Walking With Jesus

A Love Gone Right

“And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.” (Romans 5:5 NLT)

Not being a fan of Country-Western style music, I rarely listen to it; however, when I’m in a restaurant or shop where it’s playing, I’ll sometimes listen to the lyrics. A common theme seems to be either not being able to find love, or the loss of love once held.

What a contrast to the songs of love I find in a Hymnal or the music I hear at church. For example, the words of Frederick M. Lehman (1917) in his hymn The Love of God. Verse one says: “The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell; it goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell. The wand’ring child is reconciled by God’s beloved Son. The aching soul again made whole, and priceless pardon won.” Then the Refrain: “O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure—the saints’ and angels’ song.”

Are you experiencing God’s love in your life today?

When I was a child, I remember how my mom or dad would pull the collar of my coat up tight around my neck to keep me warm from the chill of a winter day. I didn’t see the need for all the fuss until I had children of my own, but now, on a much larger scale, I understand that’s how God’s love makes me feel.

If you search the Scriptures seeking to identify every act of kindness, mercy, generosity, and grace extended to us by God our Father, you’ll find that behind every gesture was His unending love. Even as His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, hung with outstretched arms, suspended between heaven and earth, the message of that Cross shouted across the corridors of time and space: “I LOVE YOU … THIS MUCH!”

Most people today are oblivious to God’s love, but I see evidence of His strong, abiding love on the face and in the life of nearly every person I meet each day. One of the profound mysteries of life to me is the realization that while people aren’t aware of God’s presence with them, God is always aware of their presence with Him.

Does that mean every person is saved? No, of course not. What it means is He is ever present, thus able to be with each of us simultaneously. I didn’t understand or recognize His fingerprints on my life before I became a believer, but looking back, the evidence is unmistakable.

On December 15, 1967, I was traveling home for Christmas break from where I attended school in Indiana to South Charleston, West Virginia where my parents lived. My normal route would have been to cross the Silver Bridge that connected Gallipolis, Ohio and Point Pleasant, West Virginia. I dreaded the delay I would always encounter by the Christmas traffic backed up to get across that two-lane bridge, because I usually got there right around 5:00 p.m.

What’s so special about the Silver Bridge? At 5:00 p.m. on that day it collapsed killing 46 people and injuring scores more. I had just turned 20 a few weeks earlier, and could have been on that bridge, but God took me on another route to take a friend home.

What’s my point? The love of God will sometimes interrupt our routines, our normal routes if you will, because He has other plans for us. One of His plans, that He had for me more than fifty years ago, was for me to write these words on this day for your eyes. He alone knew what you would be going through, and that you would need to read today about how much God loves you. What great lengths, breadths, heights, and depths He has gone to help you understand your need to receive His love into your heart and life today.

Perhaps the heartbreak you feel is causing you to wrongly believe that God has abandoned you. Quite to the contrary, He’s never been closer. His loving arms are enveloping you and His gentle voice is inviting you to trust Him. To believe that He will walk with you through these difficult days and prepare you for an eternal life with Him where you’ll never feel this way again.

A lot of things may seem wrong right now, but His is a love gone right – specifically for you! Please trust Him. If you’re not sure what to say to Him or how to reach out to Him, click on this link. https://hutchcraft.com/the-bridge-to-god

Blessings, Ed 😊

Learning the Hard Way! (Part 2)

“I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” (John 21:18 NLT)

The Lord’s forgiveness is what healed and helped me to cement my will to God’s, enabling me to learn to trust Him and rely on His presence every second of every day. Does that mean I’m never tempted to do wrong or betray Him? No, of course not, but by God’s grace and with His constant presence with me I find strength in Him to overcome.

The above verse is Jesus’ last recorded conversation with Peter and describes the kind of death Peter would experience as a means of glorifying His Savior. He would be crucified upside down because he wouldn’t feel worthy to die in the same manner as His Lord. What kind of love demands that kind of sacrifice?

The same love that nailed the only sinless, perfect Man who ever lived and walked the pathways of planet earth, to a Cross to bear your sin and mine.

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Have you failed Him? I’m not talking about inappropriate language when you stubbed your toe. Have you broken Jesus’ heart with your thoughtless disobedience and betrayal of everything you know is right? Have you knowingly and willfully chosen to follow your desires rather than His? Have you ignored His pleadings to stop, to run, to walk away? I have. And it breaks my heart to think about to this day.

Would it be appropriate to say I’ve learned the “hard way?’ Yes, it would, but the point isn’t how I learned, it’s that I learned. And here’s the critical truth I’m praying you’ll receive – you don’t have to learn the hard way.

Most of the original 11 disciples didn’t have to fail like Peter. Yes, they all ran away, but praise God, they didn’t stay away. They didn’t deny they’d ever known the Lord, they just ran for fear of their lives, which, in hindsight, was God’s plan all along.

Where do you find yourself today? Have you denied ever knowing Jesus? Are you still running, for fear your life will be dramatically changed if you stop? Are you just going through the motions of respectability, hoping you’ll not be noticed as one of His followers? What’s motivating you – fear or faith? Confidence or cowardice? Devotion or denial? Only two people know for sure – you and Jesus!

What’s my point?

If you’re ever going to be effective and fruitful as a Jesus follower you’ve got to make up your mind! You can’t cower in fear living your life as though He doesn’t exist. “Practical Atheism” is what that’s called. It’s saying out of one side of your mouth you’re a “Christian,” but denying Him with your lifestyle – rarely if ever praying, reading His Word, or following His directives.

Yes, you may go to church, even serve, but your heart’s not in it. You’re on the proverbial treadmill of a faithless journey that will end in a place you don’t even want to think about, yet, undeniably, you know it’s true. What are you going to do about it? Will you continue to follow the dictates of your shattered spirit, like Judas? Or will you fall at Jesus’ feet and let Him heal and restore you, like Peter? Like me?

The choice, of course, is yours, but I pray you’ll learn, whether by the hard way, or another way, to just lay it all before the Lord and let Him have His way with you. With all that is within me, I assure you that it’s worth whatever changes you must make to gain forgiveness and a new heart that will guide you into an eternity with the only One whose opinion of you matters. Learn to love and trust Jesus – today!

Blessings, Ed 😊

Learning the Hard Way!

“’No!’ Peter insisted. ‘Even if I have to die with You, I will never deny You!’” (Matthew 26:35a NLT)

Recently, I read about a man who was hit twice by the same train. “How is that even possible?” was my initial response. Apparently, he stood too close to the edge of the platform when the train was coming in and the train mangled his arm – twice!

We shake our head in wonder at a person who would allow that to happen. Yet, unfortunately, it’s all too common in many of our lives. For example, how many people do you know that come out of a nasty divorce and almost immediately jump into another relationship, with even worse results. Or how many times does Satan tempt us to view porn, lust after a person or object, gossip, gamble, lie, cheat, steal, and on and on, and though we’ve sworn a thousand times it will never happen again . . . it does!

Matthew 26:75b paints a vivid picture of us when we succumb AGAIN to the deceptions of the enemy when it says: “And he (Peter) went away, weeping bitterly.”

Regardless of how many times I’ve wished my betrayal of the Lord wasn’t true of me, it is. But, by God’s grace, I pray it will never be again. So, what changed? Nothing in me. I’m still the same weak man I’ve always been, but like Peter, I sought forgiveness and found strength in Jesus, I didn’t otherwise possess.

I’ve often wished I could have been privy to the conversation between Jesus and Peter on the beach after Jesus’ resurrection. In John 21 we read about another time Jesus appeared to His disciples, but this time Jesus was alone on the beach and Peter and six other disciples had been fishing all night but caught nothing. Jesus called out to them, telling them to “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!”

Photo by Pareekshith Indeever on Pexels.com

Of course, they pulled up more fish than they could handle. As a result, John realized it was the Lord and alerted Peter, who immediately jumped into the water and made his way to shore. This was the first time Peter had opportunity to speak with Jesus alone. What do you think they talked about?

In my mind’s eye I see Peter falling at Jesus’ feet, unable to look into His eyes, pleading with the Lord to forgive Him; pledging never to allow his betrayal to happen again – and it didn’t! From that point forward Peter was the key leader, not only among the 11 remaining disciples, but in the early Church. What happened to Peter? How was he able to make such a remarkable turnaround?

The primary insight I have gained is through my own experience as a fallen man. It seems strange on many levels, but we tend to learn more lasting lessons through failure than through success. I know what it’s like to weep bitter tears of regret because of my denial of the Lord. I’ve wallowed in the shallows of self-pity, as I suspect Peter did, only to remain just as defeated and alone.

What changed for me, as I suspect for Peter, was feeling the touch of the Master’s hand on my bowed head as he healed my broken heart. For me, it wasn’t His voice that changed my heart, it was His healing touch.

We can run, like Jonah, or try to hide among our friends, like Peter, but ultimately what’s necessary is falling at our Savior’s feet in worship and submission to His holy authority. I was prepared to be chastised and reprimanded for my flagrant disobedience. I wasn’t prepared for His gentle, loving touch and tender voice as He said to me, “You’re forgiven.”

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

Blessings, Ed 😊

Offense or Defense?

“So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.” (1 Corinthians 9:26 NLT)

My dad boxed in a Y.M.C.A. league when he was in his teens and taught me the fundamentals of boxing when I was a boy. A common expression used in a boxing match is: “styles make fights.” What does that mean? It essentially refers to the way some boxers move, how they punch, what kind of defense they use, are they fast or slow, are they predominantly an offensive or defensive fighter, right or left handed. This information is critical for a boxer to know about their opponent. Why?

Because if you enter a fight expecting the other guy to be passive, laid back, predominantly defensive in style, and he comes at you like a bull in a China shop, it could be a very short fight. What’s my point?

Satan is very crafty, but very predictable. He uses the same “tools” to attack us in virtually every fight. John 10:10 gives us insight into what Satan’s goals are when John writes: The thief’s (Satan’s) purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.”

The context is Jesus speaking regarding His being our good Shepherd. He explains that His sheep recognize His voice and come to Him. Satan is a liar and a thief. He seeks to enter the sheepfold by sneaking in another way in order to steal the sheep, kill them, or destroy them by crippling their ability to hear and or follow their master’s voice.

How does Satan do that? One of his primary tools is deception. When Paul spoke in terms of athletics, he was encouraging us to be prepared. We don’t always know if our devilish opponents will come straight at us or try to sneak up behind us. Whether his attack will be offensive or defensive.

When Muhammed Ali was boxing, one of his tactics was the “rope-a-dope.” He would lean against the ropes and pretend to be hurt, so his opponents would wear themselves out trying to finish him off. But once they were worn out from useless swinging, he’d attack and knock them out.

Satan tries to do a similar thing with us. How? By putting fear or intimidation in our hearts or minds, to deceive us into believing something that isn’t true. Satan is no match for a believer whose faith in Jesus is strong and whose dependence is clearly and fully upon the Lord.

Paul, in Ephesians 6:11 teaches us: “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.” Satan cannot rob us of our salvation, but he can, if we allow it, render us ineffective.

In virtually any sport, the most important muscle we have is our brain. When our mind is steadfast in our dependence upon the Lord and determined to allow His Holy Spirit to fill and empower us in every circumstance, Satan is helpless to defeat us.

A little boy was telling his mom about how sometimes at night, when it was dark in his room, he would get scared. So his mom asked him what he did. “Well,” he said, “when fear knocks on my door, I just ask Jesus to answer it.” That’s sound advice.

In many sports the greatest defense is an effective offense. What does that mean? It basically means be prepared. Read and study God’s Word, pray like your life depends on it, and always know you have at least one “2 a.m.” friend you can call any time of day or night and know they will answer. His name is Jesus.

God is all-powerful. Satan is not. Be sensitive to your Shepherd’s voice and know He has never lost a battle. He’s your best defense regardless of Satan’s fight plan.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Looking Back

“But Jesus told him, ‘Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.’” (Luke 9:62 NLT)

Having grown up in the city, I never experienced what it was like to plow a large field; however, I did till a small area for a garden once. I borrowed a tiller and began to break up the hard, clay soil. It took a while to get the hang of it, but it became obvious very quickly that if I had any hopes of having straight rows for planting, I had to keep my eyes forward.

A similar thing happens when a person joyfully embraces Jesus and begins their pilgrimage of faith, but their faith is an inch deep and a mile wide and soon they get distracted by the things of the world. Rather than keeping their eyes on Jesus and investing themselves in deepening their faith and increasing their fruitfulness, they tire of the journey and fall back into familiar patterns of life.

Like the children of Israel, freshly freed from their enslavement to the Egyptians, they keep looking back to what they remember as, the “good” things they’ve left, and the draw of their past life pulls them back into sin.

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How quickly we forget what drew us to Jesus in the first place. When the walk of faith gets harder than we imagined we soon tire of the disciplines of growing in Christ and fall back into what was “comfortable” and “familiar.”

In the passage above Jesus has invited some men to follow Him, only to be met with excuses. Many across the years in the churches I’ve served have expressed interest in following Jesus, yet never seemed to find the right time.

In John 12, following Jesus’ “Triumphant Entry,” He began to share that the time had come for Him “to enter into His glory,” which meant His time to die was at hand. It was confusing to those who were listening, but the Bible says in John 12:37: “But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in Him.”

The longer we postpone receiving Christ’s invitation to follow Him, the harder it becomes. Statistically, most people who are lifelong followers of Jesus begin their journey by age 18. Those who wait accumulate more and more of the “barnacles” of sin, which makes it harder and harder to keep looking forward and following Jesus closely.

The truth is, salvation from sin and death is a miracle, regardless of your age. The point of this post is to urge you to come to Christ now, whether you’re 18 or 98, because continually looking back with regret, or even pride, will rob you of an opportunity to know forgiveness and the privilege of new life in Christ.

The Lord will redeem your past and use it for your good and His glory. The “glory” of past achievements will fade, and if that’s all you have in your old age, you are among men most to be pitied. Rather than selling yourself to the proverbial “highest bidder,” I implore you to give your life to Jesus and let Him enable you to create treasure in heaven.

This earth and everything in it will one day very soon be burned up and all that will be left are those things which are eternal – our souls and the fruit of our service for Christ – those who have yielded their lives and allegiance to our Savior. This is no time to be looking back. We must keep our eyes on Jesus and keep moving forward to His honor and fame.

Blessings, Ed 😊

What Does Salvation Mean?

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9 NLT)

In yesterday’s post we looked at a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years, that Jesus healed, yet who was obviously not in a right relationship with Jesus.

It caused me to look at myself and many others who attend church regularly, serve in various positions, and jump through all the proverbial “hoops” of living a so-called “Christian” life, yet their life bears little, if any fruit. The man in yesterday’s post (see John 5) had a miraculous experience with Jesus, yet his heart was obviously unchanged.

What does it mean to be saved? What evidence is there that illustrates in and through my life that my heart, mind, and spirit are being transformed by the living God? I’m concerned that many have a long-standing or an emotional experience with God but fail to grasp the far-reaching implications of having an ongoing relationship with Him.

“Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ” “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

Like the man at the pool of Bethesda who had laid there for thirty-eight years, then miraculously been healed by Jesus, many today have an “experience” with Christ that is unforgettable and, on some levels even “miraculous,” yet doesn’t result in the transformation of life and character that should accompany a salvation experience with Jesus. Others seem to believe that their walk with Jesus happened through osmosis. What does that mean?

Often, when I ask how long someone has walked with the Lord, they say something like: “I’ve always believed. Ever since I was a child, I’ve been attending church.” That’s admirable but believing and attending don’t necessarily lead to repentance and submission to the authority of Christ in our lives, which are critical for salvation.

One of my Seminary Professors often said: “A text taken out of context becomes a pretext.” What does that mean? It essentially means that we can take a portion of Scripture and make it say most anything we want it to say if we separate it from the context of the whole of Scripture.

In the verse at the top of the page Paul uses confession and believing as the essential ingredients of salvation. Then in 2 Corinthians 7:10 he writes: “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.”

We are saved “from” sin “to” righteousness. What does that look like? Repentance, as I’ve often stated, means to turn from sin, not continue to dabble in sin. Yes, of course, as long as we’re in the flesh, we’ll have the capacity to sin, but our heart’s desire and determination is to pursue holiness and purity, realizing God’s goal for us is to not sin.

There’s a phrase I’ve heard across the years that continues to baffle me. “We sin more or less every day.” And my question is – why? It’s like saying: “I cheat on my wife more or less every day.” Or, “I steal from my company more or less every day.” It just doesn’t make sense. If my mindset is cheating, stealing, or sinning every day, how will I ever make the shift to pursuing Christ with my whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. You can’t have it both ways.

Being saved is a miraculous transformation initiated by God whereby we leave our old life of sin and shame and embrace our new life of pursuing Christlikeness. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone, a new life has begun!”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Why Sin Matters!

“But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, ‘Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.’” (John 5:14 NLT)

The man to whom Jesus spoke in the above verse had been lying by the pool of Bethesda, hoping to be able to get into the pool and be healed, for thirty-eight years. Let that sink in for a few minutes.

It was believed that the first person who entered the pool when the water began to bubble would be healed. There were crowds of sick people – blind, lame, or paralyzed – all laying as near to the pool as possible, hoping to be first when the opportunity presented itself.

This man was obviously lame and would have had to pull himself with his arms, but for thirty-eight years had not been able to get into the pool first. There’s no indication as to how many times a day the pool bubbled but suffice it to say that he’d tried thousands of times, to no avail.

Then Jesus, knowing how long he’d been there, asked him: “Would you like to get well?” Seems a strange question, wouldn’t you think? But listen to his answer: “I can’t, sir, for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”

As I read his response I’m wondering: “Then why are you there? Why have you stayed there for thirty-eight years? But thankfully, Jesus isn’t me and knew the man’s heart and simply said to him: “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” And the Bible says that instantly the man was healed, rolled up his mat and began walking!

It was the Sabbath when Jesus healed him, so the Jewish leaders objected to the man’s carrying his sleeping mat on the Sabbath, but rather than take the heat, he shifted the blame to Jesus and told them: “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

That’s the context of the verse at the top of the page, yet rather than be thankful he was healed and keep moving forward in gratitude to Jesus, the man went back to the Jewish leaders and reported to them that it was Jesus who healed him, thus adding fuel to the proverbial fire of the Jewish leader’s harassment of Jesus, and determination to kill Him.

Hills and Mountains “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

Okay, let’s take a panoramic view of what’s happened. Jesus healed a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years, who reported Him to the Jewish leaders, so Jesus tells him to stop sinning, or something worse would happen to him! I’ve got to ask myself: “How much worse could it possibly get for the guy?”

Then I think of my life and the lives of countless others that I’ve met over the years, who have spurned the grace of God and continued in sin after learning who Jesus is and being invited to “Stand up and walk” with Him. It’s like the man at the pool thinking “Who does He think He is? He can’t tell me what I can or cannot do! It’s my life and I’ll live it however I want to! Just because He healed me doesn’t give Him the right to rule my life!” And He’s exactly right.

You see, healing the man’s physical body doesn’t constitute healing of his heart and life. Jesus didn’t tell this man, as He’d told others, “Your sins are forgiven.” It’s quite evident that the man’s heart wasn’t in tune with the heart of God, evidenced by his attitude and actions.

So, when Jesus told him to stop sinning or something worse would happen, Jesus was likely thinking about the eternal consequences of continued sin. Thirty-eight years of being lame is nothing compared to an eternity of separation from the Lord in hell.

I’d like to look at this more closely in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Do Lost People Care Jesus Died to Rescue Them from Eternal Death? (Part 2)

“Some of you were once like that.” (1 Corinthians 6:11a NLT)

The laws of God were very important to Jesus when He walked the pathways of this earth.

Jesus said: “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”

What’s my point? Jesus didn’t minimize the law, He compounded it. He didn’t try to make it easier to obey, but more difficult. Why? In order that we might understand what a tremendous gift He was offering us in meeting the demands of the law on our behalf.

If I don’t understand how hopeless I am to meet the demands of a holy God on my own, I’ll never understand why I’m helpless to earn my way into heaven or pay the penalty for my own sin. Unless I can see that I have a debt I can’t pay, I’ll never appreciate the fact that Jesus has paid the debt on my behalf. As long as Satan can have me convinced that I’m a good person and my sin doesn’t really matter because of the grace of God, I’ll miss heaven by default.

Believing wrongly about something is not an excuse that God will accept, any more than a righteous judge on earth will. If you’re caught with an open container of alcohol in your car, when the car is turned off and you’re not even behind the wheel, you’re still in violation of the law. And to stand before the judge and your only defense is: “I didn’t know it was against the law,” you’ll still be found guilty.

We’ve got to help people in our spheres of influence understand it’s not simply an issue of our behavior, it’s a matter of being disobedient to the laws of God. We’ve got to help them understand the love of God will not save them from the death penalty their sin demands because they’re ignorant of what His laws are.

Bad behavior is the outward manifestation of inward disobedience to and no regard for the laws of God. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or are abusive, or cheat people – none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

This, of course, isn’t an exhaustive list of sins we can commit, but the point is, unless and until we understand that it’s not our outward manifestations of sin alone that condemn us, we’ll continue to seek to correct the outward behavior without seeking Jesus who is the only One who can give us a new heart. Even seeming “righteous” behavior lived with the wrong motives or desires, reveals a heart that is far from God.

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Psalm 51:17 says: “The sacrifice You desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” Righteousness is not contrived or rehearsed, it’s a gift from the Spirit that enables us to live under the constant rule and reign of the Spirit who indwells us as children of God. One of the most beautiful lines in Scripture to me is the first few words of 1 Corinthians 6:11 (above) when Paul wrote: “Some of you were once like that.”

We all have a past. Every child of God was once a blatant sinner who was clearly disobeying the laws of God, but who is now saved by grace. We must focus, not on what we once were, but what we now are – a repentant, blood-bought, forgiven child of God, who was rescued by our only eternal source of hope. Then share the hope we’ve found in Jesus with those we love who are still living in violation of God’s laws.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Do Lost People Care Jesus Died to Rescue Them from Eternal Death?

“And the Son of Man came to save those who are lost.” (Matthew 18:11 NLT)

Imagine, as Ray Comfort suggests in his ebook freewonderfulbook.com, that you are given the opportunity to go back in time to September 10, 2001. You’re speaking to everyone who will be in the Twin Towers the next day. You know most will die in the attack in less than 24 hours. Do you dare tell them that God has a wonderful plan for their lives? How do you prepare them for the fact that this, in all probability, will be their last chance to find eternal hope in Jesus? Will they even care?

The truth is, this may be our last day on planet Earth, yet, most people, even those who profess faith in Jesus, are more concerned about “What’s for dinner?” or “Am I going to get that raise I’ve been promised?” than “Am I ready to stand before the eternal God and give an account of my life?”

The sad and heartbreaking reality is that most people don’t give a thought to what Jesus accomplished on the Cross. Why should they? Few are sounding a clarion call “to repent and turn to God!” Why should they? They don’t see anything wrong with how they’re living. Sure, they could be more thoughtful, kind, or caring, but everyone has a bad day, right?

Photo by EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA on Pexels.com

What if you had a court date in two weeks and you were facing the death penalty for murder? Do you think you’d give any thought to how that trial would go? Yet, every person on the planet will one day stand before the eternal God to give an account of their life on earth. Most people in America don’t have a clue what’s waiting for them when they close their eyes in death. And worse, they don’t care.

They can’t be concerned that Jesus died to rescue them from their sin. That He died to pay the debt they owe that even if they had an eternity, could never pay. They don’t think of themselves as having a sin debt. Unlike the person who committed murder and is going to trial, most Americans see themselves as “good” people, and all most of them have heard about God is that He is loving and kind. “How could a loving God allow a good person like me to go to hell?”

The fact that Jesus came to rescue them from an eternal death doesn’t make sense, because they don’t understand that they’ve broken the laws of God, who is not only loving, but just. And one day, sooner than they can imagine, they’ll stand before that loving God to give an account of their life. And like the ill-dressed man at the wedding feast in Matthew 21, they’ll face an eternity of separation from God. But why? Because they’ve believed the lies of Satan that the Holy God will ignore their sins because He loves them.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:18: “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.” And what is the purpose of the law? Paul writes in Romans 7:12-13: “But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good. But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God’s good commands for its own evil purposes.”

What does that mean? It means a lot, but for our purposes, it means essentially two things. First, perfect obedience to God’s laws is humanly impossible. Jesus alone met the demands of the law, and by so doing, was able, through His sacrificial death on the Cross, to free us from the certain death of trying to be good enough to deserve a place in heaven with God. But secondly, the law created a tangible target, enabling us to see what we were doing wrong and how our sins were clearly in defiance of God’s laws.

We’ll pick this up in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Do Lost People Really Care God Loves Them?

“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.” (John 3:16 NLT)

“Lost” for purposes of this post means to not know Jesus; to not be born again of the Spirit; to not have repented of sin and received forgiveness and newness of life in Jesus; to not have an ongoing love relationship with Jesus. In the Bible “lost” means “to perish, destroy, to put out of the way entirely, abolish, put an end to, ruin.” (Strong’s) That’s the eternal end for those who are lost.

Who comes to mind when you read the above definitions? Family? Friends? Co-Workers? Neighbors? Those with whom you serve at church? The one staring back from the mirror?

Like faith, lostness has very little to do with feelings. We tend to wrongly believe that a major motivation to come to Christ is unhappiness or problems, but to present Jesus simply as a means of happiness or as a problem solver is to miss the point of salvation.

Before we meet Jesus, we are sinners in desperate need of a Savior. We don’t have problems because we’re lost, we have problems because we’re human beings. Yes, of course, we DO have a major problem, but it’s not that I just learned I have cancer, or I totaled my car and I don’t have insurance, it’s that I’ve broken the laws of a holy God and I have no means of paying the penalty for my sin-debt, which is eternal death.

To be a “brand new species of being,” of which Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 5:17, isn’t a promise of a care-free life. It’s a promise of a new heart and a new mind that gives us God’s perspective in the midst of trials, that Jesus promises we’d have in this life.

To me, happiness is far overrated. Honestly, I rarely think of whether I’m “happy.” I choose rather to focus on contentment, peace, or the fact that I have the promise of an eternal home in heaven, which fills me with appreciation and a sense of joy-filled worship.

Do we understand that people can be very happy without Jesus? That they can experience love and hope and forgiveness and a myriad of other positive emotions that we tend to attribute solely to our relationship with Jesus? These are human emotions, not necessarily Christian emotions.

Ray Comfort wrote in his ebook (www.freewonderfulbook.com/): “Prior to my conversion, I was very happy, satisfied, thankful, and joyful. At the age of twenty I was a successful businessman with my own house, a beautiful wife, a car, money, and, being self-employed, the freedom to enjoy it all. I was loving life and living it to the fullest. Therefore, I was not a candidate for the modern gospel. I wasn’t hurting in the slightest. I had a wonderful life without Jesus. However, when I was confronted with the biblical gospel and understood that ‘riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death’ (Proverbs 11:4), I saw my need for the Savior. Let me repeat: Because of the erroneous belief that the chief end of the gospel is man’s happiness on earth rather than righteousness, many fail to see its God-given intention. They think the gospel is only for those who lack money, those who are brokenhearted by life’s difficulties, those who are the problem people in society. The belief is further perpetuated through popular worship choruses that have splendid melodies, but carry this message: ‘Heartaches, broken people, ruined lives are why You died on Calvary.’ How often do we therefore neglect to share the gospel with those whose lives are going well, because we know they won’t be interested in the “wonderful plan” message? We may wait for a crisis to come their way—and in fact, secretly hope that it does—so their ‘heartaches’ will then make them receptive to our offer of a better life.” Pgs 34-35

The truth is, most lost people think very little about God’s love because they’re more focused on their individual needs and desires, not realizing they’re on a one way road to destruction.

Blessings, Ed 😊