Spiritual Thoughts

A man who trims himself to suit everybody           will soon whittle himself away. -Charles Schwab Man in his pomp will not remain;    he is like the beasts that perish.        But God will ransom my soul from the            power of the grave, for He will receive me. Selah.  - Psalm 49:12, 15

John 5:25, 29 “ Truly , truly , I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God , and those who hear will live . Do not marvel at this ; for an hour is coming , in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice , and will come forth ; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life , those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment .” God grants us a wonderful gift of life on this earth. During this life we have a choice to serve ourselves or to serve Him and His Son. He has given us a life full of blessings and learning, as well as an incredible creation to remind us of His presence. In his mercy God gives us opportunity each day to acknowledge Him and turn to Him. In the end we all go to the grave where there is no more thought or life (unless Christ returns during our lifetime). There we have no sense of passing time. The next moment we realize will be the resurrection and t...

You brought me up from the grave, O LORD.     You kept me from falling into the pit of death. [Psalm 30:3] On this coming Sunday, we celebrate the defeat of death. Psalm 30 gives us words to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and its implications. The images of Psalm 30 take on new meaning in light of the resurrection of Jesus. When God raised Jesus from the dead on that morning, the power of death itself was defeated. Jesus broke out of the cage that keeps us in bondage, inviting us to follow him from death into new life. Thus when we read Psalm 30, we think of Jesus and his resurrection. But we can also think of ourselves. As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15, the resurrected Jesus is the “first fruits” of the harvest. We who put our trust in him will one day be raised, even as he has been raised. We will join him in the new creation, in the resurrection of heaven and earth. So, on this Sunday, we not only look back with awe at the resurrection ...