Walking With Jesus

AI and Smart Wisdom

By: John Stonestreet and Dr. Timothy D. Padgett

*As our understanding of AI broadens it seems our fears increase. Let this helpful article see AI in its proper perspective under the leadership of our Risen Savior. Blessings, Ed 😊

Recently, Jensen Huang, CEO and co-founder of NVIDIA, was asked to name the smartest person he knew. He replied by suggesting that the meaning of“smart” has been made obsolete by machines. He then offered an updated definition:

I think long term the definition of smart is someone who sits at that intersection of being technically astute, but human empathy and having the ability to infer the unspoken, around the corners, the unknowables.

Recently, my Colson Center colleague Dr. Glenn Sunshine suggested that if a scholar from hundreds of years ago was shown what AI can do, he’d be both impressed and disappointed. “You know a lot,” he might observe, “but you understand nothing.” As much as our machines can do, more is not always better. Having all the information and data from history, science, literature, art, philosophy, and medicine constantly accessible at our fingertips is hardly making us wiser.

Last month, a quote from the novel Dune went viral on X. It read, “Once, men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.” Of course, Frank Herbert, who wrote the sci-fi series, was basically repeating an earlier observation from C.S. Lewis.

In a recent controversial essay entitled “Something Big is Happening,” Matt Shumer, CEO of OthersideAI, sparked an intense and wide-ranging conversation with this stark admission:

I am no longer needed for the actual technical work of my job. I describe what I want built, in plain English, and it just . . . appears. Not a rough draft I need to fix. The finished thing. I tell the AI what I want, walk away from my computer for four hours, and come back to find the work done. Done well, done better than I would have done it myself, with no corrections needed. A couple of months ago, I was going back and forth with the AI, guiding it, making edits. Now I just describe the outcome and leave.

Shumer is not bragging. He’s alarmed about the future of work and the need for humans to do it in the world he is helping to create. You might say that he is concerned that AI will replace human work. We should also consider how our technologies have replaced human wisdom.

Nearly a century ago, in his “Choruses from ‘The Rock,’” TS Elliot foresaw this confusion:

Endless invention, endless experiment,

Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness;

Knowledge of speech, but not of silence;

Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word.

All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance,

All our ignorance brings us nearer to death,

But nearness to death no nearer to GOD.

Or, as C.S. Lewis put it in The Abolition of Man,

For the wise men of old, the cardinal problem of human life was how to conform the soul to objective reality, and the solution was wisdom, self-discipline, and virtue. For the modern, the cardinal problem is how to conform reality to the wishes of man, and the solution is a technique.

What has been lost in the uncritical embrace of technological advancement are the insights of ancient wisdom. Lost in the consistent pursuit of ease and pleasure are the habits that cultivate virtue. It’s not fundamentally a question of being for or against specific technologies. It’s that it is not sufficient to be technically “smart” if we are not also morally wise. What matters most for our collective futures are not which capacities and tools we can develop, it is what sort of people we are.

Knowledge can be dangerous when in the hands of the foolish, the immoral, or the wicked. Wisdom is not just the ability to “see around the corners of life.” Rather, it is the ability to live in light of what is true and good. It is about knowing the realities of the world, seen and unseen, and bowing to the One who created it this way.

Mom Ears

*Please read these powerful words of Ron Hutchcraft with an ear to the Lord’s heart for the women, especially the mothers, in your life. Blessings, Ed 😊

Two words, but a valuable reminder about how important Mom is and why she is. I had occasion to stay at my son and daughter-in-law’s house while I recovered from a painful injury. They set me up with a wonderful little “apartment” in their basement – recliner, remotes (of course), kitchenette. And like all the babies in our family, a night monitor. Now, I needed some help in the middle of the night, but I hadn’t touched the pager. Suddenly, I hear my daughter-in-law’s feet coming down the stairs. In my 3:00 AM haze, I said, “But how did you know?” She smiled and gave those two little words: “Mom ears.”

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Mom Ears.”

There’s something a lot of us have to celebrate in the mother that God put in our life. Those Mom-ears who heard our silent cries over the years, who heard our need when others would only see our deed. Who heard the unspoken fears, the unspoken pain, and carried them to the throne of God. Sadly, mom-ears have also heard mean words that they didn’t deserve, angry words that left a scar, rebellious words because we didn’t want to hear what we now know was wisdom. But somehow, a Mom heart could reach for some of God’s amazing grace, and forgive, even though wounded.

As a dad, I learned early how important it was for me to seek and respect what my wife heard in our kids, believe me. Those times when I got home and I was ready to drop a bomb on a disobedient child, she would intervene with “actionable intel” of what was going on behind the scenes in their life. I’m not sure moms fully know their massive power to define their child’s life for better or worse.

Proverbs 31:26 says, “She speaks with wisdom on her tongue.” And in a verse worth considering, our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs 14:1 it says, “The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.”

Sure, I know moms who’ve turned their God-given Mom-ears to the seductive song of our world, “all about me.” And their children languish under the awful cloud of “I’m not worth much. My Mom doesn’t think so.” Deafened moms can’t hear themselves nagging, controlling, criticizing, diminishing – hoping to make a “super kid” and crushing them in the process.

The Mom-ears that have tended to miss their children’s cries are those who stopped listening to the One who gave her those children. Psalm 127:3 says, “Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him.” It’s so easy to succumb to the selfie drumbeat of “my rights, my pleasure, my flourishing.” And a sort of deafness can grow. Deaf to those quiet little cries in the night, the intuition to drop everything and listen to someone I love. The Heavenly Father’s promptings as He (in the words of the Bible) “gently leads those who have young” (Isaiah 40:11).

But thank God many of us were blessed, not with a perfect mom, but with a mother whose ears truly heard us. If you have a mom with those wonderful “ears,” would you tell her how her finely-tuned heart shaped your life and changed your life while you can.

If you’re a Mom who wants to have better ears for your children, just know there’s amazing power to do that. In the Jesus whose relentless love led Him to die for our sins, which are the great relationship-wreckers. There is no greater life-force on earth than a woman whose ears are always open to the voice of God and the voices of those she loves.

And for the one who listens to all this with little to celebrate – because your Mom really wasn’t one – there is a higher hope. Because God has said, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion for the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will never forget. See, I have engraved you on the palms of My hands” (Isaiah 49:15-16). That’s right, with nail prints.

His ears listen all day, all night for the deepest cries of your heart.

The Opposite of Joy

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 NLT)

What first comes to mind when you think of joy? If the first word that came to mind was “happiness,” you’d probably be in good company. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “joy” as: “a feeling of happiness that comes from success, good fortune, or a sense of well-being.” What do all of these things have in common? They are human emotions motivated by human activity. Why is that a problem? Because humans fail and emotions lie. How we feel about something doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with true, biblically defined joy. Joy isn’t self-generated or doesn’t come from external stimuli; it’s a gift from God.

Joy in Scripture is derived from God, is a gift from Him and can be activated by our relationship with the Lord and with the Lord’s people. That’s why the late Tim Keller had it right when he said: “The opposite of joy is not sadness, it’s hopelessness.” To be hopeless is to be lost, it’s trying to live life without Jesus. A person may live in a huge mansion, make zillions of dollars a day, but they’ll never understand what joy is if they don’t have a personal, love relationship with the Creator of the Universe.

Hope, according to Strong’s Concordance, is “joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation.” And since Jesus is the Author of eternal salvation, to not know Him is to not have joy or confident expectation of anything beyond what this world can offer. What can the world offer? Pleasure, brief happiness based on external stimuli, conditional relationships, and fleeting success, none of which are a source of lasting joy.

What does the Lord offer? Eternal hope that doesn’t depend on the fleeting promises of this world, but on the eternal promises of the One who gave His life for us. The One who said: “I will never leave you, I will never forsake you!” The One who said in John 6:37: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.”

Was He speaking of literal hunger or thirst? No, of course not, He was speaking of the deep, agonizing, aching hunger for peace, contentment, joy, meaning, and satisfaction in knowing you have an eternal home in heaven that can only come through a relationship with the Lord Jesus. It’s the deep contentment knowing that you’re living for more than yourself and what you can accomplish with your life here on earth.

Yes, of course, there have been some great achievers who didn’t know Jesus, but the glory of their achievements died with them. There is no eternal reward for human effort. The only effort that will get any of us to heaven is the effort of Jesus on our behalf. Yes, of course, we put forth human effort to maintain godly disciplines: to serve Him, worship Him, and share Him with others, but none of that effort can earn us a place in heaven. Only what Jesus accomplished on the Cross on our behalf can pay the penalty for our sin and free us from our bondage to sin, death, and the grave.

The only antidote to hopelessness isn’t happiness, it’s holiness. It’s peace with God that comes through a personal surrender to the Lordship of Jesus. How does that happen? Please tap anewstory.com and let Ron Hutchcraft walk you through a very simple, straightforward path to yielding your life and allegiance to the Lord. It’s a decision that you will never regret, especially not in eternity.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Excuses

*I have often used portions of the beautiful prayers of my friend Ray Majoran, but this prayer so moved and challenged me that I had to share it in its entirety. Let the Lord use Ray’s words to bless you as they did me. Blessings, Ed 😊

“Jesus replied with this story: “A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. When the banquet was ready, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come, the banquet is ready.’ But they all began making excuses. One said, ‘I have just bought a field and must inspect it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen, and I want to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ “The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was furious and said, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ After the servant had done this, he reported, ‘There is still room for more.’ So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’” (Luke 14:16-24 NLT)

Merciful Lord, You are the generous God who prepares what we could never earn, for You have opened Your kingdom through the finished work of Christ. Your call is weighty, and Your invitation is rich with undeserved grace. We praise You for the mercy that seeks sinners, and for the truth that Your house will be filled.

We confess how often we delay in answering Your call. We excuse our silence, postpone obedience, and persuade ourselves that there will be a better time to speak of Christ, a better season to serve, and a more convenient day to repent. Yet Your Word says, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). Teach us to fear the drift of a heart that keeps looking for the right moment while neglecting the clear command before us. Help us to be faithful with the Gospel, and keep us from the folly of waiting for perfect conditions to obey You (Ecclesiastes 11:4).

For those who have not put their faith in Christ, resolve every excuse and expose the emptiness of every lesser priority. Cause each person to seek You while You may be found (Isaiah 55:6), and grant repentance before another day is wasted. Fill us with urgency and a deep concern for souls, so that our lives would demonstrate that Your invitation is too glorious to ignore and too urgent to postpone.

ONE QUESTION

Have I allowed work, possessions, goals, or relationships to become polished excuses?

ABOUT THIS PHOTO

Location: India

Ray’s Camera Settings: 24mm, ISO 100, 1/640s, f/5.6

Trust

“In Your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall. God’s way is perfect. All the Lords’ promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection. For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock? God is my strong fortress, and He makes my way perfect.” (2 Samuel 22:30-33 NLT)

These powerful, moving words of David are just a sampling of his affirmations regarding the Lord in this 22^nd chapter of 2 Samuel, verifying and amplifying his unrelenting trust in the God of the Bible, the God of history, the God of Creation. There is so much we can learn from David’s life and ministry and his words here in Samuel and throughout the Psalms.

He was not a perfect man. Far from it, he failed in ways most of us never will, but that’s not something in which we should revel, rather something in which we must gain much insight. While our sin may seem less severe in our own eyes, it is no less deadly in the eyes of God. Sin separates from God and only the Cross can bridge that separation. And trust is the grip God gives us to hold on to that Cross with all that is within us.

We all fail and fall. We all disappoint God and ourselves by not living up to what we believe would please the Lord. In our attitudes, actions, thoughts and deeds we display our carnal nature and our inability to always keep our eyes on Jesus. But trust in Jesus’ completed work on Calvary on our behalf strengthens, sustains, encourages, and emboldens us to live as we must in this world where sin is so rampant and inviting.

We must understand, as David did, that God is our strength, not we ourselves. We have no strength except His to wage war against the enemy of our soul. When we seek to face Satan in the energy of the flesh he will crush us every time. We have no shield of protection except our refuge in Jesus. He is our strong fortress, and it is He alone who makes our way perfect.

In the slippery pathways of this life, it is trust in Jesus that makes us surefooted as a deer and enables us by His grace alone to stand on the mountain heights of victory in Him. I love the children’s song that reminds us: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong, they are weak, but He is strong!” Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Are you trusting Him today? There is no way to have any kind of meaningful relationship with anyone, especially the Lord Jesus, without trust. Trust is the glue that holds our hand in His, keeps our heart and mind focused on Him, and enables us to share His love with others joyfully and powerfully to His honor. Trust confirms everything we read in His Word about Him is true and worthy of not only believing but seeking to emulate in our own lives and to share with others who so desperately need Him.

Trust walks in faith, speaks by faith, takes risks by faith, and lives by faith. Trust in Jesus is the anchor of our soul that ties us to eternity and liberates us to be the person of God Jesus created and died for us to become. If you don’t know Him, and by that I mean, if you haven’t placed the weight of your whole trust in Him, don’t wait another second. Tap on this link anewstory.com and discover how you can walk in newness of life in ways you never imagined you could.

Just as you trust him each second of your day to provide the air you need to live physically, trust Him each day to give you the faith you need to trust Him with your life and your future spiritually.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Lord Our Refuge

“This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God.” (Genesis 6:9 NLT)

In order to take refuge in something or someone you must be near them. You can’t take shelter in something far away, thus the value of the relationship Noah had with God. It’s estimated that nearly 15 billion people inhabited the earth in Noah’s day, but the Bible says he was ”the only blameless person living on earth at the time.” And we fuss with God because we end up with a bad neighbor.

How did Noah survive in such an environment? He took refuge in God! God could trust Noah because Noah trusted God. Why else would he have agreed to build a large ship when he’d never even seen a drop of rain? Noah “walked in close fellowship with God,” which laid the groundwork for him to hear God’s voice, thus, enabling him to walk in obedience to God’s directives.

“Safe in His Presence” “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

A refuge is a place of shelter or safety; a place of hiding from the threats of nature, but also from the threats of a world living far from God, the type of world in which Noah lived, but also like the one in which you and I live today. This world can be a frightening place to live, to raise children, to serve Jesus, and to live a godly life to His glory and honor.

Refuge speaks of comfort, strength, safety, security, relaxation, simplicity, single-mindedness, and focus, things that are hard to find in the hectic pace of a world gone awry. In my mind’s eye I can see Noah finding solace in a spot away from others, even his family, seeking refuge in his friend and King, the God of the Universe. Doesn’t it make you wonder how out of all those ungodly people Noah found his way to God? Could it be because he was the only one listening?

Which begs the question: Are you listening? Have you found refuge in the God of Creation, the Lord Jesus Christ? He’s available! He’s speaking! He’s inviting us into His holy presence! Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28 when He said: “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” But also note the context of that rest – intimacy with Him! “Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

My friend, Ray Majoran, addresses this in his beautiful prayer: “Lord our Refuge, Your name is strong and sure; all who run to You are lifted into safety (Proverbs 18:10). We praise You for being the faithful Keeper of our lives, the God who knows those who take shelter in You (Nahum 1:7), and the One who cares deeply for His people.

As the Psalmist writes, please spread Your covering over us. Make our homes places where Your peace is known and Your name is honored. Form in us a gladness that does not depend on ease, but rises from the confidence that You are near, attentive, and good. May the joy You give become visible in our words, our patience, our worship, and our love for one another.

By Your Spirit, help us to be a people who rest securely in You and rejoice openly in You. May our families, our churches, and our daily lives bear witness that You save, protect, and rejoice over Your people with gladness (Zephaniah 3:17). Keep us safe in Your presence, as we rejoice in Your great name.”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Successful or Faithful?

“Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.” (Joshua 1:6-8 NLT)

These words of God to Joshua as he prepared to lead the children of Israel into their new Promised Land are words we would do well to take to heart. How so? How far have you gotten in your walk with the Lord by being weak and cowardly? Unless and until we’re able to look Satan in the face and tell him boldly to “Go back to hell where you belong!”, we’re going to be crawling our way to nowhere.

Learning to overcome sin in the powerful name of Jesus isn’t a walk in the park, but a battle to gain every inch. Crossing the Jordan for the Israelites wasn’t an invitation to a party, but the initiation of a war. That’s essentially what happens when we declare our allegiance to King Jesus. We’re declaring war on Satan and in the strength and courage only Jesus can give, fighting to win the ground the Lord has given us by His grace.

No, of course, we can’t pay the penalty for our own sin, it’s not about that. It’s about taking what’s rightfully ours as a child of God. It’s about walking in newness of life, which means living above sin, not continuing to live as a slave to it; reading, studying, and memorizing God’s Word which is our instruction manual in being a warrior for the Lord; and it means obeying everything the Lord directs us to do.

Will we win every battle? Not likely! Will we obey perfectly every command? Probably not! Will Satan make us feel like a loser, causing us to want to tuck tail and run for cover? It’s a real possibility! Then why cross the river? Why confess faith in Jesus only to fail and be humiliated time and time again? Because success isn’t always in the winning, it’s in always getting up and continuing to be faithful.

Lain H. Murray said it well when he wrote: “It is not ‘Well done, good, and successful servant,’ but ‘well done, good, and faithful servant.’” Our success isn’t in never losing a battle, it’s never ceasing to continue the fight. How many times did Paul get stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, ridiculed, imprisoned, but he never quit until he was murdered for his strong faith in Jesus.

How many times was Jesus criticized, ignored, blasphemed, denied, and ultimately hung on a Cross, never to deny His Father or forsake those to whom He promised His allegiance. And to what end? He overcame sin, death, and the grave to forever free us from our bondage to those horrific enemies.

We’re not in this faith race to quit, but to keep getting up however many times we must, dusting ourselves off, and moving forward until our life is taken from us or the Lord calls us home. Our victory isn’t found in our successes, but in our faithfulness to our Commander-in-Chief, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His voice alone we long to hear when He says to us: “Well done good and faithful servant!”

“Father, with all that is within us, grant us courage, wisdom, and strength to overcome by Your might, and to continue our fight of faith for as long as you give us breath. We love You and by Your grace we will not fail You. Thank You for holding us tightly, loving us without reservation, and enabling us to do what You’ve called us to do in Your strength and to Your eternal glory. Amen!”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Living Gladly

“I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me.” (2 Corinthians 12:15 NLT)

The word Paul used in the verse above that is translated “gladly” is a superlative that could also be translated “very gladly” or “most gladly.” It’s the kind of attitude that could have surprised his Corinthian friends considering, at least from Paul’s perspective, their seeming lackluster response to him. Of course, that could have, and likely was, more a reflection of his own emotional state at the time but is too often very reflective of our attitude as we interact with those we’re seeking to influence for the Lord.

Too often I find myself reluctant to share with someone about the joy of the Lord because I’m not feeling very joyful myself in that moment, but, gratefully, I’m learning that I can’t be dependent upon how I feel emotionally or even physically in any given moment to guide me in how I need to respond to others. The fact is, as the Prophet Nehemiah reminds us: “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Strength grows out of joy, not joy out of strength.

“The Shape of Wisdom” “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

There is a certain contagion about joy when it’s truly a reflection of the Lord’s presence in our life. It’s like a quiet strength that permeates the atmosphere wherever the Lord leads us. It isn’t dependent upon the circumstances around us or even in us, it simply trusts the Lord to gain glory and honor through us, not because of who we are, but because of who He IS and what He’s doing in our life.

Where do you find yourself today? Living gladly isn’t a decision we make based on how we feel in any given moment or how things are going in this season of our life, it’s a determination of our heart and mind based on the leadership of the Lord in our life. The Lord doesn’t just lead on the good days, but every day. Paul encourages us as he writes in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord – who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image.”

Pastor John Piper wrote: “If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full.” We want to believe the more faithful and productive we are for the Lord the more peaceful, happy, and easier our life will be, but that’s not how it works. Satan doesn’t bother you unless you’re making waves in his kingdom, so, if you’re not sensing any opposition from the enemy, you need to wonder why that is.

Let me close with this powerful prayer from my friend, Ray Majoran: “God of perfect wisdom, You do all things well; no purpose of Yours can fail. Your ways are higher than our ways, and Your judgments are deeper than our understanding (Isaiah 55:8-9). You formed the world by wisdom and established it by Your understanding (Jeremiah 10:12); You remain righteous in every work of Your hand. As we consider what You have made, teach us to stand before You with reverence and trust.

We confess that we often want a life that can be explained, managed, and straightened by our own insight. Yet You are God, and we are not. When You appoint seasons that feel tangled, painful, or difficult to understand, keep us from resisting Your hand in our pride. Give us the kind of wisdom that receives Your providence with trust, knowing that whatever You do endures forever, and nothing can be added to it or taken from it (Ecclesiastes 3:14). Where our hearts are restless for control, remind us to be still before You (Psalm 46:10).

By the power of Your Spirit, form us into people who fear You more than we fear uncertainty. Teach us to obey what You have revealed and trust You with what You have not. When life feels bent in ways we cannot change, keep us near to Christ, in whom all things hold together (Colossians 1:17). May our lives bear the shape of true wisdom: reverent before You, patient in hardship, and faithful in what You have appointed.”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

“How Can I Be Sure There Even IS a Heaven?”

“Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered – to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’ And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: ‘Blessings and honor and glory and power belong to the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.” (Revelation 5:11-13 NLT)

In a conversation I had with a friend who is nearly 91 years old, she told me about a visit with her 35-year-old grandson recently. She loves the Lord will all her heart and still teaches a women’s group at her church, but she lives in constant pain and was suffering severely when she mused in his presence: “Sometimes I wonder if there even is a heaven!”

“Oh, grandma,” her grandson responded. “How could you even think that? Don’t you remember when I was 4 years old, I got that disease that caused me to die? They said there was no hope for me, and I died, my heart stopped and they couldn’t get me back for a while. I went to heaven and stood at that huge gate. Even though I was only four I remember it like it was yesterday. The Man at the gate said to me: ‘You go back home now; your Grandmother Alice needs you.’ The Man at the gate knew your name and is expecting you. How in the world can you say there’s no heaven!”

We must understand that as born again, blood bought, saved and secured children of God our names are recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life and the “Man” at the Gate knows our name and is expecting us. To not be secure in our understanding that this earth is not all there is, is to doubt the very purpose of Jesus’ victory over sin, death, and the grave.

If this life is all there is, we are above all most to be pitied. Jesus made it clear in John 14:1-3: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me. There is more than enough room in My Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am.” Jesus doesn’t lie, He CAN’T lie, He’s incapable of lying because He’s the embodiment of all Truth.

Satan, on the other hand, can’t tell the truth, is incapable of telling the truth, thus the father of lies. Any question of whether heaven is real originates from Satan himself in an effort to deceive and discourage us. We need go no further than the words of Jesus to affirm with certainty that heaven is a real place, with real people, governed by a real God who is alive, loves us, and has wonderful eternal plans for us.

The whole Book of Revelation explores in more detail the facts of Christ’s return and gives us glimpses of what heaven will be like. As believers in the Lord Jesus our responsibility is to prepare, to be ready when He calls us, whether in death or at His return, either of which could be at any second. We must not postpone any act of kindness, ministry pursuit, or outreach endeavor, waiting for a more suitable time. Today IS the most suitable time to serve the Lord by following His directives whatever that may look like for each of us.

Jesus is Lord, we’re all sinners in need of a Savior, and for those of us who have yielded our life and allegiance to Jesus, heaven is real and the Lord has secured our place there by His blood. You can believe it with certainty and without doubt.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

When We Die

“Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For the Scriptures say, ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bend to Me, and every tongue confess and give praise to God.’ Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God.” (Romans 10b-12 NLT)

The Lord in His mercy has given us many choices when it comes to how we will respond to the sacrifice He made to make Himself known to us. We can deny Him by pretending He doesn’t exist; believing He exists but ignoring Him, believing He has no real value or meaning to our life; or we can bow in His holy presence acknowledging who He is and pledge our allegiance to Him for all eternity.

The reality is, every person who has lived, is living, or ever will live WILL bow in humble acknowledgment that Jesus is who He always claimed to be: Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of all that exists or ever will exist! And here’s the kicker: It will be completely voluntary! The Lord won’t force or coerce anyone to bow before Him. At the final judgment we will all see as we’ve been seen whether or not we’re born again. It will be crystal clear to every human being exactly why they are receiving the judgment the Lord is declaring over their life and, ironically, they’ll be in full agreement with His judgment.

For those who are lost, there will be no rebuttal, no argument, no declaration of innocence, no futile attempts to defend another position or opinion. EVERYONE will fully understand that they stand before a holy God who knows all, has seen all, and understands everything, even the real reasons they rejected Him. And do you know what will be the most heartbreaking part of judgment to lost people?

They will finally understand that the Lord isn’t angry with them, in fact, He loves them and is grieved that they will spend an eternity away from Him. He hasn’t been out to “get” them, He’s been making overtures of love to save them. Their torment won’t be the “flames of hell,” it will be finally and forever seeing clearly how much the Lord loved them, pleaded with them to follow Him, yet they spit in His holy face and walked away jeering and laughing in unbelief. And I can almost hear someone thinking: “I’ve never spit in Jesus’ face!” Yes, you did, every time you ignored His invitation to follow Him!

Every lost person will see how much they missed by denying or ignoring Him; how much they could have had, had they simply opened their heart to Him and received by faith His completed work on Calvary on their behalf. Their stubborn unbelief that denied His existence or denied their need to respond to Him in a timely manner (i.e. the five Bridesmaids who didn’t have enough oil, who weren’t prepared).

Are YOU prepared? Or are you still stubbornly ignoring Him, denying He exists or postponing the inevitable? You do know even the demons acknowledge the Lord’s deity and tremble in His presence (James 2:19), because they already know what their future holds. And, like Satan, they are doing all they possibly can to take as many people to hell with them as they can.

It saddens me that so many professing believers are ignoring their responsibility to help as many people in their spheres of influence as possible to find and grow in the Lord. We have no clue when our next breath will be; how can we be so arrogant to believe we’ll have another opportunity to share with our lost family and friends?

If you’re reading this and you don’t have certainty that when you close your eyes in death you will open them in the Lord’s presence, please click on ANewStory.com so you can know for sure how you can be in heaven when you die.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊