Walking With Jesus

A Life of Substance

“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6-7 NLT)

Substance speaks to the essence of something, the fundamental or essential quality or elements that comprise whatever it is, whether a speech or a life. Considering the above verses, what can we glean from the words of Paul that can guide us in the formation of a life of substance in and for the Lord Jesus?

Notice first, that a life of substance demands accepting“Christ Jesus as your Lord.” What does that mean? What might that look like in practical terms? Think of a wedding between a man and a woman deeply in love and fully committed to one another. There lifelong determination is to grow in their love and devotion to one another “’til death do us part!” That’s what “accepting Jesus as Lord” looks like.

Acceptance here carries with it the weight of responsibility to be accountable as well as devoted to another. Our life is no longer simply about us, it’s about investing our life in the wellbeing of another, and, more specifically, that one whose life we will influence for the Lord. What does that involve? It implies partnership with the Lord in learning, growing, and developing as a child of God. Learning to love others as we love ourselves and Him.

It means becoming a student of the Lord Jesus, but also a student of His holy Word, both of which involve community and co-learning, as well as individual study. A life of substance is never developed in a vacuum, but in the context of a godly community of faith in Jesus. That’s what following Him looks like. Partnering with others to grow in our likeness of Him.

Yes, of course, we follow Him individually in the formation of godly disciplines like prayer, reading and studying Scripture, worship and celebration of who Jesus is and who we are in Him, but it must also include finding a church body that is centered and focused on helping you develop the character you need to be a person of substance for the Lord. And out of that larger body, we must find and be devoted to a smaller group of like-minded Jesus followers who are also determined to grow in their relationship with the Lord. I love how my friend Ray Majoran words it in his beautiful prayer:

“Holy and faithful God, You are the One who establishes what will endure; every lasting good in our lives comes from Your hand. You are righteous in all Your ways, and worthy of our trust and praise. Build us into a people who love what is upright, and who walk in reverent fear before You, because unless You build the house, those who build it labor in vain (Psalm 127:1).

Form in us the kind of hearts that produce a life of substance, so that our words, choices, and relationships rest on the wisdom that comes from You. Help us to be rooted and established in Christ (Colossians 2:6-7). Give us the grace to receive Your Word deeply, like those who hear it and put it into practice, whose house stands firm when the storm comes (Matthew 7:24–25).

May our homes, our witness, and our daily conduct reflect the stability that comes from belonging to You. By the power of Your Spirit, keep us faithful over time — sincere in private, and steadfast in public — so that what we build would honor Your name and remain by Your mercy long after we are gone.”

Food for thought,

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Crumbling Sham of Trans Medicine

By: John Stonestreet and Glenn Stanton

*This timely message from the Colson center needs to be read, understood, and shared broadly, as too many unsuspecting young people are getting swallowed up in this madness. Blessings, Ed 😊

Trans activists loudly claim that medicalizing gender confused youth is “settled science” and saves lives. This is meant to shut down any doubt or debate on this critically important topic.

Thankfully, a few undeterred scholars are asking important questions and demonstrating just how false trans activists’ claims really are.

An impressive new Finnish study, published in the Swedish academic journal Acta Paediatrica, is extending the damning conclusions of the UK’s 2024 Cass Review. The report was unequivocal in concluding that the so-called “settled science” of trans medicine “is an area of remarkably weak evidence” and the “reality is that we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.”

The new Finnish study provides the “good evidence.” Its findings on long-term outcomes, based on extremely strong data sets, don’t bode well for trans activists’ overconfident claims. Finland’s government-run medical system has an extremely rigorous tracking system containing detailed medical and psychiatric records on all citizens dating back to 1994. Drawing from this, the study conducted an analysis of every patient under 23 who attended Finnish gender identity clinics from 1996 to 2019 and compared them with a matched control group.

This means their study population is uniquely comprehensive—it analyzed the entire gender treatment patient population in the country for years and years. Other studies have only included those who chose to take part, seriously undermining the validity of their claims. The Finnish school system also regularly screens students for mental health disorders. It consists of two timeframes: 1996 to 2010, and 2011 to 2019, the time when those “trans identity” numbers started exploding in many countries, likely from social contagion.

So, what did this comprehensive Finnish study find? It’s a pretty direct conclusion: The whole basis of transgender ideology and practice is wrong. As the study revealed, “Gender-referred adolescents showed significantly higher psychiatric morbidity than controls,” and severe psychiatric morbidity increased substantially in two-plus year clinical follow-ups. Those who sought gender services in the second, larger cohort “had greater psychiatric needs than earlier cohorts.”

In fact, these medical researchers state,

Among adolescents who underwent medical gender reassignment, psychiatric morbidity increased markedly during follow-up—rising from 9.8% to 60.7% in feminizing gender reassignment and from 21.6% to 54.5% in masculinizing gender reassignment.

They add,

After adjusting for prior psychiatric treatment, all gender-referred adolescents had similarly elevated risks of psychiatric morbidity, with hazard ratios approximately three times higher than female controls and five times higher than male controls.

These findings directly challenge the assumption that gender transition is a natural, harmless occurrence and that taking sex-rejecting hormones and cutting off healthy body parts benefits patients. In fact, the researchers bluntly confess, “This does not support the suggested improvement in mental health after medical GR [gender reassignment].”

Thus, this research supports previous conclusions that those struggling with gender confusion suffer from other serious parallel psychological comorbidities. A group of Austrian scholars explained in the Archives of Sexual Behavior in 2025 that “gender dysphoric adolescents presenting to specialized gender identity services experience varying degrees of co-occurring mental health problems.”

They note that 71% of such patients suffer from moderate- to high-distress psychopathology (48% and 23% respectively) while only 29% suffer at low-distress levels. Most of these patients (77%) enjoyed high levels of social support in the midst of their struggles, belying another tired line of gay/trans rhetoric.

This Finnish study confirms that gender confused patients aren’t otherwise healthy people simply born in the wrong body, and if we just give them what they say they need, all will be well. Doing so actually appears to make things worse.

The Finnish research team, working from the same stellar population sample, also reported two years ago in the British Medical Journal that the “Main predictor of mortality in this population is psychiatric morbidity, and medical gender reassignment does not have an impact on suicide risk.” The Cass Review came to the same conclusion: “Tragically deaths by suicide in trans people of all ages continue to be above the national average, but there is no evidence that gender-affirmative treatments reduce this.”

The manipulative claims of trans activists continue to crumble, thanks to carefully done science by honest researchers.

The Ultimate Killer (Part 2)

“Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword. ‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Your enemies will be right in your own household!’ If you love your father or mother more than you love Me, you are not worthy of being Mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than Me, you are not worthy of being Mine. If you refuse to take up your cross and follow Me, you are not worthy of being Mine. If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for Me, you will find it.” (Matthew 10:34-39 NLT)

To me these are some of the most disturbing words of Jesus and can be easily misunderstood if taken out of context. My sense is we can see and understand these verses most clearly in light of what I was seeking to share in yesterday’s article. The ultimate killer of our spiritual life and ultimately our relationship with Jesus isn’t anything or anyone outside ourselves, it’s our perception of the role those things or people play in us getting what we want.

So, the logical question becomes: “What do you or I truly want?” Or, unfortunately, like Judas, “What do we THINK we want?” Judas thought he wanted money. He thought if he could get what he had coming to him, his “fair share”, he’d be happy, but the value of what He gave up was not to be compared and he ultimately understood that. But rather than seek forgiveness, he took matters into his own hands and sent himself into a Christless eternity.

Unfortunately, that’s what millions of would-be Jesus followers are doing to themselves today. We’re choosing ourselves and our wants and desires over our devotion to the Lord Jesus. It’s not that we don’t love Jesus, it’s that He just gets in our way sometimes in getting what WE want. That’s what Jesus was addressing in the verses above.

Sometimes our “goal” as a Jesus follower isn’t to do His will, but to get Him to do our will. We want a spouse, family, job, new house, car, or a thousand other things. What better way to get our way than to “pray about it.” Sounds “spiritual” enough, but what’s out motivation. Ultimately, when we’re honest, those things aren’t desires we believe will bring us closer to Jesus, they’re things that will satisfy us and, we reason, will make us happier.

The fact is, NOTHING! No THING or PERSON can MAKE US HAPPY! Happiness isn’t the result of anything external; it only grows out of our intimacy with Jesus that changes how we see and sense things from the inside out. That’s why so many very wealthy people kill themselves, because ultimately, always getting OUR way is Satan’s plan for our destruction. That’s what Satan was trying to give Jesus when he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world – everything the world had to offer! But, gratefully, the Lord said “NO!” and we must also.

But here’s the irony. We don’t want it “ALL,” we just want what we want, but Satan never satisfies that desire, he only fuels it, so we want more, and more, and more. Until we, like Jesus, come to terms with the devil and settle that in our heart and mind once and for all, we’ll always be constantly seeking for what we’ll only find in Jesus. Until HE IS our ALL-IN-ALL, then, as Judas tragically discovered, nothing of this world will ever satisfy our heart’s desires and our soul’s eternal need.

The ultimate killer of our soul isn’t “out there”, in another person or thing, it’s “in HERE!” It’s in our own heart and mind, it’s what we believe will satisfy our deep longings. But here’s the kicker – we will never fully know what that is until we meet and find our full satisfaction in Jesus. The better we get to know and love Him; the greater measure of intimacy we have with Him, the greater our level of satisfaction in knowing there’s nothing this world can offer that will truly satisfy like knowing, loving, and giving our life in pursuit of serving our Savior Jesus. I don’t need or want my way. I only want what He wants for me. How about you?

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Ultimate Killer

“Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, and he went to the leading priests and captains of the Temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them.” (Luke 22:3 NLT)

Judas’ problem, as ours, isn’t that he didn’t love Jesus, he just loved himself more.

The Lord showed me this in an odd way today when my dogs, whom I love dearly, annoyed me so much by simply doing what dogs do, by barking. And some who have dogs may respond, “But barking dogs DO get annoying.” And I agree, but here’s the truth the Lord is showing me – what makes the difference between letting the dogs do what they do, correcting them or quieting them down, then moving on, or allowing them to annoy me and get under my skin, affecting how I view the rest of my day?

Photo by u0418u0432u0430u043d u0412u0430u0441u044eu0447u043au043eu0432 on Pexels.com

Therein lies the problem that led Judas to allow Satan to lead him into making the most severe misjudgment of anyone’s life EVER – to betray Jesus! Yet, we can fall prey to the same strategy of the enemy multiple times a day. How so? The most significant issue with which we wrestle each day isn’t “what will I do with Jesus?” It’s “what will I do with ME?”

My foul mood wasn’t brought on by the behavior of my dogs; it was brought on by my inappropriate response TO their behavior. Judas didn’t suddenly stop believing in everything he’d heard Jesus teach, he got mad because Jesus made some decisions with which he didn’t agree that made him angry. Why? Because they weren’t the same decisions he would have made or more to the point, that he wished Jesus had made.

Remember Matthew 26:7-9 where Matthew records: “While He (Jesus) was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over His head. The disciples were indignant when they saw this. ‘What a waste!’ they said. ‘It could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.’”

Who might you have expected to lead the other disciples in their “indignant” response? How can I be so sure Judas was upset by this? Because three verses later Matthew records Judas went to make arrangements to betray Jesus. He might have thought his indignation was justified, that the money could have legitimately been used to help the poor, and he could have made a reasonable argument that he was right to think that. However, he forgot two very important facts.

First, NOTHING when given with a sincere heart and for the sole purpose of honoring, exalting, and glorifying Jesus is being misappropriated or misspent, not even the giving of our own lives. But secondly, he forgot to get his own greedy heart out of the way before making that judgment. His concern wasn’t for the poor, it was for himself (John 12:6).

How like Judas we become when we allow our own personal preferences to stand in the way of showing genuine love, sympathy, empathy, and concern to those we love. They become as little “building blocks” of resentment that build, not because someone does something specifically against us, it’s that we take it personally because it feels like its against us. Simple things like how we/they load the dishwasher, put the toilet paper on the roller, warm things in the microwave, hang clothes on hangers, how others drive, and a thousand other little things over time build such resentment in us we draw conclusions and make decisions that have become blown way out of proportion, but by then the devil has us and we’re standing on the threshold of denying Christ!

Let’s look at this more closely in tomorrow’s article.

Blessings, Ed 😊

How Much Do You Love Jesus?

“After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?’” (John 21:15 NLT)

A few days ago, I mentioned a scenario where a beautiful young woman interviewed several young men, finally asking the last among her options: “Would you still marry me if you knew you would never be able to have sex with me?” Why would I use an illustration like that? Because sex is arguably the most powerful force in a young man’s heart and thoughts and a motivating factor on many levels. Sex is a motivating factor in nearly everyone’s life.

Do you not realize there would be no pornography, sexual solicitation, sex trafficking of minors and others if there weren’t those willing to pay thousands of dollars for those services. But at what cost? The ruination of thousands of young people, even children’s lives? But society’s attitude seems to be “Who cares if it can generate a big income and meet a ‘need?’” But why does that “need” exist? SIN!

The lusts of the flesh are the insatiable appetites of sinful humanity that take the place of God or anything else that gets in their way of having what their lustful desires demand. Why do I even bring these horrific things up? Because unless and until we settle in our own heart and mind what motivates us and to what we’ll pledge our allegiance, we’d better not be too bold about proclaiming that Jesus owns our heart.

What rules our time, money, and thought life owns our heart. Period! End of story. Frame it in any kind of religious jargon you desire, but if Jesus is first, it will show up in those three areas. The question Jesus asked Peter is the same question each of us must ask and answer: “do you love Me more than these?” To whom or what was Jesus referring?

The other disciples who had become like family to him? Peter was sitting on the shoreline where his fishing boat and equipment were nearby. Was it fishing, as his livelihood, to which Jesus was referring? No doubt Peter was reliving the night when he blatantly denied even knowing who Jesus was, what was he loving most that night? Himself? Was Peter’s fear still a factor in deciding to whom he’d pledge his life’s allegiance? But those aren’t really the issues with which WE must deal are they?

The real question before each of us, of course, is “Who or what do I love more than Jesus?” Whatever “these” represents for us, that thing or those things must bow before the Lordship of Jesus or our heart, mind and soul will continue to pay them homage. Do I love my family and friends more than Jesus? How about my job, occupation, whatever I do for a living? Money? Sex? My lifestyle? My hobbies? Sports? Video games or my series on Netflix or Prime or ?? Is pornography my first “love” or alcohol, drugs, or my vape pipe? Whatever occupies your time and on which you spend your money that distracts you from giving Jesus your all, your everything, then it needs to take its proper place behind Him. If those distractions are being done in contradiction to the clear instruction of God’s Word, they need to go entirely. You can’t serve two masters.

What does that mean? If it’s sinful and clearly robbing you of your life in Christ you must turn from it. If you’re involved in immorality in whatever form it may rear its ugly head: lust, pornography, homosexuality, adultery or emotional affairs or in any other way putting the satisfaction of your sexual needs ahead of obedience to the Lord, submission to His authority, and living in conformity to His holy Word, then you have a choice to make – Jesus or your sin! You can’t hold onto both.

The Bible is clear that to love and follow Jesus is to choose a hard path, a path filled with hard choices, every one of which will either draw us closer to Him or push us further away. Peter made his choice! After a life of devoted service, he chose to be crucified upside down rather than dishonor his Lord by being crucified in the same manner as his Lord. It likely won’t come to that for you and me, but death for our faith is a very real possibility for any Jesus follower in the day in which we now live. If you’re faking your life in Christ, you’d better be careful. Somebody might think you’re serious and kill you. Then where would you be?

If you love Him, live like it. If you don’t, walk away, and stop pretending. There’s no middle ground.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Who Is a Believer In Christ (Part 2)

“Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow Me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” (John 8:12 NLT)

As you may be aware, this is the verse that follows the verse with which we closed yesterday’s post. Immediately following verse 11, where Jesus told the woman caught in the very act of adultery to “Go and sin no more,” He shared the words in the verse at the top of this page. Light illuminates darkness, clearly meaning, to walk in light allows us to no longer be bound by the darkness, but therein lies the rub: we tend to love darkness more than light.

Jesus explains this in John 3:16-21: “For God love 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. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

Photo by BOOM ud83dudca5 Photography on Pexels.com

Now, the plot thickens because, like the man who committed love to the young woman for life without sex in yesterday’s post, finds that life without sex, especially when you’re in the arms a woman you love, is nearly impossible. The ONLY way to accomplish that is by the power of God. Here’s the clencher, sin to a human being is as irresistible as sex to a young person, it’s humanly impossible NOT to do without the presence of almighty God enabling you to avoid it.

Similarly, how can we avoid sin, which is humanly impossible NOT to do? Walk in the Light of Christ! Seems simple enough, and it is, but it’s not easy. Loving Jesus doesn’t take away our bent to sin; our desire to sin can be just as strong as it’s ever been, but the only way to avoid sin is to learn to love Jesus more than we love our sin. We learn to love the Light more than the darkness. That’s the choice Jesus made when He was tempted and it must be the choice we make when we’re tempted. Our love for Jesus must overpower our love of ourselves and the sin that so easily attracts us.

Now, I can “hear” someone thinking: “You mean to tell me that you (me) never sin?” And I would have to admit, “No,” I do sin, but never as a habit. I do sin when I treat my wife or someone else in a manner that would not be pleasing to the Lord, or ponder inappropriate thoughts, but the second I realize what I’m doing or have done, I repent, confess my sin, and turn from it. The key is not allowing ourselves to downplay it and pretend it doesn’t matter or it’s just being human, or worse, allowing it to become a habit, at which point it becomes even more dangerous.

In essence, that’s exactly what it is, Being Human, but as a child of God, we’re no longer afforded the luxury of living as a mere human being. As a child of God, we’ve been transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2) so, we have no excuse for pretending we’re still thinking, acting, and living with our old mind. We’re the butterfly set free from the cocoon, never again to be bound by it. That’s the picture Paul paints in 2 Corinthians 5:17.

We can quibble about words and concepts all day, but the proof is in the proverbial pudding. When we stand before the Lord to give an account of our lives, my sense is He’s not going to be interested in what we believe, He’ll be more interested in how we lived BASED ON what we professed to believe.

As believers committed to the Lordship of Jesus, not based on what we say we believe or even what WE THINK we believe, it’s based on our resultant walk of obedience to the Lordship of Jesus. How closely did we live to Him and how closely did we live to the world? Ultimately, it’s His call, but I believe, at least to me, the Lord has made our options crystal clear. Love and serve Him alone or choose to live and serve someone or something else.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Who Is a Believer in Christ?

“As Jesus was walking along, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow Me and be My disciple.’ Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed Him.” (Matthew 9:9 NLT)

People often wonder what it meant or what it might look like today for someone to respond like Matthew did. I can give you a very good idea what it might look like. Let’s say you’re a young 20’s something single man and an attractive young woman strolls up to you and says: “Follow me and I will teach you what marriage is all about!”

Some may immediately jump at the chance simply because she’s attractive and, depending on their frame of reference, they may think she might be an easy mark for sex. But, after a brief conversation, they learn she’s not looking for a one-night stand, but a lifetime companion. That would rule out many; however, some would still want to pursue her.

Then she would tell them: “I want a man who will love and serve Jesus, loving Him more than he loves me, but still loving me as the Bible outlines. Loving me as Christ loved His Church, sacrificially, willing to lay your life down, not only for me, but for Jesus.”

That would weed out most of the rest; however, a few would hang around still seeing in her something worth fighting for. “But here’s the clincher,” she would explain, “I have a physical condition that prevents me from ever having sex. Are you willing to love me without having sex with me?” I’m not aware of many young men on the planet who would agree to that, though I pray there are some, but as a married man who also loves Jesus, I understand it perfectly.

My wife is now 75 and, believe it or not, doesn’t look exactly like she did when we met, more than 35 years ago; however, may I quickly add, she’s more beautiful to me now than she’s ever been. How can I say that? Because I didn’t marry just her beautiful body, I married her soul, the beautiful person she is at the core of her being. That’s what a lot of young men don’t understand about women and what most people don’t understand about Jesus.

Many religious people, when they hear “eternal security,” they hear, “I can make a profession of faith in Jesus, then live as I please and still go to heaven.” That may not be what they would “say,” but it’s what many of them “live”. I’m a strong proponent of eternal security, not because I’m looking for loopholes, but because I now understand exactly what it means and what it doesn’t mean. And the key to my knowledge of what eternal security means is an understanding of what sin is and why it’s so critically important in our walk with the Lord.

Sin, according to Scripture, isn’t a slip up, it’s breaking a known commandment of the Lord. It’s knowing what to do and choosing, making the willful choice not to do it. It’s “missing the mark,” which doesn’t necessarily mean we aim for the target, but miss, it means we too often aim at the wrong target. We’re too lax when it comes to sin. The biggest issue with sin is that it keeps us focused on everything BUT Jesus and His will. We’re more focused on hitting the target of pleasing ourselves than pleasing God.

In John 5 Jesus told the lame man whom He’d healed, who was acting in a way that was clearly dishonoring to Jesus: “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” And In John 8 when He saved the life of the woman “caught in the very act of adultery,” He didn’t tell her to slow down her sinning or to be more cautious WHEN she was sinning. No, He told her, “Go and sin no more.”

I hope you’re beginning to understand where I’m going with this, but I can’t stop here. Isn’t this essentially the adventure Jesus was inviting Matthew to embark on? The adventure of leaving sin and following Jesus? Let’s pick this up in tomorrow’s post.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

From the Backseat to the Battlefield

By Ron Hutchcraft

*Please allow these challenging words by Ron Hutchcraft to move you into action for the Lord’s honor and fame. Blessings, Ed 😊

Ever since I was little I’ve been fascinated by the American Revolution, and I always wanted to see Concord Bridge, where it sort of all began. You know, the shot heard around the world? By the time I got there, I had two little boys of my own who were not fascinated by the American Revolution. I wanted to spend a while at Concord Bridge, imagining those Colonial farmers descending and the Red Coats stepping up to the bridge in their rigid formation.

Unfortunately my sons were not interested in all of that. I tried to tell them the story; yawn! Come on, this is vacation. Who cares about history, right? One last idea. I got their tricorn hats that we bought them and we got some sticks for them to use as muskets. I made them the Americans and I played Red Coat. So they came charging across one side of the Concord Bridge. I went running away from them. I eventually ended up fatally wounded. And when we were done they said, “Let’s do it again, Daddy!” Of course they won every time. They became interested, but not until they had a part.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “From the Backseat to the Battle.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 20:6-7. Jesus is telling a story about a man who needs help at harvest time. He’s gone out three times during the day to get more and more help. And finally, he goes out near the end of the working day, and it says this: “About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.'”

There’s an urgent job to be done! Harvest time passes fast; you’ve got to get to it. There’s only a few days to make it all happen. Big job – urgent job with not enough help. Men standing around? Why? Because they said they didn’t have a job to do. So Jesus says here basically there’s a job for everyone in the harvest; the harvest of human hearts.

See, a lot of church folks are like my sons at Concord Bridge. You hear the facts about the battle. You hear stories of what other people have done to reach people, but you’re not playing any active part. You’re just watching.

Actually, God doesn’t intend to have any of His kids just be spectators. This is a war with life-or-death stakes going on. He wants you out of the stands and into the game. Maybe your Christianity is kind of gray and boring. And it is until you get a mission, not just hear about people with a mission.

You need a job to do for Jesus, and you can be sure He’s got one. You’re surrounded by work He needs done. There are boys who need you. There are girls who need you to reach out to them. There are senior citizens who are lonely and need to hear about Christ in their few remaining years. There are teenagers maybe you could connect with. There are homeless people. There are Christian workers who are buried in administrative detail and you could help relieve them for the work that only they can do. You are urgently needed somewhere I’ll tell you.

When you get a mission, when you get a piece of the action, your faith comes alive. You read the Bible with a new appetite, you pray with a new intensity, and you listen with a new openness. You can’t just go to church to get filled up and meet your needs. It’s a staging area for God’s rescue operation on earth launched at the cross. It’s a place for God’s soldiers. It’s a place to get ready for the battles that affect people’s eternities.

Christianity seems hollow, meaningless and boring without a personal mission, and you are needed. So don’t just listen to secondhand facts about the battle for human souls and for eternities. Do what my boys did. Grab a musket and run to the battle in Jesus’ name.

Why Our Hearts Grow Cold

“Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. But the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:12-13 BSB)

When someone we know well and respect as a person of God falls or fails, it’s discouraging. It seems Biblical standards are so ignored or disregarded in the modern church when it happens it causes us to wonder “What’s the point? Why make the effort to live a godly, holy life? Who cares anymore?”

The motivating energy behind my continuing efforts to be all the Lord would have me to be is my Savior, the Lord Jesus. He never faltered or failed and HE’S MY EXAMPLE, no one else. Human effort fails and falls short, but the Lord will NEVER FAIL, NEVER LEAVE, AND NEVER FORSAKE!

“Living Water in a Frozen World” “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

He is my fortress in the storm, the Rock onto which I hold tightly, the voice of calm in the midst of the prevailing winds of culture that seek to sway my opinion to something other than the security of my trust in Jesus. Yet, even as I type these words, I realize the enemy is seeking to discourage me because in my efforts to represent Him well, so few seem to have any real interest in the things of God.

Again, that’s only as the Lord revealed it would be. His Word let’s us know the closer we get to the end of time and life on this planet, the harder it will be to be convinced that Jesus is the only way to heaven in light of all the wrong theology that’s being promoted in our world today. And here’s the irony. It’s not the lost people who are rejecting the Lord, it’s the religiously pious who are secure in their own goodness and right standing with God.

Their eternal “security” has been placed in a profession rather than in a Person, and, while they may not realize it or choose to believe it, their cold hearts that have allowed them to drift from the Truth of a moment-by-moment relationship with the Lord, is allowing them to slip from their security in Jesus into a false sense of security in their own goodness.

As Martin Luther points out: “The heart overflows with gladness and leaps and dances for the joy it has found in God…. You will have as much joy and laughter in life as you have faith in God.” Diminishing faith in God results in diminishing joy and gladness in the things of God. To drift from God is to drift from the joy, contentment, satisfaction, and security that only Jesus can give.

No one really doubts that believers drift, doubt, or at times even deny the faith. The only question is, where do these drifting’s end? Most often they lead to a lax view of sin. We too often wrongly assume that since the blood of Jesus paid the penalty for all sin, past, present, and future, let’s sin to our heart’s content because they’re all “paid for;” however, the writer of the Hebrew letter reminds us in Hebrews 10:26-31: “If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice of sins remains, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses, How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified Him and insulted the Spirit of grace?”

We take sin far too lightly, which results in our heart drifting and our soul growing cold to the things of God. Yes, of course, the Lord will forgive us when we sin, but when sin becomes our way of life once we’ve supposedly yielded our lives to Him, there remains no alternative. It’s as if we spit in the Savior’s holy face when we demand our sinful way over His way of holiness and desire to walk with victory over sin as Scripture clearly teaches we can.

The greater measure we yield to sin, the greater measure our hearts will grow cold.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Brighter Way

“The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day.” (Proverbs 4:18 NLT)

Whenever my family and I have moved to a new area we’ve always tried to find a place to live that was East of our work so we would be traveling West to work in the morning, and East home in the evening. Some may wonder: “Why would that even be a concern?” Otherwise, we’re driving with the bright sun in our eyes going to and from work, which is not only aggravating, but also dangerous.

However, in the context of our thoughts today, the rising SON that illuminates our pathway is the light of life that not only helps us see clearly how to live but is also the source of the light in our lives to show the way for those who will follow us.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:31-33: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved. And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.”

Notice the clear reason why it’s so vitally important we not only walk in the Light ourselves but be consciously aware that we are illuminating the way for those who are following us who need to be saved. To try to dart in and out of the Light by trying to live with one foot in the world and the other following Jesus is not only crippling our witness, but harmful to those who are following us. Notice Paul says: “I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.” The salvation of those whom we’re seeking to influence is always our goal.

The principle of “paying it forward” is applicable here, especially as we’re seeking to honor the Lord and influence someone for Him. Someone we help in some way may say something like: “How could I ever repay you for your kindness?” Realizing this can sometimes be a platitude and they have no real interest in paying anyone back for anything, I give them the benefit of the doubt and will often say something like: “Repaying me need not be your concern. What I do I do to honor the Lord Jesus whom I love and serve, so, as He prompts you, do for someone else what He’s allowed and enabled me to do for you.”

Whether it’s money we give or a kindness in helping someone, the brighter way of the Lord Jesus would have us plant two seeds in their mind. First, though the kindness was given by us, it was prompted by the Lord we love and serve. Why is that important? Because the Christian faith isn’t a set of religious beliefs that we hold dear in our heart and mind, it’s following our eternal Leader in accomplishing good works He ordained for us to carry out before the foundation of the world. We’re essentially saying, “Do as I have done for you in following the Lord’s directives as He leads you in helping someone else.”

But, secondly, we’re emphasizing that the good we have done and are asking them to do isn’t to glorify, honor, or gain recognition for ourselves, but to point all glory, honor, and praise to the only One who deserves it, the Lord Jesus Himself. My friend, Ray Majoran, understands this well. Let the words of his helpful prayer bless you as they blessed me.

“Holy Spirit, guide our steps each day so that our lives follow the ways You teach. Give us hearts that are ready to listen, minds that are willing to learn, and courage to walk the path You set before us. Establish our steps in wisdom and faithfulness, because the path of the righteous grows brighter as it leads forward (Proverbs 4:18). May our lives reflect the beauty of Your ways, and may our journey lead others to seek the higher way found in Christ.”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊