Walking With Jesus

How Much Do You Love Jesus?

“After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?’” (John 21:15 NLT)

A few days ago, I mentioned a scenario where a beautiful young woman interviewed several young men, finally asking the last among her options: “Would you still marry me if you knew you would never be able to have sex with me?” Why would I use an illustration like that? Because sex is arguably the most powerful force in a young man’s heart and thoughts and a motivating factor on many levels. Sex is a motivating factor in nearly everyone’s life.

Do you not realize there would be no pornography, sexual solicitation, sex trafficking of minors and others if there weren’t those willing to pay thousands of dollars for those services. But at what cost? The ruination of thousands of young people, even children’s lives? But society’s attitude seems to be “Who cares if it can generate a big income and meet a ‘need?’” But why does that “need” exist? SIN!

The lusts of the flesh are the insatiable appetites of sinful humanity that take the place of God or anything else that gets in their way of having what their lustful desires demand. Why do I even bring these horrific things up? Because unless and until we settle in our own heart and mind what motivates us and to what we’ll pledge our allegiance, we’d better not be too bold about proclaiming that Jesus owns our heart.

What rules our time, money, and thought life owns our heart. Period! End of story. Frame it in any kind of religious jargon you desire, but if Jesus is first, it will show up in those three areas. The question Jesus asked Peter is the same question each of us must ask and answer: “do you love Me more than these?” To whom or what was Jesus referring?

The other disciples who had become like family to him? Peter was sitting on the shoreline where his fishing boat and equipment were nearby. Was it fishing, as his livelihood, to which Jesus was referring? No doubt Peter was reliving the night when he blatantly denied even knowing who Jesus was, what was he loving most that night? Himself? Was Peter’s fear still a factor in deciding to whom he’d pledge his life’s allegiance? But those aren’t really the issues with which WE must deal are they?

The real question before each of us, of course, is “Who or what do I love more than Jesus?” Whatever “these” represents for us, that thing or those things must bow before the Lordship of Jesus or our heart, mind and soul will continue to pay them homage. Do I love my family and friends more than Jesus? How about my job, occupation, whatever I do for a living? Money? Sex? My lifestyle? My hobbies? Sports? Video games or my series on Netflix or Prime or ?? Is pornography my first “love” or alcohol, drugs, or my vape pipe? Whatever occupies your time and on which you spend your money that distracts you from giving Jesus your all, your everything, then it needs to take its proper place behind Him. If those distractions are being done in contradiction to the clear instruction of God’s Word, they need to go entirely. You can’t serve two masters.

What does that mean? If it’s sinful and clearly robbing you of your life in Christ you must turn from it. If you’re involved in immorality in whatever form it may rear its ugly head: lust, pornography, homosexuality, adultery or emotional affairs or in any other way putting the satisfaction of your sexual needs ahead of obedience to the Lord, submission to His authority, and living in conformity to His holy Word, then you have a choice to make – Jesus or your sin! You can’t hold onto both.

The Bible is clear that to love and follow Jesus is to choose a hard path, a path filled with hard choices, every one of which will either draw us closer to Him or push us further away. Peter made his choice! After a life of devoted service, he chose to be crucified upside down rather than dishonor his Lord by being crucified in the same manner as his Lord. It likely won’t come to that for you and me, but death for our faith is a very real possibility for any Jesus follower in the day in which we now live. If you’re faking your life in Christ, you’d better be careful. Somebody might think you’re serious and kill you. Then where would you be?

If you love Him, live like it. If you don’t, walk away, and stop pretending. There’s no middle ground.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Who Is a Believer In Christ (Part 2)

“Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow Me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” (John 8:12 NLT)

As you may be aware, this is the verse that follows the verse with which we closed yesterday’s post. Immediately following verse 11, where Jesus told the woman caught in the very act of adultery to “Go and sin no more,” He shared the words in the verse at the top of this page. Light illuminates darkness, clearly meaning, to walk in light allows us to no longer be bound by the darkness, but therein lies the rub: we tend to love darkness more than light.

Jesus explains this in John 3:16-21: “For God love the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

Photo by BOOM ud83dudca5 Photography on Pexels.com

Now, the plot thickens because, like the man who committed love to the young woman for life without sex in yesterday’s post, finds that life without sex, especially when you’re in the arms a woman you love, is nearly impossible. The ONLY way to accomplish that is by the power of God. Here’s the clencher, sin to a human being is as irresistible as sex to a young person, it’s humanly impossible NOT to do without the presence of almighty God enabling you to avoid it.

Similarly, how can we avoid sin, which is humanly impossible NOT to do? Walk in the Light of Christ! Seems simple enough, and it is, but it’s not easy. Loving Jesus doesn’t take away our bent to sin; our desire to sin can be just as strong as it’s ever been, but the only way to avoid sin is to learn to love Jesus more than we love our sin. We learn to love the Light more than the darkness. That’s the choice Jesus made when He was tempted and it must be the choice we make when we’re tempted. Our love for Jesus must overpower our love of ourselves and the sin that so easily attracts us.

Now, I can “hear” someone thinking: “You mean to tell me that you (me) never sin?” And I would have to admit, “No,” I do sin, but never as a habit. I do sin when I treat my wife or someone else in a manner that would not be pleasing to the Lord, or ponder inappropriate thoughts, but the second I realize what I’m doing or have done, I repent, confess my sin, and turn from it. The key is not allowing ourselves to downplay it and pretend it doesn’t matter or it’s just being human, or worse, allowing it to become a habit, at which point it becomes even more dangerous.

In essence, that’s exactly what it is, Being Human, but as a child of God, we’re no longer afforded the luxury of living as a mere human being. As a child of God, we’ve been transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2) so, we have no excuse for pretending we’re still thinking, acting, and living with our old mind. We’re the butterfly set free from the cocoon, never again to be bound by it. That’s the picture Paul paints in 2 Corinthians 5:17.

We can quibble about words and concepts all day, but the proof is in the proverbial pudding. When we stand before the Lord to give an account of our lives, my sense is He’s not going to be interested in what we believe, He’ll be more interested in how we lived BASED ON what we professed to believe.

As believers committed to the Lordship of Jesus, not based on what we say we believe or even what WE THINK we believe, it’s based on our resultant walk of obedience to the Lordship of Jesus. How closely did we live to Him and how closely did we live to the world? Ultimately, it’s His call, but I believe, at least to me, the Lord has made our options crystal clear. Love and serve Him alone or choose to live and serve someone or something else.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Who Is a Believer in Christ?

“As Jesus was walking along, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow Me and be My disciple.’ Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed Him.” (Matthew 9:9 NLT)

People often wonder what it meant or what it might look like today for someone to respond like Matthew did. I can give you a very good idea what it might look like. Let’s say you’re a young 20’s something single man and an attractive young woman strolls up to you and says: “Follow me and I will teach you what marriage is all about!”

Some may immediately jump at the chance simply because she’s attractive and, depending on their frame of reference, they may think she might be an easy mark for sex. But, after a brief conversation, they learn she’s not looking for a one-night stand, but a lifetime companion. That would rule out many; however, some would still want to pursue her.

Then she would tell them: “I want a man who will love and serve Jesus, loving Him more than he loves me, but still loving me as the Bible outlines. Loving me as Christ loved His Church, sacrificially, willing to lay your life down, not only for me, but for Jesus.”

That would weed out most of the rest; however, a few would hang around still seeing in her something worth fighting for. “But here’s the clincher,” she would explain, “I have a physical condition that prevents me from ever having sex. Are you willing to love me without having sex with me?” I’m not aware of many young men on the planet who would agree to that, though I pray there are some, but as a married man who also loves Jesus, I understand it perfectly.

My wife is now 75 and, believe it or not, doesn’t look exactly like she did when we met, more than 35 years ago; however, may I quickly add, she’s more beautiful to me now than she’s ever been. How can I say that? Because I didn’t marry just her beautiful body, I married her soul, the beautiful person she is at the core of her being. That’s what a lot of young men don’t understand about women and what most people don’t understand about Jesus.

Many religious people, when they hear “eternal security,” they hear, “I can make a profession of faith in Jesus, then live as I please and still go to heaven.” That may not be what they would “say,” but it’s what many of them “live”. I’m a strong proponent of eternal security, not because I’m looking for loopholes, but because I now understand exactly what it means and what it doesn’t mean. And the key to my knowledge of what eternal security means is an understanding of what sin is and why it’s so critically important in our walk with the Lord.

Sin, according to Scripture, isn’t a slip up, it’s breaking a known commandment of the Lord. It’s knowing what to do and choosing, making the willful choice not to do it. It’s “missing the mark,” which doesn’t necessarily mean we aim for the target, but miss, it means we too often aim at the wrong target. We’re too lax when it comes to sin. The biggest issue with sin is that it keeps us focused on everything BUT Jesus and His will. We’re more focused on hitting the target of pleasing ourselves than pleasing God.

In John 5 Jesus told the lame man whom He’d healed, who was acting in a way that was clearly dishonoring to Jesus: “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” And In John 8 when He saved the life of the woman “caught in the very act of adultery,” He didn’t tell her to slow down her sinning or to be more cautious WHEN she was sinning. No, He told her, “Go and sin no more.”

I hope you’re beginning to understand where I’m going with this, but I can’t stop here. Isn’t this essentially the adventure Jesus was inviting Matthew to embark on? The adventure of leaving sin and following Jesus? Let’s pick this up in tomorrow’s post.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

From the Backseat to the Battlefield

By Ron Hutchcraft

*Please allow these challenging words by Ron Hutchcraft to move you into action for the Lord’s honor and fame. Blessings, Ed 😊

Ever since I was little I’ve been fascinated by the American Revolution, and I always wanted to see Concord Bridge, where it sort of all began. You know, the shot heard around the world? By the time I got there, I had two little boys of my own who were not fascinated by the American Revolution. I wanted to spend a while at Concord Bridge, imagining those Colonial farmers descending and the Red Coats stepping up to the bridge in their rigid formation.

Unfortunately my sons were not interested in all of that. I tried to tell them the story; yawn! Come on, this is vacation. Who cares about history, right? One last idea. I got their tricorn hats that we bought them and we got some sticks for them to use as muskets. I made them the Americans and I played Red Coat. So they came charging across one side of the Concord Bridge. I went running away from them. I eventually ended up fatally wounded. And when we were done they said, “Let’s do it again, Daddy!” Of course they won every time. They became interested, but not until they had a part.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “From the Backseat to the Battle.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 20:6-7. Jesus is telling a story about a man who needs help at harvest time. He’s gone out three times during the day to get more and more help. And finally, he goes out near the end of the working day, and it says this: “About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.'”

There’s an urgent job to be done! Harvest time passes fast; you’ve got to get to it. There’s only a few days to make it all happen. Big job – urgent job with not enough help. Men standing around? Why? Because they said they didn’t have a job to do. So Jesus says here basically there’s a job for everyone in the harvest; the harvest of human hearts.

See, a lot of church folks are like my sons at Concord Bridge. You hear the facts about the battle. You hear stories of what other people have done to reach people, but you’re not playing any active part. You’re just watching.

Actually, God doesn’t intend to have any of His kids just be spectators. This is a war with life-or-death stakes going on. He wants you out of the stands and into the game. Maybe your Christianity is kind of gray and boring. And it is until you get a mission, not just hear about people with a mission.

You need a job to do for Jesus, and you can be sure He’s got one. You’re surrounded by work He needs done. There are boys who need you. There are girls who need you to reach out to them. There are senior citizens who are lonely and need to hear about Christ in their few remaining years. There are teenagers maybe you could connect with. There are homeless people. There are Christian workers who are buried in administrative detail and you could help relieve them for the work that only they can do. You are urgently needed somewhere I’ll tell you.

When you get a mission, when you get a piece of the action, your faith comes alive. You read the Bible with a new appetite, you pray with a new intensity, and you listen with a new openness. You can’t just go to church to get filled up and meet your needs. It’s a staging area for God’s rescue operation on earth launched at the cross. It’s a place for God’s soldiers. It’s a place to get ready for the battles that affect people’s eternities.

Christianity seems hollow, meaningless and boring without a personal mission, and you are needed. So don’t just listen to secondhand facts about the battle for human souls and for eternities. Do what my boys did. Grab a musket and run to the battle in Jesus’ name.

Why Our Hearts Grow Cold

“Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:12-13 BSB)

When someone we know well and respect as a person of God falls or fails, it’s discouraging. It seems Biblical standards are so ignored or disregarded in the modern church when it happens it causes us to wonder “What’s the point? Why make the effort to live a godly, holy life? Who cares anymore?”

The motivating energy behind my continuing efforts to be all the Lord would have me to be is my Savior, the Lord Jesus. He never faltered or failed and HE’S MY EXAMPLE, no one else. Human effort fails and falls short, but the Lord will NEVER FAIL, NEVER LEAVE, AND NEVER FORSAKE!

“Living Water in a Frozen World” “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

He is my fortress in the storm, the Rock onto which I hold tightly, the voice of calm in the midst of the prevailing winds of culture that seek to sway my opinion to something other than the security of my trust in Jesus. Yet, even as I type these words, I realize the enemy is seeking to discourage me because in my efforts to represent Him well, so few seem to have any real interest in the things of God.

Again, that’s only as the Lord revealed it would be. His Word let’s us know the closer we get to the end of time and life on this planet, the harder it will be to be convinced that Jesus is the only way to heaven in light of all the wrong theology that’s being promoted in our world today. And here’s the irony. It’s not the lost people who are rejecting the Lord, it’s the religiously pious who are secure in their own goodness and right standing with God.

Their eternal “security” has been placed in a profession rather than in a Person, and, while they may not realize it or choose to believe it, their cold hearts that have allowed them to drift from the Truth of a moment-by-moment relationship with the Lord, is allowing them to slip from their security in Jesus into a false sense of security in their own goodness.

As Martin Luther points out: “The heart overflows with gladness and leaps and dances for the joy it has found in God…. You will have as much joy and laughter in life as you have faith in God.” Diminishing faith in God results in diminishing joy and gladness in the things of God. To drift from God is to drift from the joy, contentment, satisfaction, and security that only Jesus can give.

No one really doubts that believers drift, doubt, or at times even deny the faith. The only question is, where do these drifting’s end? Most often they lead to a lax view of sin. We too often wrongly assume that since the blood of Jesus paid the penalty for all sin, past, present, and future, let’s sin to our heart’s content because they’re all “paid for;” however, the writer of the Hebrew letter reminds us in Hebrews 10:26-31: “If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice of sins remains, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses, How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified Him and insulted the Spirit of grace?”

We take sin far too lightly, which results in our heart drifting and our soul growing cold to the things of God. Yes, of course, the Lord will forgive us when we sin, but when sin becomes our way of life once we’ve supposedly yielded our lives to Him, there remains no alternative. It’s as if we spit in the Savior’s holy face when we demand our sinful way over His way of holiness and desire to walk with victory over sin as Scripture clearly teaches we can.

The greater measure we yield to sin, the greater measure our hearts will grow cold.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Brighter Way

“The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.” (Proverbs 4:18 NLT)

Whenever my family and I have moved to a new area we’ve always tried to find a place to live that was East of our work so we would be traveling West to work in the morning, and East home in the evening. Some may wonder: “Why would that even be a concern?” Otherwise, we’re driving with the bright sun in our eyes going to and from work, which is not only aggravating, but also dangerous.

However, in the context of our thoughts today, the rising SON that illuminates our pathway is the light of life that not only helps us see clearly how to live but is also the source of the light in our lives to show the way for those who will follow us.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31-33: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved. And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.”

Notice the clear reason why it’s so vitally important we not only walk in the Light ourselves but be consciously aware that we are illuminating the way for those who are following us who need to be saved. To try to dart in and out of the Light by trying to live with one foot in the world and the other following Jesus is not only crippling our witness, but harmful to those who are following us. Notice Paul says: “I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.” The salvation of those whom we’re seeking to influence is always our goal.

The principle of “paying it forward” is applicable here, especially as we’re seeking to honor the Lord and influence someone for Him. Someone we help in some way may say something like: “How could I ever repay you for your kindness?” Realizing this can sometimes be a platitude and they have no real interest in paying anyone back for anything, I give them the benefit of the doubt and will often say something like: “Repaying me need not be your concern. What I do I do to honor the Lord Jesus whom I love and serve, so, as He prompts you, do for someone else what He’s allowed and enabled me to do for you.”

Whether it’s money we give or a kindness in helping someone, the brighter way of the Lord Jesus would have us plant two seeds in their mind. First, though the kindness was given by us, it was prompted by the Lord we love and serve. Why is that important? Because the Christian faith isn’t a set of religious beliefs that we hold dear in our heart and mind, it’s following our eternal Leader in accomplishing good works He ordained for us to carry out before the foundation of the world. We’re essentially saying, “Do as I have done for you in following the Lord’s directives as He leads you in helping someone else.”

But, secondly, we’re emphasizing that the good we have done and are asking them to do isn’t to glorify, honor, or gain recognition for ourselves, but to point all glory, honor, and praise to the only One who deserves it, the Lord Jesus Himself. My friend, Ray Majoran, understands this well. Let the words of his helpful prayer bless you as they blessed me.

“Holy Spirit, guide our steps each day so that our lives follow the ways You teach. Give us hearts that are ready to listen, minds that are willing to learn, and courage to walk the path You set before us. Establish our steps in wisdom and faithfulness, because the path of the righteous grows brighter as it leads forward (Proverbs 4:18). May our lives reflect the beauty of Your ways, and may our journey lead others to seek the higher way found in Christ.”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Abiding In The God Who Rejoices Over You

*As I do the 15^th of each month, I’m giving you the opportunity to benefit from the beautiful ministry of Sylvia Gunter. Please read as if you were listening to the voice of God to your ear. Blessings, Ed 😊

Listen to the Word of God for you in Song of Solomon 7:6. “How beautiful you are and how pleasing, O love, with your delights!”

Set your spiritual compass heading to these words of God to you. You are His precious one, and He takes pleasure in you. Be blessed to be enlarged with His deep love. Be blessed with knowing that you delight His heart. Listen as the Love of your life tells you from the Song of Solomon 4:9-10 that He loves you. “You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride with one look of your eyes… How fair is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better than wine is your love, and the scent of your perfumes is better than all spices!”

Listen to His words in Song of Solomon 2:11-13. “See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”

You have faithfully endured the hardship of winter. Even in winter months, the earth is not completely dormant. The process of life continues. And now the spring has come. Let go of any fear or unbelief and fully embrace the spring. Rejoice! Sing! Breathe in the fragrance of new life. It is time to put the winter behind and arise in the new abundance that this season has for you.

You are the object of heaven’s love. He calls you precious one, His beautiful one. His love for you can never diminish, because He is the eternal I AM. He loves you freely with unchanging love (Hosea 14:4). How can you doubt God’s love for you? He doesn’t give you some of His love; He is love, and He gives you Himself (1 John 4:16). You have all of Him, so you have all His love at all times. Receive His love, just because you are His. His great love for you is bathed in rich mercy (Micah 7:18; Ephesians 2:4). What more can God do to prove His love than by giving you His Son in exchange for your life (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:25)? Be blessed in the wonder of such an amazing love story.

Be blessed in the name of the God of love who is with you. (2 Corinthians 13:11)

An archive of our devotionals is available at on our website.

Strength To Equal Your Days: 365 Days of Prayers and Blessings is a year-long journey of encouragement, filled with daily reminders of God’s love, faithfulness, and strength. Each page invites readers to pause, pray, and be refreshed by timeless truth.

It’s the perfect gift for anyone who could use a touch of hope and peace: friends, family, coworkers, or even yourself. Give a gift that nourishes the soul and strengthens the spirit: 365 days of hope, faith, and blessings.

Dehydrated People

“Jesus replied, ‘If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask Me and I would give you living water.” (John 4:10 NLT)

It’s estimated the average person can survive about 3-4 days without water, but no one can survive in eternity for one second without the living “Water,” the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, most human beings mistakenly believe since they have physical life, that’s their only concern. Each day we likely have access to dozens or more people who are walking dead people, dying of spiritual dehydration due to their lack of the presence of the Spirit of God living in and through them.

Jesus met a Samaritan woman who didn’t have a clue about her need of Jesus until she met Him, listened to His voice and responded by faith to His offer of living water, then she was empowered by His Spirit to tell everyone she met about the Lord. Where is that Spirit led compulsion to share the Lord in us? Why are we so reluctant to share the “Living Water” with every “thirsty” person we meet?

By God’s grace, He’s giving me greater boldness in speaking to strangers about Him. One key that I’ve found very helpful is speaking to someone we don’t know about common interests. Usually, when we meet someone for the first time it will be in a setting that gives us both a reason to be there, thus, a common interest.

In a doctor’s or hospital waiting room, a sport’s event, or casual outing, wherever we are, if we’re both there, there’s certainly a reason and an automatic common interest. I think of Jesus and the Samaritan woman, both were there because of the water. That was the common source of interest upon which their conversation could begin.

Notice Jesus didn’t say, as well He could have: “You shameful woman, you’re living a life of sin and shame, having had five husbands and now living with a man to whom you’re not even married. Shame on you! You deserve to rot in hell for your awful lifestyle! Repent and believe the Good News!” Yeh, right! She’d have dropped her bucket and been gone before the second sentence left the Lord’s mouth. But isn’t it ironic that after building some common ground He Has WAS able to tell her those things.

Folks don’t need to know how bad they are, they need to know how good Jesus is. “Please give Me a drink” were His opening words. No condemnation. No accusatory, negative comments, just a simple non-threatening request that caught her off guard but certainly got her attention. My sense is, we don’t have to cram the Gospel down anyone’s throat. If it doesn’t flow naturally, then wait for another opportunity. How do we know they’ll get another opportunity? We don’t, but the Lord does, that’s why it’s critical we let Him lead us.

We may not have opportunity to “harvest” someone’s soul in every conversation, but we can certainly plant and/or water the seed of faith the Lord plants. Not everyone will be open to hearing about the Lord, but they may be open to having a friendship with us. Don’t close the door for another conversation with someone, or, at least, another conversation the Lord can offer them later through someone else, by being pushy or overbearing.

Pastor Corky Calhoun made an interesting observation when he wrote: “We live in a world of dehydrated people who would rather die of thirst than fully humble themselves, repent of their sin and drink from the well of living water, Jesus Christ.” His words are true and challenging, but we must use them to encourage, inspire, and challenge us to be better at reaching those in our spheres of influence, not shut us down in fear. We walk in the power of God’s Spirit, the same Spirit who was leading Jesus in His conversation with the woman at the well.

Your next conversation with a lost, lonely, spiritually dehydrated person may not be at a well, but wherever it is, trust His leadership to fill you with wisdom and right words to help create a thirst in that dying person that may lead them to eternal life in Jesus as it did the Samaritan woman at the well.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Think Again!

“The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts.” (Matthew 13:19 NLT)

In Mark’s Gospel chapter, 4 after Jesus shares His powerful parable of the 4 types of soil, in verse 13 Jesus said: “If you can’t understand this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?” We can debate, as scholars and theologians have for centuries, whether someone who embraces the Gospel is eternally saved, but the message of this parable, from which we’re to gain insight into all the other parables, is clearly that they are not.

In the first example of the seed falling on the footpath, Satan immediately comes and snatches away even the seed of faith before it has any opportunity to take root. Surely this person isn’t saved, but more importantly, what can we learn? How might we gain insight so that when we plants seeds of faith our listeners may have a better opportunity of having them land on the fertile soil of their open heart?

Clearly, for the Gospel to be spoken, even as thousands of God’s messengers share from their pulpits across the world every week, is not always for the Gospel to be heard and understood. Some reasons may be the messenger isn’t actually sharing the “Gospel” as outlined in Scripture, but rather some watered-down version based on their own misunderstanding. Those who proclaim the Mormon doctrines come to mind, but also those in the Catholic or Orthodox traditions or in liberal “Christian” denominations where the name of Christ is rarely spoken except in formal declarations, not from personal, positive experience.

How many in our culture today are professing faith in the living Christ yet are living with or regularly engaging in sex with partners to whom they aren’t married? How many today who are living a homosexual lifestyle yet are professing faith in Christ and believing they are still going to heaven? It’s income tax time, so, we might as well mention those who profess love for Jesus, yet are dishonest in reporting their full income. Ot who claim to “Tithe” their income, but clearly do not?

In our large church only a fraction are members who regularly give, are involved in a small group or even attend services from week to week, yet, if asked, many would readily declare: “Yes, I’m a ‘member’ of _____ Church!” But why? Because they’ve been inoculated to believe being associated with church and knowing and understanding words about Christ makes them a “believer,” thus, a clear candidate for heaven. If asked they may even readily admit their love for and faith in the Risen Christ, but their lifestyle clearly declares “I never knew Him!” They don’t even understand the fundamental teaching of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. Acceptable works only grow out of a meaningful relationship with Jesus.

How many people do we know who have had an emotional experience with the Lord, “a seed planted on shallow soil”, who have never grown or developed any meaningful faith. They continue to live as they always have, yet still believe because of that moment of inspiration that they are going to heaven? It breaks my heart because often they’re the hardest to reach because they’ve had this “experience with Jesus” that is unmistakable, yet not life altering as any deeply planted seed would be.

Honestly, I have no clear answers in how to reach these folks, but if you happen to know someone like this or, perhaps are yourself in this category, please click on ANewStory.com and allow Ron Huthcraft to walk you through a simple, straightforward way to open your heart to the Lord in a life-transforming way.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Glory

“Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad – for these trials make you partners with Christ in His suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing His glory when it is revealed to all the world. So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you.” (1 Peter 4:12-14 NLT)

It’s strange that as believers in America, we’re so prone to whine and complain when we go through any kind of difficult circumstance, yet Peter tells us that it’s in such circumstances, especially if they’re prompted by our faith in Christ, that we experience the glorious presence of the Lord’s Spirit upon our life. Glory, at least as used in Scripture, belongs to God alone.

Regardless of how faithful we are, how spiritual we believe we are, how many hours we spend in prayer, worshipping, serving, or in any other way doing things that exalt and honor the Lord Jesus or His Holy Father, we are never worthy to receive one ounce of glory. Why not? Because our sole purpose as a believer in Jesus is to render to Him ALL glory, praise and honor for everything we do, say, or think.

That’s the purpose of our being, to be conduits through which the Holy Spirit can direct glory to God the Father and to His sinless Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Darlene Zschech understood this when she wrote: “We were never designed to receive glory. We were designed to give glory.” Why is that? Because the word used in Scripture translated into English as “glory,” means: “the kingly majesty which belongs to God as supreme ruler, majesty in the sense of the absolute perfection of the deity; a thing belonging to Christ.”

Glory, honor, praise, and adoration belong to the Lord Jesus for all He accomplished through Creation, magnified and highlighted by His sacrifice on the Cross, doing for us and on our behalf that which we could never in eternity have done for ourselves. There is no amount of human effort, individually or corporately, that could have accomplished what Jesus accomplished on the Cross.

There’s no amount of human effort that can forgive sin, erase our past, and give us victory over sin, death, and the grave, only Jesus. There’s really no way to fully describe Him, but I love how Dr. S. M. Lockridge describes Jesus when he shares: THAT’S MY KING! (Just tap on the title) Be sure to turn up your sound! 😊

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊