Obscure Reflections in a Mirror: Ruminations of Faith and Hope

Obscure Reflections in a Mirror

Ruminations of Faith and Hope

By Saundra L. Washington D.D.

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * * *

Obscure Reflections in a Mirror

Ruminations of Faith and Hope

Copyright 2011 by Saundra L. Washington D.D.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica. Use of either trademark requires the permission of Biblica. The King James Version (KJV) is in U.S. public domain.

* * * * * *

Dedicated To…

The honor of Jehovah God, Jehovah Christ, Jehovah Holy Spirit

All those who taught us about Christ Jesus.

* * * * *

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Striving in the Christian Faith

Homeland of the Soul’s Desire

Unity among the Saints

Vision Blurred by Tears

When Death Dies

Elijah’s Zeal

Doctrine of Divine Nescience

Deadly Noises in the Camp

Mini Devotion: How to Find God’s Rest

Rumors of a Healer

Check Out The Books in God’s Library

Crisis of Knowledge

Satan Meets His Match

Death’s Shadows and Triumph

The Christian Disclaimer

Fightings, Fears and Faith

Bread of Spiritual Truth

The Doomsday Prophet

Mini Devotion: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Man

Obscure Reflections in a Mirror

How Then, Can We Preach Christ Jesus?

Prophetic Hope and God’s Illimitable Grace

Peter’s Strange Path to Spiritual Power

His Satanic Majesty

Man outside Eden

Holiness Which Blooms Only in the Soil of Humility

God of the Sadducees

Where is the King of the Jews?

Jesus Christ: Lamb of God, Lion of Judah

Mini Devotion: The Wind in the Sails

* * * * * *

Foreword

On our pilgrim’s journey through life, we grow, we mature, our faith deepens, our understanding broadens, and our discipleship develops. Nothing is more thought awakening and stimulating during this travel than quiet reflections the Word of God. In the quietness of your soul, Obscure Reflections in a Mirror will manifest as an invisible accompanying companion providing a guiding light.

Obscure Reflections in a Mirror brings you three mini-devotions and twenty-seven lightning flashes of Biblical illumination in rapid succession kindling God’s truths in the soul. These educative and spiritually stimulating discourses are provocative and picturesque in ways that will draw you into ancient times. Containing vital themes for vital Christian living, the author treads some unfamiliar byways and highways of striking Biblical text to glean truths from Jewish Christianity past that intersects with the Cross of Christ.

All structured to encourage, edify, enlighten and motivate, Obscure Reflections in a Mirror is a worthy investment for those seeking enlightenment, spiritual enrichment, and growth in the knowledge of Christ and in Christ likeness.

******

Obscure Reflections in a Mirror

Ruminations of Faith and Hope

******

Striving in the Christian Faith

For Jesus, discipleship was a serious matter. It means as the word suggests, discipline and it is a hard discipline at that. You recall some of the strong words Jesus said to those who would be His followers as recorded in the Gospel of Luke:

9:59 - Follow me.

9:60 - "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

9:62 - No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.

10:3 - Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.

10:27 - ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.‘

11:23 - He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.

11:28 - "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

12:40 - You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

These are only a few of our Lord’s discipleship requirements. You noticed how Jesus just pounds away one hard blow after another, one strong demand after another. No wonder someone asked, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?

This is an interesting question and it could be posited for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it is an apprehension question of those who sincerely worry about whether they are saved. Other times, it is a smug rhetorical question of those who are sure that they are saved and they derive pleasure in the thought that others are not.

Smugness seems to be behind the question in Luke’s account of those who originally confronted Jesus. They were the people with whom Jesus had the most difficulty. They were the righteous folks who thought they had fulfilled God’s expectations and therefore were better than others; they thought that they were among the very few whom God favored, they thought they had a monopoly on God.

Some things have not change very much even after two millenniums. We may not hear the question in just the same words, but the same question is often asked even today and many anticipate the answer to be yes. Yes, only a few will be saved; those who abide by a certain strict moral code and believe a certain set of doctrines. This group thinks that only a few moral people with correct beliefs will be saved. Those who will be saved are those who obey the Ten Commandments, who believe the Bible is literally true, who accept the virgin birth, the miracles, the bodily resurrection; those who are against abortion, homosexuality, against the teachings of evolution, Marxism, communism and socialism. This group believes that only a few will be saved, the few who believe as they do and behave as they do. They would love to hear Jesus answer in the affirmative because they are already convinced that they are among the few. They know they are saved, they know they are righteous and orthodox. This group would be ecstatic to hear Jesus confirm what they already know and so they ask, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?

Some people see it another way. Yes, they think only a few will be saved; the few who seek justice and peace and who stand with the oppressed and poor. This is the heart of the Gospel, they think. Therefore, to this group, the true Christian, the truly saved person is the one who minister in the streets creating a more just world in which poverty, inequality, crime, racial tensions, slums, poor schools, and war does not exist. This group also wants to hear Jesus answer yes, only a few will be saved - the few who practice a social Gospel.

Actually this last group is not much different from the first who believes salvation has to do with morality. One group says it drinking, and smoking, and sexual sins one must avoid, the other says, its social sins; war, poverty, oppression. One group says the issue is whether one believes the Bible literally, the other says it’s whether you follow the teachings of the Bible literally. Both groups are moralistic. Both are seeking confirmation of their perspective in the wisdom of Jesus and both take comfort in His teachings that seem to confirm that they are among the saved few so they ask, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?

Well, what do you say Jesus?

Jesus said, Strive. He does not dignify the question but rather dismisses it and counters the question with a strong admonition, Strive to enter through the narrow door, which is Jesus Christ Himself. I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved. John 10:9. Jesus is telling all of us that we must strive to enter the Kingdom of God. We are not in heaven when we become saved. We are not in Canaan when we Cross the Red Sea. We must now strive through the wilderness.

Strive is a strong word. It denotes urgency. It can be translated, strain every nerve and muscle, struggle earnestly, agonize, wrestle, put forth every effort, and exhaust every resource to enter the narrow door. The Kingdom of God is not for people who desire cheap grace. It is only for those who seek it with all their hearts, those who agonize to enter. Discipleship is costly. Perhaps this is why at least six times in his epistles the Apostle Paul stresses the need to strive.

The problem is that many of us seem so preoccupied with knowing whether only a few will be saved and confident that we are among the few that we may miss the opportunity to go in through the door ourselves because we have ceased to strive. The Kingdom of God is a place that will not be entered into without pain and suffering, difficulty and diligence. Salvation is free, but the journey to the City of God is hard. It is a journey that begins with the new birth but it is not a final destination. Remember what Peter said, If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? 1 Pet. 4:18.

Jesus opens the way for us to enter into God’s Kingdom through the blood of the Cross where He laid down His life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. If we want to enter or remain citizens of the Kingdom of God, then we must follow Jesus along the way of the Cross.

We must strive with God in prayer, strive against sin and Satan, strive to keep the body in submission; corruptions mortified, daily temptation resisted, strive with our own hearts and sinful nature, strive against whatever would hinder us from doing the will of God. We must strive with care and circumspection and strive through trials and tribulations. We are forever striving because salvation doe not mean arriving at a place of comfort. In fact, the point of the Christian life, as Jesus makes so plain in this tough passage, is not for a person to gain a sense of assurance regarding salvation. Forget about how many will be saved and focus on the real issue; striving to be faithful to Christ everyday. Everyday the invitation is to strive to enter. This is our life’s effort, our ultimate concern, our paramount pursuit, entering the Kingdom of God.

The Christian life is an arduous journey; it is growth, it is struggle, it is straining every fiber of our being everyday to respond faithfully to our Lord. We strive in the faith for we know that Satan is striving to destroy us.

So Jesus rebukes the curiosity that would ask, Lord, are only a few people going to be saved? His requirement for discipleship does not include a concern with the population of heaven and hell. His demand is lucid: Strive to enter through the narrow door.

The Good News of the Gospel is that we do not strive alone. God is with us and His grace is sufficient! As we strive side by side, one in spirit and faith, Jesus assures us of complete victory! All glory to God!

******

Homeland of the Soul’s Desire

There is an instinct which seems almost universal for man to desire being buried near relatives. It is as though the loneliness of death can in some way be overcome, and the bond with one’s beloveds still preserved. So there is certain sacredness to cemeteries, crematoriums, the home of graves and urns.

If you drive through a large city you may notice some obscure areas where old headstones stand dusty, but undisturbed; or along some country road a little burying ground still preserved, though the property surrounding it may have changed hands many times. Man does not violate what is believed to be the rights of the dead to rest in peace.

To Jacob the cave of