The Essence Of Life

Scripture

“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’

~Luke 15:17-19, NLT

Quote

In HIM {God} our existence will know no death, our knowledge embrace no error and our love meet no resistance.

~Augustine {City Of God, p.239}

I have said before and I say again, Luke 15 and especially the story of the LOVING FATHER reveals more gospel than any story Jesus told. As humans, we are prone to wander like sheep.  Isaiah said it best in chapter 53, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have each turned to his own way.” This is the essence of sin. Sin may not be violent or horrible: it can be as docile as the pursuit of a dream. The essence of sin is that we live  as we please. There is a flaw in this popular philosophy of doing things “my way.” We are not self-generated. We did not design or create ourselves. God created us in His own image. We experience thirst because God made us to need water to survive. We get hungry because we need food. This is the way God designed us. We were also created to be in union with Christ. Apart from this uniting with Christ, we cannot actually live the life that God created us to live.

The prodigal son is a good example. He tried to find his life in the far country. He rebelled against his father. He pursued happiness his own way and it seems to work for awhile but then his cash ran out and a famine hit. He found himself in a mess. The grand and glorious life he was pursuing had eluded him. He went from the Hilton to the hog pen. He went from riches to rages; from fun to frustration; from a form of happiness to utter misery. He ceased to live and began only to exist. Then he came to his senses and remembered his father and the comforts of home. He realized that he had no life apart from the father and that his life was inseparably bound up in the father’s. So he went directly home and was born again.

Extra

The Revival ended on a good note. Joe David, Lori, Eddie and Sue joined us last night. We thank God that he allowed us to finish what we started: now my calendar is clean and I can relax again, to a point. Mrs. Edith is not doing well. Dwayne early promotion has been devastating. She had a more difficult day yesterday than on Tuesday. Pray for Mrs. Edith Bennich. The visitation for Dwayne’s family is tonight at Peck, 6:00-8:00 and the COLS is tomorrow evening at 3:00 at the POINT. Dewayne loved Grace Point and Grace Point loved Dewayne. It has been a huge shock to the whole church. Everyone says the same thing: “I can’t believe this is happening.” It is unbelievable. Of course I miss my folks but there are many others that I miss and Tom Bennich is one of them. Luke 14 will never be the same for me. Tom’s departure changed everything. The tough thing about GRIEF is that it is an intruder: it comes uninvited and it refuses to leave. It is there every day when you wake up and when you retire. C.S. Lewis lived an entire life with grief. He lost his mother to cancer at the age of eight and his dad ten years later. Perhaps this is one reason his writing has touched millions. Pray for Carol, Keaton and Mrs. Edith.

We are late again today. It has been a crazy week and our normal routine has been interrupted. I had to hold Jackson this morning so Hope could cut his hair. I love getting my hair cut but Jackson doesn’t. Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.

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