Daily Thoughts about God Posts

Published May 19, 2009

Things are not Always as they Appear

by John Grant
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
_______________________________________________________________________
 
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.� 
2 Corinthians11:13

Last week, the “trail boss� of our church motorcycle group organized a ride to a place called “Spook Hill,� where it appears that vehicles defy the law of gravity and roll uphill. In reality, it is an optical illusion that makes it look like an uphill roll, but the law of gravity has not yet been repealed and objects still roll downhill, no matter what ancient spirits may allegedly be lurking around.

We had a good time, but on the ride back, I couldn’t help but draw a spiritual comparison to our visit. Satan often disguises that which is bad to appear as good. The enemy often tries to portray himself as good, a friend who cares for you or as truth. 

That is not the case though, Peter said “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour�.  He lays traps and waits for you to fall.  He is after the result and may work on traps that take years to develop in your life when he can rise up and pounce on you. 

No need to fear though as God says “Greater is He who is in your than he that is in the world�.  God will take care of it if you let Him. But, we must know the source and not trust what we see or feel in a worldly sense.

We always need to be on alert and use caution.  Things are not always as they appear.  At times we can allow what we find desirable to overshadow and hide the truth we do not want to see that is in details.  If we are not careful, we will only see what we want to see.

Other times, we may find something or someone that appears to be good only to find out later that we were deceived.  We often are not aware of all the facts or know the end result.

The real question is whether we see things with worldly eyes……. eyes conditioned by the educational system, the media, the entertainment industry and others that would mould our minds to be unlike the mind of Christ or with spiritual eyes, the way God sees things.

How do I acquire spiritual eyes? I do it by constantly worshiping God throughout my daily routine, by being in the Word daily, by regularly participating in public worship and Bible fellowship with other Christians.

Mold your eyes, your mind and your perspective to be like that of Jesus and you will have the spiritual eyes to see as He sees, no matter how deceptive things may be from a non-Biblical world view. 
(a thought on life from John Grant )
 

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/05/19/jg_appear/
Not to be reprinted without permission

Thoughts by All thoughts by John Grant Thoughts by Men

Published May 12, 2009

Gifts for Royalty

by John Grant
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
__________________________________________________________________________________

“Some Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and silver as tribute, and the Arabs brought him flocks: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred goats.�  2 Chronicles 17:11

It is a tradition that goes back for centuries. Sometimes it comes out of respect, sometimes out of fear and not infrequently out of good business. I am talking about the time old tradition that when people meet the King they bring a gift.

It is as old as when the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts of precious metals as a tribute and the Arabs brought him animals. The King was a man who led a nation of great power and neighboring countries would purchase peace with the King of Judah.

This tradition has been vetted in the press this week as leaders from the top twenty countries of the world descended upon London to try and figure out what’s wrong with the world economy and who is going to take the responsibility to fix it. Our President presented the Queen with an engraved I-Pod, as his gift.

We read of the gifts of the Maji, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar in the Gospels…. Kings who followed a star to find the baby Jesus and became the first to worship Him.

Their gifts were fitting for a King… gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Some were ordinary gifts for a king — myrrh being commonly used as an anointing oil, frankincense as a perfume, and gold as a valuable. Others  are prophetic — gold as a symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense (an incense) as a symbol of priesthood and myrrh (an embalming oil) as a symbol of death.

Sometimes this is described more generally as gold symbolizing virtue, frankincense symbolizing prayer, and myrrh symbolizing suffering. Did you think of what you would bring if you got to meet Jesus?

Well, someday, we will all visit Jesus and stand before Him. What he wants is not some thing, but some one…. YOU!

The greatest gift we can give Him is to accept Him, trust in His Word and give ourselves totally to Him. He wants us to live a truly holy life and there is no greater gift to give to our King,  King  Jesus.                
(a thought on life from John Grant )

You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2009/05/12/jg_royalty/

Thoughts by All thoughts by John Grant Thoughts by Men