THE SWEET DRIPPINGS OF GOD'S GRACE!

There is absolutely nothing that can compare as to living under the mighty grace of God! Our sins would crush us daily if the sweet drippings of God 's grace were not our portion on a moment by moment bases. Each night we lay upon our beds we recall the sad failures and our weak faith in our pursuit of holiness and loving Christ ! But, nevertheless, it's the battle with and against sin that I find my savior to be so precious.

My hope isn't founded upon my performance but solely upon the performance of my Capitan, The Lord Jesus! He bids me to enter His army. He counsels me to count the cost. He warns me the battle will be severe and brutal. Yet, He tells me all the while His grace will be absolutely sufficient to meet my every need!

We have no excuses to shrink away or to throw our hands up and not fight. Dear friends may these words strengthen us in our fight to find our ultimate joy in loving Christ and serving Him!!!

2 Peter 1:3-4 "His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises"

Johnathan Edwards felt the weight of wanting to love Christ above all when he said,

"If nothing else will do to sever me from my sins, Lord, send me such sore and trying calamities as shall awake me from earthly slumbers. It must always be best to be alive to thee, whatever be the quickening instrument."

"Life itself is vanishing fast. Make haste for eternity."

"Do everything in earnest--if it is worth doing, then do it with all your might. Above all, keep much in the presence of God. Never see the face of man till you have seen his face who is our Life, our All."

May these words from John Piper be a means of grace to help us realize life is vanishing and we need to make haste for eternity.

"In April 2000, Ruby Eliason and Laura Edwards were killed in Cameroon, West Africa. Ruby was over eighty. Single all her life, she poured it out for one great thing: to make Jesus Christ known among the unreached, the poor, and the sick. Laura was a widow, a medical doctor, pushing eighty years old, and serving at Ruby’s side in Cameroon. The brakes failed, the car went over a cliff, and they were both killed instantly. I asked my congregation: Was that a tragedy? Two lives, driven by one great passion, namely, to be spent in unheralded service to the perishing poor for the glory of Jesus Christ—even two decades after most of their American counterparts had retired to throw away their lives on trifles. No, that is not a tragedy. That is a glory. These lives were not wasted. And these lives were not lost. “Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35).

I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who “took early

retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball

and collect shells.” At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn’t. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life—your one and only precious, God-given life—and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “Look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don’t buy it. Don’t waste your life."

Life is vanishing dear friends and the old saying "Only one life soon will pass; only what is done for Christ will last" is ever true!. Oh! Jesus do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, quicken our hearts that we might truly live for you!!! May we not waste our lives!

Made Willing In The Day of His Power!

Casey Kirkman