Friday Coffee with PJ

Don't know about you ... but no matter the temp outside, I still enjoy my morning coffee. Even on Tuesday when the high temperature for the day reached a balmy 95 degrees (almost 20 degrees higher than today's forecast high) I started my day with a cup of Joe! Now I will admit that on hot, hazy, humid days, if I opt for coffee in the afternoon, you can count on it being iced coffee (which I quite enjoy ... almost as much as I enjoy a frosty cup of iced tea)! But enough of my rambling. Here are a couple of thoughts which I hope will encourage you in your faith walk with Jesus! 

 Some of you might know (from my Facebook post) that on Monday of this week, my wife and I took our 5 year old granddaughter to Lake Tobias (as a celebration of her fifth birthday). She wanted her older sister (who is 8) to come along. So the four of us piled in the van around 8:30 in the morning, hoping to arrive when the park opened (we wanted to beat the heat). Well, we did well in timing our arrival, pulling in to the entrance at

10:01! But as for beating the heat ... forget it! Yet in spite of the temperature already pushing the upper 80's (eventually topping out in the 90's), we had a great time together. One of the most memorable moments occurred as the grandkids were eating their ice cream. Breaking the relative quiet of the park (being a Monday and being so hot ... the crowd was on the smaller side) came not one ... not two ... not three ... but a series of loud roars! The male lion was announcing his presence. We quickly got up and ran toward the lion exhibit which was only about 30 yards from where we were sitting. In all of the zoos I have visited (San Diego, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and a few others) I have never heard a lion roar like this lion roared! Definitely a cool moment (on a hot day!). 

As I thought of this lion roaring ... I thought of the book of Revelation. In this, the final book of the Bible, we find an animal roaring. But it is not a lion. Rather it is a lamb that roars! In Revelation chapter six, the lamb (Jesus Christ) begins to open the scroll which he had taken from God the Father's hand. This scroll

contains the final chapter of human history ... a chapter which details God's judgment upon humanity. This judgment of the Lamb is of such a horrific magnitude, that humanity responds in great fear and trepidation!

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17)

The answer to this question is simply that NONE of us will be able to stand. All of us DESERVE God's judgment ... for all of us have rebelled against him and fall short of his glory (Romans 3:23). Therefore, the wage we earn is death and after death comes judgment (Romans 6:23; Hebrews 9:27). BUT we can take a step that will guarantee our salvation and deliverance from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 5:9). This step requires FAITH. Faith in Christ alone ... trusting that when he died on the cross ... he died as your substitute. He paid IN FULL the penalty a just God demands for your rebellion against him. And as you "you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9)!

If, my friends, you have any questions about what I have just written, please take a moment and visit Two Ways to Live: The Choice We All Face. 

Thanks for stopping by . . . 
pj