Walking With Jesus

Sin’s Goal

“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” (John 10:10 NLT)

Sin is helpful to Satan for many reasons as it relates to human beings, but its ultimate goal is to rob us of eternal life with Jesus in heaven. Eternal life isn’t the issue. Why? Because every person who has ever been or ever will be born will live forever. The only question is where?

We don’t have the capacity to understand this fully, but every sin we commit is an open door for Satan to steal something valuable from us, to kill something important to us, or to destroy something meaningful in us. But the greatest tragedy isn’t how sin affects us, but the toll it takes on God’s reputation. If Satan can cause our sin to deflect God’s glory by redirecting His glory to something or someone else, He’s effectively robbed God of that which is His due.

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Thomas Watson wrote: “There is justice in hell, but sin is the most unjust thing. It would rob God of his glory, Christ of his purchase, the soul of its happiness.” God deserves honor, praise, glory, and worship, not because of what He does, but for who He is.

The God of creation doesn’t simply do good things, He is the embodiment of all that’s good. Goodness is derived from God. If God didn’t exist, there would be no goodness. He is perfectly just. He doesn’t simply act and through His actions demonstrate justice, He embodies every principle that defines what justice is. God doesn’t simply act in loving ways, He is love.

If you’re ever in a conversation with an atheist, ask them if they think it’s okay for someone to rob them or to move into their house and claim it as their own? They will likely say no and cite laws against those kinds of things. But ask them what the basis of law is? Where is derived the idea of right and wrong, good and evil? Without God there’s no basis for these concepts, because He is the Author of what is good, right, and just.

Evil can’t exist without good. The presence of good defines what is evil. Sin’s goal is to muddy the waters of good and evil, making them virtually indistinguishable. Thus, the proverbial “gray” areas with which we do battle every day. What’s right? What’s wrong? It seems they’re up for grabs in our culture today. It’s the work of the evil one with whom we fight every day.

Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6:12: “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” Sin’s goal is to either blind us to spiritual warfare or delude us into believing there’s nothing we can do to fight against it.

Why do you think God gave us His armor and the 24-7 protection of His indwelling Holy Spirit? Following Jesus isn’t rocket-science, but neither is it for anyone not willing to make the effort to understand and follow God’s will and ways. Behind the loving offer of forgiveness and new life in Jesus, is God’s expectation that we experience transformation.

And yes, granted, God does the lion’s share of the process of transformation, some of which is immediate, while much of it is over time. But He will never force us to do or be anything against our will. He will not make us read the Bible, pray, keep His commandments, be sensitive to His voice, attend church or be identified with a body of believers, witness for Him, care about the needs of others, or obey Him. Those are things we learn to do and desire over time.

Sin’s goal is to prevent us from coming to Christ in the first place, but if he can’t do that, he’ll be diligent about blocking our way as we seek to learn and become what God desires.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Are You Growing Bigger?

“But Moses told the people, ‘Don’t’ be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord Himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.’” (Exodus 14:13 NLT)

In C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, Narnia is a magical land where the animals can speak, and the king is a lion named Aslan. His stories are analogies of what we experience in our walk with the Lord Jesus, who, in Revelation 5:5 is referred to as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne.”

In one of his stories, Lucy, asks the king: “’Aslan, have you gotten bigger?’ To which Aslan replies, ‘Oh, no my child, you have. And the more you grow, the bigger I will seem.’” There’s a very real sense in which if we’re not growing bigger in our view of God, we’re dying.

And the irony is, if we’ll let it, our view of God will greatly expand when we’re going through difficult times. God had never seemed bigger, and I never seemed smaller than when I went through my divorce. On some levels it reminds me of what the Israelites must have felt as they stood between a flowing sea and the powerful Egyptian army.

The old adage “being between a rock and a hard place” may well describe what you’re feeling in this season of your life. The Christmas season can squeeze the life out of us when we least expect it. When the need for extra cash for gifts and other expenses rises, it seems there are always other unexpected needs that beg for that same cash.

Ron Hutchcraft wrote: “It’s God’s plan to grow your view of Him through challenges that are bigger than your resources but not bigger than His. He may be putting you through something that’s stretching your faith, but it’s all part of the plan to give you a front row seat to witness the greatness of your God, to blow the lid off your relationship with Him, and to teach you the unshakeable peace of being able to say, ‘God’s God and I’m not.'”

When my son had leukemia, I was pastoring a small church and driving a school bus to try to make ends meet. The hospital bills grew exponentially into the thousands, and I didn’t have the income to keep up. One of the doctors my son was seeing took me aside after a visit and ask me: “Do you think you could come up with $500?” That was still a lot of money to me, but by God’s grace I was able to pay it.

Perhaps money isn’t the issue for you this year. Maybe you’re seeking to survive this “jolly” season with a broken heart because of the empty chair that was at your Christmas dinner table due to a loved one who passed. Satan will try to use your grief to shadow the bigness of your Father in heaven, robbing you of a miracle of His presence with you.

Many of my relatives have passed, most recently my precious sister, but the confidence I have to know she’s with Jesus brings me comfort as I seek to focus on the King of kings whose birth we celebrate. Whatever you’re experiencing in this sacred season, trust your faithful Father to do for you what only He can do. Allow your view of Him to grow through your pain, rather than allowing your pain to hide His holy face.

If you know Jesus as your Savior, there’s nothing that can keep Him from opening the “waters” of your circumstances and showing you a clear, dry path upon which to walk. All you have to do is to follow Him.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The “W” in Christmas

*Please allow this story by an unknown author to bless you as it blessed me. Ed

Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations – extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.

My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six-year-old. For weeks, he’d been memorizing songs for his school’s “Winter Pageant.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there’d be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation.

All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise. So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats.

As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as “Christmas,” I didn’t expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.

So, when my son’s class rose to sing, “Christmas Love,” I was slightly taken aback by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row-center stage – held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song.

As the class would sing “C is for Christmas,” a child would hold up the letter C. Then, “H is for Happy,” and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, “Christmas Love.”

The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter “M” upside down – totally unaware her letter “M” appeared as a “W”. The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one’s mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her “W”.

Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities.

For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear: “C H R I S T W A S L O V E”

And, I believe, He still is.

Amazed in His presence… .humbled by His love.

The Irony of Christmas

“And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped Him snugly in strips of cloth and laid Him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.” (Luke 2:6-7 NLT)

Have you ever been lost? The last church I pastored was in Florida and the city in which we lived seemed to me to be the hardest place I’d ever lived to find my way around. This was before I had GPS so I was limited in the number of ways I could find directions. On one occasion I was late for an appointment, and I just could not find my way.

Finally, I saw a mail carrier and asked him if he knew how to get to the address I was looking for. He did, and it was, at least that time, a happy ending. How frustrating it must be for many very religious people whose beliefs require them to search for and find God. What a hopeless journey!

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Jesus made it so easy for us because He didn’t wait for us to come to Him, He came to us. He said in Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 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.” How sad that so many, even professing believers, carry such heavy loads, but never seek the Lord.

The story is told of a little boy who was lost on a street corner in New York city. A police officer saw him and asked, “Can you tell me your address or your phone number?” but the boy couldn’t remember. Finally, he thought of something important, so he said to the officer, “Sir, there’s a big church next to my house, and there’s a big cross on the top. If you can get me to the cross, I can find my way home.” So can you, my friend, so can you!

The infant in the manger became the Savior on a Cross in order that anyone who wanted to find their way home to Him could easily do so. Isn’t it ironic that we search the world over for what can only be found when we open our heart and invite Him to come in?

When I was a young boy, I remember hearing the song: “Prayer is the key to heaven, but faith unlocks the door.” On a Spring night in 1963 I knelt at an altar of prayer in a small church in West Virginia and asked the Lord Jesus to forgive me, cleanse me of my sin, and give me eternal life. I didn’t have to beg Him and He didn’t come to me with lots of conditions, He simply forgave, embraced me with His loving Holy Spirit and promised He’d always be with me.

Have you made that decision in your life? Have you invited the Christ of Christmas to be your Lord and Savior? You see, the irony of Christmas is that as hard as you search, you’ll never find Him. It’s only when you stop running and simply invite Him to find you that you can have the life He was born and died to give you.

Like any journey, it begins with a single step. All you need to do is open your heart to Him in humility and submission, asking Him to enable you to walk in His will for you. He wants to give you a brand-new life, one that you never dreamed you could ever have. It begins with a single step of faith that will lead to His forgiveness and the cleansing of your sin that only He can give.

What a wonderful gift you could allow the Lord to give you this Christmas – the gift of His holy presence in your heart and soul, to guide, bless, and help you see Him and follow Him closely. If you’re not sure how to do that, please click the highlighted link that will take you to Ron Hutchcraft’s Bridge to God. Just say “yes” to the God who comes to you this Christmas.

Blessings, Ed 😊

With Deep Respect, 1st Corinthians 13 The Christmas Version

*Dear Readers, Shellie Rushing Tomlinson penned this for all of us…

First Corinthians 13, Christmas Version

If I play Christmas music in my house all season long but the lyrics never move my heart to worship, the beautiful sounds may as well be clanging cymbals.

If I understand the significance of the Christmas story and commit the second chapter of Luke to memory, but I have not love, I am nothing.

If I drop coins in every red kettle I pass and donate toys to every drive, but have no love, it profits me nothing.

If I decorate my house with tiny white lights and dried orange garlands and buy gifts for everyone on my list, but I’m too preoccupied to love others, I’ll be just another consumer. If I bake all the traditional pies, cookies, and candies without showing love, I’ll be nothing more than a tired baker.

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Love is sensitive to those whose hearts are heavy during the Christmas season.

Love doesn’t compete with other families’ Christmas activities or compare them to their own.

Love doesn’t boast of their Christmas festivities on social media.

Love doesn’t get frustrated with the cashier or break in front of others.

Love doesn’t lose its composure in holiday traffic.

Love doesn’t believe the worst of others.

Love doesn’t indulge in excess.

Love rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

Toys will lose their appeal and gifts will be forgotten…but love that is shown will outlast it all.

When I was a child, I understood Christmas as a child. I thought only of what I could get. Now that I’ve grown up, I aim to live embracing the true meaning of Immanuel, God with us.

Now I see in a mirror, but one day I’ll see Jesus face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Christmas Blessings to you,

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson

I Dreamed I Went to Heaven

*This is a devotional my wife received at a Christmas party she attended. I’m unsure of the original author. Blessings, Ed 😊

I dreamed I went to heaven and an angel was showing me around. We walked side-by-side inside a large workroom filled with angels. My angel guide stopped in front of the first section and said, “This is the Receiving Station. Here all petitions to God said in prayer are received.” I looked around in this area, and it was terribly busy with so many angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous paper sheets and scraps from people all over the world.

Then we moved on down a long corridor until we reached the second section. The angel then said to me: “This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here the graces and blessings the people asked for are processed and delivered to the living persons who asked for them.” Again, I noticed how busy it was there. There were many angels working hard at that station, since so many blessings had been requested and were being packaged for delivery on earth.

Finally, at the farthest end of the long corridor we stopped at the door of a very small station. To my great surprise, only one angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. “This is the Acknowledgment Section,” my angel friend quietly admitted to me. He seemed embarrassed. “How is it that there is not work going on here?” I asked. “So sad,” the angel sighed, “After people receive the blessings that they asked for, very few send back acknowledgments.”

“How does one acknowledge God’s blessings?” I asked. “Simple,” the angel answered. Just say, “Thank You, Lord.” “What blessings should they acknowledge?” I asked. “If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, your are richer than 75% of the world.”

“If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy. And if you get this message on your own computer, you are part of the 1% in the world who had that opportunity.”

“If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this day. If you have never experienced fear in battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are better off than 700 million people in the world!”

“If you can attend church without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are envied by, and more blessed than three billion people in the world!”

“If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare. If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm, you’re unique to all those in doubt and despair.”

If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you as very special, and you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Ok, what now? How can I start being more grateful?

Bow your head and thank the Lord for all the ways He’s blessed and is blessing you that you’ve taken for granted. Count your blessings, then determine to bless others by sharing this reminder with someone else who may not be mindful of all the ways they’re being blessed everyday by their Father in heaven!

Food for thought.

The Joy of Belonging

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from Your presence, and don’t take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and make me willing to obey You.” (Psalm 51:10-12 NLT)

The joy of belonging begins in earnest when we meet Jesus, but it doesn’t end there. The joy of knowing, loving, and serving the Lord Jesus is magnified and intensified because when He invites us into a love relationship with Himself, He allows us to become a part of His eternal family, the Church, His own Body on earth.

Psalm 51 is the agonizing prayer of David after Nathan the prophet confronted him about his adultery with Bathsheba that led to the murder of her husband. We looked in yesterday’s post at the subject of temptation, and Psalm 51 is an excellent illustration of just how deadly temptation can become.

As David viewed Bathsheba taking her bath the first glance was the devil peeking through the keyhole, but what that first look led to was allowing Satan to come in the door. The frightening aspect of sin that we rarely see before it’s too late, is the long-range effects of our sin, even after it’s been forgiven.

God is quick to forgive us, but often the consequences of our sin last a lifetime and beyond. Nothing is more terrifying to a believer than the thought of being separated from God’s presence, even though the Lord has given us assurance that He will never leave or forsake us. Sin separates, God unifies; sin creates a chasm only God’s presence can fill.

Joy is rarely a singular event. Joy, by it’s very design, is meant to be shared. Negative emotions like hate, anger, lust, covetousness, pride, and many others are intensified when we’re alone, but positive emotions like kindness, caring, sharing, and belonging are magnified in togetherness and community. That’s one of the reasons the Church is so needed today.

Seeking to walk alone as a believer is like a soldier being on the battlefield alone. It’s a losing battle. I love worshipping the Lord each day alone, but I long for the community of my brothers and sisters who love me and love Jesus. It’s inspiring to watch other believers give expression to their love for the Lord as they raise their hands, sing praises to Him, weep and in varied ways give expression to their dependence upon the Lord.

A man whom I’ve learned to dearly love said to me early in our relationship: “You’re like me.” I was taken aback as we’d just met and I had no clue what he was referring to, but then he added: “You can’t come to worship without crying.” It’s true. I rarely make it through a service without shedding tears of joy for the privilege of belonging to Jesus and being a part of His eternal family.

Realizing there’s not a perfect person in the room when we worship, not even, perhaps especially the ones who bring the messages, deepens my dependence on God and my appreciation for each of my fellow worshippers. None of us will be perfect until we get to heaven, but there’s a very real sense in which I feel that together, as broken, and needy as we all are individually, together we’re whole, strong, and able to conquer any adversary.

The church as it’s being lived out on this earth is far from perfect, but when I look in the mirror, I’m reminded daily that so am I. It’s a privilege to be a part of the family of God and I thank the Lord every day for the gift of my believing brothers and sisters across the world. I’m encouraged and my spirit is ignited with joy when I think of how wonderful it will be when we’re able to celebrate our life in Christ together in heaven.

Nothing this earth can ever offer will compare with our joy of belonging to Jesus and to each other – FOREVER!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Why Is Temptation So Deadly?

“So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up in honor.” (James 4:7-10 NLT)

What tempts you most? Where is it in your life you find it most difficult to say “no?” How has Satan most effectively and consistently defeated you and caused you to sin when you absolutely knew it was wrong?

The word “temptation” as used in the Bible means: “an experiment, attempt, trial, proving. It’s the trial of man’s fidelity, integrity, virtue, constancy; an enticement to sin, whether arising from the desires or from the outward circumstances.” There’s much more, but you get the idea. Temptation isn’t sin but is the devil’s strategy to pull us away from God and into his demonic control resulting in sin.

David Jeremiah asked a pertinent question when he wrote: “How do we fight this ever-evolving virus of temptation? Stay close to the Great Physician!… Immerse yourself in God’s Word, talk to Him in prayer, confess your sins, consider Satan an enemy, and let Jesus Christ live His life through you by His Spirit more and more each day!”

Sounds good, and it is, but it’s not always as easy to do as we’d like to think. It’s a process and a constant battle, but, over time, it does get easier to recognize the enemy’s strategy and devise, with the Lord’s help, an effective defense. The Armor of God as outlined in Ephesians 6, gives us confidence in our ability to defeat Satan, but we can’t miss the most essential piece as outlined in the verses from James above. “So humble yourselves before God.”

Without humility we’ll begin to believe we’re enough in and of ourselves. The end of that fantasy is defeat and can lead us into sinning in ways that are literally life changing. Billy Sunday said: “Temptation is the devil looking through the keyhole. Yielding is opening the door and inviting him in.” What do you see when you look through the “keyhole?” I can tell you what you won’t see: a devil in a red suit with horns and holding a pitchfork.

You’ll see that for which your heart most longs apart from Christ, that for which, if you’re honest, is what you’re working hard to have. It won’t be the same for all of us, but for many it will be a shapely woman or a handsome man; a shiny new car or new, spacious house; a prestigious position or at least a job where we’ll be recognized and appreciated; a relationship with someone who will understand us, see through our idiosyncrasies and love us for who we want to be, which, ironically, very likely isn’t the person the Lord wants you to be.

You have to fill in your own blanks, but the point is, it will be something you strongly desire, but fear God will never allow you to have. That’s how Satan got Eve and Adam to cave, He offered them something they perceived God was keeping from them. And indeed, He was, not because He didn’t love them, but because He did.

Do you not understand that there are some potentially very good things that would destroy you? Fortune, fame, recognition, popularity, success – the list is nearly endless of the ways Satan could manipulate us and use the very thing we thought we most wanted to destroy us. That’s why temptation is so deadly.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

He Knows!

“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 NT)

In the conversation referenced above between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well it quickly became apparent that (a) the woman didn’t have a clue who Jesus was, and (b) Jesus knew everything about her. Why is that important for us to know? Because for the most part, even as believers, we know very little about Jesus in comparison to all there is to know, and He knows more about us than we know about ourselves.

Implicit in that is the realization that there’s no such thing as a “secret” sin. We may think we’ve covered our proverbial “tracks,” because we’ve fooled our spouse, kids, and friends from church, but nothing is kept from the sight of the Savior. We can put on a happy face, maintain our consistency in worship and even in service at church or in the community, but that “secret” sin is eating us alive spiritually.

That’s what makes sin so vile and destructive. We try to live in ways that please us, but dishonor Jesus, all the while professing faith in Him, but living for the devil. To me there is no more fulfilling life than loving and serving Jesus, but life is so daily. What becomes habitual becomes comfortable, whether reading our Bible or checking out porn.

Lying, cheating, gossiping, lusting, coveting, and on and on it goes. The first time we sin it may be startling, but the 20^th time it becomes habit. Then one day we look in the mirror and we don’t like who’s looking back. How did we get here?

In Genesis 3:1 the Bible says that Satan “was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made.” These words of Scripture can be hard to interpret correctly until we realize that the author is using figures of speech. Satan wasn’t a wild animal, he was the wisest, most sensible, crafty, prudent, and subtle angel the Lord ever created, even after he fell.

When he came to Eve and Adam in the garden he didn’t slither up as a snake, he came as a brilliant light, creating a presence that would lead Eve to believe he was an angel. She was naïve, and why wouldn’t she be? She lived in the presence of perfection where everything was truth and light and love. How was she to know this angelic presence wasn’t a messenger from God Himself?

She should have known the same way we must know – Satan contradicted a clear directive of God. Satan asked the woman: “Did God really say…?” Anytime anyone or anything leads us to believe we must question the clear teaching of God’s Word, we need to run in the opposite direction. But we too often do exactly what Eve did, and fall for Satan’s subtleties, to the end we lose ground spiritually, but rather than confess our sin and seek forgiveness, we try to pretend it doesn’t really matter.

It becomes our little secret, but rather than staying hidden it creeps into every avenue of our lives, and before long our energy is expended just trying to keep our “secret” hidden. Listen child of God, here is a word from the Lord: “Come clean!” Confess your sin to God and to whomever else you need to confess. He knows! It has never been a secret to Him, and the longer you try to hide it the worse the outcome when the truth comes out – and it always does!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

What’s the First Step?

“What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever. What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold.” (Isaiah 5:20-22 NLT)

If only we were as good, smart, capable, attractive, spiritual, wise, and had it together as much as we thought we were and did. Being a Pastor was a privilege I never took lightly, but it was also a role that enabled me to keep who I was in clear focus.

There are basically two categories of people in any given church: those who are lost and those who are saved. But you also have those who are saved and fear they’re lost, and those who are quite confident they’re saved, but don’t have a clue as to what that means.

If we’re ever going to be effective in our walk with Jesus, the first step is to recognize who we are. We’re either going to see clearly that we’re a sinner who needs salvation, or a sinner who believes they’re okay the way they are. The first category has hope. The second category has no hope unless and until they see themselves for who they really are.

Derek Rishmawy said: “’Repent’ is how Jesus says ‘welcome’ to sinners in the Gospel.” Our best and only first step if we desire to have any kind of meaningful relationship with Jesus is to humbly bow at the Savior’s feet, recognize we’re a sinner in need of a Savior, then, by God’s grace and in His strength, determine to repent – turn from our sin and begin the lifelong journey of following the Lord Jesus.

God’s will for us is to be Christ’s disciple. What does that mean? It means basically two things. First, a disciple is a Jesus follower whose primary goal is to learn to be like Jesus. We can never accomplish that if we’re bent on doing our own thing. If we ever begin to believe we’ve got this discipleship thing mastered, that should be our first clue to rewind and start over.

The second part of being a disciple is teaching others what we’ve been taught. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:2: “You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.” A disciple learns in order to teach others. But a critical piece of this process is, a disciple never stops learning.

You don’t have to be a college graduate to teach a first grader, you only need to be a second grader. As Jesus followers we pour into others what we’re learning. Have you learned to make reading the Bible and prayer a priority? Great! Teach someone else who’s just starting their walk with the Lord. Are you struggling? Does a Pug have a soft belly?

Of course, you’re struggling! We all struggle. Struggle is part of the DNA of being a believer. When you stop struggling, you’ll be in heaven. Thabiti Anyabwile wrote: “Sometimes we have to have more hope for people’s change than they have for themselves.” Another critical part of the Christian Faith is being in community.

There’s no such thing as a “lone ranger” believer. That’s why the Lord established His Church. If Satan can keep you alone it really doesn’t matter what you know, how smart you are, or how close you are to Jesus. If you’re not allowing others to speak into your life and you’re not speaking into someone else’s walk you’re right where Satan wants you. On some levels we never leave our “first step” of repentance. We continually seek to correct our course and stay close to Jesus while He’s ever so patiently instructing us in how to become more like Him – together!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊