Jude 24-25 – “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy- 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” NIV

About twelve years ago, I had hip replacement surgery, and the next day after surgery, they got me up to walk.  It was painful and challenging, but something that had to be done.  There were two people near me at all times to ensure that I did not fall, and they also provided a walker to help me stabilize myself so that I could gingerly move across the floor.  They placed a strap around my waist, and when I asked what that was for, they said, “So you won’t wind up on the floor.  It is to enable us to keep you from falling.”

As I have thought about that since that time, I realized that, in a real sense, that is what the Holy Spirit does in our lives to enable us to “Walk This Christian Walk” without stumbling or falling.  He wraps the Word of God around us and stands ever so near to ensure that if our footsteps are unstable or our ability to traverse the path before us, He upholds us to keep us from stumbling to prevent our fall. 

Adam and Eve fell in the Garden due to disobedience, but if you and I set our hearts to walk according to the Word of God and are sensitive to the direction of the Holy Spirit, we will not Fall! 

God is not only “able” to keep us from falling but “keeps” us from falling. In a real sense, He presents us before the Father daily and will one day present us ultimately and finally before Him so that we can enter into the Eternal Joys of the Lord!  We should live every moment of every day with great rejoicing in that reality.  

We should always be conscious that in our own strength, ability, and nature, we would fail miserably and continue to be “Mark Missers,” coming short of the Glory of God.  Yet, through Christ Jesus our Lord and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we can go through this life without Falling!

While I do not want you to think of Him as your ultimate support, I do want you to think of Him as a crutch.  A crutch could become an excuse or a justification for not rising to the level of maturity that God desires and that we need, but a support system is designed to enable us to do just that.

If you are struggling with living the Christian Life, maybe you are attempting to go it alone without the aid of the Word of God and the Spirit of God.  Instead of trying to go in your willpower and strength, “cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.” 

May the Lord bless you as you go through this day and week in Him.

Matthew 6:34 – “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” NKJV

When you study Scripture, it is always important to notice certain words such as, therefore.  Anytime you see the word therefore you need to find out what it is there for!  This is one of those examples and as I read it for the first time the first thought came to mind, “God said what?”  Is He suggesting a lackadaisical attitude toward the future and promoting a life of no planning, no preparation, and helter-skelter?  That is why we need to find out why the, therefore, is there in the first place.  Thus, we have to go back to the previous verses to get the context.

Matthew 6:25-34 – “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” NKJV

I like what John Calvin said: “The highest proof of Scripture is derived in general from the fact that God in person speaks in it.”

If God speaks, it must be important and worth paying attention to.  God has never suggested that we live a life without plans for the future or preparation for the days to come.  What He said was that we Dare Not let them Rule Us!  That is the key!  It is a matter of “in whom” we place our trust, faith, or confidence. 

Do we place it in our ability or God’s? There is a bit of difference between the two.  I and you are limited, but God is without limits.  You and I suffer from human frailty, but God is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent!  We are subject to succumb to temptation, doubt, fear, and failure but God is above all that and Can Not Lie or Fail!  Therefore, while it is not always an easy matter to trust God in all things it makes more logical sense than trusting myself and my inabilities or any other human being because they are made of the same stuff I am and subject to the same flaws and deficiencies.

THE BIBLE IS UNIQUE IN ITS AUTHORSHIP

One such evidence that the Bible has been copied accurately in the past is shown in the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls, found by a shepherd boy in 1947, are dated from 250 to 150 BC. This discovery pushed back our available oldest Scripture text by almost 1,000 years. And when the content of the scrolls was compared to later copies, no significant differences were found. That means scribes had been copying with great precision for almost ten centuries. This amazing discovery moved us one millennium closer to the originals.

The Scripture has authority because God has all authority. And because God is the author of all Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16), Scripture is authoritative. God is the basis for the Bible’s authority. Since God has ensured the transmission of the message of His Son and since He reinforces this message by His own authority, mankind has only two choices: to obey Him or reject Him.

The fact that God gave us the Scripture is the reason we know that it is accurate and that it is exactly what He wants us to have. And because God has spoken it, we can be confident in the Scripture’s authority. It is true and represents faithfully His offer and promise of forgiveness and eternal life to those who meet His criteria of belief in His Son.

Today, as in every age, we have the choice to Believe God or Believe man.  To me, that is no choice and since God is all the above and sees the “End from the Beginning” and we see the “Beginning from the End” the choice is obvious.  I want to put my confidence in the one who knows the now, the past, and the present rather than the one who knows only the past in a limited fashion, the present in an even more limited manner, and has no clue about the future but lives in speculation, conjecture, and theory.  Do I choose Man or GOD?  This does not require a Harvard Education, GOD is the obvious logical, reasonable, and even faith-filled answer.

Therefore, I encourage you in all those situations where you ask or wonder, “Did God really say that?” to determine to put your trust in Him, His love, guidance, protection, and Word, and rest in Him. 

You can fret over tomorrow, adopt a lackadaisical attitude and be completely slothful or you can roll all your cares over on God and be determined to Trust Him!  One brings peace and will end in success the other brings, doubt, confusion, and turmoil and will end in disappointment and defeat.  That, to me, makes the choice simple.  I Will Trust the LORD! 

So, as you begin your week, I encourage you to lay to rest the question and determine that you will Trust God in All Things and at All Times!

May God’s presence, peace, and power guide you in all things.  Blessings!