I recently heard a recording scientists in Siberia made at the bottom of a hole they drilled 14.4 kilometers into the earth, it happened in the late 1980’s and the sound was frightening even today. Years later, for the most part it has been played down as a hoax or explained away by scientific reasoning, whether it was a made up story or facts that led to someone’s wild imagination or a cover up by someone or some government or man’s exploration knocking on the door of eternity, I’m not sure. Even those who made an honest attempt to track the source down could not verify whether it was true or not because the people with whom it originated seems to be confused or unwilling to tell what really happened but strangely enough there are some facts that remain constant and even unrelated stories of other drillings into to the earth’s crust confirms certain facts, such as the intense heat at great depths.
What’s even stranger to me is that so many people have either argued that it is real or that it is not, while all along God’s Word says Hell is indeed a real place, as if to disregard what God has said on the subject. Do I believe scientist in Siberia drilled a nine mile hole into the earth; hit a cavity that released intense heat upwards of 2,000 degrees F. then lowered a special microphone developed to listen to the earth’s plates move but instead heard voices screaming in torment for nineteen seconds before it burned up? I’m not sure but I do believe God’s Word is trustworthy and I know that Jesus tells of a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Some say God cannot condemn someone to such a place or if He did it couldn’t be forever but what if we chose to go there? You say that is ridiculous but do you also believe Pharaoh made the choices that brought about plagues on his kingdom or do you believe God did it? How many chances did Pharaoh have to do what was right? In the end believing something isn’t true doesn’t make it go away, no shutting our eyes while walking only causes the fall. There are certain things God cannot do, such as take back the freewill He gave mankind, it was by this freewill that Adam and Eve were forced out of the garden, never to return, because of choices they made. In spite of all God has done to keep us if we willingly decide to live our lives apart from the laws He has set in motion then the consequences we face are because of our own choosing and believing with every fiber within us God would not send us there is a lie from an enemy already bound for this place. By mixing part truth he confuses and confounds people because of the hatred he has for God, knowing God loves people. God will have the final word, at the final judgment but it is the choices we make that determine our fate before we ever stand before Him and once this body dies our ability to choose will be no more. It is ours to own, whether we live according to the law He has given, that is what decides where we spend eternity.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Relational Currency
Have you noticed how two different people can say the same thing to the same person and one is accepted and the other isn’t? When Paul wrote to the Corinthians concerning an error they were making he acknowledged that the things he said hurt them…
(2 Corinthians 7:8 TNIV) Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while—
The difference is relationship, the Corinthians knew that Paul would give his very life if it were required to keep the Corinthians close to God. He instructed them as he watched them grow and he prayed for them as he received reports during his travels. Paul had developed relational currency with the Corinthians so that when tough things needed to be said he was able to say it without having them turn away. Too many times we come into situations where tough things need to be said and we blurt it out. We either think that simply because it is true that is all that is required and we simply lack the love and care as we announce our own righteousness or we never stop to think about whether our relationship with that person is strong enough to receive it. Either way the devil has his way when the one delivering the message does so without first getting into the trenches with the one they say they care for.
(Proverbs 27:6 TNIV) Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.
Love your neighbor, your co-worker, your family, your friends so that when tough times come and speaking the truth means it might cause pain you will have the currency to do so without jeopardizing your relationship with them and you will have an assurance your message will be received thereby cause that person to move towards God instead of impeding their progress.
(Psalms 13:5-6 TNIV) But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD's praise, for he has been good to me.
(2 Corinthians 7:8 TNIV) Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while—
The difference is relationship, the Corinthians knew that Paul would give his very life if it were required to keep the Corinthians close to God. He instructed them as he watched them grow and he prayed for them as he received reports during his travels. Paul had developed relational currency with the Corinthians so that when tough things needed to be said he was able to say it without having them turn away. Too many times we come into situations where tough things need to be said and we blurt it out. We either think that simply because it is true that is all that is required and we simply lack the love and care as we announce our own righteousness or we never stop to think about whether our relationship with that person is strong enough to receive it. Either way the devil has his way when the one delivering the message does so without first getting into the trenches with the one they say they care for.
(Proverbs 27:6 TNIV) Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.
Love your neighbor, your co-worker, your family, your friends so that when tough times come and speaking the truth means it might cause pain you will have the currency to do so without jeopardizing your relationship with them and you will have an assurance your message will be received thereby cause that person to move towards God instead of impeding their progress.
(Psalms 13:5-6 TNIV) But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD's praise, for he has been good to me.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
No good thing can be accomplished but through Christ
No matter the battles won or the foes defeated on my own I am nothing. Maturity in the Lord would tell me to be on guard against the belief I had anything to do with previous victories but the flesh is strong and continually offers reasons why I can wield weapons on my own. However, my spirit has learned the lesson of listening and my soul recognizes my Savior’s touch gently leading me where I am to go. Sometimes I can see what is on the horizon and I can feel my flesh cringe, knowing what is to come may cause pain or sorrow but my spirit knows God has promised purpose and ultimately I know He knows best.
(Jeremiah 17:9 MKJV) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
Without Christ my heart is entirely selfish, my motives for the things I do benefit me alone. However with Christ my heart is renewed so that it resembles the heart of my Savior and King but to turn from Him is to return to that which was left behind. Again the mature follower of Christ recognizes even the smallest bits of selfishness and cast them aside therefore maintaining a continuity of Christ’s likeness in all that he or she says and does, not for their glory but the glory of the One that leads them and there my friend is the battle and unending struggle. For in this life I am required to face opposition, how many times have I cried out to Jesus to take away the things that so easily beset me but this is the one question that remains unanswered and persistently unresolved. It would seem there are victories ahead of me and it is through these victories my spirit is strengthened yet there remains battles that will not be won until Jesus returns or this life is over, which causes me to remain at the feet of Jesus, on my face, so that I will know just how desperate I am for His guidance. In the end the difference between the believer and the sinner is the understanding of condition of one’s own heart and your inability to change it without Christ.
(Jeremiah 17:9 MKJV) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?
Without Christ my heart is entirely selfish, my motives for the things I do benefit me alone. However with Christ my heart is renewed so that it resembles the heart of my Savior and King but to turn from Him is to return to that which was left behind. Again the mature follower of Christ recognizes even the smallest bits of selfishness and cast them aside therefore maintaining a continuity of Christ’s likeness in all that he or she says and does, not for their glory but the glory of the One that leads them and there my friend is the battle and unending struggle. For in this life I am required to face opposition, how many times have I cried out to Jesus to take away the things that so easily beset me but this is the one question that remains unanswered and persistently unresolved. It would seem there are victories ahead of me and it is through these victories my spirit is strengthened yet there remains battles that will not be won until Jesus returns or this life is over, which causes me to remain at the feet of Jesus, on my face, so that I will know just how desperate I am for His guidance. In the end the difference between the believer and the sinner is the understanding of condition of one’s own heart and your inability to change it without Christ.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Why so personal?
Most of us spend a good portion of our lives trying to keep things hidden, we hide things from our boss, we hide things from our pastor, we hide things from those that enforce the law, we hide things from our wives, we hide things from our husbands, we hide things from our children, we hide things from our parents, we hide things from friends and family but what if you were in a situation where those things were revealed, at least one side anyway? What if people began to form opinions about you based on what others said and did so without ever asking you if it was true or not? What if those opinions began to affect your life so much you began to feel boxed in or at least limited by what they believed to be true? Jesus said in Matthew 13:57 “Only in their own towns and in their own homes are prophets without honor.” This is not to imply that we are holy or righteous like Jesus but rather that people’s opinions are formed on what they believe to be true, whether it is true or not and being as such these opinions limit their own ability to see what is right in front of them. In affect they willingly place blinders on their own eyes and then go around telling everyone they know the way. Jesus asked the people, “why worry about the speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” Matthew 7:3
When your private matters have been exposed for all to see somewhere from deep down inside you begin to yearn for the truth to be known, not in part but the whole because a partial truth is still a lie and you know even those who so freely offer opinions about how to run your life have things of their own they are hiding. Job did not have good things to say about his “friends” who offered advise (Job 13:4). You don’t long for truth to be made known so those on the outside looking in can go through the same thing you did but rather you long for truth because that is what really matters, in all of our lives the façade we work so hard to hold up must come down if real growth is going to happen and it is understood that one day each of us will come face to face with the whole truth and each one will have to deal with what they have or have not done. You see on that day what your neighbor did will not be so important but that day is not here yet, still it calls out to my soul.
What if once the pain and frustration of your private life being exposed has subsided you begin to see God’s footsteps for your life, knowing His opinion is the only one that matters and what once was slander now becomes freedom because other’s opinions simply doesn’t matter anymore. What if the very thing the enemy was using to cut you down God made a stepping stool so you could see clearly above the crowd? If all these things happened to you would you be more inclined to share what is in your heart? Knowing if people are that interested in your life, they should at least hear it from you.
I believe in telling the truth in love, for it will not be of gain if I cannot learn to do that. Once I hurt someone, their heart’s door will be closed to whatever I have to say. However, I also believe it is better for us to step into the light of our own free-will than to be exposed to the light while working in the darkness.
(Matthew 6:22-23 GNB) "The eyes are like a lamp for the body. If your eyes are sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eyes are no good, your body will be in darkness. So if the light in you is darkness, how terribly dark it will be!
That being said there are still thoughts, ideas, struggles, habits, temptations, and sin in my life that I do not share in whole because there is an enemy and he uses these things to build walls, to divide, and conquer. Therefore, I do not want to provide him the means to build a stronghold in my life but I can tell you each time I write in this journal I have either come through or battling or about to enter what I wrote about. Even Paul, though he spoke of sin and struggles in his own life did not offer details – read 1 Timothy 1:15, Romans 7:18, Hebrews 12:1. Sin is not always easily seen, some of the worse sin happens within and therefore cannot be judged by anyone but God. Still we are told to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another (James 5:16) and the person willing to open up to you and pray with you that person is trustworthy because he/she knows and is obedient to God’s Word. So I tell you I am open about my life with the reader and I can tell you there are certain things I know about the reader such as what country they are from, such as United States, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Poland, France, United Kingdom, and many others and I also know which post gets the most hits or how many hits my blog gets in a day, week, or month but more importantly I pray for you almost every morning and though I don’t know who you are God does. He knows what you are going through, He knows where you’ve been, and He knows what is to come and so I encourage you to open up to others about what God is doing in your life. Be willing to tell them how you struggle, make it real, and make God’s goodness known. In this way you will encourage others to open up as well. Many times I wonder if I have said too much and sometimes I have removed something I posted, if God leads me to do that but I am more concerned fear will keep me from posting something God says to share and He reminds me that He’ll take care of everything else.
When your private matters have been exposed for all to see somewhere from deep down inside you begin to yearn for the truth to be known, not in part but the whole because a partial truth is still a lie and you know even those who so freely offer opinions about how to run your life have things of their own they are hiding. Job did not have good things to say about his “friends” who offered advise (Job 13:4). You don’t long for truth to be made known so those on the outside looking in can go through the same thing you did but rather you long for truth because that is what really matters, in all of our lives the façade we work so hard to hold up must come down if real growth is going to happen and it is understood that one day each of us will come face to face with the whole truth and each one will have to deal with what they have or have not done. You see on that day what your neighbor did will not be so important but that day is not here yet, still it calls out to my soul.
What if once the pain and frustration of your private life being exposed has subsided you begin to see God’s footsteps for your life, knowing His opinion is the only one that matters and what once was slander now becomes freedom because other’s opinions simply doesn’t matter anymore. What if the very thing the enemy was using to cut you down God made a stepping stool so you could see clearly above the crowd? If all these things happened to you would you be more inclined to share what is in your heart? Knowing if people are that interested in your life, they should at least hear it from you.
I believe in telling the truth in love, for it will not be of gain if I cannot learn to do that. Once I hurt someone, their heart’s door will be closed to whatever I have to say. However, I also believe it is better for us to step into the light of our own free-will than to be exposed to the light while working in the darkness.
(Matthew 6:22-23 GNB) "The eyes are like a lamp for the body. If your eyes are sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eyes are no good, your body will be in darkness. So if the light in you is darkness, how terribly dark it will be!
That being said there are still thoughts, ideas, struggles, habits, temptations, and sin in my life that I do not share in whole because there is an enemy and he uses these things to build walls, to divide, and conquer. Therefore, I do not want to provide him the means to build a stronghold in my life but I can tell you each time I write in this journal I have either come through or battling or about to enter what I wrote about. Even Paul, though he spoke of sin and struggles in his own life did not offer details – read 1 Timothy 1:15, Romans 7:18, Hebrews 12:1. Sin is not always easily seen, some of the worse sin happens within and therefore cannot be judged by anyone but God. Still we are told to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another (James 5:16) and the person willing to open up to you and pray with you that person is trustworthy because he/she knows and is obedient to God’s Word. So I tell you I am open about my life with the reader and I can tell you there are certain things I know about the reader such as what country they are from, such as United States, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Poland, France, United Kingdom, and many others and I also know which post gets the most hits or how many hits my blog gets in a day, week, or month but more importantly I pray for you almost every morning and though I don’t know who you are God does. He knows what you are going through, He knows where you’ve been, and He knows what is to come and so I encourage you to open up to others about what God is doing in your life. Be willing to tell them how you struggle, make it real, and make God’s goodness known. In this way you will encourage others to open up as well. Many times I wonder if I have said too much and sometimes I have removed something I posted, if God leads me to do that but I am more concerned fear will keep me from posting something God says to share and He reminds me that He’ll take care of everything else.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Out of the mouth the wound speaks
Like a warning light the things you say indicate the condition of the heart and if the wound is not addressed and dealt with it will continue to speak for you. Things will come across your own lips that astound even you and you will wonder why you are so easily frustrated. It is so easy to down play things that hurt our hearts, “it’s no big deal” or “she has issues” or maybe “he’s being a jerk”. We know these things shouldn’t bother us so we act like it doesn’t and maybe it’s possible for some not to be bothered by them, though I suspect by means of self-preservation they disconnect from their feeling so that seemingly trivial things simply shed off “like water on a duck’s back” but for those who find it difficult to separate themselves from the barrage to the heart the longer these things are not addressed the more sensitive you become, until one day you look in the mirror and realize your life is defined by the frustration you have allowed to control your actions.
I love my wife dearly and would do anything for her but many times I have foresight (often through prayer) about a situation and I ask her to do something differently before it becomes an issue, she’ll appear to listen then go about doing whatever she was doing before as if I said nothing at all. Of course some ill comes of it that not only impacts other people but bad circumstances compound causing the hole to be deeper than before, confirming what I previously felt and the wound is set. If this happened once or twice no big deal, I would assume I didn’t make myself clear or she was distracted or maybe didn’t understand the weight of what I was saying but when it is a regular occurrence and I don’t address the issue of her not listening when I speak to her from my heart strange things start to come out of my mouth – that is the wound speaking!
I don’t want the wound to speak for me any longer I want to lead her as Christ leads me. This is but one example of how the heart is wounded. Wounds can come from work, friendships, church, basically anytime other people are involved the heart is vulnerable. Though it sounds like God may have made a mistake, what we fail to see is that this is by design. Through relationships with others we have the opportunity to mimic Christ’s example, in a small way we are able to give away freely what was given to us and it is by this means we are brought through the fire and refined. Will we trust God to protect our hearts while we go about doing the work He has given us to do or will we withdraw in a frail attempt to protect our own human hearts?
Most who know me know I love to ride my motorcycle, secretly sometimes I just need to get away from everything which explains the chopper style Victory Vegas, it was good for a passenger only if you were going a couple blocks but what if I allowed God to take the wound and cause strength to grow in its place? Recently God has placed a few people in my life that brought some of these things to light in my life and from unexpected places such as work and family who live in another state and some from a church that I don’t go to but many years ago worked for. As each person spoke to me it confirmed what God has been saying for a long time. Yes I have been brought to a place where change is staring me in the eye. Things have been unbelievably difficult and I’ve come close to losing a great many things God has provided but one thing has remained – His love for me and His strength to grow instead of wither and die! It’s amazing how well you can hear God’s small still voice when everything else is stripped away. There is a song that talks about choking on the gifts the world gives and I realize these “gifts” of the world is like being in a very large crowd, wanting to get to someone you can see on the other side but unable to get there because of all the people going the other direction. Likewise I’ve been able to see God and my spirit wants to get closer but stuff I’ve surrounded myself with has become a strong current that leads my flesh in the opposite direction and my spirit has been weak and unable to make progress.
As I wrote yesterday I now feel I am in a time of God’s favor, the decision has been made to let go of certain things and cling to others and I am at rest. No doubt God is preparing me for the work ahead but I have learned something of great value – the importance of listening and somehow I need to win the heart of my wife so we can continue to learning this lesson together. God’s blessings are great and what He has been doing inside of me is amazing! There are even outward tokens of the inward change – one being I have a good career that could have been jeopardized but God said, “No” and the enemy had to flee. I now pray that I will be a blessing to my employer and to those I work with, as to be an ambassador of God’s great love and so that I may continue to bless and lead my family. God is also healing old wounds as I recently addressed them with someone very special to me – my daughter and I see a green shoot sprouting up in our relationship, a place that was once barren and dry. There are many more wounds that need to be addressed and as God leads I pray that I am faithful to follow and reveal my still sensitive heart. Oh, one more thing the Vegas is gone and in its place is a bike that’s made for two and Gloria is excited about riding with me! God is good, may my heart and mind remember all that He has done and may my spirit continue to find His strength so that I may keep Him first in all things, effectively rowing up stream. The battle will not be won all at once and sometimes growth will be slow to come but the key is keeping my eyes on the One who makes all things possible.
(Galatians 6:9 TNIV) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
I love my wife dearly and would do anything for her but many times I have foresight (often through prayer) about a situation and I ask her to do something differently before it becomes an issue, she’ll appear to listen then go about doing whatever she was doing before as if I said nothing at all. Of course some ill comes of it that not only impacts other people but bad circumstances compound causing the hole to be deeper than before, confirming what I previously felt and the wound is set. If this happened once or twice no big deal, I would assume I didn’t make myself clear or she was distracted or maybe didn’t understand the weight of what I was saying but when it is a regular occurrence and I don’t address the issue of her not listening when I speak to her from my heart strange things start to come out of my mouth – that is the wound speaking!
I don’t want the wound to speak for me any longer I want to lead her as Christ leads me. This is but one example of how the heart is wounded. Wounds can come from work, friendships, church, basically anytime other people are involved the heart is vulnerable. Though it sounds like God may have made a mistake, what we fail to see is that this is by design. Through relationships with others we have the opportunity to mimic Christ’s example, in a small way we are able to give away freely what was given to us and it is by this means we are brought through the fire and refined. Will we trust God to protect our hearts while we go about doing the work He has given us to do or will we withdraw in a frail attempt to protect our own human hearts?
Most who know me know I love to ride my motorcycle, secretly sometimes I just need to get away from everything which explains the chopper style Victory Vegas, it was good for a passenger only if you were going a couple blocks but what if I allowed God to take the wound and cause strength to grow in its place? Recently God has placed a few people in my life that brought some of these things to light in my life and from unexpected places such as work and family who live in another state and some from a church that I don’t go to but many years ago worked for. As each person spoke to me it confirmed what God has been saying for a long time. Yes I have been brought to a place where change is staring me in the eye. Things have been unbelievably difficult and I’ve come close to losing a great many things God has provided but one thing has remained – His love for me and His strength to grow instead of wither and die! It’s amazing how well you can hear God’s small still voice when everything else is stripped away. There is a song that talks about choking on the gifts the world gives and I realize these “gifts” of the world is like being in a very large crowd, wanting to get to someone you can see on the other side but unable to get there because of all the people going the other direction. Likewise I’ve been able to see God and my spirit wants to get closer but stuff I’ve surrounded myself with has become a strong current that leads my flesh in the opposite direction and my spirit has been weak and unable to make progress.
As I wrote yesterday I now feel I am in a time of God’s favor, the decision has been made to let go of certain things and cling to others and I am at rest. No doubt God is preparing me for the work ahead but I have learned something of great value – the importance of listening and somehow I need to win the heart of my wife so we can continue to learning this lesson together. God’s blessings are great and what He has been doing inside of me is amazing! There are even outward tokens of the inward change – one being I have a good career that could have been jeopardized but God said, “No” and the enemy had to flee. I now pray that I will be a blessing to my employer and to those I work with, as to be an ambassador of God’s great love and so that I may continue to bless and lead my family. God is also healing old wounds as I recently addressed them with someone very special to me – my daughter and I see a green shoot sprouting up in our relationship, a place that was once barren and dry. There are many more wounds that need to be addressed and as God leads I pray that I am faithful to follow and reveal my still sensitive heart. Oh, one more thing the Vegas is gone and in its place is a bike that’s made for two and Gloria is excited about riding with me! God is good, may my heart and mind remember all that He has done and may my spirit continue to find His strength so that I may keep Him first in all things, effectively rowing up stream. The battle will not be won all at once and sometimes growth will be slow to come but the key is keeping my eyes on the One who makes all things possible.
(Galatians 6:9 TNIV) Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
God's favor
(2 Corinthians 6:2 TNIV) For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.
I believe regardless of what you are going through this very moment we (mankind) are in a time of God’s favor, for there is nothing that has been withheld from us, no not even salvation even though we could not afford it. God gave to Adam rule over all the earth and the creatures there in and today we exploit the earth and every living thing on it for our own benefit but we have forgotten the One who gave it to us and though He has shown us mercy and grace we do not follow His example. One day God will take back what we have mismanaged and sin and death will be no more, for it is not the fault of the good God that bad things happen but the sinful, selfish decisions of man. But those who chose to follow Him with their lives He will make new, to those who have been faithful, to those who have not forgot the Creator and the Giver of these things we call ours, to them will He give all that He has been preparing, for these will be the ones who He welcomes into that holy city and they will worship the Father in a new place never seen before by human eye and they will be called His beloved, yes then we will know the full extent of His favor, for the Father’s heart cries out for His children and his children will run to Him never to be separated again. So if you don’t know the Creator as Abba Father… now is the day of salvation.
(Psalms 12:7-8 TNIV) You, LORD, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked, who freely strut about while depravity is honored by the human race.
I believe regardless of what you are going through this very moment we (mankind) are in a time of God’s favor, for there is nothing that has been withheld from us, no not even salvation even though we could not afford it. God gave to Adam rule over all the earth and the creatures there in and today we exploit the earth and every living thing on it for our own benefit but we have forgotten the One who gave it to us and though He has shown us mercy and grace we do not follow His example. One day God will take back what we have mismanaged and sin and death will be no more, for it is not the fault of the good God that bad things happen but the sinful, selfish decisions of man. But those who chose to follow Him with their lives He will make new, to those who have been faithful, to those who have not forgot the Creator and the Giver of these things we call ours, to them will He give all that He has been preparing, for these will be the ones who He welcomes into that holy city and they will worship the Father in a new place never seen before by human eye and they will be called His beloved, yes then we will know the full extent of His favor, for the Father’s heart cries out for His children and his children will run to Him never to be separated again. So if you don’t know the Creator as Abba Father… now is the day of salvation.
(Psalms 12:7-8 TNIV) You, LORD, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked, who freely strut about while depravity is honored by the human race.
Monday, October 14, 2013
To be reconciled
(2 Corinthians 5:18-21 TNIV) All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We are all messengers of Christ Jesus, for there is nothing more important than the message of what Christ has done for us and in us. Through the sin of mankind we were separated from God, not just physically but spiritually. We simply did not have the currency to pay the debt that was owed but Christ Jesus reconciled us with the Father so that we once more could walk with Him as Adam and Eve did in the garden. Our highest calling is to be instruments the Master may use so others might know the work that was done because of the Father’s great love for all of us. To not answer the call as an ambassador of God is to disregard the work Christ did, in affect setting it aside for lesser things that would fill our lives. We cannot know what that does to God our Father and so we strive to live as His Word directs, to love Him with all of our heart, soul, and strength, and to love others as we love ourselves, even those who have seemingly set themselves against us. For we know it is not us that they come against but if we are living the life Christ has shown us then they are coming against Him who lives in us and when we are not living as we should those who come against us are not of God but are being used by the enemy; either way the enemy that we fight is not of flesh, bone, and blood but of the spirit. Even still we cannot lose sight of what we have been called to do – show the world the reconciliation power of our Lord Jesus Christ by loving God and His people.
(Psalms 11:7 TNIV) For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face.
We are all messengers of Christ Jesus, for there is nothing more important than the message of what Christ has done for us and in us. Through the sin of mankind we were separated from God, not just physically but spiritually. We simply did not have the currency to pay the debt that was owed but Christ Jesus reconciled us with the Father so that we once more could walk with Him as Adam and Eve did in the garden. Our highest calling is to be instruments the Master may use so others might know the work that was done because of the Father’s great love for all of us. To not answer the call as an ambassador of God is to disregard the work Christ did, in affect setting it aside for lesser things that would fill our lives. We cannot know what that does to God our Father and so we strive to live as His Word directs, to love Him with all of our heart, soul, and strength, and to love others as we love ourselves, even those who have seemingly set themselves against us. For we know it is not us that they come against but if we are living the life Christ has shown us then they are coming against Him who lives in us and when we are not living as we should those who come against us are not of God but are being used by the enemy; either way the enemy that we fight is not of flesh, bone, and blood but of the spirit. Even still we cannot lose sight of what we have been called to do – show the world the reconciliation power of our Lord Jesus Christ by loving God and His people.
(Psalms 11:7 TNIV) For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face.
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