How is your ticket punched?

I sat and was taken aback by the vileness of the old man as he spewed out curse after curse. Surely at some point in this man's life someone told him the 10 commandments of the living God. Surely he knew better than to take the Lord's name in vain, but I guess he doesn't believe the word. Hopefully I will be able to speak with him soon about the things of the Lord. There are many who don't believe God's word so they don't believe in a Heaven nor a Hell and they don't believe in God or his son Jesus Christ the Lord. It really does not matter what they believe for they aren't in charge of life, their life or any other life for that matter. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Everyone has a ticket to their eternal future punched with only two possibilities, either to Heaven or to Hell.

Do we love Jesus?

In the last verse of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he wrote, "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen." In Philippians 1:9-10 he wrote, "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in the knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ;..." In both of these letters he mentioned being sincere, which means to be honest, genuine, and without hypocrisy. He admonished them and us to love Jesus sincerely and to live sincerely and without offense till the day of Christ. How can we know if we are being sincere in loving the Lord? Jesus gives us the answer several times in the word. One of these is found in John 14:21 where he said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me..." Let me ask this obvious question, do we love Jesus?

One in Christ?

In John chapter 21 Jesus is praying for his disciples and in verses 20 & 21 he says, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." I wonder how this is working in the body of Christ. We should all be one in Christ and not divided over man made religious rules that seem mostly rooted in touch nots and taste nots. I recently heard of a minister that was telling Christians that they are going to hell for not following the dietary laws of the Old Testament. Are we loving our brothers and sisters in the Lord the same way we love ourselves? Can we fellowship with all those who are born again? If not, why not? What do you suppose those in the world are thinking as they view the Body of Christ in such an anemic condition?

Do you love the light?

Upon returning from a 2 week trip I could not locate my small flashlight that I took on the trip. I use the light in the dark of night to make it to the bathroom and back to bed without stubbing a toe. I prefer to walk with light and not in the darkness. Many prefer walking in darkness because as Jesus said in John 3: 19, "And this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Churches across the lands will be full of people who choose to do their own will rather than the will of God. They act as though they are one thing and all the while they are something else. I John 1: 6 says, "If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." Remember that there will be those who will be outside the gate of the city of God and won't be able to enter in. Who are they you ask? Revelation 22:15 says, "For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Oh yes, I found my flashlight in one of our suitcases and I am so happy to have my light back.

A pruned life bears fruit

In John 15: 1 -2 it says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." We have had to prune some of our plants at times and it is hard to do but it causes the plant to bear fruit. We have separated peony plants before with good results. We took a shovel and cut or pruned the plant right down the middle and moved it to another part of our garden. Within a year or two it was bearing fruit with beautiful flowers. If the original plant wasn't bearing fruit, we would dig it up and throw it away. If it was bearing fruit we would prune it by cutting it back and relocating it. I'm thankful that God prunes our lives on a regular basis. It can be upsetting when it happens but God is the Master Gardner and He knows when to prune a life and when to take one away. Do we recognize when our lives are being pruned?

A question or two

Recently spent some time with some relatives that we hadn't seen in years and it was really good to reconnect. Family is such a major part of our lives, and in this modern world we can live many miles and even continents apart. One can't help but wonder how the world got to this state. There are so many lost and wandering souls looking to connect with other humans. In Christ we are adopted into the family of God and share fellowship any time we run into another believer. Time seems to be short and we need to examine just how we spend it when we are with one another. Small talk is a good part of life but big talk (talk about the things of God) is eternally important. Do we know where our families and coworkers and neighbors and friends are with the Lord? It takes only a question or two to find out.

Jesus Saves!

Are you saved? You know what I mean - born again. Are you born again? There seems to be an increase of folks who think that they are saved by doing good works and attending religious services. Some think that all religions lead to the living God, but that is not true for Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Watch out for there are those who say they know God but they don't believe that Jesus is the son of God and they don't believe that God raised Him from the dead, and don't believe that Jesus' blood was shed to cover and forgive us our sin. In Romans 10: 10 it says, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." In verse 13 of the same chapter it says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." So many folks are trying to have fellowship with those who aren't walking in the light, all the while knowing that God's word says that light and dark have no fellowship. Tell them the gospel that Jesus saves and nothing or no one else can make us right with God.