By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; . . . for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. Hebrews 11:5.
We are living in an evil age. . . . Because iniquity abounds, the love of many waxes cold. Enoch walked with God three hundred years. Now the shortness of time seems to be urged as a motive to seek righteousness. Should it be necessary that the terrors of the day of God be held before us in order to compel us to right action? Enoch’s case is before us. Hundreds of years he walked with God. He lived in a corrupt age, when moral pollution was teeming all around him; yet he trained his mind to devotion, to love purity. His conversation was upon heavenly things. He educated his mind to run in this channel, and he bore the impress of the divine. . . .
Enoch had temptations as well as we. He was surrounded with society no more friendly to righteousness than is that which surrounds us. The atmosphere he breathed was tainted with sin and corruption, the same as ours; yet he lived a life of holiness. He was unsullied with the prevailing sins of the age in which he lived. So may we remain pure and uncorrupted. He was a representative of the saints who live amid the perils and corruptions of the last days. For his faithful obedience to God he was translated. So, also, the faithful, who are alive and remain, will be translated.
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” For three hundred years Enoch had been seeking purity of heart, that he might be in harmony with heaven. For three centuries he had walked with God. Day by day he had longed for a closer union; nearer and nearer had grown the communion, until God took him to Himself. He had stood at the threshold of the eternal world, only a step between him and the land of the blest; and now the portals opened, the walk with God, so long pursued on earth, continued, and he passed through the gates of the holy city, the first from among men to enter there. . . .
To such communion God is calling us. As was Enoch’s must be their holiness of character who shall be redeemed from among men at the Lord’s second coming.
Maranatha p. 65
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Prayer Requests
—– Sheila passed this afternoon. Thank you for all your prayers. Please keep her siblings, children & grandchildren in your prayers. Fran
—– I solicit your fervent prayers for the youth meetings next week at the west coast Korean Campmeeting for which I’ll be speaking. Specifically, that young people would be reborn and transformed into God’s image and I would be filled with His Spirit and words, not mine. Thank you for your prayers. Rich
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Dear Friends,
In 1989, we moved from Utah to Washington state. For a few weeks, while I was looking for a place to live, we lived in a hotel near the airport where Ron was working. While there, Eileen decided she wanted to go down to the hotel’s Jacuzzi. Esther Marie, age six, begged to go along. Against my better judgment, I consented. They really liked the warm, bubbly water, but being so tiny, the force of the water caused Esther Marie to slip underneath the water. Eileen quickly grabbed her little sister and all seemed to be well.
However, a few days after we moved into a house, all was not well. Esther Marie got very sick. At first, I thought it was just a cold, but it soon became apparent that it was far worse. I hurried her to the doctor. One look, and the office girl summoned the nurse who led us immediately to a room in the back. After a short examination and blood work, the doctor found it was meningitis. Perhaps it was because of swallowing some of the Jacuzzi’s water. There was an outbreak of the disease just south of Spokane and someone might have used that Jacuzzi who was infected. Then, when my little girl slipped under the water, she probably swallowed some of those germs.
In much the same way, the “germ” of sin is spread. It is often passed from one to another. By beholding we become changed. How careful we must be to choose our friends wisely, for they have the power to draw us closer to the Lord or to separate us from Him. This does not happen right away, nor does it happen all at once, but it does happen. The germs of sin that we “catch” from the other person begins to grow within us until we become thoroughly infected and just as sin-sick as Esther Marie was physically sick. It is no wonder that Paul advises, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 2 Cor 6:14-18
Another way we can be infected with the sin germ is by the TV programs we watch or the music we listen to. Before long, we find ourselves talking like and dressing like the characters that we have watched or listened to. Our mind is so filled with the things of this world that the Bible seems uninteresting and we soon set it aside, or, if we still read it at all, our mind keeps wandering to other things. How much we need to heed Paul who urges, “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Phil 4:8
May we guard carefully the “avenues of the soul” by what we watch, by what we listen to, by the friends that we choose. May we choose Jesus to be our Best Friend and stay so close to Him that we will allow no “germ of sin” to grow within our heart. May we be diligent to add to [our] faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity” that all may take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus is my prayer. 2Pe 1:6, 7; Acts 4:13
Rose