Will Man Contend With God Forever?

Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” Genesis 3:6

Parents love us, they discipline us. They do it for our own good and, obviously, we don't always like that. They always want us to come back home and sometimes, they overprotect us. So we pull away from them, we run behind girlfriends, boyfriends, friends in general, because they seem more reasonable and fun. We get very angry when our parents do not like the person we want to get married with. We get flustered when they come to our new homes to tell us how we should clean, raise our children, and how to live or lives in general.

Will man contend with God forever? Then with anger, we cut all ties with our family, we harden our hearts and get filled with hate. We make terrible choices and we have no one wise to guide us through the hard times we have bestowed upon ourselves. Then we get fearful to not be received when we are in need of some help. We don't ask for forgiveness, each passing day we remember them less and less.

They, who love us no matter what, send us gifts, calls, texts, they even send a brother or family member too remind us that, no matter what they will always be there for us. But we can't go back. We have gone too far. We still have strength in our bones to go on.

Will man contend with God forever?  The day comes, we have no more strength left. We want to die, to wither away. There is no point in living anymore. Then we remember the parents that, left the door open and extended their arms to us numerous times. When we go back, there is not a single reproach. With their love, they start piecing us back together and they love s and nurse us back to health

Will man contend with God forever? It is wishful thinking to believe that man could contend with God for as long as man could contend with another man. God created you, loved you, and forgave you. He sent His only Son Jesus, to find you and remind you that, no matter what you have done, He loves you and you can get right back home to the Father through the Son. It does not matter if you do not have a good relationship with your earthly parents. Psalm 27:10 says: "For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in."

You can get back to your Father, did you hear that?. Don't turn your face away because of shame. Your tank is empty. You wonder if it's true, if the  door is still open.“Seek the Lord while he may be found;call upon him while he is near;let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.For my thoughts are not your thoughts,neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:6-8

Remember your Father has called you, he sent Jesus. Remember His Law is good, and for our own protection. The door was left open with His sacrifice in the cross. He went to heaven to prepare a home for you. You might be thinking you are too much of a sinner to receive redemption. Or maybe it was ages ago when you last spoke to the Lord. 

Will man contend with God forever? Then with a new wind, you call upon the name of Jesus and accept His sacrifice on the cross and accept Him as Lord. Your Father receives you with open arms, He forgives you, he renews your strength, and gives you a new heart. 

Do not wait, re conciliate. Before the time if reconciliation is no more. Before death surprises you or the second coming of our Lord flabbergasts you.

Will man contend forever with God? No, of course not. "For I will not contend forever,  nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me, and the breath of life that I made." Isaiah 57:16

Don't Waste Your Life

In Matthew 25: 14-30 describes the parable of the bags of gold. A master gives his servants some gold and instructed them to be good stewards of it until he came back. When he did, most servants multiplied the money that was given to them, all but one, who hid the money because he was afraid to lose the money and that his master would give him a hard time. When the Lord found out about this he gave the money the unfaithful servant had to the one who had the most money and had multiplied it. Well this just sounds mean!

When you think about it, God put us on this earth for a reason. He gave us very amazing gifts and talents in order for us to glorify Him. It is His will that, while we are on this earth, we work to honor and glorify His name. 

So, in the last post, I spoke about how we should always long for the next life, but that does not mean that we get to throw this one away. Certainly God doesn't want that. He wants us to live life to the max. We get to have fun, but we also get to put the gifts He has given us to work. Never forgetting who we are, where we are from and where we are going, we must use our talents and let people know Christ through us. Whether it is through being a homemaker, a businessman, a soldier, a youtuber, a blogger or whatever it is that you do, put your talents to good use. 

What God wills you to do, is very important. Don't look to the side and feel like what you are doing, compared to x or y, is not worth it. We are all needed. If you do not know what God's will is for your life, pray about it. Do not impose you will to God's. Remember what the scriptures say in Matthew 26:39: And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

So what d we do with this life? We honor God with it, putting our gifts, bestowed on  us by Him, to work. We do not hide and waste our lives away. It would be a sin to do so. We would be bad stewards, unworthy of being given more responsibility.

Discontent

In times of social distancing and quarantine I have become profoundly aware of a deep dissatisfaction with my life. I have been out a job for a couple of months. I have been waiting to start a new job that just got pushed back, because of the corona virus. So here I am, locked up at home, with house chores, no husband, no children, and essentially no sense of purpose.  

As Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians "... for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,whether living in plenty or in want." Philippians 4:11-12. I am must definitely doing something wrong, I am supposed to be content no matter what I go through. And yet all I feel is a deep, dark discontent. 

Yesterday I listened to a sermon from John Calvin that might have had given me a glimpse of what is happening inside of my mad soul. Calvin stated, trough the voice of a person who obviously wasn't him, that even thought we were to be grateful for the life God has given us on this earth, we must definitely long for the future life instead of the present one. He said that God made sure that we went though circumstances on this earth that would remind us constantly that the future life was more desirable than this one. This in spite of the fact that we as humans are always more inclined to latch on to this, less than ideal, life.

This sounds very cruel.  But when one stops and ponders it for a little while, you start to realize it is true. That is what we feel on the inside. We long for eternity and we know that this life ain't it.

So, what do we do with that? Do we just not try on this life and wait for the next one? Well let me pray about it and I'll tr to answer it on my next blog.