Tuesday, May 10, 2016

The Sweetest Picture of Biblical Community, Love and Suffering Together

His name was Bennett.
He was 24 days old when he died.
Who could know that such a tiny soul could become the epitome of Christian community loving someone through their suffering.
I have never witnessed such an outpouring of love for one who was here such a short time.
His family is so loving and caring to all who are blessed to know them.
They have effected so many people with their kindness.
Even in the midst of terrible suffering, they are praising God!!
They know there is a bigger picture!
They know God knows all things! 
They know God is good in all circumstances!
Our hearts ache for this precious family and the path of heartbreak they must walk.
I can't help but think of the empty arms of this mother and grandmother!
The deepest hurt ever possible is that of a child lost.
We will stand with them, praying God's peace, loving them and repeating this story to many. Hopefully and prayerfully, it will stir a soul to fall before Christ and confess their sin.
This surely shows how life is quickly taken and eternity comes in a swift moment!!
I wonder if this was God's thoughts as he lost His innocent only Son to the Cross?
What is your eternity going to be?
When Christ died, he began to draw all men to him! 
He is perusing you! 
He has given man the greatest gift!
Freedom in Christ, you will be free indeed!
Come as you are!
He will forgive you!
He will change you!
He will reconcile you to holy God!
You will be blessed!
Your eternity will be with Him!

What Christ has done by dying on the cross!
13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. - Colossians 2:13-14

having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. - Colossians 2:12


The body!
and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. - Colossians 2:19

15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. - Ephesians 4:15-16

9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. - Colossians 2:9-10

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!  - Psalm 133:1

4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,
5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. - Romans 12:4-5

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. - Hebrews 10:24-25

Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. - Galatians 6:2

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18


Our plea!
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! 
2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 
4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. 
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;  - Psalm 130:1-5


God will be glorified!!
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.  - Isaiah 48:10-11

12 "Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last. 
13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together.  - Isaiah 48:12-13

5 And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him- for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength- 
6 he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."  - Isaiah 49:5-6

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