HE IS LIFE AND THE ONLY WAY!
HE IS LIFE AND THE ONLY WAY!
You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. —Psalm 73:24-25
I can fully trust the Lord God Almighty for His counsel— “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you” (Psalm 32:8). After all, He is the One who has planned “the race set out for us” (Hebrews 12:1) and we are to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). As we trust His counsel “with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:6-6), we can have confidence. I am so grateful that I can trust His counsel for the rest of my life. How thankful I am that He has given us His Word to know His counsel. Oh, that I would stand on His Word for the rest of my life.
This race that He has “set out for us” will conclude in heaven! Oh, what a joy to know that once we cross that finish line we will be with Jesus and all who love Him. That is the tremendous hope we have, the promise of God that we have. So, keep running the race He has set out for you. No, it does not look like the race course of others, parts of it might, but God has uniquely set your race course to fulfill His purposes. It is up to you and me to finish the race He has given us! Paul said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:7). Oh, may those be our words as well as we near the end of life. Fight the good fight… finish the race… keep the faith! May it be so!
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). There is only one Name by which we can be saved (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). There is no one else in heaven that can save us. Only Jesus saves and whoever calls on His Name will be saved (Romans 10:13). I know the race is hard at times, sometimes, many times it seem unbearable. We do not understand so much of what God is doing in and through our difficulties, but we are told that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Got that? “Our light and momentary troubles,” which do not feel light and momentary when are going through them, but they “are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” These troubles you and I experience as followers of Jesus “are achieving for us an eternal glory.” Now there is something we do not fully understand, but that is what is happening. Troubles do have a purpose. God is at work! This “eternal glory” we are told “far outweighs” these temporary troubles that we go through. Keep the race’s finish line in view! Oh, once we cross it— blessed, eternal joy with Jesus and all who love Him! Let that blessed though fill us with joy!
“And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” Dear Father, may I fight the good fight, may I finish the race You have marked out for me, may I keep the faith by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus. Please help me not to get distracted from that fight, from that race, from that faith. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIpnW3rtRQ4