Can you say hallelujah!?!

The lobby had a glorious aquarium. As I waited, I watched shimmering fish glide through water — fast … easy. Without doubt — these creatures DO water! They were designed that way.

There’s a bird feeder by our kitchen window. Cardinals, blue jays, sparrows — even painted buntings fly in and out all day long. Squirrels pounce on seeds that fall to the ground. The birds and squirrels use the bird bath, but don’t swim in it. They don’t DO water like fish. And the fish don’t frolic in the trees like the squirrels, or fly off like cardinals. Fish, birds, squirrels — they move differently. They were designed that way.

People are awesome. We CAN swim, frolic in trees, and fly, but not the same way these creatures do. So … what are PEOPLE designed to do? Please give “Complete In Him” a listen, and come back for more.

Who knows?

People are awesome but have limits. For example, people die. The good news is, people learn, and, before they die, pass knowledge on to the kids. (Can you imagine what life would be like if every person had to figure out everything about life without older people to teach and help them get going? WOW!)

We learn much by experience and can pass that learning along. But no person experiences everything. People are limited. We will never meet a (sane) person who can say “I know how we got here because I was there to see it myself.”

For THAT kind of information, we have only two choices:
1) Go with God’s description
2) Go with man’s opinion

No man claims to have been there “in the beginning”. No man has first-hand knowledge how we got here.

God says He was there “in the beginning”. He is the ONLY one who could possibly know, first hand, what happened.

So we can go with an eye-witness, or with a guesser. Two choices, only two.

After investing years in learning what God says happened, and how God says He designed things, and what God says is the plan, I’ve reached a conclusion:
What God says rings true and makes sense. It agrees with what I can see, and living in light of His truth brings peace and joy.

I’ve reached a second conclusion: I WANT IT TO BE TRUE because the alternative is to depend on opinions of men who don’t respect God, don’t celebrate the work He’s done, and depend on their own wits and ability to get through life. Their lives lack joy and peace. AND … before they die, they teach the kids to live this way, so it can continue. Yuck!

Complete in Him

Fish — designed to swim.
Birds — designed to fly.
Squirrels — designed to (not sure. To look cute?!?)
People — designed with the ability to know God, to know that He is the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth, and that He delights in those things.

Fish, birds, and squirrels seem to be doing their things pretty well.

People, on the other hand, hit a wall. We read people HAD the ability to know God. But people traded that ability for death.

Sure, people still live on earth, but not like they did in Paradise. What DIED in Paradise was man’s spiritual ability to connect with God. Man WAS WHOLE, but became only PART of what he had been. Because of that, every person is born with an empty spot designed to house the spirit of God.

Enter Jesus Christ. He successfully brought the lost part back to mankind. JESUS CHRIST worked to bring it. WE didn’t. But the next move is ours — to accept this gift of wholeness, to become the complete humans we were designed to be.

What we’re designed to be and do

Without salvation, without spirit, without being made whole — complete — we go through life up a creek without a paddle. No, that’s too soft. We’re adrift in the middle of the ocean with no map, no food, no fuel, and in need of rescue.

With salvation, with spirit, being made whole — complete — we are able to live the life described in the Bible as “created in Christ Jesus unto good works”. Philippians 3 briefly states what we want to do, what we CAN do, what delights God:

“…worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”

We are designed in Christ Jesus to do the works Jesus did — and, he said, “greater works”. That’s wonderful and amazing!

Hey —- we’re complete in Him. In Him we are able to work — and we HAVE work to do — for HIM and each other. Let’s get going!

God bless you lots! Love ya…
-Dale R.

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LYRICS: Complete In Him
Author unknown

The fullness of the Godhead bodily,
Dwelleth in my Lord; (repeat twice)
And I am complete in him.

Chorus:
Complete! Complete! Complete in him,
I am complete in him (Hallelujah Lord!);
Complete! Complete! Complete in him,
I am complete in him.

It’s not by works of righteousness,
But by his grace alone; (repeat twice)
And I am complete in him.

There’s nothing more that I can do,
Jesus paid it all; (repeat twice)
And I am complete in him.

What do you think?

What have you enjoyed being able to do since you became complete in Christ? That — or any other comments — please jot a note in the “Leave a reply” spot below.

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