A Devotional Thought from Pastor Chris Peterson
Hello Mercy Hill,
Greetings to you from afar. It seems that way to me; that I’m far away from everyone. Proverbs 25:25 says this...
As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.
In actuality, God was never that far from us. God was nearby our entire life before we embraced the Good News, putting our faith in Jesus who moved all our sins over to Himself, making us righteous and now true children of God our Father by the Holy Spirit. Read this...
So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for"'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.'
Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
Acts 17:22-31 ESV
Do you all remember the days of your life before Jesus? You may have been far from God, but He was not far from you. He has always setup life for people from the beginning with boundaries to dwell in so that, “in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him.” Great news! Somehow, someway, by God’s design and His doing we repented and now know that we will escape the judgement that is certainly coming. We have been rescued by our God and know for sure that we will be raised from the dead one day to be with our Saviour forever!
Boundaries. God sets the boundaries for mankind to live in as part of His design to move people towards Himself so that none would perish. Our God is working in this world and is actually not far away from anyone. He certainly has re-set the boundaries recently in this world, hasn’t He?
Mercy, grace, & peace from your brother,
Chris. chris@mercyhill.org
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