By Orders From Heaven

.
"All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves--through the Holy Spirit--the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!" (1 Peter 1:12, The Message).

The prophets of old saw what they did not understand. And no matter how earnestly they tried to sort it all out, they were simply unable to do so.

And to their everlasting honor -- they did not concoct some half-baked notion of what they thought it all meant. They simply reported what they saw. And they did so knowing that they were serving US today. For we now live in the midst of their prophecies being fulfilled.

How extraordinary that God would favor us with this remarkable privilege -- to be alive in these days, seeing, hearing, knowing and experiencing all the blessings that the Gospel brings into our world and into our lives. And mark these words well -- all this is done "by orders from heaven."

We did not merit this on our own, nor could we lay claim to these things as though they were ours by right. No. They are given by the gracious God, who is motivated only by His love for us.

John the Baptist said, "A man can receive nothing except it be given to him from above." In another place Paul wrote, "What do you have that God hasn't given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?" (1 Co.4:7).

We each should live with a profound sense of gratitude for ourselves, and solicitude for others. Surely God would smile upon such an attitude and, who knows -- even show us more than we have already seen!
.