When you keep track of a company's history and future projections of income and losses, you end up scrutinizing two (2) main reporting documents as follows:
- Profit and Loss Statements referred to in business as P & L's.
- Balance Sheets referred to in the business as BS. (pun intended)
While there are a host of other documents that give you ROI, ROC, Quick Ratio's, Debt to Equity, Book Value, Shareholder Equity, and so on ad nauseum, all key financial ingredients are in the first two documents. For forty (40) years I have lived by these numbers, and by the way, these are all numbers with no pictures, no video, and no voice-over in sight.
Underneath these numbers is the area of most importance, and these numbers, yes more numbers, provide the foundation from which accurate information can be derived. They are called the infamous, "DEBITS AND CREDITS." The mathematical skills needed to do thousands of calculations with complete accuracy is what makes a good CPA. The summary reports are the end result of countless hours of copying, checking, re-checking and checking again.
So why the synopsis of standard accounting you say? What could this have to do with the 7,000 readers of this blog? Plain and simple, Paul (Saul of Tarsus) writes to the church in Rome describing your own personal and divine P&L with an accompanying Balance Sheet. The fundamentals of debits and credits are the same in global, financial record keeping, so it is when God tallies the minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years of your life. Heavenly CPA's are doing the Most High's bean counting, around the clock, concerning your life.
Romans 4 deals with all of the above right from the third verse. "What does the scripture say?" "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." We all remember Abraham. If you don't, shame on you, because he was and remains one of the great individuals selected by God to father the Jewish race. This man of great faith believed God, and his divine balance sheet was always in the green. Heavenly credit came to him via his what? His belief... As Paul says, it was not by his race, his circumcision, his tests of faith, or by his son, born to him when Sarah was 100 years old and long since "barren."
Believing God sounds simple, but it is far from it. When a family member or friend tells you something, you have some choices:
- You can laugh it off publicly or privately.
- You can pretend to agree, all the while believing something else.
- You can question what you were told and challenge the thought process.
- You can get angry and walk away.
- You can become pugilistic. (punch in the nose)
- You can take it at face value and store it for future use.
NONE of these describe the belief of Abraham by believing Him and Him alone.
Getting back to belief in the Almighty. Let's start with there is GOD and there are gods. Mankind worships many things, but the Creator is different from anyone or anything that we can conjure in our minds, our songs, our art, or our writing. Knowing that El Shaddai exists is obvious to anyone taking his head out of the sands of time long enough to observe the sun, moon and stars. Then look at the oceans, the mountains, the lakes, and the streams. And finally, look at life on this planet in all its forms with specific functions for each species on land or in the water.
BELIEVE HIM
Saying that you "believe" there is a Creator, called God, and Paul says it will never be counted to you for "righteousness." It will never end up on the "credit" side of your divine balance sheet. Belief in God entails trusting him with every facet of your being, inside and out...Ask yourself, "Do you believe in God," or Do you believe God?" It may sound simple or trite, but you must "BELIEVE HIM." If you believe Him, you will desire to know how to communicate with Him and know what He has said and done in the past.
I was reading a book the other day, called the Bible...Specifically I was venturing forward in the Book of Romans to see what else Paul had to say. I read chapter 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. When finished I paused to reflect and drew a blank. I read it, I knew it was the Bible, and I knew it was important. Knowing it was the Bible had nothing to do with my retention or comprehension. The same is true for those who know there is a God.
Belief in God is personal, not public. It is singular, not plural. It is innate, not ornate. It is special, not ordinary. It is the most important thing that can happen to you during your tenure here on earth. If you believe Him like Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, Jonah, and Isaiah did in the past, you have been divinely metamorphosized (my word) now and forever. This experience changes you permanently. This experience provides you with true faith, not blind faith. It provides you with power. You are plugged into the Divine, and He provides you with purpose in this life. He provides you with a profound, personal, spiritual experience that you will radiate in this life. It was given to you the day you decided to "BELIEVE HIM by taking HIM at HIS WORD.
FROM ONE LIFE TO THE OTHER
With Him you can find the strength and the power to untangle yourself from sin everyday. This is a never ending battle in this life. Expect it, understand it and then crush it by believing HIM, not in Him. Give your issues to God through prayer everyday and search "HIS WORD" to find the answers. If you give HIM a little, you will get back more than you can imagine. He granted you life at birth in this world. He provided Jesus to cover all of the "DEBITS" in this life, so that God the Father will only see your "CREDITS" for the next life.
I trust Him, I believe Him, and over time I am learning what it means to love Him. Please do the same in your life. God considers you "precious cargo," and don't forget it, be ashamed of it, or hide it. You are an extraordinary piece of God's plan, so act that way.
Even if this personal evaluation is painful, it is worth making an honest introspection now so we can be absolutely certain to be counted as a true believer at the day of Christ's return.
With love and respect for those PRICELESS ones called of God,
JON BRISBY
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Hearing from you is certainly not a requirement. Consideration of what is researched and written is all I ask of anyone who stumbles upon my writings. I believe that my God will take it from there. With His help I try to separate fact from fiction, sense from nonsense, and ultimately clarity from chaos.