Reverent Refrain

Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31--Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Above is a refrain that is repeated four times in the 107th Psalm. A refrain is a phrase or verse repeated throughout a work; to us they are most recognizable as choruses of songs. As any repetition, refrains add emphasis to their subject. This is used to help an idea stick in the audience's mind and underscore its importance, and it often displays the theme of a work. So, what is the Holy Spirit trying to tell us here? It's pretty obvious: we should praise God! Why? Because He's good and has done wonderful things for us.

The list of God's amazing works is endless, but the psalmist, still utilizing repetition, relates a specific theme throughout Psalm 107: God's help in times of trouble. He illustrates this with four scenarios, each developing in the same pattern and revealing the theme of God's saving mercy and grace. First, people are in some sort of trouble; second, they cry to God for help; third, God delivers them. The psalmist always then follows with the above refrain, emphasizing that we should praise and thank God for His goodness to us.

The simple message is no matter what your situation, God can help you if you turn to Him. That's what it means when the Psalm says the people cried unto God. They gave up every hope except the Lord and knew He was the only One capable of saving them. They turned from everything else and cried to God for help, trusting in Him to rescue them. And He did.

So are you in one of the situations mentioned in this Psalm? Even if you're saved, you can be in one of these circumstances. Are you wandering through a desert, lost and famished? Are you bound in the darkness by sin and its consequences and punishment? Are you sick and despondent, physically or spiritually? Could you be in the midst of a storm, tossed about, confused, terrified? Whatever the case, God is there to help. Just call on Him. Forsake all other helps and rely on God. Only He can bring you through, and if you trust in Him, He will.

The natural reaction to this should be praise, which is what the refrain highlights. If God has saved you, which these examples illustrate, praise Him! He has given you the greatest gift possible. Whenever He does a good work to you--which, honestly, He does every day by allowing you to live and breathe--praise Him! He has blessed you with something you absolutely do not deserve.

God is the highest, the holiest, the mightiest; and He deserves all praise. All good things come from His ever-faithful and righteous hand. He deserves our total adoration and devotion. Don't be like the lepers Jesus healed and walk away without giving thanks. This reveals a selfish heart. Praise God; let His works be known. As it says earlier in the Psalm, "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so". Make God's praise the refrain of your heart, lips, and life.

Lastly, are you saved? Do you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you're going to Heaven? Maybe your life feels like one of the scenarios described above, but you haven't called on God to help. He will if you ask Him. First, though, you must realize the most drastic situation you are in: the lost condition of your soul. This must be fixed before anything else, and only God can do it. You can't do it; another person can't do it; good works can't do it; religion can't do it. Only God can. Will you please come to Him now and be rescued from eternity in Hell? Then you too can praise Him for His wonderful works in your life. Click the Salvation tab above for more information.

Thank you for reading, and God bless!

Proverbial Paradoxes

Proverbs 11:24; 13:7--There is that scattereth , and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.

A paradox is something that contradicts itself but is somehow true. God uses many paradoxes in the Bible: the first shall be last, and the last shall be first (Luke 13:30); whoever finds his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Jesus' sake will find it (Matt. 10:39). Rationally, these statements seem contradictory, yet they are true. There is one general lesson we can learn from all of God's paradoxes: "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my [God's] ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9).

Above are two very similar verses. In them, God tells us that if we give away our material possessions, it will actually increase our wealth, but if we hoard our possessions, we will be poor. How does that make sense? It doesn't, but, as stated above, it reveals one of the miraculous ways God works that is much better than what we could conceive.

So what are some ways in which this works? To begin with, God will bless you if you give. First Corinthians 9:7 says, "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver", and again in Proverbs 22:9, "He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor." God has promised to bless those who are generous givers and who give out of a cheerful heart. It's relatable to the biblical principle of reaping what you sow. Furthermore, we can never out-give God; if we are being wise stewards of what He's given us (which includes giving), He will continue to increase our blessings as He does our faith and wisdom.

This raises several points about motivation, however. Obviously, as 1 Corinthians 9:7 states, we shouldn't give grudgingly or because we feel like we have to. Neither should we give because we think we will be blessed and gain more back. These are completely wrong attitudes, and God can see them. He always looks on our hearts, always knows what we're thinking, and always knows why we do everything we do. Whenever we give, it should be out of love. That's why God loves a cheerful giver. When you give out of love, you realize it is better to help someone else with what God has given you than store it away. It truly is a great blessing.

Now, some would say that this only applies to spiritual wealth. They would say giving your material things away for God's glory is good, but it will only result in spiritual rewards. I do not believe this is so. We certainly will be blessed, grow spiritually, and receive rewards in Heaven, but we will also receive repayment here on earth. The text verses mention nothing about spirituality, though they could certainly be interpreted that way. The basic application is that if you give materially, you will also get back materially. We know that God has promised to provide every need for His children, so when you give of yourself, you can have faith God will still provide for you.

It is vitally important, though, that we make sure material things are not our focus. This should never happen. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal" (Matt. 6:19), "for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Luke 12:34). "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2), for "the life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment" (Luke 12:23). Also, we must make sure than when we give, we focus on meeting a person's spiritual need instead of just his or her physical needs.

Lastly, we must give responsibly. Although God has promised to provide all we need and assured His blessing on those who generously give, it doesn't mean we can empty our bank accounts, sell all we own, and give everything away. Faith is crucial to the Christian life, but God gave us common sense for a reason. When I left for college, a friend wrote in a card he gave me, "Always have faith in God, but don't try to cross a street blindfolded." Will there be times in life when you have to step out blindly in faith to follow God? Yes. I've experienced them myself. But simple charitable giving is not one of them. When we give, we must utilize the common sense God granted us. Remember that it's biblical wisdom to save, just not to hoard.

So let's summarize what we've learned:

• God uses paradoxes to show us His ways and thoughts are higher than ours and to increase our faith
• God will bless you if you give, both materially and spiritually
• We should never give grudgingly, because we feel we have to, or in order to get a reward, but always out of love
• Our focus should not be on material things, but on spiritual things
• We must make use of common sense when we give

How's your giving? Are you tithing? That's very important. Do you give to love offerings, charities, Christian ministries, visiting speakers, or missionaries? How about your motivation? Are you cheerfully giving out of love because you truly want to meet someone's needs? Or do you do it because you think you have to or to be seen? Be sure to examine these areas in your life. Giving doesn't have to be financial, either. You could donate clothes, cans, or food to someone who needs them. And the greatest gift of all is your time and yourself. Try volunteering at local ministries. I promise, you will be greatly blessed.

In closing, there is one more thing paradoxes teach us about God. They show us that God can, in fact, reconcile two contradictory things. The ultimate example of this is the cross. When Jesus died on the cross, He made it possible for sinful man to be reconciled with righteous and holy God. These two can now be brought into a harmonious relationship. It is unthinkable and impossible in man's eyes, yet perfectly possible--and greatly desired--in God's. Have you been saved? If you died today, do you know for sure you would go to Heaven? Click the Salvation tab above for more information.

Thank you for reading, and God bless you as you seek Him. Hope you to see you next week!

The Tenses of Salvation

John 5:24--Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Sometimes tiny details give mounds of information and are extremely important in correctly conveying or understanding an idea. Such is the case with verb tenses. In English, verbs can be expressed in one of two tenses, past or present, and it makes a huge difference which case is utilized.

For example, if someone's car runs out of gas and he asks me who he can borrow ten dollars from, I might direct him to my friend Jimmy and say, "Go ask Jimmy. He has ten dollars." "Has" is present tense and gives the idea that Jimmy possesses ten dollars at that moment, so the person thanks me and goes to Jimmy. But all along I know Jimmy used his ten dollars on the ridiculously expensive ice cream he is now enjoying. A few minutes later, the person comes back, frustrated because Jimmy did not have ten dollars and he is still stranded. This mistake could have been avoided had I used the right verb tense to correctly relate the information I knew. I should have told him, "Jimmy had ten dollars." By using the past tense, the person would have understood that Jimmy possessed ten dollars in the past, and then we could have had a nice conversation about the outrageous price of Jimmy's ice cream while trying to find someone who actually has ten dollars.

That is a silly example, but a suitable one. Incorrect verb tenses can cause mass confusion, especially when applied to serious subjects. In the above verse, Jesus is speaking on the topic of salvation, and He uses several verbs to describe the condition of a person once they are saved and point out that this salvation cannot be lost. And you can be sure Jesus never mixed up His verb tenses.

Jesus begins by stating that the believer "hath everlasting life". This is the same as saying the believer has everlasting life; it is in the present tense. This means from the moment a person "heareth [Jesus'] word, and believeth on him that sent [Jesus]", he or she possesses eternal life. Gaining spiritual life is being saved. This is why Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3 that he had to "be born again". If you're not saved, you are dead spiritually in your trespasses and sin, but once you put your trust in Jesus, you come alive spiritually and are born into God's family by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Because of Jesus' choice of verb tense, we know that spiritual life isn't gained sometime later in life or when we get to Heaven. At the moment of faith in Christ, a person gains spiritual life, and the fact that it is "everlasting life" means that it will never end. If the verse stopped here, it would be enough to prove that one cannot lose one's salvation, but Jesus then shifts to another verb.

He follows with "and shall not come into condemnation". This denotes an action (or, in this case, lack of action) in the future. However, there is no future tense in the English language. We use what are called modal auxiliaries in connection with present-tense verbs to express action in the future. Shall and will are two basic examples of modal auxiliaries.The condemnation spoken of here is an eternal sentence to Hell, and with this statement, Jesus affirms that this will never happen to the believer. For one who has been forgiven of sins and given eternal spiritual life, it is impossible to be condemned to Hell. The only future after salvation is Heaven.

Lastly, Jesus uses the past tense in the phrase "but is passed from death unto life." Once a person is saved, his or her sins are in the past, his or her death is in the past, and he or she has "passed from death unto life". Salvation and eternal life aren't merely things you possess and can misplace or have taken from you; they are a complete transition from one state of being to a completely opposite one. Salvation is a one-time deal and doesn't need to happen again because it lasts forever. As mentioned above, the life you pass into is everlasting and will never end. You cannot lose your salvation. Some great passages on this are John ten, Romans eight, and Hebrews ten.

In one sentence, Jesus uses all three realms of time to express the fact that salvation cannot be lost. If you've been saved, you passed from death unto life in the past, possess eternal life now, and will never come into condemnation in the future. What a great comfort! One saved, always saved. No matter how bad we mess up, we are still protected under God's grace. As Paul asked in Romans 8:35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" What a wonderful, loving, gracious, kind, and merciful God we serve!

However, this comes with a huge warning. As Uncle Ben once told Peter Parker, "With great power comes great responsibility." We should not use our eternal security to freely sin. That is not why God gave it to us. We have been given eternal life, eternally freed from sin and death, so we can choose to love and serve God and others (Galatians 5:13-14; Romans 6:1, 2, 15). If we abuse God's grace by continuing to live in sin, our lives will be miserable. We will not go to Hell, but we will still face consequences from our sin (Galatians 6:7). If you claim to be saved and use eternal security as an excuse to sin, it brings into question whether or not you have truly been saved. This leads into the next matter.

Do you know you are saved? As stated above, if you claim to be a child of God, yet use God's grace as an excuse to sin, it's highly unlikely you are saved. I'm not judging, but that is not the way a Christian is to live. The Holy Spirit will not lead a person to sin, and if He lives in you, He will convict you when you do wrong. You will not have a desire to sin. Examine your heart and life. Make sure beyond one hundred percent you are saved and going to Heaven.

Maybe you don't claim to be saved. Maybe you know if you died, you would go to Hell. Well, that can be fixed. You can be saved and eternally secure right now! Jesus gave the requirements in the verse above: hear His Word and believe. Please don't put it off another moment. Click the Salvation tab above for details.

Thank you for reading, and God bless.

Fill Me with Your Passions

Fill Me with Your Passions

Fill me with Your passions, Lord,

with all Your tender love.

Send down Your Holy Spirit now

as gentle as a dove.

Let all my life be sold to You

and none of self remain.

Forsake I now all earthly calls

and go in Jesus’ name.

No power and no pleasure

can compare to knowing Christ,

and not a thought of earthly gain

can hold my heart enticed.

Christ is now my only prize.

His equal nothing is.

I hold Him as my highest goal

and pray my heart be His.

So keep me as Your dearest child,

and guide me, loving God,

that neither foot would slip a step

wherever I may trod.

Keystones of Contentment

Proverbs 15:15-17--All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.

Contentment seems to be a missing concept in today's society. Nobody is ever happy or satisfied with what they have; they always want more money, more friends, more success, more power, more clothes, more water in that glass--you name it, people want more of it. It seems contentment is the only thing people don't want more of! But we know contentment is a virtue that God greatly desires us to have. In fact, 1 Timothy 6:6 says, "But godliness with contentment is great gain."

So how can we be content in a society constantly wanting more? How can we be satisfied in a world consumed with greed and covetousness? How can we be like Paul, who, in Philippians 4:11, said, "For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content"?

This is exactly what Solomon addresses in Proverbs 15:15-17, and Paul may have used these same verses to develop his own attitude of contentment. So let's take a look at them and see what the Holy Spirit, through Solomon, had to say.

Solomon begins, in essence, by describing what we have already stated above. All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. The merry heart is the contentment. The person with a merry or content heart will see everything as a feast, even if it's just stale bread and half a glass of water. Solomon starts with this description of a contented life to intrigue the reader. Having a continual, happy feast all the days of your life sounds pretty good, doesn't it? This is Solomon's hook, his attention-getter. The audience will hear or read that and think and ask, much like we did above, "Wow! That sounds great! How can I have that? How can I be like that?" Then Solomon gives the two-fold answer.

Before that, however, let me say something about the structure of Solomon's introduction. He uses a contrasting statement, illustrating two opposing ideas in the same sentence. This is to show that contentment is a black-and-white issue. There is no gray area, no fence-straddling. Either you're content, or you're not. If you're "kind of happy" or "almost satisfied", you're really neither because there is something preventing you from being truly happy, satisfied, and content. Even if there's just one tiny thing you're not satisfied with, it means you're not truly content because you'll always be trying to improve that one thing. Always remember, contentment is a choice. You either choose to be content with all, or you're not content at all.

Now for the two keystones of contentment. Solomon uses two illustrations, once again utilizing contrasting statements, to share these building blocks of satisfaction.The first one he points out is fear of the Lord.

Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith. Solomon claims it's better to be poor with God than to have the riches of the world and the troubles of not having Him. As Jesus asked in Mark 8:36, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" I believe the point here is very clear: if you do not know God as Lord and Savior, nothing you have on earth will help you, be profitable for you, or give you contentment. This is the first thing you absolutely must have settled before anything else. It is the most important matter you will ever face. Do you know with one hundred percent certainty that you are saved by God's grace?

The fear of the Lord also deals with more than salvation, though that is the most crucial aspect. Sadly, there are many Christians, true born-again believers, not living in the fear of the Lord. They walk contrary to His commandments and His will, and this certainly leads to trouble. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). This fear isn't a cowering terror felt toward God, however. It is a reverential awe and respect at His holiness and greatness that makes us bow at His feet and surrender our lives to Him. Basically, it is loving Him with all your heart. As Jesus said in John 14:15, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." If we truly love God, we will respect Him and want to please Him, which entails obeying and worshiping Him. That is the fear of the Lord: reverencing Him, respecting Him, obeying Him, and, most of all, loving Him so that you surrender everything in your life to Him, simply because He is Who He is, and He is worth it.

So how does this play into being content? Well, once you realize that the Almighty God Who breathed the heavens into existence loves you and desires a relationship with you, it will be more than enough to make you content with whatever earthly things you have. Once you realize that you are simply a worthless sinner that the King of glory loved enough to die for, nothing else will seem as important. And once you see that everything you have, even every breath you breathe, is a gift from a holy and righteous Lord, you will be grateful for whatever He has seen fit to bless you with. However, this cannot work unless you've been saved. Once you've been saved, you should keep your focus on God, Who is greater than anything and loves you more than anything, Who redeemed you out of the kingdom of darkness and the pit of Hell. Then you can, as Paul exhorts in Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord alway". You can have that "continual feast". But you've got to keep your focus on God and nothing else.

Now we move to the second keystone of contentment: love. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. This one sounds great doesn't it? Everyone wants love--that magical feeling that flips your stomach, flutters your heart, elates your mind, and makes everything alright. Love is wonderful, and love is powerful. Of course it will bring contentment! But 1 John 4:16 says, "God is love", so how can we have love if we don't have God? Answer: you can't. That's a problem for many people. They want the love, but they don't want anything to do with God. But it does not work that way.

Let's explain love a little bit. Love is not what was described above. Real love is not a feeling; it's a choice. Love is sacrificing of yourself in order to meet someone else's needs before your own. This is totally against the selfish nature of humans! That means love is a supernatural choice and action, and it is the highest of its kind. "Now abideth faith, hope, charity (love), these three; but the greatest of these is charity (love)" (1 Corinthians 13:13). Since love is supernatural, its source must be supernatural also, and that Source is God. When we show love, God is acting through us with His Holy Spirit to display His love to the world. Love can never come from selfish and sinful flesh. That's why it's impossible to have love without the Lord.

So how does love make us content? It's similar to the keystone of fearing God. Once you realize how powerful love is, nothing else will really matter. Love is able to melt the hardest heart, open the heaviest door, and tear down the most fortified wall. And only true, godly, self-sacrificing love can satisfy the craving that every human heart experiences--not the selfish, temporal emotions of infatuation we so mistakenly identify as love. Sacrificing of yourself, serving others out of a heart of love, and seeing their needs met instead of yours will provide a joy like nothing else. It may seem contradictory, but it's one of the great truths of life. It's just another paradox God uses to show us that we don't know best and that we should just trust Him and do things His way.

This applies both to love for God and for your neighbor. You should love and sacrifice yourself for both. (Sound familiar?) Love for your neighbor naturally flows from love for God. As the latter increases, so will the former. This is because when you love God, you desire to be like Him, and as you become more like Him, you love people as He does. And we all know what God did to express His love. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16; see also Romans 5:8 and 1 John 3:16). And what does John 15:13 say? "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." When we love God, we will love others. Then we will truly be content.

Once again, though, this cannot work without salvation. You have to know God in order for this to happen. It's absolutely impossible to be lost and content at the same time. You may think the things of this world are pleasing you or making you happy, but that will only last for a season. And there will be no happiness whatsoever after death. They will do you no good in Hell. Please, if you don't know Jesus as Savior, accept Him today. Click the Salvation tab above for more information.

For the Christian, it's very simple to be content. Solomon gave us two keystones for contentment: fear God and live in love. We've taken these and boiled them down to a one-step process: love God. So if you're not content, you've got your focus off somewhere. You're depending on something besides God for happiness and satisfaction, and it's not going to work. Pray for God to show you any areas in your life you have not surrendered to Him, where you are not relying on Him, where His love is not showing through. Thank you for reading, and God bless you as you seek to grow in Christ and serve Him.

The Object of Your Trust

Jeremiah 17:5-8--Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

In this passage from Jeremiah, we have another case of antithesis. For a reminder, antithesis is two elements presented in parallel style, but with opposite meaning. I think it's pretty easy to see the parallel style and opposite meaning here. The opposite themes are being blessed and being cursed, and they are presented in the following basic style: the reason for being blessed/cursed, and then what the blessing/curse will be like.

Jeremiah begins by stating that whoever trusts in man and not God will be cursed, and he goes on to describe what this will be like. He then contrasts this by stating that whoever trusts and hopes in God will be blessed, and describes what the blessing will be like. It's simple to understand, and it all boils down to the object of your trust. So, as we discuss the effects of where you place your trust, consider your life and what you're putting your trust in. Are you trusting God or something else? How completely are you trusting Him or it? What are the results of this trust?

Jeremiah uses two extended similes to detail the effects of where you place your trust. He begins with the negative of trusting in man. Jeremiah states that whoever trusts in man "shall be like the heath in the desert", a barren wasteland. His whole life will be dry and arid. There will be no beauty, no flourishing life, just empty stretches of desert sand. It will be useless and good for nothing. Jeremiah becomes even more detailed after this, stating that he "shall not see when good cometh". This person's life will be vain and hopeless, but when something good passes by, he won't even notice it. This is because the person's focus is turned inward; his trust is in himself, so he focuses on himself. In his pride, he refuses to let go of himself and accept any help that is offered, especially help from God. As humans, this is one of the hardest things for us to do. By nature we are prideful and selfish. We think we can do everything on our own and we don't need any help. But, as Jeremiah so bluntly points out, this attitude only leads to failure.

The prophet continues, describing the habitation of the self-trusting man. He claims it is dry, full of salt, an uninhabited wilderness. That sounds like a miserable and lonely place. It's true that God has created man as a social creature. He has put in us the desire and need to build and foster relationships with other people (Gen. 2:18-22; Ecc. 4:9-12). It's very hard to grow spiritually without developing healthy relationships with others. However, it's also true that the more selfish a person is, the less friends he or she usually has. And no matter how many friends you have, if you don't have a relationship with God, you have nothing. People will never be able to fill the void in your heart created by not having Jesus. Even surrounded by friends and colleagues, you will still feel alone in the universe because you have never met the One Who created the universe. Your life will still feel pointless because you have never come to the One Who gave you life. No amount of physical, social, or material success could ever meet your spiritual need; only God can.

The next description, in which Jeremiah describes God's blessing as being like a fruitful tree, makes two characteristics stand out in my mind: stability and abundant life. The tree described here is "planted by the waters", and the waters represent God. He is the source of our life, our strength, and every good thing we have (James 1:17). But not only is this tree near the water, it also "spreadeath out [its] roots by the river". This tree's roots are spread far and sunk deep into the nourishing, life-giving water. This entails a person whose trust is deeply anchored in God, firmly founded on His Lord. He has no confidence in himself, but he has complete confidence in God. This is the way we should be. We can't trust ourselves or any other person because we are weak flesh. Abraham said he was "but dust and ashes" (Gen. 18:27); Paul stated, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. 7:18); and Jesus Himself said, "The flesh is weak" (Matt. 26:41). The point is that we can't trust in ourselves; we will fail every time. Either our flesh will lead us to do something wicked, or when we try to do something good, we will fail at it. Even if it seems like we succeed, if we did it in our own power and not God's, it is not glorifying to Him, and that is a failure. And no matter how good a person is, they are still human. They are imperfect, and if you put your trust in them, they will eventually disappoint you.

Now, because of this tree's habitation near the waters, it displays the two characteristics mentioned above. We've already touched on the abundant life, but let's look at it a little more. We know God is the source of all life, and Jesus said He came "that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). The more you trust in God and the closer you draw to Him, the more fulfilling your life will be. In terms of the tree, Jeremiah says its "leaf shall be green" and it will never "cease from yielding fruit". This is a healthy, vivacious tree abounding with life and fruit. If trees could smile, this one would certainly have the biggest and brightest. It's always healthy because it's near the waters, it's always joyful because it's in the waters, and it's always bearing fruit because of nutrients from the waters. Also, this is a stable tree. Nothing is moving or shaking it, and nothing affects its health. Jeremiah says, "[It] shall not see when heat cometh...and shall not be careful in the year of drought". This tree is firmly planted by the river and has no reason to worry. When heat comes, it stays cool in the water and doesn't dry up. It just keeps producing fruit. When drought comes, it's not worried at all because it's right next to the very source of life. If we wholly trust in God, we will be the same way. He is the solid Rock of ages we can stand on through any storm. He is our strong Tower and Refuge we can run to. When we hide ourselves in God and trust completely in Him, nothing can move or shake us.

So where does your trust lie? Is it in yourself or another person? Is it in success or material things? Or is it in the ever-faithful, everlasting, perfect, omnipotent, omniscient God of the universe? Maybe you're not sure. Pray for God to show you, and use some of the signs and characteristics described above to find out. If there's anything you haven't handed over to God, do so.

More importantly, are you saved? If you died right now, do you know that you would go to Heaven? If you're not saved, there's no way you can put your trust in God because you don't know Him and don't have Him. You haven't taken the first step of faith and accepted Him as Lord and Savior. Only then can you have a relationship with Him and trust your whole life to Him. Don't wait a moment longer to make this decision. Click the Salvation tab above for more details.

As a Flower

As a Flower

As a flower toward the sun

let me ever upward grow,

that Your light I would behold

and Your beauty I would know.

Though rooted in the earth I stand

my face to You is turned,

and for Your loving favor

I the earth will gladly spurn.

And in the darkness of the night,

in the beauty of the stars,

let me not forget the sun,

who has loved me well thus far.