(M)A...
Illustration
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A lady who survived the collision of two jumbo jets in the Canary Islands two years ago, in which 577 lives were lost, said that many of her fellow passengers might have survived but they were frozen in terror and unable to escape. "They just didn't move," said this lady, whose husband helped her escape from one of the jets before it exploded. "On their side of the plane," she continued, "the whole wall was blown away. I believe many more could have been saved, but they were sitting there just transfixed." Of her own thoughts at that time, she recalls, "It was a terrible sight. I said, 'Jesus, help me, help me,' and he did."
Amos' word to the people of Israel is a call to action: "Go to the Lord, and you will live" -- Repent, confess, seek God's mercy, walk his way, make it your aim to do his will! Move! Otherwise -- "You are doomed!"
God knows just what our sins are and how many they are, as he knew with his Old Testament people. To stay transfixed, unchanged in the grip of sin, is the way of death. But to see ourselves as God sees us, to go to him, to confess to him, to lay hold of his forgiveness by faith in Christ, to be ruled by God's Spirit so that we may "love what is right" and "do what is right" -- that is the way of life!
-- Clausen
A lady who survived the collision of two jumbo jets in the Canary Islands two years ago, in which 577 lives were lost, said that many of her fellow passengers might have survived but they were frozen in terror and unable to escape. "They just didn't move," said this lady, whose husband helped her escape from one of the jets before it exploded. "On their side of the plane," she continued, "the whole wall was blown away. I believe many more could have been saved, but they were sitting there just transfixed." Of her own thoughts at that time, she recalls, "It was a terrible sight. I said, 'Jesus, help me, help me,' and he did."
Amos' word to the people of Israel is a call to action: "Go to the Lord, and you will live" -- Repent, confess, seek God's mercy, walk his way, make it your aim to do his will! Move! Otherwise -- "You are doomed!"
God knows just what our sins are and how many they are, as he knew with his Old Testament people. To stay transfixed, unchanged in the grip of sin, is the way of death. But to see ourselves as God sees us, to go to him, to confess to him, to lay hold of his forgiveness by faith in Christ, to be ruled by God's Spirit so that we may "love what is right" and "do what is right" -- that is the way of life!
-- Clausen
