Dear SCC & Friends,
…In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. ~John 16:33
Update #89
Historic evidence and personal testimony make it quite clear that we will have struggles in this present life. The Apostle Paul testified to it… I have fought the good fight (struggle), I have finished the course, I have kept the faith… ~2 Tim. 4: Contrarywise, there are those who believe this present life can be utopian…an imagined state of which everything is perfect. John Lennon published his classic song, “Imagine” in 1971. “Imagine there’s no heaven…no hell below us, above us, only sky…Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can, no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man.” Lennon was not the only one who imagined – Plato, Thomas Moore, H.G. Wells, Karl Marx are but a few. Every attempt to create “utopia (ideal and seemingly perfect conditions)” has failed, primarily because visionaries did not know or believe that human nature is seriously flawed. …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…~Rom. 3:23 Utopian ideals are not natural, and their pursuit require force, manipulation, control and even violence. There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. ~Pr. 14:12
Jesus never promised a utopian existence, but did tell us… I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.~Jn. 10:10b He went to great lengths to tell us that sacrifice and persecution would be an ongoing part of our faith. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance… ~Jam. 1:2-3 We are challenged to be in the world but not of the world. The Lord assures us that we have been given eternal life in the midst of a lost and fallen world. God so loved the world (not the world system but people) that He gave His only begotten (unique) Son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life. ~Jn. 3:16 That is a fact and not a figment of our imagination. God is a realist and completely understands the nature of the world we live in. We aren’t perfect but are being perfected by His grace and love. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ~Phil. 3:13-14 Take courage and be assured we were made for these days, handpicked by Him who does all things well! Keep up the good work!
What a mighty God we serve!
Kevin