~ Fear Not ~
An Interesting Paradox…
The
following is an excerpt from a book.
Interesting paradox. A man who has made God his enemy, that man has
a chance with God. A man who admits that
he has offended God and has terribly outraged His law, that man has an
opportunity to lay hold of the compassion in the Godhead. But conversely the man who refuses to admit
his sin, the man who says everything is all right between him and God, the man
who recognizes no breach of fellowship between his Creator and himself, that
man never hears the word of Christ, “Fear not.”
But let a man once confess that he is a sinner, that he
is disobedient, that he is an unbeliever, and that man hears from Christ the
word as Peter heard in great mercy, “Fear not.”
Do you know, Jesus Christ showed Himself patient with
Peter not only in his original call but also throughout his whole life. Peter, though he showed signs and strokes of
brilliance often—he showed in many cases that he had perception above others of
the disciples—yet he blundered. In those
particular instances, where Jesus Christ singled out these three men to deal
with them personally, even on those occasions Peter showed himself
misunderstanding, proud, even foolish.
Remember the time when the Lord Jesus was transfigured. The three fishermen, Peter, James, and John,
were selected to behold the glory of the Lord. They were taken up into a mountain by Christ
Himself, and there they were sleeping. As
they were sleeping, all of a sudden there appeared to them two others with the
Lord Jesus. They were counseling with
Him about His death that He should accomplish at Jerusalem. Remember that as soon as Peter saw them, he
blurted out right in the midst of that august company, because he recognized
them as Elijah and Moses, “Lord, let us build here three little tabernacles. Let’s keep this thing going, Lord. This is too good to let go. Let’s build three
tabernacles, one for You, one for Elijah, and one for Moses. Let us set them up right here. Let’s make this little mountain the throne
room of the kingdom. Let’s establish the kingdom right here, in terms of three
little tabernacles, Lord, You and these other great prophets.”
It was at that moment God Himself rebuked the apostle
Peter, for the Scripture says a great cloud overshadowed them and the voice
came from the most high, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased; hear ye Him.” The other two
were blotted out, and with the cloud removed they saw no man save Jesus only. Why? Because
God will not tolerate comparison with Christ.
~
from “JIM ELLIOT: A Christian Martyr
Speaks to You, pgs 56-57 (ISBN: 9781615797646)
NOTES:
(1)
The
current
TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very
bottom of this home page.
(2)
There
is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the
left column.
(3)
You
may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website.
(4)
You
may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by
prominently displaying the following statement: Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free
blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid
Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/
.
