Author: crcolburn

For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.

1 Peter 2:19

This portion of Scripture comes amidst instructions to submit to authorities, kings and governors. In fact not only is there to be submission, there’s to be honor given. This kind of teaching tends to defy our independent American thinking, yet in God’s foreknowledge he did not give us an “optional obedience” clause.

Servants also are commanded to be subject to masters, whether their masters are kind or not. Slavery was a way of life for millions of people in Ancient Rome. Even in difficult circumstances, we are taught as much as possible to live peaceably with all people (Romans 12:18).

This is (in part) for conscience sake. Conscience toward God. There are points at which we have to look at what is acceptable in our culture and heritage, look at our Bibles, and choose between the two. This will bring grief, folks won’t understand or agree, but the suffering is “wrongful” because you’re choosing rightly.

We will be faced with choosing the praise of people or the praise of God. This, friend, is the entryway to the fellowship of suffering Jesus calls us to, and we had better settle it in our minds if we’re going to follow in his steps.

-Pastor C.

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth:
and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

Isaiah 65:17

We are drawn to newness. New people draw our interest, new places call us to explore, new ideas cause us to think. No matter what age we are new things fascinate us.

But, it is also true that newness wears off. We’ve all experienced deadness in relationships or become weary of the same daily commute. Though an idea may be new the process of dealing with another “new idea” can become a bother. And everybody’s stuff breaks.

When God’s redemptive work is finished, the newness of the new heaven and new earth will not wane or wear. There will be no more pain, tears, or suffering or death. People won’t fight each other, do harm or behave selfishly. We’ll live in perfect righteousness and perfect peace. The Lord Jesus Christ will be our glorious king and our face-to-face friend.

Eternity in a world untouched by sin will never grow old.

-Pastor C.

For some more study on this, see: 2 Peter 3:10-13, Revelation 21:1

Isaiah 64:8 -‘But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter;
and we all are the work of thy hand.

Romans 9:21 – Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

Two scriptures this morning. I have come to love Isaiah, in particular because I am starting to see how much of Isaiah is in the New Testament. In a quick search, one author I read found 55 direct quotes overall, and another found that Jesus quoted from Isaiah 8 times. Those numbers don’t include allusions (passing references without specific mentions), which makes the numbers much higher.

I include both of these verses to share two thoughts. First, the Bible is a unified book. That’s important to understand as we piece together the faith day by bay.

The second is the message of God’s sovereignty in our lives. He has supreme power and authority. As much as we would like to think that we are wise enough to shape ourselves or the world around us, the Bible teaches that our God is the potter.

This is both humbling and comforting. Humbling because we acknowledge that we are under the mighty hand of God, to be used according to his purposes, pleasure and glory. Comforting, because he is good. That doesn’t mean we understand everything that he does. We live in bodies is clay and live short lives here. But the same Bible that teaches us that he is the potter teaches us about his love for us.

-Pastor C.