Walking With Jesus

God’s Most Loving Words

“Some people brought to Him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘Be encouraged, My child! Your sins are forgiven.’” (Matthew 9:2 NLT)

If you’re a Jesus follower, do you remember the first time He told you your sins were forgiven? On some levels those words have had more impact on my heart and mind than hearing words of love and compassion. Why is that? Because His love is offered to everyone without exception, but His forgiveness is contingent upon our response to His love, not necessarily our words, but by the attitude of our heart.

In the verse above, the paralyzed man didn’t ask Jesus for forgiveness, at least not with words, but in a way that only Jesus can, He saw in the faith of this man’s friends such love for their friend, Jesus offered forgiveness to the man. Which causes me to wonder. What if, like so many I’ve met in my lifetime, there are those who might never ask for the Lord’s forgiveness?

It’s easy not to feel deserving of forgiveness, from a friend, and certainly not from God. “After how badly I messed up? I can’t forgive myself, let alone expect forgiveness from God!” I’ve felt that way and I suspect you have too. Perhaps that’s why “forgiveness” is one of God’s most loving words.

Another application of that same thought is for us to forgive someone when they’ve purposely and deliberately hurt us. In some ways it’s more liberating for us when we forgive someone than when we are forgiven. It’s like we have our hands around someone’s neck, choking the life out of them with our hatred and unforgiving spirit, but by God’s grace and with the power of His Spirit, we release our grip and forego our “right” to hate, and instead offer forgiveness.

Another loving word that we rarely like to hear is “no!” How many times have we begged God to give us something we thought would be so good for us to have? To spare my loved one! To save my marriage! To save my job or other source of income! To let me have that house, apartment, car, relationship – the list is virtually endless of things for which we’ve asked God and His answer was “no!”

“How is that loving?” you may wonder. Often, regardless of the specific request, God’s answer of “no” leads us down a path we would never have chosen for ourselves, yet one that reaps so much blessing it’s hard to imagine why we wouldn’t have desired it for ourselves. Time is a gift the Lord gives us to help us put things into proper perspective and to give us insight into what He’s known since before the beginning of time.

That’s why trust is such a critical element in our walk with Jesus. We’re so often blinded to what’s best for us, but God sees our journey from start to finish, and He has insight into what’s best for us in ways we could never figure out on our own.

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Another word with which we wrestle in our walk with Jesus is “wait!” We’re often like the red-faced toddler holding their breath in an effort to make us let them have their way. Stomping their feet or shrieking their displeasure. How childish we can be with our heavenly Father, who, gratefully, never loses His “cool.” He loves us far too much to let us have our way sometimes. If we’ll allow it, waiting for God’s answer can be some of the most important and beneficial times in our lives.

Patience is a virtue that is never developed instantly, it must be learned over time. God in His loving mercy offers us the opportunity to be yoked with Him, not to see how fast we can run, but to see how carefully we can listen. Often, in our haste, we misinterpret or misunderstand the loving words our Savior speaks, not because we don’t hear them, but because we don’t want to obey them.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Seeing Things Imperfectly (Part 2)

“So all of us who have had the 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.” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT)

Based on what I wrote in yesterday’s post, someone may conclude that everything we believe is up for grabs, but that isn’t what I said and is certainly not the “takeaway” I wanted anyone to get. Every human being is imperfect and defiled by sin. The only exception is Jesus. And because He is an exception, He alone was able to pay the penalty for our sin and remove from the “faces” of those who choose to put their trust in Him, the veil of ignorance that hardened our heart to the truth of who Jesus is and what He accomplished on the Cross.

The Bible is clear on many things, especially regarding who Jesus is, what He came to accomplish, and what faith and trust in Him can enable us to become to His honor and fame. Yes, of course, there are points of doctrine on which we may disagree, but the vast majority of Scripture allows us to see clearly what we need to believe and have full confidence in the Bible’s authority and accuracy.

Even in the early years of the Church there were misunderstandings and false teachers who were leading people to believe wrong things, thus the reason the Apostles created this early creed as a guide and guard to the basic doctrines of faith that would keep us grounded in our faith in Christ.

“I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried, descended into hell, rose again from the dead on the third day, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty, who will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.” *Note “holy catholic Church” has reference to the Church Universal comprised of all those who have been born again by faith in the Lord Jesus. It does not have reference to the Roman Catholic Church)

The goal of our faith in Christ is intimacy with the Father made possible by trust in what Jesus did on the Cross in our place. In John 14 Jesus explained that He was in the Father and the Father was in Him. (14:16) Why is that important? Because if we lose sight of who Jesus is – God in human flesh – we can more easily be sidetracked by variations of belief about Jesus that range anywhere from a good teacher, to a misinformed lunatic.

Only God has the power and authority to defeat Satan and to free us from our bondage to sin. Without full trust and confidence in the fact that Jesus is God, it casts shadows of doubt on His virgin birth, His sinless life, His resurrection from the dead, and His ascension back to heaven where He continues to bear intercession for the saints (us).

The more clearly we see Jesus, the more closeness we’ll enjoy with His Father, who is now, by faith, OUR Father. We also, because of who Jesus is, are given the Holy Spirit who teaches us, leads us, informs our daily decisions, and empowers us to overcome sin, walk faithfully in obedience to His directives, and share the Good News of His life, death, resurrection, and ascension with those who now walk in darkness, the same darkness out of which we’ve been delivered.

Yes, of course we see things imperfectly now, but the longer we walk with Jesus the clearer the truth of who He is and what He desires of us becomes, and the more certainty we can have in the authority of Scripture and the glorious end He will bring to those who know and love Him.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Seeing Things Imperfectly

“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT)

As long as we’re in this human body there are things we’ll never understand. Yes, of course, God gives some people higher IQ’s and greater measures of understanding and insight, but no human being, regardless of how intelligent they are, can know the mind of God or why He does or allows things to happen as they do. Realizing this helps me to come to some personal conclusions.

First, everyone is flawed in their understanding of the Bible. We do the best we can with what we’ve got but estimates of the number of denominations within Christianity in the world today range from 4500 – 40,000. What does that say? Even professing believers have issues with one another, but beyond that, it shouts that our misunderstanding of Scripture is very divisive, which breaks the heart of God.

Second, ultimately we only have a couple of choices as to what we personally believe: we can take someone else’s views as our own – i.e. a respected theologian, of whom there are hundreds, or we can read and study the Bible and draw our own conclusions. The likelihood is that we will do some combination of those two, but the end result is the same – we’ll have an imperfect understanding.

Why is that important to understand? Mainly, since we’re all in the same boat, we need to offer grace to those with whom we disagree. I believe we’re all going to gasp at the simple truths of Scripture that we misunderstood or missed all together.

Thirdly, we’ve got to stop making excuses for God, based on our inability to understand His heart, mind, and actions completely. There are things we won’t ever understand until we get to the other side. Things like why God allows suffering, especially of children and other “innocents.” Why people who love God and have such a bright future die so young? Why so much division within the Body of Christ? There are hundreds of questions that arise for which we don’t have definitive answers, but there comes a point where we just must admit: “I don’t know the answer to that!”

Related to that, God will often give us answers to questions that satisfy us but may not satisfy someone else. I’m content in my own mind and heart to realize that God does and or allows some things that I don’t understand, but I can continue to love and serve Him without a definitive answer. Why? Because He’s God and I’m not. I’m very limited in my ability to see and understand things, God is not. I’m finite and earthbound, God is not.

God gives insight and understanding to some from whom we can learn and gain insight, but only to the extent it aligns with God’s Word, the Bible. But it’s interesting to me that different ones can read the same Books of the Bible or verses within a given book and come to completely opposite conclusions, each giving assurance that their conclusions came directly from God. For example, end times.

A pastor I respect and appreciate did a series on the subject of the Millennium. He explained that there are those who are premillenial, postmillenial, amillenial, then he said there are also those who are promillenial, which means they’re for whatever God decides to do. But his personal position was that he was a panmillenialist. He then explained that he believed it would all “pan” out in the end.

While that may seem to some to take a very important theological issue too lightly, the reality is, we don’t know for sure what God’s going to do, yet we allow our differing views to blind us to our need to love and accept those with whom we disagree.

Yes, of course, as you’ve been taught and because of your personal study you’ve come to conclusions that you firmly believe, and I applaud that. But don’t let your certainty on an issue drive a wedge between you and a brother or sister in Christ who is just as certain that you’re wrong and they’re right.

I’m content to believe that about which the Lord gives me certainty, but I will not argue with anyone who disagrees, because the fact of it is, we’re only expressing our opinions based on our imperfect earthbound understanding.

Let’s look at this from another angle in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Reason or Revelation?

“For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” (1 Timothy 6:10 NLT)

Do you have money or does money have you? And please don’t misunderstand, you may not have a lot of money, but if the goal of your life is to pursue wealth apart from a saving knowledge of Jesus, you’re wasting your life. The purpose of wealth isn’t greed, it’s generosity, and whatever level of wealth He allows, it’s His, not yours to do with as you please.

According to Jesus, the goal of our life as a believer is to “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.” That doesn’t necessarily mean He won’t allow us to have more than enough money, but, as a rule, He gives more to those He knows He can trust to use it wisely.

Jesus said in Luke 12:21: “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” The closer our walk with Jesus the more open our heart should be to share with others, whether with time, money, or anything else He gives us. Everything we have is a gift from God, and to hoard it for ourselves is to misunderstand the purpose for which it was given.

So, what does all this talk about money have to do with “Reason or Revelation?” Quite a lot, actually. In Luke 21 we gain insight into the heart of Jesus as He watches people put their offerings in the collection box. Seeing that Jesus is watching, many rich put in more than they might otherwise have given in an effort to impress Him. But what draws His attention is a poor widow who gives everything she has to live on.

What if that poor widow had come to you and asked: “Friend, all I have are these two small coins to live on this month, but God has laid it on my heart to put them in the offering. What do you think I should do?” What would you tell her? Would you use reason to conclude she was making a foolish mistake? Or would you trust her revelation that God spoke, and she should do what God has directed her to do?

Shortly after my divorce I was literally penniless, but someone had given me ten dollars. I was sitting in church, listening to a missionary tell of their work on foreign soil, sharing the great need that the people he was serving had. My plan was to use that ten dollars to get myself something to eat after church, but I decided to put it in the offering. I’d love to tell you that I had a revelation to give that money and I gave it in obedience to the Lord, but the truth is, I was hoping He would see my faith and have someone at church slip me a $20 on the way out of church.

He saw right through my “scheme,” so I went hungry that night, but I learned a valuable lesson. I learned that when I have a need, whether for money, food, or anything else, I just need to trust Him to provide it and He will. “Yeh,” you might be thinking, “but He didn’t provide a meal for you.” No, He didn’t, but He gave me something far more valuable. He gave me a peek into my own heart, putting on full display my own greed and selfishness, enabling me to see clearly that Jesus isn’t our proverbial “genie in a bottle” who provides our every whim just because we think we need it.

God, our heavenly Father, desires faithfulness from us that builds character that allows us to follow His will and desires ahead of our own. Reason is inadequate to understand the heart of God. Only revelation will give us insight into why He gave His only Son for sinful and selfish human beings. And only revelation will enable us to understand what He desires us to do with the wealth He has provided.

One thing I know with certainty: when He gives us an insight or understanding about something we should do, say, or think, the only reasonable thing to do is obey Him.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Where Is Your Hope?

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.” (Jeremiah 17:7 NLT)

In what do you have confidence? Confidence is a rare commodity in the world in which we live. To have confidence in something or someone is to place our trust in it/them. Though we exercise trust everyday in multiple ways, we sometimes still struggle trusting God. Why is that?

We get out of bed every morning with full confidence that when our feet hit the floor, the floor will hold us up. We walk confidently across that floor in the comfort of our home, in whose heating/AC system we have trusted to keep us warm/cool throughout the night. We get the sniffles, so we call the doctor, who prescribes medication we often know very little about, yet take it with confidence it will make us feel better.

The list is virtually endless of the things in which we place our trust, yet we’re so often reluctant to put our full confidence in God, on whose sustaining grace we rely, often without giving it a thought. When has He failed to provide the air with which we fill our lungs? When has the sun ever failed to rise? When have the seasons ever failed to change? When has He ever failed to walk with us, especially when we didn’t know He was there?

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Jeremiah wrote in the verse above: “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord…” The word translated “trust” in this verse means “to feel safe; to be careless; to have confidence.” “Careless” is the word used in the Strong’s Concordance, but it doesn’t mean what we commonly understand it to mean in today’s vernacular. It means exactly what it says: to care less! To be less and less troubled be the concerns of the day. But why? Certainly not because we have less cares.

It’s teaching us that to the extent we care less about the issues we face from day to day and instead place our trust and confidence in the Lord, to that extent our hope in Jesus becomes more visible. “Hope” here means “trust, confidence, security; act of confiding, object of confidence, refuge.”

William Gouge wrote: “Where there is no hope, there is no faith.” Our hope is an act of faith. Faith, according to the writer of the Hebrew letter, is: “…the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Faith makes what we hope for visible in our mind and heart before it is revealed to our physical eyes.

The reality is, we don’t hope IN God, our hope IS God! Notice what Jeremiah said: “But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.” Faith leads to trust, and trust leads to hope and confidence. What’s the implication? If you’re having issues allowing the Lord to be your Confidant and go-to Friend for every detail of your life; if rather than running to the Lord and relying on Him to give you full confidence that He’s got your future, you’re wasting time worrying and fretting about all the things you see in the news, over which you have “0” control, where is your hope?

Our hope in the Lord can’t exist without faith, that leads to trust, that leads to placing our full confidence for our present and future into the hands of our ever-capable, all-knowing, all-loving, ever-present Savior, who alone is worthy of our worship and devotion of every fiber of our being.

To not trust Jesus with every detail of our lives is to deny the hope that only He can give, not only in this life, but the next.

Blessings, Ed 😊

You Can’t Teach Character

“The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and He sustains everything by the mighty power of His command. When He had cleansed us from our sins, He sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3 NLT)

Like so many dimensions of our walk with Jesus, our character as a believer isn’t so much taught as “caught.” What does that mean? It means the longer you hang out with Jesus, the more you’ll begin to act like Him, picking up details of His person that can’t be learned by reading words about Him.

The word translated in the above verse “character” is the Greek word “khar-ak-tare,” and it’s literal meaning is: “a mark or figure burned in or stamped on, an impression; the exact expression (the image) of any person or thing, marked likeness, precise reproduction in every respect.” (Strong’s) What does that mean in laymen’s terms? It means Jesus is God in human form, and if we hope to attain a godly character it can only come from God.

Further, it means the more time we spend with Jesus the more exact an impression of Him will be “burned” or “stamped” onto our character, into our being. We don’t simply learn Christlikeness, we experience it, we ingest it, so much so the Holy Spirit can actually begin to model it in and through our own character.

It should be no secret that if Christ infills and lives in us, the longer we walk with Him the more freedom He has to manifest His presence in and through us. The implication being, the longer we walk with Jesus, the more mature our faith becomes, the more our life should reflect His character. Chuck Colson wrote: “You can’t teach character; you learn it by associating with virtuous people.”

So, the logical question then becomes: “who are the virtuous people with whom I should associate?” Paul gives us insight in 1 Corinthians 15: 33-34: “Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for ‘bad company corrupts good character.’ Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.”

The context of these verses is a reference to those who deny that there is a resurrection, of Jesus or anyone else. Thus, for our purposes, anyone who denies the truth of Scripture. But again, the context suggests that Paul is writing to and referring here to professing believers. He is not directing us to not associate with unbelievers who hold and speak beliefs that contradict what the Bible teaches. We must do that if we hope to win them to Jesus.

This will likely take some discernment but be careful who you trust when it comes to your closest friends. My goal is to spend as much time as possible with those in and through whom I see and sense God’s holy presence. However, I’m also committed to walking with new believers and those who aren’t yet saved. So, what’s the answer? Balance.

Being guided by the Holy Spirit in every decision we make, let Him direct when and with whom we’re to invest our time and energy. The implication of something being “caught” is that in order to “catch” character from someone else, you must spend time with them. But the same principle applies to those with whom we need to spend time who need to catch godly character from God’s Spirit within us.

Of course, it’s God’s character we desire, not only to “catch” from others, but to allow the Lord to enable others to “catch” from us. But the main way to gain Christlike character is to spend as much time as possible alone with Him.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Understanding the Times

“From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take.” (1 Chronicles 12:32 NLT)

1 Chronicles 10 records the death of Israel’s first king, Saul, then chapter 11 tells of David becoming king of all Israel. The signs of the times were clear as David became king, and he knew, as all Israel knew, that before there would be peace, they must commit to a time of war. Ron Hutchcraft wrote: “when you know what time it is, you need to know what action to take.”

In 1 Chronicles 12 we read of the tribes of Israel stepping up and joining their new king, ready for battle. But I love verse 18 that says: “Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, the leader of the Thirty, and he said, ‘We are yours, David! We are on your side, son of Jesse. Peace and prosperity be with you, and success to all who help you, for your God is the one who helps you.’”

The Thirty were the “baddest” of the good guys. They were the most special of Israel’s “Special Forces.” They were the guys you wanted on your side if you were going to war against a powerful enemy! I’m reminded of John Piper’s words: “You cannot know what prayer is for, until you know that life is war.”

Do you realize that if you’re a child of God you are in the Lord’s Army? And you weren’t drafted, you volunteered. “How so?” you may wonder. It was the day you knelt before the Lord of Heaven’s Armies and pledged your allegiance to His eternal Kingdom. “Hmmmm,” you may be thinking, “I don’t remember that.”

May I be honest? Committing your life to Jesus is, in a lot of ways, like committing your life to your partner in marriage. You may not be married, but if you are, I strongly suggest you remember the date that partnership began. Similarly, while I don’t remember the exact date, I know it was the Spring of 1963 when I knelt at an altar of prayer in a small church in South Charleston, West Virginia, and committed all of me to all of Him.

If you don’t remember making that decision, could it be because you haven’t? When you’re a member of any branch of our Armed Forces, you have a date of enlistment. From that point you do basically what you’re told when you’re told to do it. If you don’t like taking orders, I have three suggestions: Don’t join the military! Don’t get married! (the two most important words in marriage for any husband are “Yes, dear!”) And don’t become a Jesus follower!

I’ve read the last chapter of the Bible and I know a few things for certain. Jesus and His eternal family win! But I also know what’s coming before His return is going to get a lot uglier and messier than we can imagine. Jesus said in Luke 12:49-52: “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of Me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of Me, and two against – or two in favor and three against.”

The only hope our loved ones have, especially those who are currently “against us,” in terms of their devotion to Jesus, is for us to peacefully, lovingly, compassionately, yet without compromise, help them to understand the times in which we live and that their only hope of eternal survival is Jesus.

Pray! Pray! Pray! That the strong Spirit of God will penetrate their hearts and minds, giving them insight and understanding of the words He will give us to share with them.

Blessings, Ed

Sharing the Truth in Love

“Jesus came and told His disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18-20 NLT)

Coming to Christ for salvation begins an amazing adventure! Knowing Jesus and making Him known is the all-encompassing passion of my life, and I pray, yours. Today I’d like for us to look at how that can work out in practical ways in our daily lives.

The priority of our lives must become prayer. Think of any meaningful relationship you have with family or friends. What if you never spoke with them? How important is a relationship in which there is no conversation or communication? So, naturally, any effective strategy to reach our loved ones and friends must begin with prayer. But how?

Each morning I literally pray around the world. I pray for every person on earth who is saved, especially those believers who are undergoing persecution or oppression from the enemy, either literally or figuratively. I also pray for every person who is lost, beginning with my family, then extending to friends, my literal neighbors, then others.

The reason I do that is to give the Spirit of God an opportunity to open my heart and mind to those in my spheres of influence whose lives I can personally touch. In considering how we can most effectively reach out to our family, friends, and neighbors we must consider a few things.

First, how deeply connected are we? Is our relationship such that I can easily and opening share what’s on my heart? Will those with whom I have a close relationship listen, or do I know from past efforts that they will likely “shut me down.” So, secondly, what alternatives do I have?

Our most valuable resource to reach lost people is God’s Holy Spirit. He can speak in ways that we never can, but He can also speak to us, giving us alternative avenues to reach out. One such avenue He’s showing me is the written word. Almost no one writes letters anymore, other than in texts or emails. What if you sent a hand-written or typed letter explaining how much you love the lost person the Lord lays on your heart, and in simple, but Scripturally based words, let them know the way to open their hearts and lives to Jesus? (I mention “typed” because my handwriting is so bad, I can hardly read it)

Another option the Lord is causing me to ponder is going door to door in my neighborhood and speaking with anyone who will allow me a few minutes. Or, writing them a personal note and hand-delivering it. I’m haunted by Ray Comfort’s timely words: “If you are not concerned about your neighbor’s salvation, then I am concerned for yours.” The reality of the closeness of Jesus’ return is also building the proverbial “fire” under me.

The bottom line here is this: If I don’t have a heart, especially for those in whose lives I have access, I must not have the heart of the Father who gave His only Son out of love for the lost. Fellow Jesus lovers and followers, time is short! We must be sharing the Truth of who Jesus is and what a wonderful gift He’s given us, with whomever will listen. We’ve got to get our minds off of what people will think of us and turn our attention onto where they’re going to spend eternity without Jesus.

I’m alive in Christ because He laid on someone’s heart to share His love and life with me, and they were obedient. Who is He laying on your heart with whom you can share His words of eternal life?

Blessings, Ed 😊

What’s Your Addiction? (Part 2)

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14:6 NLT)

In yesterday’s post we began looking at our varied addictions to sin, that are draining the life, not only out of the people who profess no faith, but many within the church.

“Religion” is perhaps a “good person’s” favorite “drug,” but there are many others who won’t have anything to do with the church who are just as lost. The only antidote to sin is salvation, and the only way to have salvation is through Jesus. How do I know that? Because God’s Word is clear in Acts 4:12 where we read: “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”

We only have one Savior and one life and one opportunity to choose life in that one Savior and it’s in this one minute! All previous minutes are gone, and we’re not promised the next minute. Please, if you aren’t prepared to meet Jesus; if you haven’t yielded your life and allegiance to Him, I’m literally begging you not to wait another second. Click the link at the bottom of this page and learn how you can know for sure that you belong to Jesus.

And please don’t be presumptuous like the five bridesmaids who thought they didn’t need to be concerned about extra oil. If you once prayed a “prayer of salvation,” you regularly attend and serve at church, or you just see yourself as a good person who believes in Jesus, please let the Holy Spirit help you do a heart check.

Pray with King David in Psalm 139:23: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” Loving Jesus is very much like loving anyone else, it’s an ongoing process of learning how to overcome obstacles that crowd out intimacy and block our communication. We can drift away from Jesus, believing everything is fine, when in reality it’s not fine at all.

Trusting in the few words of a prayer you prayed, or believing because you were baptized as a child, or because you’re faithful in attending church that that’s going to get you to heaven, you need to take a step back and look at the fruit of your life. Is your life bearing little or no evidence that you love and are seeking after Jesus? Is He on your heart and in your mind throughout your day? Do you love reading and studying His Word? Do you strive as often as possible to share what God lays on your heart to share with your lost loved ones and friends?

And please understand, my desire isn’t to criticize or discourage you. I want in my own life and in yours, to know that Jesus is my Treasure, that nothing this world offers has any appeal to me compared with the draw of His loving friendship. Devotion to Jesus IS my life and I pray is yours.

For those of you who know and have certainty of your place in God’s plan of salvation, we’re going to look tomorrow at some ways to help the ones in our spheres of influence to know they need Jesus and why. But if you don’t have certainty that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, please click on this link and get things settled in your heart, mind, soul, and strength.

The Bridge to God | Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.

Blessings, Ed 😊

What’s Your Addiction?

“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil.” (Matthew 25:1-4 NLT)

Every day we likely pass many people who have destructive addictions. Some are easy to spot, but many blend in and are essentially hiding in plain sight. Substance abuse is rampant in our world and is claiming millions of lives. Satan is subtle, but deadly in his untiring efforts to have the people of this world worshipping at his unholy and deadly feet.

It’s ironic on many levels that Satan’s strategy hasn’t changed since the Garden of Eden. God gives us clear instructions and the enemy says in so many words: “Yeh, but that’s not what He meant!” And we’re falling for it just like Adam and Eve.

Okay, that’s all well and good, but what does it have to do with the 10 bridesmaids? Did you ever notice how Jesus’ parable begins? “Then!” “Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like…” A couple of questions: first, to whom is He speaking? And, secondly, who is He describing? If you read the context, you’ll soon discover that the end of His life and earthly ministry are rapidly coming to a close, so several of His stories have reference to end times. Why is that so vital for us to understand?

Anyone with a vague acquaintance with the Bible can see that we’re living in the end times. “Yeh, but people have been saying that for 2,000 years!” And they’re right, but that’s my point. It could be another 2,000 years before He returns, but I can assure you of this – no one reading these words will still be here if that’s the case, and neither will the people in your current spheres of influence who don’t know Jesus. “End times” doesn’t necessarily refer to the end of the world. It can, and for thousands of years and for billions of people, does point to our individual “end.”

Like all of Jesus’ parables, this isn’t an allegory, with every detail having a separate meaning. Parables have one main point, and the point of the 10 bridesmaids is simply this: be prepared! Why? Because Jesus is coming! And we only have this life in which to get prepared.

You want to know the devil’s favorite words when it comes to us having a relationship with Jesus? “Not now!” Five bridesmaids were prepared, they brought extra oil. Five were not prepared. Why not? They thought they had more time. It’s irrelevant why they chose not to be prepared, the point is, when they came to their senses and realized they weren’t prepared, it was too late. They waited too long, and the door of opportunity was closed.

Do you understand that’s a picture of the Church in America and many other parts of the world today? Good people living good lives involved in many good things that are sucking the spiritual life right out of them. People are addicted to a lot more than alcohol and drugs today. They’re addicted to sin! As human beings our “drug” of choice doesn’t matter, the problem is it takes Jesus’ rightful place on the throne of our life. And, sadly, millions don’t see it or give it a thought until it’s eternally too late.

We’ll look at this more closely in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊