Witness

Good Windyday morning leaplings and all others on this extra day! Yesterday was a nice break from the wind; praise the Lord! Today, it sounds like we'll be right back in the windy. Yes, the snow did miss us, at least the snow that can be seen on the ground. I did see a few flakes in the air yesterday for a brief time after lunch. Isn't it interesting that I can witness to the fact that it snowed yesterday, but there is no evidence of it this morning? I can swear in court that it happened; relate the story for a reporter, and tell anyone who will listen my story, but I have no proof other than what I saw with my own eyes. What does that remind you of? Matthew the tax collector; John the fisherman; Paul the Pharisee; Jude and James the brothers of Jesus; and Peter of the impulsive tongue, all witnessed Jesus in person and then wrote down their stories for us to read. We do not have direct physical evidence of Jesus that we can see, touch, or hear, but we have their witness. For some this witness is not reliable. They talk of ancient myths, fiction stories made up later that grew over time, a mass hysteria of the gullible, or any reason they can think of to justify a refusal to believe in Christ. We have the same choice, but on the other side. For us, the witness of these men is not just an eyewitness account, but the very word of God inspired and written through a chosen few.

Not one of us is forced to believe the gospel accounts of Jesus. So why then do we have to suffer the consequences of not believing? You are born into this world, into a particular country, and state, and home. All of these places will have rules or laws. Not one of them do you have to obey, but all of them will have consequences that will occur should you choose not to obey. Yes, you can choose to not obey your boss this morning, and there will be consequences for that action. God wrote down the Law through Moses, but the consequences of disobedience existed before the Law. The murderer may claim that before the Law he could be exiled like Cain, but after the Law he received the death penalty. The consequences changed with the coming of the Law, didn't they? Nope, God had Moses write down the penalties, but anyone born in this world was already condemned to die at birth. The wages of sin is death, no matter whether the penalty is carried out by man under the Law or by God under the curse. As soon as Adam sinned, death began for him and his wife. All of us born into the human race after Adam wait on death row for the sentence to be carried out.

Wait, I don't deserve that. It wasn't my choice to eat of the wrong tree. How much more then does the beast of the field have to protest? They suffer death and pain in this world too. Those who want to call Jesus a fiction also want to make man just another animal. Interesting that... Then we come to the most unfair thing of all. God's Son, Jesus the Christ, never sinned and didn't have to leave His place in Heaven. Yet, He came down to this earth in a human body and allowed some dirty, sinful people to touch Him. Nope, it was more than that; He allowed them to kill Him on the cross for our sins. God provided the ultimate sacrifice that man could not and would not pay. The Lamb without sin died for those full of sin. The Lamb then invited all to believe in Him and receive eternal life. Staggers the mind a bit it does.

As rebels against the Law, we want all the benefits without any consequences no matter what we choose. It cannot work that way, or God would not be just. On the other hand, we can be justified, through no effort of our own, simply by giving our sinful lives to Jesus and believing in His saving power. God shouldn't be that good to us, but He is.

Praise God for His grace!
Bucky