New Year; New Covenant

 

Genesis 15:1 (NKJV) - After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

Genesis 15 is about God’s covenant with Abram, whom God later renamed Abraham.

God spoke to Abram in a vision,

Although a vision, Abram did not discount the encounter, nor did he discount God’s promise.

Paul, in his letter to the Hebrews, wrote of Abraham’s certainty in that covenant.

Hebrews 6:15 (NRSVue) - And thus Abraham, having patiently endured, obtained the promise.

Today, we live in a New Covenant,

And just as Abraham trusted God’s promise, we also can trust God’s covenant with us,

As we prepare to embark on a New Year, let us bear God’s promise in mind.

God’s promise is genuine.

And, like Abraham, we can trust God in our own journeys,

In our individual stories, we will experience chapters of joy.

We will also experience chapters of pain, sorrow, and even loss.

But we must never allow the unpleasant chapters to fill us with doubt.

That is when we must keep our eyes fixed upon God and cling to His promise,

We must stand firm in our faith.

Like Abraham, we must patiently endure.

Like Abraham, we will obtain the promise.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com on Friday, January 3, 2025.

I will be back here on Friday, January 10, 2025

A Strong Foundation

 

Isaiah 26:4 (NRSVue) - Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock.

Isaiah 26 is Judah’s Song of Victory.

But contained within this song is a potent reminder.

True faith must be built on a solid foundation.

And that foundation is the Lord.

In Luke 6, Christ compares two foundations.

One foundation is weak.

The other foundation is strong.

Those who hear the words of Christ and do them, build on a solid foundation.

Luke 6:47-48 (NRSVue) - I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built.

This is important to remember, especially during the Christmas season.

We seek stability, but what the world offers is shallow,

We misplace our faith in the material or the promises of others.

Christ came into this world to overcome it,

That includes the world’s instabilities.

We must place our faith where it belongs.

We can listen to the words of Christ.

As importantly, we should act on those words.

When we do, the foundation upon which we build our lives will be a strong one.

Our faith will be unshakeable.

I am reminded of the lyrics:

    The Church's one foundation

    Is Jesus Christ her Lord

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com on Friday, December 20, 2024.

I will be back here on Friday, December 27, 2024

Solid Footing

 

1 Samuel 2:2 (NET) - No one is holy like the Lord! There is no one other than you! There is no rock like our God!

In this verse, Samuel praises God.

He declares that God is both unique and truly Holy.

He then compares God to a rock.

What the prophet is really saying is that God is stable and dependable.

We like to think that the ground upon which we physically stand is solid and firm.

But, thanks to the internet, we can see footage of sinkholes suddenly appearing.

Pedestrians, cars and even buildings suddenly disappear.

I remember when Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980.

In video captured just prior to the eruption, a landslide was captured.

This landslide of rock and ice was perhaps the largest ever recorded.

The speed at which it descended was more than 100 miles per hour.

Granted these instances are not commonplace, but they do illustrate one thing.

Even the firmness of the ground upon which we stand is not guaranteed.

Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians talks about what is solid and dependable.

The firmest of foundations is Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:11 (NET) - For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Christ is the cornerstone of the Church.

He is the foundation God provided upon which we confidently build our faith.

And it was that same Christ who cautions us to rely on His teachings.

Matthew 7:26-27 (NET) - Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed—it was utterly destroyed!

As humans, we like to think that the foundation we base our lives upon is solid.

But a change in circumstances can ultimately prove that we have built upon sand.

As we continue our journey through Lent, we follow Christ’s journey.

That journey led to a cross.

But it was a journey undertaken with a love that was perfect.

It is by that love that we were granted grace.

Only in Christ can we find solid footing.

No matter what happens, that foundation will always remain solid.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at https://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, March 18, 2022.

I will be back here on Friday, March 25, 2022