Walking With Jesus

Forgetfulness

“Can those in the grave declare Your unfailing love? Can they proclaim Your faithfulness in the place of destruction? Can the darkness speak of Your wonderful deeds? Can anyone in the land of forgetfulness talk about Your righteousness?” (Psalm 88:11-12 NLT)

The term translated “forgetfulness” in the above verse can also be translated “oblivion” and often refers to those in shock, grief, or states of concern that block their remembrance of or attention to the presence and power of God. Tragic circumstances can fill our hearts and minds with darkness that overshadow the light of God’s loving concern.

It’s like God has no place in our thoughts; He’s been pushed to the outer edges of our considerations. Satan fills our minds with so many negative scenarios the Lord has no room, and we have no conscious desire to reach out to Him. When this happens, it opens our lives to many unpleasant and spiritually defiling options.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

Without the active presence of the living God guiding our thoughts and actions, we can make decisions that have long-term negative effects. And please don’t misunderstand, it’s not that the Spirit leaves us, it’s only that our pain, activated and elevated by our negative circumstances, redirects our attention to place more credence in MORE bad happening than any consideration of good that can come from the bad. It’s a normal human response.

Deitrich Bonhoeffer reminds us: “Satan does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God.” Thoughts are choices and while many things enter our mind, ultimately, we choose that upon which we’ll think, ponder, or consider. The Psalmist in Psalm 139 invites the Lord to search his thoughts and to know his heart. What’s the implication? The Lord will not invade our heart and mind forcing us to have Him evaluate our thoughts.

If we want the Lord to guide our thoughts, we must ask Him. He’s a gentleman and, unlike Satan, will not seek to persuade us to think His thoughts or even walk in His ways. Yes, of course, He’s given us His Word and His Holy Spirit will lead us and teach us upon our request, but He will never violate our will to get us to do what He wants.

The term “remember” is used 144 times in the KJV of the Bible, often reminding us to remember something significant the Lord has done on our behalf. That’s a major purpose of the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, to remind us of the sacrifice of our Savior and to cause us to pause to ponder the richness of His love that has been released into our lives as a result of what He did for us on the Cross.

Yes, of course, it’s easy in the face of unexpected events to forget things, but as followers of the Lord Jesus, we must train our heart and mind to never, not for one second, ever, forget Who is Lord, Who loves us, Who is ALWAYS with us, and Who WILL NEVER LEAVE US!

If these are troubling days for you, please know you are not alone. I understand what it means to feel alone, but I also know how it feels when the Lord makes Himself known and gives assurance of His presence with and for us. While I don’t know many of you personally who read these words, I do pray for you and am believing the Lord’s presence to strengthen and sustain you.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Light Right In Front of You

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, and yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.” (John 5:39-40)

*Each first of the month I’m featuring an article by someone I’ve come to love and appreciate. This month give your attention to Ron Hutchcraft and take to heart his words of wisdom. Blessings, Ed 😊

Our daughter’s got this thing about lighthouses. Thanks to her family indulging that passion at Christmas and birthday time, she’s got lighthouses all over her house. She’s got lighthouse stationery, lighthouse rugs, and lighthouse books; sad to say, even a lighthouse on the cover of her commode. In many places, real lighthouses are mostly reminders of the maritime past when lives actually depended on seeing the light that marked the shore and the rocks. Sometimes lives still depend on them, as in the case of a Greek ferry called the Express Samina.

There were 540 passengers aboard that September evening, sailing from Athens to an Aegean Island. An hour out, the wind came up and the temperature suddenly dropped. Five hours into the voyage, passengers felt the ferry’s engines surge, and most of them assumed they were getting close to their destination. They were wrong. The crew was frantically trying to steer clear of this small, rocky island, two miles from their destination. Tragically, the ferry plowed right into those rocks. It took only thirty-eight minutes to sink. Rescue vessels got there quickly, but eighty people died that night, and you know, it didn’t have to happen. There was a functioning lighthouse, sitting atop that rock, warning vessels away. It could be seen for several miles around. For some reason, the ferry just kept heading straight for the rocks.

It’s possible to have the light right in front of you and miss it – with tragic results. It’s been happening to nice church folks for a long time. If you’re a nice church folk, it could happen to you. There are a lot of great things about growing up in a Christian environment, or of being a part of a church where you hear about Jesus a lot. But there are some dangers, too; like missing the light that’s right in front of you.

Jesus had some sobering things to say to some of the most religious people of His day. They are still sobering words for those of us who are Bible folks – church folks. Here are the words of Jesus from John 5:39-40, our word for today from the Word of God: “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, and yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.” You can have the light of the Bible, the light of the Gospel in front of you your whole life, and yet you could still miss Jesus. When you miss Jesus, you miss God and you miss heaven. Jesus made clear that many people who have lived for years in sight of the lighthouse will miss heaven’s destination and sail right into the rocks of eternal punishment for their sins.

The Bible describes eternal life as “the gift of God” (Romans 6:23). You can know all about a gift, you can appreciate a gift, and you can have the gift right in front of you and still miss the gift because you never took it for yourself. Could that be you? Somehow, there’s never been a time when you actually reached out and personally took Jesus into your life for yourself. For all you know, you don’t know Jesus. For all you’ve experienced, you’ve never experienced Him. Don’t you want to?

God, in His great love for you, has laid this on my heart so you could have this chance to know Him for real. It’s probably going to be hard to admit that you’ve missed Jesus all this time, but it’s not nearly as hard as an eternity without Him. Don’t let your pride, don’t let your self-deception make you miss heaven. Right where you are, tell Him, “Jesus, I’ve never actually put my trust in You to be my own Savior from my own sin. But today I am. Beginning this day, Jesus, I’m Yours.”

I want you to be sure beyond any shadow of a doubt that you belong to Jesus for now and for eternity. That’s why our website is there. Please go there today. It’s ANewStory.com.

You’ve seen the lighthouse, but maybe you’ve never changed your course. This time, turn to Jesus while there’s time.

Ron Hutchcraft

Guilt

“The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.” (Hebrews 10:1-2 NLT)

While the term “guilt” doesn’t appear in the King James Version of the Bible, it is a theme that is clearly present in the Old and New Testaments. I think of King David after his sin with Bathsheba and the subsequent murder of her husband, the woman caught in the very act of adultery, or the woman at the well to name a few in the New Testament.

How many of us have been wracked with pain and suffered long with the anguish of guilt over wrongdoing that we clearly understood was wrong but did it anyway. It’s not unusual for guilt to drive us from the very presence of the Lord, wrongly believing there’s no further forgiveness for such a blatant sin, but we’d be wrong in believing that.

Helen Thorne gives us insight when she writes: “You can’t cry guilt away. You need to give it away.” “But how” becomes the logical question. Who wants to help us carry or even listen to the stories of our baggage? Certainly, there are trained Counselors who would be glad to help us work through our guilt and shame, but, ironically, there are other weary travelers on this Christian journey who have found healing and strength to share with those of us who are struggling.

Counseling is certainly a viable option, but I caution you to choose a trained, practicing Christian Counselor who has a reputation for actually helping people, not only with their emotional needs, but in their walk with Jesus. In my mind it doesn’t matter how many letters they have after their name, if they don’t bathe their guidance in prayer and lean on the Spirit in every bit of counseling they give, they’re wasting our time.

Personally, I’ve gained greatly from professional Counselors but have also been helped by those who have walked in my shoes and have come out on the other side loving Jesus more and living well as a result. The answer to guilt isn’t simply forgiveness, it’s cleansing of the need to repeat what has caused the guilt in the first place.

If I’m an alcoholic, adulterer, chronic liar, gossip, or a hundred other types of habitual sinner who wants forgiveness, but don’t want to turn from my sin, I’m going down a dead-end path. There is no long-term forgiveness for sin that is not forsaken. The only “cure” for sin is repentance that involves turning from and leaving the life of sin that has us bound, but that can’t be accomplished in the energy of the flesh, it must be empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Jeremiah 2:22 reminds us: “No amount of soap or lye can make you clean. I still see the stain of your guilt. I the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!” The only freedom we’ll ever have is through the cleansing, life-transforming blood of our Savior. He alone forgives, cleanses, fills and empowers us to live free of the shackles of our past. Please put your whole trust in Him today.

Go to The Bridge to God and let Ron Hutchcraft walk you through how you can place your life into the hands of the living Jesus today.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Evangelism

“But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.” (2 Timothy 4:5 NLT)

Evangelism at its core is simply telling others the Good News of who Jesus is, what He has done and is doing for us and is willing to do for them. It seems we try to make it a lot more difficult than it is, but if we just shared consistently in simple, but straightforward ways, the Lord could use us very effectively. Yes, of course, there are things we can learn to make us more effective, but if we just continually allowed the Spirit to alert us to share when the opportunities presented themselves, we’d be champions.

One thing that has helped me, personally, is understanding that evangelism is much broader than what I do in my own life or even in and through the ministries of local churches and Mission’s organizations. Evangelism is a worldwide process that God has set in motion long before any of us were on the scene. The reality is, we’re given the privilege of being a very small part of what He has been doing for centuries but has opened the door of opportunity for us to be His witness in our spheres of influence today.

A question I ask myself and will share with you is simply this: How can I be more effective as Christ’s witness in and among the people with whom I rub shoulders from day to day? What if I’m the last person with whom they speak before they meet Jesus, will something I say point them to Him? Might I have been able to say something meaningful to draw their attention to eternity and help them to see their need of Jesus before it was eternally too late?

Dr. Eric Mason challenges us when he writes: “We don’t need a revival of missionary techniques in evangelism, we need a revival of fervent prayer in our evangelism!” Evangelism begins in prayer. Without prayer there will be no effective outreach or meaningful sharing. The only way we’ll ever be equipped and prepared for pointing anyone to Jesus is if we’re pointed to Him in our own lives, illustrated by our love for His Word and our commitment to daily fellowship with Him in prayer.

Yes, of course, there are those who are especially gifted in sharing the Lord with others, and we can certainly learn from them. Ray Comfort and his Living Waters ministry is filled with helpful and instructional tools and training in reaching our friends and loved ones with the Gospel. He has dozens of handouts and videos that can train and equip if we’re willing to take the time to take advantage of them.

To me what it boils down to is this: do we really care that our friends and loved ones who aren’t saved are dying and headed to a Christless eternity? If we do, we won’t let anything stand in our way of sharing the truth with them, even if it means they shut us out of their lives. My experience has been they won’t, especially if we’re sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading, but that’s often the fear Satan puts in our mind that keeps us from sharing the Lord with them.

The point is simple – we have access to lost people. What are we doing about it? In my neighborhood there are 120 houses representing thousands of people. Every year I hand out invitations to Christmas and Easter services at our church, in addition to other specific notes that I compose telling them about Jesus and how they can personally know Him. I put my name and number on my notes and invite them to reach out to me.

We are without excuse, and I personally believe the Lord will hold us accountable for the people He puts in our spheres of influence. Isn’t it time to step up and hold ourselves accountable to make every effort we can to reach those in our family, our neighborhood, our school, our workplace, our workout centers, our places of recreation, those we meet on doctor’s appointments, and anyplace else the Lord puts us where we have an audience of anyone who might need Jesus?

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Abide In Me

By Rick Cowan

*Today I’m devoting this space to a young photographer who partners with Ray Majoran to spread God’s Word and work through their beautiful photographs. Rick Cowan has shown a particular sensitivity to the Spirit’s leading in his writing today, so, I wanted to share it with you. Blessings, Ed 😊

“Every Friday, I (Ray Majoran) feature another person who is using their artistic talents to glorify God (1 Thessalonians 5:11). I ask them to provide me with an image, along with a paired title and Scripture verse. This week, I’d like to highlight the work of Rick Cowan, who I’ve featured several times before. He writes”:

In John 15, Jesus uses the vivid imagery of a vine and its branches to teach His disciples the kind of relationship He wants with them (John 15:1–5). This picture was not new, however. Jesus deliberately drew on a familiar Old Testament symbol to declare that everything was changing: with His coming, a new spiritual reality had arrived – one that His disciples (and every true believer since) are called to live in every day.

Throughout the Old Testament, God repeatedly described Israel as His vineyard or vine (Psalm 80:8–16; Isaiah 5:1–7; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15:1–8; 17:5–10; 19:10–14; Hosea 10:1). Through the prophets He grieved Israel’s constant rebellion. He had acted as the perfect vinedresser: rescuing them from Egypt, planting them in a rich land, giving them His law, prophets, priesthood, and kings. He did everything possible to make them flourish. Yet the vine only produced wild, sour, worthless grapes (idolatry, injustice, and unfaithfulness), instead of faithfulness born out of love for him (Isaiah 5:2, 7; Jeremiah 2:21).

“Abide In Me” (Rick Cowan) “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

When Jesus stepped onto the scene, He came not only to die as the perfect sacrifice but to live as the perfect Israelite, the perfect Son, and the perfect worshipper (Matthew 5:17; Romans 5:19). Where national Israel failed again and again, Jesus obeyed perfectly. Where the old vine degenerated and was finally cut down and burned, Jesus, the true vine, bears abundant, lasting fruit in complete submission to His Father (John 15:1–2, 8).

Here is the staggering wonder of the new covenant: everyone who trusts Jesus is grafted into Him, the true vine (Romans 11:17–24; John 15:4–5). Old-covenant Israel stumbled because they tried to produce fruit in their own strength and repeatedly failed. New-covenant believers, however, are united to the One who never failed. His perfect obedience is credited to us; His life flows into us (Romans 8:3–4; Galatians 2:20). We do not strive to become the vine – Jesus already is. We simply remain in Him.

That is why our spiritual lives are now entirely the fruit of union with Christ. He has fulfilled the law for us (Matthew 5:17). He has pleased the Father perfectly on our behalf (John 8:29). He has defeated sin, death, and Satan where we never could (Colossians 2:15). His death atones for our sin; His obedient life now sustains our faith (Romans 5:19; Philippians 1:6). So His gentle command to every branch is the same: “Abide in Me” (John 15:4). Rest in Me. Draw every breath of spiritual life from Me. Stay connected, trust Me, obey Me, love through Me, and you will bear much fruit, the Father will be glorified, and your joy will be full (John 15:5, 8, 11).

Today, hear the voice of the true Vine: you don’t have to manufacture a perfect record – He already has one for you. Simply remain in Him. Abide. Rest. And watch His life produce in you what you could never produce on your own.

Rick Cowan

When Understanding is Hard

“Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.’ ‘Don’t you understand yet?’ Jesus asked. ‘Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. But the words you speak come from the heart – that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.’” (Matthew 15:15-20 NLT)

If we’ve walked with the Lord for very long the words above seem common sense to us, but so many other words of Scripture continue to be a mystery. But life is compounded by things that happen in the world and in our lives that are literally beyond our comprehension. Where are the words that can possibly explain the senseless death of an 11-year-old boy due to road rage?

How can we stretch our hearts and minds to even begin to think God’s thoughts as he helps a parent to understand a loss of that magnitude? How could a parent or grandparent cope with such a profound loss? Is God to blame for allowing it to happen? How does anyone begin to gain understanding and a proper perspective?

As a rule we, as human beings, respond first with our emotions, then, often after much time has passed, we begin to use our minds to actually think through what happened and why. Is there ever justification for such actions? It’s doubtful, but at least when the proverbial “dust settles,” tempers are calmed, and facts gathered, then at least some measure of sense can be gleaned.

But what if no other human is involved? What if the storm that rocks our world is an accident, illness, or incident that is brought about by something we have done or by an act of God? Ray Majoran gives us insight when he prayed: “Please teach us to wait without fear, and to remember that faith is not built on what we understand but on who You are.” (See Home Beneath the Light – 11-03-25)

The fog of doubt and misunderstanding are never lifted until we remember who the Lord is and recognize that nothing happens without His knowledge and consent. So, the logical question then becomes, why would the Lord allow such senseless (at least to us) things to happen? And please understand that this is far beyond my ability to make sense of except as I know and understand who God is.

Everything He allows has purpose, thus, even something that seems completely random to us can have purpose for those who are directly involved and who are affected by the outcomes. What if one person, as a result of hearing of this senseless, road rage shooting decides to never let another driver’s inappropriate driving bother them.

Or what if someone decides it’s just not worth the risk to carry a gun in their car or otherwise; especially a young person who has very little emotional maturity with which to make wise decisions? What if a major loss like that opens the way for that family’s hearts and minds to be opened to the Lord in ways they’ve never been opened before? Or opens the door for Jesus-lovers to surround them with love, compassion, and kindness they’ve never experienced in their lives?

The Lord is not limited in the ways He can use tragedy for good, especially if His people will be alert and sensitive to His leading in these tragic occurrences.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Feeling Overwhelmed?

“Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly. Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.” (James 3:1-2 NLT)

It’s amazing how many lives are ruined by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. How many inappropriate relationships are started either online or in person by responding positively to an invitation we should clearly delete, avoid, or reject? The course of countless husbands’ and wives’ lives are changed forever because of falling prey to invitations that led to tragic results.

Thinking “no one will ever know,” quickly becomes, “how could I have ever done that?” While the event may last only a brief time, the consequences hang on, sometimes, for a lifetime. Of course, God will forgive quickly and completely, but our spouse’s and others’ forgiveness may not come so quickly, causing us heartache and pain for many years.

These types of circumstances can be overwhelming, leaving us lost, lonely, and feeling forgotten. Francis Chan’s words help us when he writes: “Don’t get overwhelmed by how much time you have already wasted, and don’t dwell too long on past mistakes. Just take the next step. And keep the end in view.”

In my own life it’s taken a long time to begin to allow the Spirt to shift my thinking from condemnation to forgiveness, from punishment to promise, and from despair to hope and expectation. When we fail it seems on some levels our life, at least the life we’d hoped for, has ended. The future is gray at best and filled with pain and heartache. How can ANYTHING EVER BE THE SAME? And the truth is, it won’t be, but in some ways it can actually be better.

Part of the healing process begins when we realize that time doesn’t heal, Jesus does. Time can pass without any significant changes for years, but finding forgiveness from the Lord and allowing Him to begin the healing process speeds up the process exponentially.

The woman at the well (John 4) was caught in a spiral of debilitating defeat until she met Jesus in an unexpected place, in an unexpected way. Overwhelmed would have put it mildly when trying to describe the deep hole she’d dug with her life. She saw no way out and certainly no happy ending. Yet, Jesus set her on a new course that changed everything for her and can change everything for you.

Perhaps you profess faith in Christ, but your faith has left you empty, spent, and in great need of a touch from God. The woman at the well had faith in God, but it paled in comparison to what Jesus was offering – a new, revitalized, energized, and refreshing life of hope.

Will you allow the living “water” of the Holy Spirit to fill, empower, and enable you to begin again to walk in newness of life you’ve never imagined. It’s a faith adventure that begins the moment you say “yes” to the Lord. Open your heart to Jesus and invite Him to reign and rule in your life, opening opportunity for you to experience a new beginning, free from the shackles of past mistakes and regrets.

Build a new life with the Lord that will give you revitalized faith, not only in Him, but in yourself. The Lord is not finished with you, just as He wasn’t finished with me and millions more like us, He wants to take you by the hand and walk with you every step of the way. Go to The Bridge to God by clicking the link and let Ron Hutchcraft walk you through how to begin your new journey of hope and new life in Jesus.

Please don’t ignore this opportunity for a new, fresh start.

Blessings, Ed 😊

God the Father

“For at just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. He alone can never die, and He lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach Him. No human eye has ever seen, nor ever will. All honor and power to Him forever! Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15-16 NLT)

It’s interesting to me that while God is clearly referred to as Father only 11 times in the Old Testament, He’s mentioned hundreds of times in the New Testament, mostly from the mouth of Jesus. We want to think of God as our heavenly Father, which He certainly is, but He’s not “warm and fuzzy” like a human father.

Trying to wrap your arms around God is a little bit like trying to wrap your arms around the sun. His brilliance is beyond the ability of a human to approach or even look upon Him. Even in Revelation, which speaks of things to come in heaven, God the Father is only referred to a few times and only in the context of His being the Father of Jesus.

So, are we to assume, like so many unbelievers do, that God is distant, uncaring, uninvolved? Only if we don’t understand who Jesus is and Who He came to us to reveal. Sinclair B. Ferguson wrote: “God the Father is absolutely, completely, and totally to us what he reveals himself to be to us in Christ.” Through the lips of Jesus in John 3:16 we get a glimpse of God our Father when Jesus said: “For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

In heaven God’s presence will encompass us and Jesus will continue to be our eternal Light, just as they are on earth. Does this mean we can no longer think of God as personal, caring, invested in our well being as His children? Of course we can, He’s all of those things and a thousand more, all illustrated and confirmed in the Person and work of Jesus His eternal Son.

How does that translate for us? In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus let us know that WE ARE the light of the world! We are the bearers of His eternal light as surely as the Sun shines with the brightness of our Heavenly Father. God’s presence is as real as the air we breathe, and His love is as strong as the nails that held His Only Son to the Cross on our behalf.

In reality we don’t yet have the capacity to even begin to comprehend who God is or what He has planned for those who love and serve Him. We gain insight in the teachings of Jesus and through His words in the Revelation, but our crowded, clouded minds must strain to even grasp a brief glimpse. All I know with certainty is that God is real, He’s alive, evidenced by His creation, certainly, but through His eternal Son who lives in each of His redeemed persons in and through the ministry of His Holy Spirit.

So, the question remains, is God your heavenly Father? Has Jesus become your eternal Savior? Are you longing for a joy-filled union with the Lord Jesus upon His Second Coming to claim His Bride, His Church? Or are you dreading that day, uncertain of where you stand with God, or worse, very certain you’re not ready to meet Him.

Please click this link The Bridge to God and let Ron Hutchcraft walk with you through how to know for sure that you’re ready to meet the Lord and to go to heaven when you die.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Who Can You Trust?

“Jesus gave His life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.” (Galatians 1:4-5 NLT)

As a rule, trust is not something we take for granted but must be earned through life’s experiences. We learn to trust someone’s work ethic because they’ve proven themselves trustworthy over time. We entrust our secrets to people we’ve come to believe will not share them with others.

The Lord Jesus has proven He is trustworthy, not only through His sinless life, but through His sacrificial death He died in our place. Our sin, our determination to manage and run our own lives, has earned us a death penalty we couldn’t have ever paid, not even in eternity. That’s what Hell is, our eternal effort to pay the penalty for our own sin.

We tend in this life to ignore the gravity of our sin, choosing rather to believe it’s not a big deal. Yet, in God’s eyes, it’s an enormous violation of His holiness. Our sin is what cost His only Son, Jesus, His life, so He’s certainly not going to ignore our ongoing violations of His directive for us to repent and be saved from our sin.

It’s ironic on many levels that most people don’t even think of how they live as “sinful” and in violation of God’s laws. They’re just living like every other person on earth. And to confront them with the truth of God’s Word that we’re sinners bound for hell is an afront to their intellect, in their mind, an archaic pronouncement unworthy of their attention.

Why won’t they listen? Largely, I’m convinced, because they don’t trust the words of their messenger. That’s why establishing friendship with someone before sharing our faith is often a reasonable plan. However, there are dangers involved. You must know your faith is strong enough to withstand their intellectual and often seeming very reasonable arguments against our faith.

Trust is earned over time, so developing friendships can give ample time for not only the person’s position on things to change, but our own. The most convincing argument in my mind is not only who Jesus is, but what He did in our place. Tim Keller wrote: “A God who substitutes himself for us and suffers so that we may go free is a God you can trust.”

Too often people are reluctant to place their faith in Christ and receive forgiveness of their sin because they don’t realize the gravity of their sin-debt. Most people view themselves as a “good” person, undeserving of the harsh judgment of an “angry God,” never realizing that anger isn’t His motive, but love.

Only a loving, compassionate, and caring heavenly Father would allow His only perfect, sinless Son to substitute His life for sinful, undeserving, and belligerent human beings who have rebelled against God and all that is truly good. Anyone who understands who God is and what He did must come to terms with the price He’s paid for our redemption.

Trust is a very small price to pay in return for all that God has done to make it possible for us to miss hell and go to heaven. We can argue all day long about every theological, moral, social, or humanitarian reason hell shouldn’t exist, but God designed it for a very specific reason and has given us a very clear means of missing it if we’ll only allow His Spirit to open our hearts and minds and give us the gumption to receive the gift of eternal life He’s offering. If only we’ll trust Him.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Grace in the Ruins

“He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.” (Psalm 147:3 NLT)

Many of us have had losses caused by divorce, death, and disappointments of many kinds that have left our hearts and lives in shambles. The ruins left in the wake of tragedies can leave us reeling, often wondering where God is and if we’ll ever be able to survive our great loss.

Sometimes, depending on our part in the process, we may feel such guilt, shame, and an overwhelming sense of responsibility that it seems God could never forgive us, that we’ve somehow pushed beyond the limits of His grace. That’s very much how I felt after my divorce. Perhaps it’s how you feel right now because of some tragedy in your life.

“Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com” “Grace in the Ruins”

As you know, I’ve come to love, respect, admire, and deeply appreciate Ray Majoran and his insightful prayers and beautiful photography. His words today bring comfort when he prays: “Lord, You are near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18), and You do not turn away from places that have fallen apart. When parts of our lives resemble ruins — when plans fail, relationships strain, hopes collapse, or the weight of the world feels too heavy — You remain present. Thank You that Your compassion is not dependent on our strength. You meet us in the places we would rather avoid, and You draw near where our endurance runs out (Isaiah 57:15).

By the power of Your Word and Spirit, teach us to trust that You heal what we cannot repair. Some wounds are too deep for our efforts, too tangled for our wisdom, or too old for us to untie, yet nothing is too broken for Your hands. In seasons of stillness, when You quiet our pace and slow our steps, help us to see what You are revealing. Remind us that Your grace reaches deeper than the ruins themselves, bringing beauty where something has ended and hope where disappointment has settled (Isaiah 61:3).

Father, thank You that Your purposes do not collapse when our plans do; the ruins are not the end of the story. Even when our familiar paths give way, You remain faithful, opening up our eyes to things we could not see before (Isaiah 43:19). Strengthen our confidence in Your character, not in our circumstances. Teach us to wait on You with humility and trust, believing that what You rebuild is better than what we lost (Isaiah 58:12), and that Your faithfulness will outlast every season we face.”

The Lord met me in the deepest, darkest point of my life, reassuring me that while in my mind I’d lost everything, I hadn’t lost Him, and He was all I needed! He’s all you need, my friend, in this season of great pain. He will comfort, strengthen, and sustain you in ways you won’t understand, but grow to appreciate.

The Lord’s love can’t be contained with words, ideas, or emotions, but must be liberated to allow Him to do what only He can do in, through, and on our behalf. If you’ve never opened your heart to the Lord Jesus, now would be a great time to do that. Just go to Ron Hutchcraft’s The Bridge to God, and let him walk you through how you can know your sins are forgiven and your life is on track with God.

The grace of God is incomprehensible on an intellectual level, but when we open our heart and life to Jesus, He gives us insight that enables us to allow our heart to heal and our life to blossom in ways we never dared dream possible. Please let Him love you through the ruins of your life.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊