The Unity of the Cross

by Keith Gardner

John 19:30 “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

In the sacrifice of the cross we have a coalescing of the Spirit of God and the spirit of man; a uniting of two realities, the finite and the infinite. There is a unifying of the body, soul and spirit; bringing all things into completeness; in anticipation of the day that this work will be fully seen.

Here for a Reason

by Keith Gardner

Act 17:24-27 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

I was looking at my thumb drive the other day. You know what I’m talking about; thumb drives, jump drives, flash drives; they come with different names, but all serve the same function; to hold computer data in a transportable fashion. They are very useful; getting smaller; come encrypted for security; or not. They look quite simple. They are definitely easy to use.

Who Am I?

by Keith Gardner

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

I often begin my Christian thinking with “if…then” statements. For example; “if God loves me then, I do not have to be afraid of him.”  Or, “if God calls Himself, ‘Johovah-rapha’ (the Lord that heals), then I can trust Him to heal me.” There is one “if…then” idea that bears a great deal of consideration. If the Bible is a set of stories, fairytales, and fables, then I can read it as entertainment. If the Bible is documented history, I can understand it in context of the past. But, if the Bible truly is the Word of God, then it requires reading, learning and applying to the way I think, act and live my life.  Think about it. God the creator of all that is, a Spirit, a being so vast that He holds His creation in His hand. A timeless One, who holds all eternity past and eternity future in a single thought. He loved His creation so much that He empted Himself of all His Godness and became finite, he became a man. He did this not for the sake of Himself, but for the sake of His creation; to reconcile it back to Himself. To reclaim for Himself all that was lost in the original paradise. That One, the One whose love is without end, has poured infinity into understandable words, and recognizable ideas, so that we could grasp Him and learn to love Him back. Those stories are no longer just stories; they are now instructions; glimpses into the eternal nature of the One I call Heavenly Father.

Contentment

by Keith Gardner

1 Timothy 6:6-8 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

There is a fear of lack that pervades my thinking. Even though I have plenty of food to eat, and cloths to wear, I sometimes worry about tomorrow. I live in a comfortable, warm home, and I am surrounded by my family and friends, but still in the back of my mind are thoughts trying to invade my thinking; how long will this last? What catastrophe will over take me; what misfortune will cause all of this to come crashing down?

To Recognize God

by Keith Gardner

Ecclesiastes 3:11 [God] has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

On April 12, 1961 Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to go into space. He was credited with saying; "No god up here." In 2006, Yuri’s friend, Col. Valentine Petrov, stated that he did not say that but, it was instead a fabrication by the Soviet regime under Nikita Khrushchev. Either way, for over 45 years this acclaimed statement was an anthem for atheist who believed there is no God. Compare that with the events of December 24, 1968, while going to the moon, Apollo 8 astronauts Jim Lovell, Bill Anders and Frank Borman read from Genesis 1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” They concluded there three minute reading and comments with; “from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you on this good earth.” Have you ever wondered how some can see the evidence of God all around them and others can find no evidence of God anywhere?