“In Christ Alone” is a popular modern Christian song written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, both songwriters of Christian hymns and contemporary worship music in the United Kingdom. The song, with a strong Irish melody, is the first hymn they penned together.

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

The Bible certainly backs this truth up.

Acts 4:12

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

John 10:28

And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

Eternal security is one of the great doctrines of Christendom. What a gift!  Give it some thought.

Gary

“Fortunate Son” is a song by the American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released in November 1969. The lyrics paint a concerning picture of how many people who were not exempted from service due to their income or position ended up dying in Vietnam. Seems that at the time, those with higher incomes/social status received exemptions more readily, thus did not end up as casualties there.

Life wasn’t fair during the sixties, but if considered historically, exactly when was life fair? Let me say that it was a brief period from the creation of man to the fall. The crucifixion was a prime example of necessary unfairness.

Mark 15:14-15

Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!”

So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and he delivered Jesus, after he had scourged Him, to be crucified.

It had to be for you and me, but it wasn’t fair. Thankfully, the Son of God was not focused on fairness, but on completing His mission.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Kids of The Baby Boom by the Bellamy Brothers released in 1986.

Our daddies won the war and came home to our moms
They gave them so much love that all us kids were born
We all grew up on Mickey Mouse and hula-hoops
Then we all bought BMW’s and brand-new pickup trucks
And we watched John Kennedy die one afternoon
Kids of the baby boom

It was a time of new prosperity in the USA
All the fortunate offspring never had to pay
We had sympathy for the devil and the Rolling Stones
Then we got a little older, we found Haggard and Jones
A generation screaming for more room
Kids of the baby boom

Kids of the baby boom, we had freedom; we had money.
Baby boom, here in the land of milk and honey
Counting our chickens way too soon
Kids of the baby boom

Now we all can run computers and we all can dance
We all have Calvin Klein written on our underpants
And at six-o’clock, like robots, we turn on the news
Watch those third world countries deal out more abuse
Remember the first man on the moon, Kids of the baby boom
Kids of the baby boom, we had freedom; we had money.
Baby boom, here in the land of milk and honey
Counting our chickens way too soon
Kids of the baby boom

As our lives become a capsule, they send to the stars
And our children look at us like we came from Mars
As the farms disappear and the sky turns black
We’re a nation full of takers, never giving back
We never stop to think what we consume
Kids of the baby boom

Kids of the baby boom, we had freedom; we had money.
Baby boom, here in the land of milk and honey
Counting our chickens’ way too soon
Kids of the baby boom

Our optimism mingles with the doom
Kids of the baby boom

Here’s one escape for the baby-boomers:

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Give it some thought.

Gary

For everything there is a season. That’s what the writer of Ecclesiastes had to say. Life has youth, middle age and old age. There is a time to be born and a time to die. Like the rotation of the earth, you can’t slow it down, stop it or reverse it.

Psalm 90:12 

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Ephesians 5:16 

Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

You will have to ride it out, so hang on to something. I would suggest God.

Give it some thought.

Gary

In 1978, a young seminary graduate named Henry Smith was struggling to find work while coming to terms with a degenerative eye condition that would eventually leave him legally blind. Despite those hardships, Henry found hope in 2 Corinthians 8:9 and penned “Give Thanks,” one of the most beloved songs of our time.

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He’s given
Jesus Christ, His Son

And now let the weak say, I am strong
Let the poor say, I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us

2 Corinthians 8:9

 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

Give it some thought.

Gary

At Disneyland, my sister put her children on a ride, then sat on a bench alongside a lady who had also placed her kids on the same ride. She then started up a conversation with the woman who kept nodding agreement with every statement she made. The lady’s kids got off the ride and started a conversation with their mother in German. She couldn’t speak English. That individual was being friendly, but had no understanding.

Colossians 1:9 

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

Psalm 111:10 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!

We talk to some people about the Scriptures, and they are kind, but have no understanding of what we are saying.

Give it some thought.

Gary

Isaiah 25:4

You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the storm
and a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is like a storm driving against a wall

Trial and trouble were on the horizon for the nation. Idolatry and spiritual adultery caused the nation to be driven and defeated. There would be no way to turn this coming horrible event around. Where was the believer in Israel to go? Isaiah painted a clear picture of salvation for the believer in such a state.

The same is true in the New Testament. How could those early Christians face three hundred years of persecution? Sometimes they faced lions and sometimes they were burnt alive.

Give it some thought. Remember He is a refuge in distress, a shelter from the storm, and a shade from the heat. You always have a place to go.

Gary