God is so good

I have a time. I have a place. I have a date. It is in eighty days at 10:45 am, in Denver, on May 18th. Yes, that pretty much sums it up.

I cannot describe how excited I am to be headed to Brazil for this coming summer.

I am blown away with the way God works. To make a somewhat complicated story short and simple, after finally finalizing the dates and departure/arrival locations, it looked like the tickets would be more than the original price quoted. However, upon confirming and paying for the tickets, God worked in such a way that it actually ended up being less than the original price that was given, which had been based on different dates and locations! When I heard this, I almost could have cried...I wanted to tell everyone around me about it! Simply getting tickets to Brazil was enough to make me barely able to contain my excitement, but then to see how God worked with the details, well, let’s just say that it is amazing to see how God works!

(Have I mentioned that God is incredibly good?)

“Oh be careful little mouth….”

“I’m just kidding.”

“Don’t take everything so literally—I’m joking.”

“We all know that it is just a joke.”

Such sayings are commonly heard throughout one’s day. It seems like the prevalent mentality is that if we tag those words onto whatever preceded them, then that which we are joking about is then not only ok, but accepted and even sometimes encouraged. Sure, there is a time and place for simply being silly and having fun with friends. That is not what I’m talking about here. The issue that I’ve been thinking about some lately is that of joking about things which, if said with seriousness or actually carried out in real life, they would be wrong: joking about and taking lightly that which God views as wrong. However, under the classification of “joking,” we think nothing of it.

Somehow, such reasoning just does not sit right with me. As believers, our lives should reflect Christ in every area. Colossians 3:17 says that “whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus…” Not only that, but are we not called to a life of holiness? First Peter 1:15-16 makes a strong statement regarding our speech in connection with the believer’s holiness when it says that “…as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written ‘Be ye holy; for I am holy.’” Or how about 1 Thessalonians 5:22, where we are commanded to “[a]bstain from all appearance of evil”? Even in just having fun with friends, I know I am guilty of partaking in joking that I know was not an avoidance of even the appearance of evil.

I once heard someone say that every single word that is said goes on forever in space, never totally disappearing. While I do not know if that is really true or not, it does cause me to take a step back and consider things that I have said. No matter how much I would like to avoid the fact, one day “…every idle word that [I] shall speak, [I] shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36). Ouch.

Considering joking in light of these few verses makes it seem oh-so-out-of-place in the believer’s life…in my life. What are your thoughts about this?

It is amazing to think of what happens at the moment of salvation:

The instant I believed on the work of Christ on the cross, I had the righteousness of Christ imputed to me! I was redeemed. I am no longer condemned, for Christ took my place.

Christ finished the work on Calvary. It is complete. Nothing more needs to be done: all man has to do is believe.

Wow.

It is humbling to not only recognize that the great Gift of redemption and eternal life is offered to mankind, but also to attempt to grasp and comprehend the value of the payment that Christ made on the cross...

all because of God's great love for mankind--for me.