Walking With Jesus

That Day!

“However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son Himself. Only the Father knows.” (Matthew 24:36 NLT)

In 2023, on average, more than 330,000 people die every day. Of those nearly 70% are by accidents. What does that tell us? It tells me that more than 200,00 people leave home every day expecting to return, but don’t make it. Why is that important to know? Because on any given day we could be one of those 200,000 people.

Greg Laurie said: “We should live every day as though it were the day that Jesus Christ is coming back because one day it will be the day.” The day of Jesus’ return, while vitally important, isn’t the only day about which we need to be concerned. He may not come back for everyone for many years; however, He may send for you or me today!

There are at least two critical implications. First, if I’m putting off investigating the claims of Christ because I think I have a lot of time, I’m believing a lie. Am I trying to scare someone into becoming a Jesus follower? If only I could 😊. No, I’m trying to wake people up to the reality of the brevity of life. There are dangers in waiting other than the end of life.

Think of Felix who often sent for Paul to hear about the Lord, even to the point he was afraid, but there’s no indication in Scripture that he ever gave his heart to the Lord. Or the words of Paul to Timothy in 4:3-4: “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths.”

What does that mean? It means that whatever opportunities we will have to yield our lives to the Lord, they have an expiration date. God doesn’t promise to give us to the end of our lives to decide. The Holy Spirit will work with us and draw us, but there comes a time when we will no longer listen or will no longer be able to hear Him.

Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:19: “Do not stifle the Holy Spirit.” The word “stifle” means “to extinguish” like putting out a fire, or “to suppress,” with the express reference to the work of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life. If you or someone you know is stifling the Spirit by continually pushing Him away, that’s a very dangerous position to be in.

But equally as dangerous is thinking “I’ll just say a quick prayer on my death bed!” What if you don’t make it to a death bed? What if your heart stops, like my mom’s, and you’re dead before you hit the floor? What if Alzheimer’s or some other debilitating mental disorder robs you of your ability to think clearly? What if…and there are a thousand reasons Satan will seek to have you believe that will push you past the point of decision.

One last consideration that is the most frightening to me is that Satan “inoculates” people with a shred of truth, leading them to believe they’re saved when in fact they are not. How can we know with certainty that we’re a child of God? Paul writes in Romans 8:16: “For His Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.”

Repeating the words of someone’s prayer isn’t the basis of our salvation. Trust in the completed work of Christ on the Cross opens the door of our heart and gives us insight into what Jesus did for us that we could never in eternity ever do for ourselves. If you have even a hint of doubt that you’re dead to sin and alive to Christ, please click the Ron Hutchcraft link and make sure right now, while you still can. Ron Hutchcraft.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Is Government the Answer?

“But Jesus knew their evil motives. ‘You hypocrites!’ He said. ‘Why are you trying to trap Me? Here, show Me the coin used for the tax.’ When they handed Him a Roman coin. He asked, ‘Whose picture and title are stamped on it?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. ‘Well, then,” He said, ‘give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.’” (Matthew 22:18-21 NLT)

Though these verses are likely familiar to many, they include powerful insight, not only into some of the ways the Pharisees tried to “trap” Jesus, but into the brilliance and insight the Lord Jesus possessed. As is often His intention, He used common means to illustrate spiritual truth.

In the verses before the ones above, we learn that the Pharisees had partnered with the Herodians. This is laughable because, as a rule, the Pharisees and Herodians despised one another, but they wrongly believed if they joined forces, they would put Jesus in such a compromising position He would have to answer in a way that would reveal a weakness in His teaching.

Since He “knew their evil motives,” He also had insight into their hypocrisy. Herodians were Jews who supported Herod’s tax that was levied under Caesar’s authority. As a rule, the Jews fumed because of their subjection to any authority but their own. That’s why Jesus’ question to show Him a Roman coin was so ingenious. If He supported the position of the Pharisees, He would essentially deny that taxes should be paid, but if He took the Herodian’s view, He would support Caesar’s intolerable taxes.

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By answering as He did, He flustered both parties and gave us insight into how we need to approach government in our world today. The question could be comparable to someone who would ask today, “Are you a Democrat or a Republican?” I understand there are other options, but for our purposes this question will do.

John Stonestreet wrote: “From first-century believers facing the hostility of the Roman state to the 20th-century Christians living under Communism’s terror to Christians living everywhere else between, the Church has found influence through “little platoons” of faithfulness in local communities and through the grand efforts of statesmen and heroes. Salvation won’t arrive on Air Force One, and a perfect world won’t come through the ballot box. But a better world is possible if all our actions, political and otherwise, flow downstream from our Christian convictions, and not the other way around.”

What’s my point? It’s immaterial if I’m a Democrat or a Republican if I don’t find my allegiance in my devotion to Jesus. Jesus, in the encounter outlined in the verses above, was essentially giving us a pattern whereby we can respect government and honor Him, but our “bent” is to always submit to His authority in and over our lives.

From a Biblical perspective we, as Jesus followers, have a dual citizenship. Heaven is our home, but while on earth we’re to give to “Caesar” what is his due. Which is? Submit to the laws of the government under which we find ourselves – pay taxes, obey the law, and pray for all who are in authority. But we must also honor and obey God.

When Jesus asked whose image was on the coin, obviously it was Caesar’s, but implied is the fact that God’s image is on every human heart. Sin has marred God’s image, but through trust in the Risen Christ we can have God’s image restored. Throughout our world today many live under very strict and ungodly rule, but the purpose of this post isn’t to elevate one governmental system over another, but to elevate Jesus and confirm that world rule, in whatever form it may come, can never change a person’s heart. Only Jesus can do that.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Is Your God Too Small?

“Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (Ephesians 3:17-19 NLT)

Though I’ve walked with the Lord for many years, there are times when He seems so massively huge it’s hard to conceive of how he would even know I exist. It’s like I’m a grain of sand on the seashores of the world. Then I hear the words of Jesus when He said: “And the very hairs on your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:30).

Think about that for a second. Have you ever bothered to count the number of times your sinks get clogged? By what? Your hair! What does that tell us? We lose hair every day! So? God keeps track! That’s how vitally important we are to Him.

Think about the ministry of Jesus while He walked the pathways of this earth. Here was God, this mammoth Creator of everything that is, taking the form of a human being – becoming the proverbial “grain of sand” with all the rest of us – becoming a picture of God that we could see, touch, hear, know! What a miracle! Yet too often when we think of Him or speak about Him with someone it’s like: “Yeh, He’s great. Could you pass the mustard?”

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Somewhere we’ve picked up the idea that this immeasurable Being we call God can be known by going to a building a few times a month, reading a few pages from His Book, saying a few innocuous prayers, but otherwise going through our lives as though He doesn’t know or care about anything else we do.

What if we treated our spouse, boss, or friend like that? What kind of relationship would we have with them? Do you realize that we can be around Almighty God our whole life, doling out a little bit of our lives here and there, but keeping a safe distance? We can regulate the measure of closeness we’ll have with Him, so much so, for all intent and purpose, we have no relationship, we only have an idea of Him.

We can so compartmentalize our “god” that there’s really not a Person to whom we relate, it’s merely an idea we conceive that follows our directives and does what we say. He’s OUR servant, rather than we being His. Ron Hutchcraft wrote: “We make serious mistakes because we forget, or we don’t know, how very big our God is. We overestimate earth-stuff and underestimate our Almighty God. A safe distance turns out it really isn’t safe at all. Don’t just believe in Him, pursue Him with everything you’ve got. The closer you get, the more amazing He looks.”

Paul writes in the verses above that God, the One who uses the earth as His footstool, is willing to allow His Spirit to make His home in our heart and life, giving us insight and understanding of who He is, enabling us to put down deep roots into His love. We’ve got to stop treating God like He’s our servant and get on our face before Him, pledging all we are or ever hope to be to Him, so that in some miraculous, unexplainable way, He will use us to gain glory and honor for Himself.

If the God you think you “serve” is not demanding you take up your cross daily and follow Him, you’ve likely missed the God of the Bible. If your god isn’t ordering your life around His service and stretching and challenging you to become more than you could ever be without Him, your god is far too small.

You need to meet the God of the Bible. His name is Jesus and He loves you. He will forgive, fill, and enable you to become more than you ever dared dream you could be, but you’ve got to trust Him and allow Him to direct your life. Click on this link to find out for yourself if your god is too small. Ron Hutchcraft

Blessings, Ed 😊

Are You Longing for What’s in the Past?

“Do not cling to events of the past or dwell on what happened long ago. Watch for the new thing I am going to do. It is happening already—you can see it now!” (Isaiah 43:18-19 GNT)

When going through a trying season it’s not unusual for us, even as a believer, to recall a period when things were a lot better, and long for those days again. When I see an infant or young child, I hit the proverbial “rewind button” and recall the days when my kids were small. I think of all the ways I failed them and how I’d like to be given another opportunity to get it right. We get a case of the “if onlys…”

But what do we forfeit when we do that? We run the very real risk of missing the new thing that God is longing to do in, through, and on our behalf. We get so intent on having God bless what we’ve done or we’re now doing that we miss what He’s wanting to do.

Pastor Rick Warren said it this way: “How do you show God that you’re focused on the new things he’s doing? You pray, ‘God, help me to do what you’re blessing,’ instead of ‘God, bless what I’m doing.’ And when you do, you’ll be able to embrace the incredible things he is going to do next.”

What “new thing” is God seeking to do in your life? The “old” is so comfortable, routine, and predictable that we get stuck, never noticing that we’re no longer as effective as we once were. It’s not that God isn’t speaking; we’re just not listening. Have you ever stopped to consider how predictable Satan is? He uses the same tactics – lies, deception, giving us what we “want,” never bothering to change because we keep falling for them.

Consider, on the other hand, God’s ways. Think of Lamentations 3:22-23: “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.” We’re so limited in our vocabulary we often find ourselves using the same words, offering the same requests, begging God to forgive the same sins over and over again. But you know what’s great about the Lord? Yes, of course, EVERYTHING! But something that speaks to me on a very personal level is this: Each day when I pray, in God’s heart and mind it’s as though I’m making those requests for the very first time.

A dear friend’s wife has early Alzheimer’s so she gets fixated on asking the same question over and over again. But rather than trying to correct her and make her remember, he lovingly answers her question each time as though it was the first time she’d asked it. I believe that’s how God hears us. He never tires of us asking because He understands how limited we are in seeing the new things He’s seeking to introduce into our lives.

We get fixated on what “worked” before, or on how God spoke or moved or taught, or ________ and you can fill in the blank. New is very hard for us sometimes. While intellectually we long for change, we’re so geared to stay the same change can become very difficult. Why do you think those with harmful addictions fight change? It’s often not that they don’t want to be better, they’d give most anything to be healed. They just can’t stand the withdrawals and the pain that accompanies that change.

Are you longing for what’s in the past? Ask the Lord to give you insight into what He’s doing today, but more to the point, ask Him to help you see what new thing He wants to do in and for YOU! I wish I could tell you I’m good at listening and submitting to the Lord’s new plans for me, but I still struggle.

In His daily mercies He’s helping me to see where I’m falling short, not like an angry father with a whip in his hand, but as the loving Father He is, steadying the “bike” ‘til I can balance myself. He’s gentle, kind, loving, and caring. He will walk every new step with you until you realize how wonderful His “new thing” for you really is.

Just trust Him and hang on tight! He’s got you!

Blessings, Ed 😊

Have You Thought About Your Retirement Home…After Death?

“And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for Him.” (Hebrews 9:27-28 NLT)

May I confess? I’m not a great planner. If it wasn’t for my wife, I’d probably be wearing the same pair of skivvies every day on a weeklong trip. I almost always get my pill count wrong and generally have things in my suitcase when coming home that I didn’t use. No harm, no foul, right! But what about the final “trip” we’ll be taking after our eyes close for the last time?

Too many people, especially in America, are so focused on preparing for retirement they forego their plans for eternity. Some, no doubt, have “prayed the prayer” and think they’re in good standing with God, but as Corky Calhoun wrote: “God has a bigger plan for your life than just picking your retirement home after death.”

Walking the faith journey with Jesus isn’t a contract we sign, stick in the drawer, then pull out when we need it. It’s a lifelong commitment that begins the day we yield our life and allegiance to Him, and continues every day, not only in this life, but the next. It’s a relationship that in many ways is like being married.

Marriage isn’t simply a covenant of convenience where we sign up for the “fun” stuff but bow out when things get tough. The best and the worst part of marriage is living together. I had a friend who used to say: “Life is so daily!” What does that mean? It means life will bring out the best in us and the worst. It means relationships are hard and they require work – daily!

The goal of marriage is to become one – in our love, faithfulness, commitment, and enjoyment. Similarly, the longer we walk with the Lord the more we learn of Him, the more we love and trust Him, and the more we depend on Him for everything. How so? By daily reading His Word, speaking to Him often in prayer throughout our day, and learning to love His Family, His Body, members of His Church.

Verses like the ones above from Hebrews, explain a lot if we’ll pay attention. People who believe in reincarnation or a pre-existent life can clearly see that we have one life, we die, then we face judgment. We only get one shot at getting it right. We learn that Christ died as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people (not all people). Everyone doesn’t go to heaven, only those who have a relationship with Jesus based on faith that what He did He did for them.

We tend to think of hell being for the clearly “bad” people, but many who are trusting in their own goodness are going to be disappointed when they assume their good works, kindness, generosity, etc. is enough. Anyone or anything that pretends to be equal to the shed blood of God’s Son, thus adequate to pay the penalty for their sin, is going to be sorely mistaken.

Jesus said in Mark 2:17: “Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Thinking about life after death requires more than careful thought about our destination. It requires planning well the journey that will get us there. If your plans to go to heaven are leaving Jesus out, it’s going to lead to a very disappointing end of your journey.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Does Your Theology Move You?

“As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation – a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13 NLT)

What you believe shapes the person you are and are becoming. That’s true if you’re a child of the living God, a Hindu, Mormon, atheist, or anything else. Theology literally means “words of God” or “words about God,” but for our purposes it refers to your convictions related to what you believe about God.

One of the first words that comes to my mind when I think of theology is “discussion.” To me theology is often something we discuss, but why? Largely because thoughts of theology give rise to one of two things: beliefs upon which we agree or beliefs upon which we disagree. We love to share what we “know” theologically or seek to “correct” those with whom we disagree.

A few weeks ago, I was able to connect with one of our Pastors for whom I have great respect because I believe he’s a student of the Bible. While together I asked him about a couple of theological issues with which I wrestle regarding Salvation and our life in Christ. I listened carefully, believing what I was hearing was from the Lord.

He explained how he saw the issues and it made sense to me. Compare that with a meal I shared with another person who took offense to my questions and responded with anger. What’s the difference? Largely, I believe, their respective levels of spiritual maturity. My Pastor has researched and come to his own conclusions based on the facts that make sense to him.

My other friend has largely adopted the beliefs of others and gets very defensive when anyone questions those beliefs, because at his core he has adopted a series of beliefs, not a system of theology that defines him as a believer. What’s the difference?

Information, whether it’s theological or instructions on how to change the oil in your car, informs – it gives guidance that can be accepted and followed or not. A system of thought, whether based on Theology or atheism, is a set of beliefs upon which we build our life. The implication is that we’ve researched and deduced what we genuinely believe at the core of our being. In short, it’s who we are.

Kelly Kapic wrote: “One of the greatest dangers in theology is making our faith something we discuss rather than something that moves us.” He makes a valid observation. I can discuss ideas all day and not be moved emotionally, but my theology, what I believe about God is the basis upon which I build my life. It’s the foundation upon which I build my hope of eternal life. It’s what informs the decisions I make that guide the person I’m becoming.

But please understand. Because it’s life or death for me doesn’t imply I can’t have a discussion with someone without getting emotional. Yes, of course, it’s a matter of the heart for me, but if I get angry with everyone who disagrees with me, I’ll never lead anyone to Jesus.

The person I mentioned above who became so angry with me is a believer and I respect their beliefs and believe they’re genuinely saved, but I’m not going to lose a friend because we disagree over a point of doctrine. We must agree to disagree.

My point here is that what you believe about God should move you to your core. It must become for us the proverbial “hill” upon which we’re willing to die rather than deny, but not use as a hammer to beat people with whom we disagree.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Trap and Ransom

*Please read this story thoughtfully, as I have numerous times, seeing yourself as the man walking down the trail. Though the author is a dear friend, they wish to remain anonymous, so I will honor their request. Blessings, Ed 😊

There was something; not sure what it was.

It was hazy or misty or foggy, so not clearly seen.

There was a man walking down a trail.

Just off the trail was something beautiful.

It was the thing that the man on the trail wanted most.

It might have been Fame, it might have been money, it might have been gold, it might have been a house or car, it might have been sex, or it might have been Revenge. Maybe an addiction.

It glistened, and it was pretty.

The man rushed off the trail and grabbed this thing he wanted so much.

As soon as he did, a trap closed, and he was caught by the arm and hand. The man screamed in pain.

A demon walked out of hiding and laughing, put a collar on the man, and then a leash. The demon opened the trap and pulled the man away. “I knew what you loved most in the world,” the demon said.

The demon had a sharp stick, and he poked the man several times until he was bleeding and crying. The man begged, “Please don’t hurt me,” which made the demon laugh even more.

The demon laughed and said, “This is going to be fun.”

Then another person came and spoke to the wounded man on the leash. “Do you want to be free he asked?”

“Please help me.” He cried.

The second man spoke to the demon. “Let the man go.”

The demon said “no I caught him. He’s mine.”

The second man asked, “What are you going to do with him?”

The demon replied. “Oh, I’m going to have fun with him. I’m going to torture him. I’m going to poke him and hurt him in many ways. When I get tired of him, and I eventually will, then I will kill him.”

“Let him go and take me instead.” said the second man.

The demon laughed. Then the second man said, “Yes, really, let him go and take me.”

The demon said, “Okay, I’ll do that.”

So, the demon put a collar on Jesus and then a leash. Then the demon set you free.

Jesus is your Ransom.

How Offensive Is Your Sin to You?

“’But we are descendants of Abraham,’ they said. ‘We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, “You will set us free”?’ Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.’” (John 8:33-34 NLT)

When I first began to walk with the Lord I didn’t know how not to sin. I hadn’t yet learned how grievous my sin was to my heavenly Father, how offensive my thoughts, words, attitudes, as well as my behavior, were to God. Today, I have no excuse.

We had company from out of town a few weeks ago and we were sitting in our family room talking when someone rang the doorbell. Instinctively I jumped up to see who it was, and when I opened the door there were two young women with clipboards standing there. I assumed they were wanting to sell me something and I wanted to get back to my company, so I brushed them off in a not so kind way.

Before I even got back in the house the Lord said: “What was THAT about? Don’t you realize I sent them to your door so you could be kind to them and treat them in a manner that is worthy of a child of God? Do you not realize they bear My image and when you’re offensive to them you’re offensive to Me?”

BUSTED! Martyn Lloyd-Jones said: “The nearer a man gets to God, the greater he sees his sin.” The longer I serve Jesus the less tolerable I am of my own sin. My sin grieves my heart and damages my effectiveness for the Lord. Later I went looking for those young women but couldn’t find them. What if they were having a bad day and someone who was kind to them could have changed everything for them?

Fellow Jesus followers, we mustn’t let ourselves off the proverbial hook, especially when we mistreat another human being. A friend of mine who was in law enforcement much of his adult life told me about a time he went into a biker bar looking for a suspect in a crime. He was counting on his partner to come in the front as he entered from the rear, but his partner didn’t come in.

As a result, my friend took a severe beating. I asked him why he didn’t pull his gun to defend himself, and he told me he would rather take a beating than risk having to take another person’s life. Some would say he did the wrong thing, but to me he’s a hero.

In my mind we’re much too prone to “defend ourselves” rather than risk, not only bodily harm, but criticism, especially on social media. We’re so much more “self-focused” than Jesus-focused, and it shows in more ways than we realize. The grace of God becomes our excuse for misbehaving rather than the catalyst that turns our heart and mind from sin.

Sometimes I view the Cross of Christ and I loathe the fact my sin put Jesus there. In this season of my life, I cannot be casual with sin. It’s my lethal enemy and to take my sin lightly is to slap my Savior in His face. It’s to ignore the price my sin cost Him and to forget the price it would have cost me had He not been willing to die in my place.

Child of God, please saturate your heart, mind, and spirit in the truths of Scripture, so much so, that as every word flows from our mouth, Jesus is honored and not dishonored by our offensive lack of respect for His glorious Name. Remember Jesus’ instruction as we pray: “Father, may Your name be kept holy.” These are not words to pray in a hurried way, then forgotten, but an attitude of our heart that seeks to magnify Jesus with our every breath.

Would you allow your young child to speak to you disrespectfully? Why do we think it’s okay to live disrespectfully before the King of kings and Lord of lords? It’s absolutely not!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

What’s Most Important to You?

“Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8 NLT)

When considering the question of importance, some have suggested we consider what we’d be willing to run into a burning building to rescue. Certainly family, friends, pets, pictures, heirlooms, and other material items that can’t be replaced. But do those things really speak to us in terms of what’s MOST valuable to us?

Perhaps the real question becomes: “For what are you willing to trade your soul?” Jesus asked the question in Matthew 16:26: “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” The implied answer is, of course, “No!” In Jesus’ mind there’s absolutely nothing more valuable to a person than that part of us that will live forever.

However, the plot thickens when every second of every day someone sells their soul to the devil for a trinket this world offers. Sin is rampant in our world in ways that our ancestors literally couldn’t have imagined. The inhumane and vile ways we treat each other as adults is beyond comprehension, but when pre-born babies are murdered in order that their tiny organs can be harvested, and children are sold and violated in ways unimaginable not that many years ago, that’s beyond evil.

Some reject Christianity because they can’t conceive why God would allow anyone to go to hell, yet that’s exactly the “sentence” God the Father pronounced on His only perfect, sinless, Son so that those who place their trust in Him wouldn’t have to go to there. You are most important on God’s agenda, so much so that He was willing to trade the life of His Son for your life and mine. Why would God do that?

Because He knew that we could never in eternity ever pay the penalty for our own sin. Every day many, if not most people in our spheres of influence choose slavery to sin over forgiveness and new life in Christ. As a Jesus follower for more than 60 years my heart’s cry is “WHY?” Why would anyone in their right mind choose eternal damnation over forgiveness and newness of life? It makes no sense to me.

The only conclusion to which I can come is either ignorance, misinformation, or blatant rebellion – they simply don’t want to know the Truth. Satan cannot tell the truth, but he can lie in such a way that it sounds plausible, so much so, everyone from Eve and Adam to you and me have believed his lies to the detriment, not only of our own lives, but those whose lives matter the most to us.

Kirk Cameron wrote: “There is nothing more important than your eternal salvation.” And when we read that it makes perfect sense, until we get distracted by the glitter and glamor of this world. Fellow Jesus followers, can we become an “army of one” for our families, neighbors, co-workers, classmates and others in our spheres of influence? Can we allow prayer to become our first language, lifting to our loving Father the needs of those we love the most.

You’d likely risk your life to enter a burning building to save a loved one, so why not enter the throne room of your heavenly Father on behalf or your parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, neighbors, friends – near and far – and anyone else who comes to mind. Call, text, write, visit, invite them for a meal or take them out – whatever it takes to get their ear.

Life is too short, and heaven and hell are too real to waste time on your phone or tablet when you could be engaged in Kingdom work. Just imagine if we would pray as long as we spend time on our phones or other mobile devices each day? What’s REALLY most important to you? If it’s Jesus then let’s let the things that break His heart break ours!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Who or What Do You Worship?

“Next the devil took Him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ‘I will give it all to You,’ he said, ‘if you will kneel down and worship me.’” (Matthew 4:8-9 NLT)

We often read Scripture so quickly we miss important words. Have you ever wondered what Satan meant when he showed Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory?” “Glory” is the Greek word “doxa,” which means “honor, praise, dignity, worship.” Think of the “doxa” we render to wealthy people and politicians who use their resources and position to further evil.

“doxa” is a word that should be reserved exclusively for Jesus, who is God, but what Satan was asking Jesus to do is essentially the same thing he asks you and me to do today – to direct glory, honor, praise, and worship to that which was created rather than to the Creator. We’re so mesmerized by the glitter and glamor of this world we miss the Treasure who really owns it all and made it all possible.

On some levels it’s not unlike the toddler at Christmas or on their birthday when they find the box more appealing and entertaining than the gift that was in it. When I was selling insurance years ago one of my supervisors made a comment in passing that really stuck with me. He said, “I never leave the house without at least ten grand in my pocket.” That sounded really impressive to me in that season of my life but reminds me how easily we’re attracted to almost anything we don’t have.

Sometimes our faith is so shallow we’re easily tempted to believe being able to carry 10 thousand dollars around is more prestigious or appealing than having a relationship with the Creator of this world. How often we give our praise and respect to people who live extravagant lifestyles irrespective of the evil they invest their wealth into. Some of the wealthiest people in the world are responsible for doing the most harm and causing the most misery to others.

Tim Keller rightly noted: “We all worship something, religious or non-religious.” Some worship the gods of this world to their eternal demise, but the real question before us is: “Who or what do YOU worship?” And before you jump to a wrong conclusion, look at your calendar and your checkbook. Where do you invest your money and time?

On judgment day we’re each one going to give an account of how we invested our lives in eternity. On any given day we’re either pointing people to Jesus or to something or someone else. We ultimately answer to only one Person, who ironically, is the One to whom if every person who has ever lived or ever will live worshipped and sought to honor and praise Him for all His attributes, could worship for all eternity and still not exhaust the reasons for our “doxa!” Francis Chan insightfully asked: “Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?”

Did you notice in the verse above what Satan asked Jesus to do in exchange for “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory?” He asked Jesus to “kneel down and worship me.” Do you find it ironic that the one who owns the kingdoms of the world would trade them all in a heartbeat to receive worship from the King of kings and Lord of lords? What does that tell us? First, there is no One greater than Jesus. When life on this planet ends and every person comes before the Lord Jesus, the Bible says that “every knee will bow, and every tongue confess to God.”

And, secondly, what Satan was so willing to give away is what most people today are selling their soul to have. But Jesus said: “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” What’s so special about our soul? Why is it so valuable? It’s the only part of us that lives forever and has the capacity to know, love, and have fellowship with Jesus.

When will we wake up to realize that what Jesus offers us when He invites us to know and love Him is infinitely more valuable than the trinkets of this world? When will we come to terms with the fact that worshipping Him is the only real path to satisfaction, joy, and life as it was always meant to be?

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊