"He Remains!"

 "They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;" (Hebrews 1:11 KJV)

  "This is what the LORD says - Israel's King and Redeemer, the LORD of Heaven's Armies: "I am the First and the Last; there is no other God. Who is like me? Let him step forward and prove to you his power. Let him do as I have done since ancient times when I established a people and explained its future. Do not tremble; do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim my purpose for you long ago? You are my witnesses - is there any other God? No! There is no other Rock - not one!"" (Isaiah 44:6-8 NLT)

 If you realize this verse from Isaiah, it is the part where God shows us the foolishness of idols; as they carve an idol from the same wood that they use to heat their food. Interesting thing about that, is it is real! Idols are the things we depend on, yet they are also consumed and used for foolishness; nothing we can have or make upon this world will really protect us and give us eternal life; nothing comes close to the Wonder-Working-Power of Christ! 

 If you haven't made that determination yet, you need to get right, or you might get left! Which reminds me of something I thought about yesterday as I listen to Jack's message, which happened to be about the Great Pearl. Pearls were really not all that in Jewish culture; yet they are in the New Jerusalem, as they are part of the gates. 

 Anywho, the pearl is something that is created by discomfort, which is pretty much the point of many parts of the Gospel, from all sorts of different views. Maybe that is why they are on every gate, all twelve of them, at every angle. Jesus said: "Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels - a plentiful harvest of new lives." (John 12:23-24 NLT)

 As much as I think of this struggle with sin, sin is the same as that grain of sand that caused the discomfort and produces the pearl. Yes, we must make every effort to avoid the sin, but the discomfort we have in dealing with whatever is causing us to sin, is the same thing which makes the pearl...

"If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won't do it, because I don't want anyone to give me credit beyond what they see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:6-10 NLT)