Once when the Union soldiers were retreating from the valley of Virginia, they burnt a bridge over the Shenandoah. Stonewall Jackson, who wanted to pursue them, sent for his old bridge-builder. “Sir,” he said, “you must keep men at work all day and all night, and finish that bridge by tomorrow morning. My engineer shall give you a plan.” Old Miles saluted and withdrew.
     Early the next morning the general sent for Miles again. “Well, sir,” said Jackson, “did the engineer give you the plan for the bridge?”
     “General,” said the old man slowly, “the bridge is done; “I don’t know whether the picture is or not.”
     Now that is the kind of bridge-builders we want in the church, men and women who go right ahead with their own work, no matter what their neighbors are doing.—By Spurgeon, Signs of the Times, January 11, 1899.

Morally Bankrupt

Morally bankrupt, that is what we are. That is why we so desperately need a creditor who is willing to take my debt for me and put morality back in the bank. The debt can't be cancelled, it has to be paid by someone. But I am just totally unable to pay it. I am unable to get out of the red and safely into the black. I need more than just my debt to be paid for me, I need to be given a gift free of charge to put back into my moral bank. I need to be both imputed righteousness and imparted righteousness.

THANK YOU JESUS FOR TAKING OUR DEBT ON YOURSELF AND FOR PROMISING TO WORK THE WORK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IN OUR LIVES THROUGH THE TRANSFORMATION OF OUR HEARTS THAT WE MAY INDEED PRODUCE RIGHTEOUSNESS BY YOUR GRACE!!!!!

"Good Girl" vs "Bad Boy"

So I was eavesdropping this evening at Chipotle. Apparently the guy sitting behind us needed some man vent time with his bud. I am not usually an eavesdropper but his proximity and topic of choice caught my attention. It seems he is dating this girl. She is a "good girl" kind of girlfriend. She wants to be involved with "good girl" things and doesn't want him doing "bad boy" things. He wants to live the party life, with all that that entails. She wants a family life and devotion to her. He wants pot, she wants his health. He wants sex, she wants his love. You get the point. So this guy explained that he felt like he was in "an f------ prison." He made it clear that this was not the life that he wanted, and he was not happy with her way of living. He felt the best thing was to not get married, and to break up with her completely.

You see the problem? They are two totally different people. They have two totally different ways of life, two totally different views, two totally different sources of happiness. They are like oil and water, they just do not mix. And who could expect them to? It would be utter foolishness to enter into a marriage under circumstances like this. The only way a marriage would really work would be if one of them was to be converted to be like the other.

So why did this catch my attention? God says that this is exactly why the lost will not be in heaven with the righteous. "In his sinless state, man held joyful communion with Him "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Colossians 2:3. But after his sin, he could no longer find joy in holiness, and he sought to hide from the presence of God. Such is still the condition of the un-renewed heart. It is not in harmony with God, and finds no joy in communion with Him. The sinner could not be happy in God's presence; he would shrink from the companionship of holy beings. Could he be permitted to enter heaven, it would have no joy for him. The spirit of unselfish love that reigns there --every heart responding to the heart of Infinite Love --would touch no answering chord in his soul. His thoughts, his interests, his motives, would be alien to those that actuate the sinless dwellers there. He would be a discordant note in the melody of heaven. Heaven would be to him a place of torture; he would long to be hidden from Him who is its light, and the center of its joy. It is no arbitrary decree on the part of God that excludes the wicked from heaven; they are shut out by their own unfitness for its companionship. The glory of God would be to them a consuming fire. They would welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them." (Steps to Christ 17-18).

The Bible describes the union of God with His people as a marriage between a bride and a groom. They are a match made in heaven, literally. It is a match that is made by the conversion of the bride to the Husband, and His way of life and happiness. The Groom is holy and righteous and in Him is no evil at all (1 John 1:5). The bride, through God's grace that brings conversion in all who will come and submit to His transforming power, has made herself like Him. She is a new creature. Her thoughts, desires, and way of life have been converted to be in harmony with Him. And this is why she would be happy marrying Him for eternity.

"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he *said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he *said to me, “These are true words of God.” - Rev 19:7-9

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. - 1 John 2:5-7