Quiet

“Quiet! Be still!” Jesus told the waves in Mark 4 as He stilled the seas. The disciples in the boat were terrified so He spoke say, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”  The disciples appropriately responded, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!” Well, there is the understatement of the millennia. This man who spoke to the waves was and is Jesus Christ, God of the universe, Creator of all. Do you know of Him? Better yet, do you know Him personally? You can you know. He is looking for you and wants to save you through the waves and wind.

Peter, the disciple finally figured it out after rejecting Him who made the earth and all that is in it. He was addressing the Sanhedrin, the top religious Jews, saying, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Well, there you have it, salvation in the storms of life by no other name. What a wonderful concept. You would think that everyone would buy it. You know Jesus told us in Revelation21:6, “To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.” The Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last was speaking to John the Apostle for all of us to know too about life eternal in Him.

Christmas is approaching and I hear that Black Friday will be very big this year. So go and spend all you hard earned money on what will rot and rust. Or you can buy what is free.  But we seem to be prisoners of indulgence and need. But Jesus said “He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of God’s favor” (Isaiah 61:1-2).  These were the same prophetic words that Jesus read in the Temple much to the wonder of the religious in Luke 4:18.  But they were not buying and are still not buying. In fact it seems fewer and fewer are buying as the End Times approach. You might ask what I mean by End Times. It is when the world as we know it ends. Those who chose to believe what Jesus has said and trust in Him now will be safe, but those who do not will be lost. It’s you choice.

Back in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy Moses speaks of this choice. “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in he land you are entering to possess…This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God and listen to His voice and hold fast to Him” (Deuteronomy 31:15-17,19-20). The choice seems clear to love the Lord our God, but this requires giving up control of our lives to our Creator. We are not in control, and now is the time to proclaim it and choose “life.”