A Voice in the Garden

"I do not turn away from your ordinances, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way." (Psalm 119-102-104)

It is good to have that kind of surety. Taught by the Spirit the truths of God's kingdom. A joyful taste of what is to come.

If we are saved, the Father first taught us of our need for Jesus, and we came to Him. Now we are taught by the Holy Spirit God's words. God is talking! And if we are listening He will continue to teach us. I refuse to believe my Father decrees some to be better students than others. The subject is holiness, preparation for eternity with Him.

I struggled in God's class room, as I am sure many have. I really struggled, I'm a slow learner. Man didn't help much with their pride seeking to mold me into their religious likeness. There were also bad examples. Where are the apostles when you need them? I mean that! Not in title, but in character. Life has shown me that the church needs more saints to follow, as they in turn follow Christ. Making disciples requires disciples who have surrendered their life to Jesus.

That's a pretty big deal to commit yourself to carrying a cross and not dropping it, no matter what trials are faced along the way. Not everyone jumps right in with this type of commitment. Thirty-three years after believing in Jesus, I still harbored pride where God belonged. At sixty-six years of age God gave me a start-over. One sunny day, while working in my garden, the Voice of Authority broke into my preoccupied mind, and said, “Unless you change and become like a child, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3)

I would not have known that change was required without the Voice of God. He teaches us. Perhaps someone reading this needs to do a do-over, or maybe it's just an old fella reflecting on how it has been.

Years have passed favorably as I am taught the ways of my Father. There is great joy in sharing the things of God with you. We, who believe, are the children of God, according to the authority we have been given. I pray it doesn't take you as long as it took me to come to God as a child. In humility. What can I say? I'm a very slow learner.