The amazing thing about the Word of God is that it’s ancient and it’s timeless. Some parables, though spoken over two thousand years ago seem like they were meant for this very moment in time. The whole premise of Christianity is built around this knowledge that there is a worldly kingdom that is perishing, and a spiritual kingdom, which is eternal. Christ is the head of this spiritual Kingdom. Yet the Bible says, “My people perish for lack of knowledge.” How can this be? The explanation is in Matthew 13.
The Kingdom is full of mystery and riches to those who follow the King’s voice, but He wanted each of us to know about all the things that could exclude, rob or distract us from an eternity in the midst of His glory. He knew we would live in the heat of controversy, hypocrisy, wickedness, heresy, lawlessness and lust of all kinds. The culture looks different than 2,000 years ago, but people are similar, add modern technology. He knew we would struggle with belonging, identity, purpose and sin—human nature hasn’t changed.
Everything about overcoming life boils down to this One thing—KNOWLEDGE. Knowledge that we can’t do Christianity, we have to BE CHRISTIAN, but we can’t be Christian without God and coming to terms with our need for a relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself walked that path. The Father told us more than once in scripture to “Listen to Him,” pointing us to Jesus! Jesus instructed the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to give them what they need to spread the gospel, to survive the treachery of the day and to continue to say “yes” and not give up. My raw interpretation anyway. The Spirit is our Helper and we need Him. Jesus pointed us to Holy Spirit.
The Trinity of God is a circle. It’s eternal. Imagine arrows that move in both directions on the circle pointing forward and also pointing backward. We often describe God as a triangle, but God is a circle. The Alpha and the Omega is a circle—the beginning and the end. The gold ring Christ will put on your finger is eternal. Christ doesn’t put your ring on your finger until the Wedding Day. Until then our job is to NOT PERISH—to passionately pursue KNOWING HIM, as if our life depends on it. And even though for all eternity we’ll be knowing Him more and more, it’s the position of our heart each and every day that matters. We must live as a believer with tenacity like Paul and with a heart like David, studying ourselves to be approved. Take God and His Word seriously.
We have the choice to allow our suffering, our disappointments, and our questions to make us stronger. We cannot give in to the temptation of the enemy to believe God is not there. This is the greatest temptation where the enemy has leverage. And yet, how often the Lord has said these words, “Do not fear…I will never leave you nor forsake you.” If we give into this lie, we discover what we’re really made of. We can turn to doubt or we can turn to Jesus, but we cannot do both. God help us to be like a child that runs into their Father’s arms. His eyes are looking for you and His arms prove strong.