Resurrection Reflections April 10, 2023
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As we hunker in the bunker and wait for the Death Angel to pass over it’s good to remember that being negative is positively one of the worst things we can do. Not only is it a waste of time, it’s depressing. God tells us in many ways “Do not worry” more times than He tells us “Do not steal.” And we all know what stealing is. Can any one of us by worrying add a single hour to our life or add an inch to our height?
As with almost anything that happens it doesn’t take long for Christians to start asking, “Do you think these are signs of the End Times?” The Bible tells us we’ve been in the End Times at least since the writing of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament. All I can do is repeat what Luke told us so long ago, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
Wars and pandemics shake our world. In a moment we’re in a brave new world wondering, “Will we ever get back to the way it was?” Things can seem so dark, so forbidding, so bleak it’s easy to lose our focus on Christ and the life He’s given us in the middle of so much sickness and death. If we focus on the negative, we may lose sight of the positive reality: Christ triumphed over death. He conquered it through His death on the cross where He died so we may live.
He lived a life of love and perfection. He died a death of hate and rejection. He rose to share joy and perfection. Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Accept Him and find life. Reject Him and reject life.
God is so vast yet so personal, so sublime yet so simple. We are His creation, yet He adopts us as children. He sustains the universe and all that’s in it, yet we ask Him to find us a parking space at MegloMart. The wisest humans who’ve ever lived could never devise a system of religious rules or disciplines that can lead us through the snare of the flesh to the liberation of the spirit. Or, as Paul expresses it, “For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.”
In these times of stress, we need to stand strong, keep our eyes on the prize, and refuse to waver. The government may try to become our all in all but believing that will be the surest way to fall. We may be riveted on the daily briefings and the emergency alerts in the natural, but in the spirit we need to turn our eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
“Don’t be misled no one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others — ignoring God! — harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.”
Here’s some good advice from the days of a war long ago which was also based on truths from the Bible:
Johnny Mercer began his #1 hit by saying, “Gather ’round me, everybody.
Gather ’round me while I’m preachin.’ Feel a sermon comin’ on me. The topic will be sin and that’s what I’m ag’in’. If you wanna hear my story
then settle back and just sit tight while I start reviewin’ the attitude of doin’ right”
Then he crooned:
You’ve got to accentuate the positive
eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
But don’t mess with mister in-between
You’ve got to spread joy up to the maximum
Bring gloom down to the minimum
have faith, a pandemonium
Libel to walk up on the scene
To illustrate my last remark
Jonah in the Whale, Noah in the ark
What did they do
just when everything looked so dark
They said we better
accentuate the positive
eliminate the negative
latch on to the affirmative
But don’t mess with mister in-between.
As I reflect upon the Resurrection, I can see this is still good advice today.
This is an excerpt from the book Hope by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens April 7, 2023
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When confronted with obstacles we may have to change our direction, but we shouldn’t let obstacles change our determination to get where we are going.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens April 5, 2023
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I may be only one, but I am one. I can’t do everything, but I can do something. And just because I can’t do everything, I won’t let that stop me from doing something.
It’s a Battlefield Brother April 3, 2023
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We’re in a spiritual war every day whether we recognize it or not, and if we ignore the Bible’s exhortation to fight the good fight we’ll inevitably become a casualty.
As soon as Jesus was resurrected, after triumphing over Satan and taking the keys to death and Hell away from him He had the legal right to completely reclaim the earth Adam had given over to Satan. But He didn’t do it.
Have you ever asked yourself why didn’t Jesus set everything right when He was here? Maybe you haven’t asked this question specifically, but have you wondered, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” or “Why do evil people seem to prosper?” or the classic, “Why did fill in the blank have to get cancer, get hurt, die, etc. ?” If you’ve asked any one of these questions or any one of the million variations you’ve asked, “Why didn’t Jesus set everything right when He was here?”
Here’s the short answer; He didn’t do it because if He had there would’ve been no opportunity for us to make the faith choice to join Him in His work of ruling all things. As a matter of fact, if He’d taken it all back more than two thousand years ago we never would’ve been born let alone have the opportunity to be born again.
As we fight our battle against the darkness in this world we have to realize we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. And since this is the case, we need to use the weapons that God provides not the weapons we can devise. For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare aren’t carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
And all this depends on what we decide to do with our salvation. Are we going to be secret agent Christians hiding our light under a bushel so we can go along to get along? Or, are we going to be bold warriors for Christ doing our best to share what isn’t just good news but is in fact the best news ever?
Once we’ve made the quality decision to spend our lives, the lives God has given us, sharing the light which is the light of the world with those lost in the darkness, we’ll find ourselves standing in a hurricane of resistance. The assaults of the enemy, the assaults of the world, of our families, our friends, the government, the culture will try their best to knock us down and knock us out. But we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us and no matter how strong the headwind against us we must do our best to stand our ground.
And having done all to stand we need to stand therefore, having truth as a belt around our waist, putting on a bulletproof vest made of righteousness, stepping into shoes designed to deliver the gospel of peace, and above all, taking the shield of faith with which we’ll be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. If we forget any of this armor, we can’t expect the enemy to play fair and not attack us in that area. We can’t say, “Don’t hit me there I’m not prepared.”
Yes, in the world we will have tribulations but we can be assured Christ has overcome the world.
Years ago, I wrote a song that expressed all this in a slightly more artistic form:
When we see the darkness all around us
We don’t wring our hands and cry about sin
We just light one candle it will burn by faith
Then we ask the Holy Ghost in.
It’s a battlefield brother
It’s a battlefield sister
It’s a battlefield not a recreation hall.
There’s nothing that the enemy can do or say
That could make me give up on God
And when I’m tested, I know I’m never tested
More than what I’ve got to handle the job.
It’s a battlefield brother
It’s a battlefield sister
It’s a battlefield not a recreation hall
God knew we can’t reach high enough
So He sent Jesus down to us.
And He knew we can’t be right enough
So He gave us His righteousness.
It’s a battlefield brother
It’s a battlefield sister
It’s a battlefield not a recreation hall
This is an excerpt from the book Hope by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens April 2, 2023
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We shouldn’t let where we are in life discourage us. Everyone who ever got anywhere started right where they were.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens April 1, 2023
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So often the little things in life turn out to be the big things. We should enjoy what we have while we have it.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens March 31, 2023
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It’s necessary to take risks because the greatest risk of all is taking no risks at all.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens March 30, 2023
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We should learn the lessons of yesterday, apply that knowledge to today, and breath hope into tomorrow.
An excerpt from New Old Sayings by Dr. Robert Owens March 28, 2023
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We need to choose wisely every choice we make creates our future.
How Can You Stay So Optimistic? March 27, 2023
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People ask me often “How can you spend so much time following the news and writing on the bizarre twists and turns of our political theater of the absurd and still remain so happy and optimistic?”
The answer is, “It’s easy because my hope is in Christ, and all of this is just a soap opera.”
Sure, I tune in multiple times every day to see what my people are up to. Yes, I follow every twist and turn in the plot. I cheer when my favorite characters triumph and I hiss when the evil nemesis unfairly pulls them down.
However, all in all I realize I’m something like Horton. I hear the Who. And like Horton I realize there’s a whole world living on a speck of dust flying along oblivious to the fact that dust in the wind is not the most stable place to exist.
Fleeting flowers and beautiful sunsets like snowflakes and icicles dazzle the eye inspire the imagination and then they’re gone. Look at the sweep of History. We read of empires long ago. The amazing DNA tests available through a multitude of sources can tell us where we come from. Ancestry web sites tell us who we come from.
But, what do we know of those billions who’ve gone before? What were the names of your eight great grandparents? If by some miracle you can name all eight, what do you know about their lives? Can anyone reading this name their sixteen great-great grandparents? I would wager 100 to one no one can. In our own lives our knowledge of History dissolves before 100 years has elapsed. We can read and memorize facts about the past but how far back does that really go? At most 5,000 years.
Conservatively the earth is at least four billion years old. The universe itself is estimated to be at least thirteen billion years old.
And our direct knowledge goes back maybe one hundred years. Our knowledge gained through study maybe five thousand. Get the picture? We are the Who.
If that was all there was, I would jump up on a table and sing,
Is that all there is, is that all there is?
If that’s all there is my friends, then let’s keep dancing.
Let’s break out the booze and have a ball!
If that’s all there is.
And for the first thirty years of my life that’s what I did. The emptiness and futility of it all led me to the edge of sanity and beyond. I wandered about aimlessly muttering, “I’ve got to try something. I’ve got to try something.”
Until a voice in my ear said, “Why don’t you try God?”
That day changed my life. That day led me to the road that led me to Christ and from that day to this I have hope and joy and nothing I see prancing across the stage of this earthly drama can take it away.
In America our standard greeting is, “Hi, how you are doing?” Not that anyone really cares. Not that anyone ever really listens to your answer. That is just a customary greeting. I always answer, “I’m blessed.” This often brings questions such as, “Why?” This gives me an opportunity to tell them I’m blessed because I have eternal life and that Jesus gave it to me and the devil can’t take it away.”
Sometime people answer, “I am too.” And it’s always a joy to meet a brother or sister wherever they may be.
Though it’s interesting and it helps pass the time as we hang on to our speck of dust swirling about in the wind don’t let the storyline get you down. Just skip to the back of the book and you’ll find out that Jesus is God, God wins in the end, and no matter how bad it gets we should pray, “Come Lord Jesus.”
This is an excerpt from the book Hope by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at Amazon.
Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future 