God lives and works today, but who experiences
this joyful reality?
Whoever is prepared to meet the Lord and
who doesn't spend his life running away?
Today's meditation by Vasiliya Shling tells us what
it means to be prepared.
God once gave a vision to the famous
missionary Sadhu Sundar Singh from India.
He saw a man in hell who was
beside himself over the horror and pain he
was suffering.
He cried out in rage, How can God
be a God of love if he created
such a place of darkness and anguish?
God sent one of his angels to the
man, bearing the message, Heaven is open for
everyone.
You are welcome to come if you want.
And so the angel led the man out
of darkness and hell to the edge of
the heavenly world.
This heavenly world, however, was so completely filled
with light and the holiness of God that
the man was repelled as if by a
bolt of lightning.
God didn't have to condemn the man to
hell.
Of his own accord, the man reeled back
into the deepest abyss.
Why?
Light repels darkness.
Sin cannot stand before the holiness of God.
For this reason, it is the greatest grace
when we allow the holiness of God to
come into our lives here on earth, when
we let ourselves be convicted of our sins
and chastened by his light.
Give me your light to bring my soul
salvation, To set us free, oh hear my
supplication, And give me light.
Give me your light and do not let
it spare me, Show me my sin and
to repentance grant me, Then I'll be free.
To a large extent, we people spend our
lives running away from God.
But we can't ever escape his holiness.
According to Psalm 139, even if we flee
to the outermost parts of the sea, God's
holy eyes will still find us.
And one day our lives will be revealed
before his judgment seat.
When we must stand before the holiness of
God, we need one thing, the blood of
Jesus Christ.
It is the blood of the Lamb, the
blood which was shed to take away our
sins.
However, only the person who first comes into
contact with the holiness of God, who brings
his sin to light and is chastened by
the light, can lay claim to this blood.
That person will hurry to the arms of
Jesus and will call upon his blood.
He will be made holy through the blood
of the Lamb, so that one day he
can meet God and not be repelled.
And that person will enter into the kingdom
of God, into eternal joy.
I thank you, scorched and bleeding Lamb divine,
Those wounds bring healing for all ills of
life.
I thank you, Lord, I thank you thousandfold,
O victim pure, with love I you behold.
By the same author, please write to God
Lives and Works Today, 9849 North 40th Street,
Phoenix, Arizona, 85028-4099.
That's God Lives and Works Today, 9849 North
40th Street, Phoenix, Arizona, 85028-4099.
God bless you.