WINNING---NOT CHARLIE SHEEN---GOD!

Friday, April 22, 2011

GOD WINS!

Charlie is a mess and he blames everybody but himself.

We often ask who is to blame for our sins and problems.

Paul says, "For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate..." He concludes,"It is not I who does it, but sin which dwells within me" (Rom. 7:15,20).

God does not force miracles in the human heart. He did not create us to be robots. God wants us to love him and when we refuse he does not give up on us.

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,

will draw all men unto myself."

                                                                                             John 12:32

Christ was lifted up on the cross. He was lifted up from the grave. He was lifted up into heaven.

Christ is even yet lifted up in the hearts and lives of His disciples.

No, not all have accepted Him. But many have and many more will. And those who come to accept Him are the happiest and most valuable people on earth.  I admit that at times it looks like he is losing. But he is not.

HE IS WINNING!

Philip Carlson, in his splendid book, Love, Written in Stone, tells a wonderful story of how God won in the life of a woman who was very lonely and isolated--divorced, alienated from her two adult children, an alcoholic and with no real friends. Eventually she visited the Calvary Chapel near her apartment. She said, "I did this thing they call 'giving your life to Jesus.' " She described the sense of forgiveness that had come over her, freedom from guilt, hope for the future, hope for her relationships with her kids, the beginning of the end of loneliness. God had moved in and everything was different. She had all the same problems and challenges, but a new relationship, a source of strength, a reason for hope. She has been sober for two years and is one of the most delightful people to know.

WINNING!