Wise Words

I am most blessed to sit under the preaching of Greg Price, one of the best elders I have ever had. Lately, he has started a series on the book of Ecclesiastes, which I am enjoying. Last week's sermon had some things in it that I need to remember on a daily basis, especially when faced with the temptation to sin, grumble, complain, and feel myself hard done by.

"a. Dear ones, isn't it truly amazing that Him forwhom the world seeks without realizing it is the One who has graciously revealed Himself to us by opening our eyes to Christ and all of His benefits. The world has this inner desire for truth, for reality, for hope, for meaning and purpose, for joy, peace, and contentment, but the world will seek and will never find by its sore travail.

Why are you any different than the rest of the world? What was in you that made you any different than those who come up empty-handed? You are no different. You and I would be in exactly the same spot if it were not for the grace of Christ who supernaturally filled that void and that emptiness in our lives. What do you have that you did not receive from Christ? And if you did receive it fromChrist, why do you live as if you found it by your own searching?

b. There is affliction and travail in this life that come to the Christian, it is true. But dear ones, you know where to find the help you need. You know where there is a river of life from which you can daily drink. You are no longer searching for joy. You have found it through faith alone in Christ Jesus. Having found the river of life (wherein is found righteousness, forgiveness, love, joy, purpose,and hope), it is simply a matter of daily enjoying the benefits which Christ has already purchased for you.

c. If as a Christian who is trusting in Christ alone for your eternal salvation, you are not experiencing the blessedness of joy, peace, and contentment in your life, it is not because your search for these blessings continue. It is because you must grow in faith in learning how to enjoy these blessings from this river of life everyday of your life. The joy of the Lord is yours. The peace that passes all understanding is yours. The contentment in prosperity or poverty is yours. You simply need to learn to drink daily by faith of that which is already yours. The enemy may try to convince you that you are still searching and never finding. But dear child of God, nothing could be further from the truth. These blessings in Christ are not out of your reach, they are as near to you as the words that you utter. Reach out and receive by faith that which is your inheritance in Christ. "