The Hiding Place

Scripture

I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ Himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

~Colossians 2:2-3, NLT

Quote

Woe betide the soul which supposes it will find something better if it forsakes You.

~Augustine {My Confessions, p. 114}

Everything is grace. Everything, including life is a gift. We exist because He exist. It is in Christ that we move, exist and have our being. He is the life source; there is no life a part from HIM. This fact alone makes rebellion foolish or as Augustine would say, “stupid”.  Lewis illustrates this by referring to the rebellion of the limbs against the tree. If they could destroy the tree, which they cannot, they would destroy themselves. Can I boast about what I see when it was God who gave me eyes? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for me to praise Him for my eyesight. Could I see anything clearly without light and who gives us the light? There are three elements that affect what we see: {1} Our eyesight, {2} Light, and {3} Distance. Have you had an eye examine lately? If so you know that distance is also a factor in seeing clearly. Had God chosen to remain distant from us, we would have had no hope of seeing Him clearly but He came near in Christ. Wow, that thought alone is enough to give me holy goose bumps.

Augustine was an intellect, a professor of Rhetoric and he also dabbled in philosophy. He was familiar with the works of Plato and Aristotle but he could not see the truth because he had refused to acknowledge Christ as his Lord and Savior. When he finally humbled himself before Christ in repentance of sin and confession of need, he began to see things he had never seen before. God has hidden all these wonderful truths in Christ. The world is seeking peace, joy, love, pleasure, excitement, wisdom, riches, fulfillment, purpose and all these things are hidden in Christ. To know the truth, you have to bow before Christ the light and the one who can heal our blindness. Basically, everything the world is seeking in hidden in Christ, even wealth. The Bible does not teach that there is no wealth in the life to come: no my friend, there are riches in glory. In Christ we become joint heirs and we will share in His riches. The billionaires have nothing on me; matter of fact, they are going to lose their wealth and that cannot happen to me because my wealth is in Christ.

So the truth is: “Everything we seek is hidden in Christ and for them to become ours, we must humble ourselves before Christ and repent of our sins.” Yet the world, in its blindness, refuses to bow before Christ. It makes you wonder, what on earth is wrong with people?

Extra

We praise the LORD for another great weekend. Attendance was up yesterday and we had a few visitors to boot. VBS begins this morning at 9:00. I will be leaving the Eastern Gate Headquarters at 8:15 with a load of VBS loving children. We are having a day school for children K-5th grade and a night school for teens. So, LORD willing, I will be making two trips to the POINT today.

We also praise the LORD for the wonderful rain…over 2 inches.

Gregg and Tracey made it safely to Little Rock. Pray for them: Gregg’s treatment begin this week. Also, pray for Joyce Chaney. She is in discomfort 24/7 and it breaks my heart.

Have a great week and thanks for reading the blog.

Extra/Extra

Augustine had a lot of friends and Ambrose, Bishop of Milan is the most familiar. Here is a brief list of his friends and associates–see if you can pronounce their names: Alypius, Victorinus, Simplicianus, Roinianus, Nebridus, Evodius, and Fulgentius.

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