Day Six of “Getting Ready for Christmas.” Read Malachi 3:1-4.
The promise of Christmas is the promise of hope.
The passages of the Old Testament that look forward to the coming of the Messiah are also passages of hope. They are passages that tell of the work of God and the blessings of knowing Him.
What do these passages teach us?
First, God is in control. The Messianic passages, such as Isaiah 9:1-7, show us the promises of God. These passages make clear that God has a plan of redemption and blessing for His people. We can trust Him to provide for all of our needs.
Second, God works according to His plan and in His time. Paul noted that God sent forth His Son in the fullness of time. At just the right time, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law (Galatians 4:4). Our problem, of course, is that we want to superimpose our plan on God’s plan. We see through a glass darkly and without the light of God’s eternal wisdom.
Third, God goes above and beyond all we could imagine. After the Apostle Paul discussed God’s eternal plan for the redemption of mankind, Paul gave a prayer of praise to God for His great work. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work with us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-21).
We certainly trust God to provide our eternal salvation. We know He has prepared a place for us which is beyond our imagination.
If we trust our eternity with God, why don’t we trust God with our present time?
These Messianic passages show us that God is in control and that we can depend on Him. The coming of Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves. Let us trust God with all of our future.
You may receive my daily posts by going to the home page of waylonbailey.com and subscribing at the top right of the page. It’s easy to do and completely free.
3 Responses
I was thinking and praying just this morning about how I looked at life as a balancing act. Balancing what I control and the part God controls only to realize and convict myself of not letting God control everything. I am developing and renewing my mind to how the Holy Spirit controls all within me. The encounters and interactions of my life throughout the day are all in Him, with Him , and through Him. Who would have ever imagined your post this morning would be there to re-enforce and confirm what God wanted me to hear today. God speaks to us in so many ways. We just have to listen. To God Be the Glory, Thanks Pastor.
“If we trust our eternity with God, why don’t we trust God with our present time?”
The question of the ages is the question you have presented! Our present time is dependent on the individual choice of those who call Him Lord and yet, do not show up. It is a wonderment we get anything done as a Body to His Glory at all! It is no wonder that what has been Done only lasts for a generation or few. We have a long history in and out of Scripture to support man’s tendency to default to vanity. “I never knew you…” Scary to me.
Yet it is our obligation, both paid and unpaid, in the traditional sense of Ministry, to try. And, We, as His, are to try together, Dependent on Him, to Show Up, in Him, His in His Time., always NOW. AMEN
Blessings
Suggestion: Isaiah 11:10-12 should be read before Malachi 3:1-4.
(Scary implications as we who believe we are His Priests as did those at the time of Christ, before and since, Pharisees knew Scripture, it was and is: all there to Have Relationship.)
Blessings