

(Job 42:1-6)

 

This is a passage taken from the book of Job nearing the end of his great testing. Here is a vivid demonstration of Job’s faith in God with the understanding that whatever is happening in life happens to the knowledge of God and is under His control. This is relevant to us given the extraordinary circumstances that we face with this current pandemic.

Many are struggling with this situation as though it is a punishment. I want to hold out to all of us that this could be, and likely is an act of love coming from God.

The reason that I say this is because sin has gotten a firm foothold in our present culture; and so much so that there is confusion about what is sin and what isn’t. I think that this confusion finds its most fertile breeding ground in the “hurry up, hustle and bustle” style of life that has imposed itself on all of us.  Could it be that God has said that He was going to slow us down or even give us a “time out” so that we might evaluate the brand of religion that we have become accustomed to?

It is time that the question is asked from the pulpit to the pews; “Is God pleased with my life?” John 8:21” Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.”

I certainly think that we as striving Christians should be careful that we don’t sin against God; but that’s not where it ends. We should not be accepting, tolerant of or amenable to sin. The task of confronting sins when it is coming from someone that we hold in high regard is not one of the more pleasant duties that we have but as Christians that’s what we are supposed to do. (] Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. (1Cor. 11:1)  A Christians unchanging rule of life should be, “ What would Jesus have me to do?”

As we emerge from this pandemic lock down and things move back toward what we term as “normal”, we should do so with a renewed viewpoint of what a true conviction for Christ should be. We should recognize His grace in as much as He delivered us through a peril that could have taken us out. We can say that we have experienced what it feels like to realize that in actuality we are helpless when it comes to averting disaster and tragedy. We can say that through it all He made good on the promise to never leave or forsake us. We should come out better than we went in or else we endured it for nothing.

May God bless and keep you by His almighty power,

Nathaniel L. Grimes, Minister

Fowlkes Street Church of Christ

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