Death Where is Your Victory?

by Barbara Latta

Peggy Scrivner Robinson

This week our family was hit with the news we all encounter at one time or another. We lost someone dear to us. My husband’s aunt joined those who have gone before her and was welcomed into the arms of Jesus.

Death is a transition from a life held bound by the physical to a glorified, spiritual body that can do anything. We rejoice knowing our loved one is no longer held by the chains of this earthly life. But we still have to cope with the void left behind by their absence. It’s a ripping away of the soul because we have ties with those we love. It hurts. We know they are happy, but we grieve for ourselves because it’s painful to be without them. They are gone, but death leaves a shadow.

Jesus welcomes us to heaven

But in the pain we can have peace. While we allow ourselves to grieve, we should not wallow in mourning. We allow ourselves the memories, but not the despair of regret.

Remembering the joy that is before the loved one who has departed from this earth will bring us comfort if we will dwell on that fact instead of our loss. The separation is only temporary.

God knows our pain and He says it’s OK to cry. Just don’t forget that he will one day wipe away our tears.

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” (Psalm 116:15 NKJV).

How has death affected your family? Share your thoughts.

Heaven's Valentine

by Barbara Latta

Chocolate, roses, fancy dinners, and stuffed animals are the primary gifts given for Valentine’s Day. These are physical reminders of affectionate feelings for another person. But after the day is over, do we revert back to old ways and forget the loving things said and done because of a special holiday?

Our tokens of love are emotional. Feelings aren’t wrong, but we can’t depend on them to guide our lives. Sometimes we don’t feel like being loving, we would rather be grumpy or rude. But real love does the action without the feeling.

This is God’s unconditional love. He loved us while we were still dirty, rotten sinners (Romans 5:8). He showed the one and only kind of real love when he gave Jesus to us as a gift wrapped in a little baby to grow into the man who would have all the foul sin of the world placed upon him.

That was action, not emotion.

Because He loved us, we can love Him. (I John 4:10-11). And because He loved us, we can love others. Not with a feeling, but with a showing, a doing, a becoming what He made us to be.

Our works don’t bring us into a relationship with God. Faith does that. Receiving grace does that (Ephesians 2:8-9). But to bring someone else into that grace requires showing them the love of the Father. And that is where the action comes in. Not retaliating against someone who has mistreated us, being kind to someone who was rude in the shopping line, keeping our mouths in line with the word when we get “blessed” out. These are the actions of love despite the opposite feelings rising within us.

The valentine of heaven wasn’t a card sent through an angelic mailbox. It was blood running down a wooden cross to soak into the cursed earth. One drop would have been enough, but he used it all to show us He goes over and beyond and does much more than we need.  He paid the highest cost and we were given the freest gift.

Happy Valentine’s Day—from Jesus.

What does this love mean to you?

The Filter of Grace

I have already talked about hearing God through the filter of religion. Man-made rules and traditions limit what God can do through us and for us because we don't hear what He is really saying. We listen through tainted spiritual ears.

Grace is God's unlimited supply of love, healing, prosperity, wholeness, mercy, and deliverance. Grace is Jesus.

He is a gift given to us through no effort of ours because we couldn't obtain anything from God no matter how much we tried. Also, because He has given all things of Himself to us, we cannot stop Him from giving. We can only refuse to receive.

God's Word came to us untainted, unfiltered, and eternal. He doesn't change, so what He said to the early church still applies to His church today. His grace is ours so we can live abundant lives and spread His goodness to the world.

Read the Bible as if you have never read it before. Forget about what you learned in Sunday School or heard someone else say over the  years. Start over with a fresh slate.

What do you hear?

Hustle and Bustle or Peace?

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" (Luke 2:14).

Bad news is everywhere. It seems even worse during holiday celebrations. All you have to do is open a newspaper to find out there is no peace on earth right now. There never has been. That's because men's hearts are evil unless they are connected to God. Jesus Himself foretold of "wars and rumors of wars" as a sign of the last days (Matthew 24:6).

When the angels said to the shepherds, "peace and goodwill toward men," they were not referring to the absence of war. Peace between God and man is the gift of Christmas. That is the good news.

There is no war between God and man any longer unless man refuses the perfect sacrifice. But sometimes we forget what He really gave us. We get caught up in shopping, traveling, cooking, and parties and in the frenzy of it all, we lose our peace. Rushing to purchase that last gift, getting cut off in traffic, and long check-out lines can frustrate us to the point of losing the meaning of the celebration.

God's gift to us was not wrapped in shiny paper, but in swaddling clothes. Christmas is about a baby. A baby who became a Man and re-connected us to God by stretching out His arms and dying on a cross.

In all the haste of the season, take a few moments to stop and leave it all behind. Focus only on the baby, the reason for the season. Ponder these words from Jesus, "Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you: not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).

May His peace be the best gift you receive this Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all!