A Voice Cries
Isaiah 40:3-5 ESV
“A voice cries:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’”
Another word for “wilderness” is “wasteland.” “Waste” is
what is unwanted, unused, discarded, excess, and surplus, or it is uncultivated,
barren, and fallow, or it is garbage, trash, and rubbish. As well, it can be to
devastate, ruin, and destroy, or it can be to squander, fritter away, or throw
away. And land can be the earth, a territory, home, or country where we live.
Well, I don’t know about other countries, but this
definitely describes America, our society, and our culture, and it describes the
attitudes, thinking, and behaviors of many people here, including within the
church. We live in a garbage in garbage out culture, where time is squandered
away, and where on a spiritual level what is healthful for us is often
discarded as too serious, while what is spiritual junk is embraced, instead.
As believers in Jesus Christ our time is to be given over to
the Lord for his kingdom work, and yet so many people who profess faith in
Jesus Christ are wasting what precious time we have left on this earth on entertainment,
self-gratification, self-pleasure, and stuff that has no bearing at all on
where we will spend eternity. They are frittering away what time they have left
on stuff that is meaningless in light of eternity, and in light of the
salvation of human lives.
Now, I am not saying that we should all go hide in monasteries
and pray and read our Bibles all day long. And I am not saying that we can’t
find some pleasure in the things of this world, for the Lord gave us some of
these things to enjoy. But I am saying that Jesus needs to be Lord of our
lives, and that our lives are to be surrendered to him, and that as his
children we are to be about the King’s business, and not wasting what time
remains.
For example, we are supposed to be the light of the world
and the salt of the earth, and we are to proclaim the excellencies of God who
called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. And we are to make
disciples of Jesus Christ of people of all nations, and we are to teach them to
obey our Lord. And if we have the Holy Spirit living within us, we are the Lord’s
witnesses. So, these are the kinds of things we are to be doing with our time,
plus we are to be growing to maturity in our walks with the Lord.
And we are to teach the true gospel of Christ and not that
cheap grace gospel which is permeating today’s modern church in America. We are
to teach that Jesus died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and
live to him and to his righteousness. And we are to teach that we are to leave
our lives of sin behind us and to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands.
People have jobs, they have children, they have responsibilities.
I get that. They have houses and vehicles and properties to care for, and food
to buy and to prepare, etc., and that all takes time. I understand. But that
does not alter the fact that Jesus is to be Lord of our time, and that our time
is to be given over to him, and that we are to be letting him lead us in the
way that he wants us to go. And we are not to be charting our own course.
When we believe in Jesus with God-given faith, and the Holy
Spirit comes to live within us, Jesus now becomes Lord of our lives, and we are
now his possession. For Jesus shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us
back for God (to redeem us) so that we would now honor God with our lives. For,
Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for
himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Yes, we are not saved by our own good works done in our
flesh, but we are saved to do the works of God, as his workmanship, which God
prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We are to work out our own
salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us both to will
and to work for his good pleasure. And, we are to walk in a manner worthy of
the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work.
[Eph 2:8-10; 1 Co 15:58; 2 Co 9:8; Php
2:12-13; Col 1:9-14; 2 Thess 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:21; Tit 2:11-14; Jn 15:1-11; Tit
3:8; Jas 2:17; 1
Pet 2:9; Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Co 6:19-20; 1 Pet 2:24; Lu
9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6]
A Voice Says
Isaiah 40:6-8 ESV
“A voice says, ‘Cry!’
And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.”
So, if we depend on
other people to tell us the truth or to be faithful to us or to lead us in the
right direction, we may be disappointed. For, there are many liars and
deceivers out there, and many who cheat and betray those they are to love and to
protect. There are many who manipulate others and who take advantage of them.
And there are many who will lead us willfully to our deaths if we put our faith
and trust in them.
So, the counsel here
is to not put our faith and trust in other humans to where we trust their words
without question or concern. Even if we are following the Lord, and even if our
hearts are in the right place, that doesn’t mean we know everything or that we
have everything right. And since there are so many liars and deceivers out
there, it behooves us to test everything that we read or hear or think we see,
for anything can be faked.
But the Word of our
God will stand forever. It can be trusted. Now, not all translations of God’s
word are completely accurate, so we still need to be discerning and pray for
the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. And we still need to study the
Scriptures in context, for many false doctrines stem from Scriptures taught out
of context. And we also need to be putting the word of the Lord into practice
in our daily lives and to follow Jesus where he leads us.
A love song to our Lord Jesus
You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're still the one I want for life
You're still the one that I love
The only one I dream of…
Ain't nothin' better
[Lyrics taken from a secular song called “You’re Still the
One” by Robert John Lange and Shania Twain]
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