Declaration of Dependence
When Jesus is Lord, our lives are a “declaration” and not a question. As Oswald Chambers said, “All God requires is extreme obedience with no complaining or questioning on my part and no explanation on his.” We may not understand his plan, but we trust his heart of love. When we’re walking with the Lord, our lives are a “Declaration” for others to know the love of God. For we are his declaration, his epistles, his love letters, written not with ink or in tablets of stone, but in the tables of our hearts. We are the only sermons that some people will ever see.
Paul said, “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Whether I live or die, my purpose is to display the gospel of my Lord.” This is also the purpose of the church, the called-out of God. The purpose of our “band of brothers” is to manifest the Word of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom we shine as lights.
Pete’s wife Suzan’s life motto was, “Joy is not the absence of pain, rather joy is the presence of God.” She lived to shine the love of her Heavenly Father. She never cried throughout her ordeal with terminal brain cancer. The only time she cried was tears of Joy when hundreds came to pray for her while she was battling cancer. She said, “your prayers didn’t hold me though this ordeal, they carried me along.”
Pete relates that on his recent trip to Scotland, he attended a church service where the topic of discussion was hell. What we think about life after death will define our life in this world and also in eternity. Most people think that everyone is destined for heaven. However, eternal life is on God’s terms according to His Word, not ours.
In this life, we can’t see clearly what God is doing through our suffering and pain. For now we “see through a glass darkly, but then (in heaven) face to face we shall know even also as we are known by God.” While Paul was chained to a Roman guard in prison, Paul said “my circumstances are working out for the greater progress of the gospel. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
CS Lewis said, “if you read history, the Christians who did most for the present world are those who prepared men for the next world.” William Booth, the head of the Salvation Army recalls that he taught a Christian discipleship course for three years. He said, “it would have been better to have shown them five minutes in hell.” Some believe that hell is a place of eternal life in torment for those who do not accept the savior from sin. Others believe that hell is the place of eternal death. Repent means to change directions: from heading to eternity in hell to an eternity in fellowship with our loving Heavenly Father.
According to scripture, God said, “I have a plan for you: a Plan for good and not for evil so that you will have a future and a hope.” We share the gospel because of the hope of the resurrection and the return of Christ. Jesus said before his ascension, “go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you, and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” This is our mission and our co-mission…to preach the gospel and when necessary, use words.
At a counseling session with a couple before marriage, Pete asked the bride, “will you hurt him?” She replied, “yes.” He asked, “will you intend to hurt him?” She answered, “no, because I love him.” Sometimes because God loves us, he uses the “gift” of suffering for the furtherance of the gospel. Paul said, after God told him that he would not remove Paul’s thorn in the flesh, “thy strength is made perfect in my weakness, thy grace is sufficient for me.”
As we celebrate the birth of our nation, let us remember that our Founding Fathers understood that pain and suffering is the price paid for our liberty. Freedom isn’t free. The Declaration of Independence was the result of the revolutionary war to “dissolve the political bands” that chained our United States to Great Britain. However, the Declaration of Independence was also our Founding Fathers’ “declaration of Dependence.” The last line of the Declaration reads, “In firm reliance (dependence) on divine Providence (Almighty God) to these ends, we pledge our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” As dual citizens of America and of Heaven, may we declare our independence from the powers of darkness and our dependence upon the power of Almighty God….for thy strength is made perfect in my weakness, thy grace is sufficient for me.
May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael