We Just Don’t Trust in Jesus Enough

I was reflecting this morning on the nature of humanity and God. The people of God experienced His presence and power personally, and they still complained and abandoned their commitments to Him. From Exodus to the final book of the Kings and Chronicles to the Post-exilic prophets, to the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus’ time, to today, where people lose their minds chasing elephants, donkeys, conservatives and communists, making deal with devils to appease their own guilty consciousness; it would seem that people who claim to know God seem to put more of their hope in contemporary things than in Christ.

This world is not our home. Be a good citizen, seek the welfare of the city/land/country God has sent you to, but remember that you’re a temporary resident. This life is not all there is. Jesus is eternal. He died for the sins of humanity, rose to give us eternal life, and invites all to come to repentance. THAT is what will fix the world, not the temporal. Don’t lose your minds over the temporary effects of humanity. Seek the eternal in Christ Jesus.

Psalm 90

Lord, you have been our dwelling place^[a]    in all generations.Before the mountains were brought forth,    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You return man to dust    and say, “Return, O children of man!” For a thousand years in your sight    are but as yesterday when it is past,    or as a watch in the night.

You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,    like grass that is renewed in the morning:in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;    in the evening it fades and withers.

For we are brought to an end by your anger;    by your wrath we are dismayed.

You have set our iniquities before you,    our secret sins in the light of your presence.

For all our days pass away under your wrath;    we bring our years to an end like a sigh.The years of our life are seventy,    or even by reason of strength eighty;yet their span is but toil and trouble;    they are soon gone, and we fly away.Who considers the power of your anger,    and your wrath according to the fear of you?

So teach us to number our days    that we may get a heart of wisdom.Return, O Lord! How long?    Have pity on your servants!Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,    and for as many years as we have seen evil.Let your work be shown to your servants,    and your glorious power to their children.Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,    and establish the work of our hands upon us;    yes, establish the work of our hands!

1 Thessalonians 1

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.