Walking With Jesus

We Cannot Afford the Luxury of Selfishness

“For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.” (James 3:15-16 NLT)

We may not realize it simply by reading the verses above, but these verses are a rich commentary as to what is going on in our world today. The word which is translated “selfish ambition,” paints the picture of someone who aspires to an office but will take whatever underhanded measures possible to sway the vote in their direction.

The opposite is a word translated in Matthew 25:21 as “faithful,” and describes “a person who shows themselves faithful in the transactions of business, the execution of commands, or the discharge of official duties.” (Strong’s) What are the implications?

Selfish ambition essentially means for the right price we’ll do whatever it takes to get what we want. The irony is, as a child of God we’re willing to do whatever it takes to please our Master. It’s not necessarily what we do, it’s for whom we do it.

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In the age in which we now live it seems it’s not a question as to whether or not someone has selfish ambition, it’s only a question of how far they’re willing to go to get their way. Unfortunately, that’s not only true in the world, but in the church. When our so called “walk with Jesus” is compartmentalized, it’s not unusual to see someone live one way in and around the church and Christian friends, and another way entirely when they’re conducting business or mistreating their family.

We cut corners, shave the numbers, pad our profits to make ourselves look good to the powers that be, never stopping to realize that the bosses aren’t the only ones seeing the results of our demonic work ethic. Our co-workers usually recognize a fraud pretty quickly, and, if we’re professing our “success” is only because of our walk with the Lord, we’re dragging His holy name through the mud while we’re pushing our co-workers away from us and Him.

There’s likely never been a time when it was more important for us to be transparent, not only in our faith life, but in every detail of our lives. Jesus isn’t interested in having part of us, He paid the price to cover all our sin, not so we could live part-time for Him, but be all-in, serving Him without reservation.

Within a short time after I’d given my heart and life to the Lord, I was shooting hoops by myself at a nearby park. I noticed a classmate standing at the fence that surrounded the court, watching me. We didn’t run in the same circles, so I didn’t know his name, but as I was leaving, he came up to me and with a very serious look and tone said: “I’m watching you!”

Do you not recognize that people are watching your life? You’re the only Bible some will ever read. What are they reading on the pages of your life? Are you real or fake? All in or straddling the proverbial fence? Does Jesus own your whole heart or are you trying to share your heart with someone or something else?

It’s a hard thing to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow the Lord, but it’s never been more critical. The minute you witness to someone about your faith in Christ you’re giving them permission to investigate your life. What will they find? Please, I implore you, let them see Jesus.

This is not the time to be wishy-washy as we live our lives. Jesus could come for us at any moment, let’s not be ashamed of the way we’ve been living when He does. Selfishness isn’t an option for a Jesus follower. The price He was willing to pay for us is much too great not to honor Him with everything we are, have, and can do to render glory to His holy name.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Blessing For A New Year

*This message from Sylvia Gunter is a Godsend as we begin this new year. I pray it will encourage, bless and revitalize you as God prepares your heart to follow in His steps in the adventure of this new year. Blessings, Ed 😊

Receive this blessing over your time, timing, and seasons as a new year has begun.

Hear God’s Word for you in Psalm 31:15. “My times are in your hands.” And in Daniel 7:25. “He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws.” And in Revelation 1:8. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Let God bring your spirit, soul, and body into alignment with His divine time. Choose to stay in the present tense of God’s time. Be blessed as you understand the wiles of the enemy to change God’s times (Dan 7:25). Ask God to deal with all warping of your time. Be blessed in every part of your spirit to be in harmony with God’s time. Ask Him about time, timeliness, and bringing time into alignment, so that you stand in His victories and the breakthroughs already won.

Be blessed with lining up with your birthright and with God’s divine time, so that no portion of your being or spiritual identity or inheritance is out of kilter. God who is out of time can keep your spirit, soul, and body in right relationship to the flow of His days for you. Anticipate His timing on your coming and going. Be blessed to see His fingerprints upon everything that concerns you. If it concerns you, it concerns Him.

Look for and receive His nurture, and grow and increase and be strong in all that your Father has for you to receive. You have worked hard over time to overcome brokenness. Trust God to propel you forward, because He is nurturing your whole being. Fragmentation is a thing of the past as God brings all of you to full stature, as Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. Be blessed with being whole in every part: spirit, soul, and body.

Be blessed to know the fullest dimensions of what God has placed inside you. Be blessed with knowing your identity in Christ for such a time as this. Understand what your Father designed you to do and how He wants to implement your gifts to accomplish that work with authenticity. He is mentoring and coaching you in the completeness of Christ’s likeness.

Be blessed with receiving that spiritual deposit now. You have a powerful destiny and purpose. He is guiding and equipping you to demonstrate His magnificence.

Recognize that God’s hand is on every circumstance of your life, as He gives you opportunity to learn and to express all of Himself in you. Be blessed as you accept the giftedness He has placed in you, and know that you are a gift from Him to all the people in your circle of influence. Be blessed today in God’s redeemed time. He made everything beautiful in His time.

Be blessed in the name of the Alpha and Omega, with whom time has no beginning or end (Rev 1:8).

New Beginnings

“The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 430 years. In fact, it was on the last day of the 430^th year that all the Lord’s forces left the land.” (Exodus 12:40 NLT)

God doesn’t provide deliverance from our captivity to sin to leave us the same. He didn’t provide freedom from the Egyptians for the children of Israel so they could continue to live and act like slaves. He had a new destination in mind. He had the “Promised Land” waiting for their taking. It’s no wonder they got bogged down in the desert, they had to learn how to live free. So do we!

As a rule, slaves don’t make good soldiers, so it’s no surprise that the adult generation who left Egypt had to die in the wilderness. If we’re ever going to be effective “soldiers” for Jesus, we’ve got to die to ourselves and learn how to live under the authority of a new King.

Yes, of course, we’re slaves who belong to King Jesus, but the irony is, His plan isn’t to keep us down but to raise us up. He wants to teach us how to live as free men and women, boys and girls who recognize the enemy and know how to defeat him and his devilish emissaries. We’re not staggering in the desert waiting to die, we’re attacking the enemy of our soul, taking new ground every day for Jesus.

As we walk on the fresh soil of this new year, may we believe with every fiber of our being that God has ordained this new beginning. And knowing that, let’s trust Him to bring victories on every level, in every dimension of our lives. But for that to happen we’ve got to change the way we think.

Slaves think sustenance and survival; children of King Jesus think bounty, abundance, and thriving in and through His holy presence working in and through our lives. This is not our home brothers and sisters; this is the war zone that will lead to our final destination.

Think of yourself as a lifeguard and the “pool” is brimming with drowning souls. It may seem hopeless, but what are your options? You can dive in and save a few, but if you enlist other swimmers to help, perhaps everyone in the pool can be saved.

What if each of us who know, and love Jesus adapted a new mindset for 2024? An attitude of dependence upon the Holy Spirit, but also an attitude of confidence that we’re God’s chosen vessel to carry out His holy will with every ounce of energy He provides.

There are 118 houses in my neighborhood. There are a few houses where someone is living alone, but many are families with 6-8 people. Let’s say for sake of illustration that there are 450 people living in my little neighborhood. How many should I plan to win to the Lord? This isn’t a trick question. I know for sure that a small percentage are already serving the Lord, so let’s say there are 400 lost men, women, boys, and girls living in my sphere of influence in the remaining homes.

Since I’m running out of space let me get to the point. I’m praying every person in every house will be ready to meet Jesus when He comes. But how? First, through prayer. Prayer is the work, then God works, so no one will be saved without prayer. But I can also enlist others who are saved to join me in prayer. Then, one by one I’ll invite to church, to a meal, to a conversation about Jesus – basically, whatever it takes to get Jesus on their mind.

Just as the children of Israel inched their way to a new life they couldn’t have imagined, I’m going to follow Jesus one step at a time as long as I have breath seeking with all that is within me to win just one more. How about you? How many will be in heaven because of your prayers and efforts? I pray many!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Gateway of Life

“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway of life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14 NLT)

Though Jesus spoke only of a single, narrow gate we must enter to have eternal life, I tend to believe that life is filled with gates. Think of the “gates” of opportunity that presented themselves throughout your life. That job opportunity that seemed to be a sure thing, but the “gate” closed. Or that relationship that seemed to be going so well, then all of a sudden, the “gate” slammed shut.

But sometimes it’s not someone else who closes those gates, we close them ourselves. The gates of life are often closed and locked by the haunting secrets of the past and guarded carefully by the worries of the present. Many are those whose dreams lie shattered at life’s locked gates, dreams broken by the demands of an empty life.

The truth is, much of the time our dreams have nothing to do with eternity, we’re simply trying to make a bigger splash on the shorelines of this life. As I think of the “dreams” I had as a younger man, if the Lord had let me have them, would it have resulted in my being more like Him? I seriously doubt it. It wasn’t about Him; it was about me.

I was pursuing things that would have promoted my dreams and desires, not His; trinkets of this world that may easily have blocked my view of the Treasure He desires to be in my heart and life. Could it be the “narrow” way isn’t intended to be hard to find at all, yet, for some it seems very elusive. But why?

Could it be our view and God’s view of “life” are quite different. Often the picture we try to paint for our kids or grandkids isn’t really our dreams for them, but our spoiled dreams for ourselves. It’s like we think we can get another shot at fulfilling our dreams vicariously through them. If only we’d focus our eyes on God, rather than on ourselves, we would clearly see the plans of God for us are better than anything this world has to offer, better than anything we could have imagined for ourselves.

What do we really want? What were those dreams supposed to give us that we can’t find in a relationship with Jesus? Many professing believers aren’t really looking for a committed walk with Jesus, they want a respectable religious life that allows them to be all they want to be, not all they could be for Him.

Here’s the deal – God doesn’t want to make us religious; He wants to make us righteous! He wants to put you and me in a right relationship with Himself that likely won’t result in us being rich and famous in this life but will prepare us to live life to the fullest now, while preparing us to live forever with Him in heaven.

What might that preparation entail? Submission to His authority over us; a God-centered focus on what He wants for us, not fulfilling the desires of our heart, but His. Sanctifying our outcomes to bless people for His name’s sake in a way that will lead them to heaven, not hell.

The hardest part of the Christian life for me has been to learn to want what God wants for me more than what I want for myself. Gratefully, I’m learning that the Lord knows me better than I know myself, so His choices for me are always much better than my choices for myself.

The narrow gate that leads to life isn’t a destination, it’s a Person. His name is Jesus. When you find Him, you’ll find life.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Pleasure or Pain?

“But when the Father sends the Advocate as My representative – that is, the Holy Spirit – He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” (John 14:26 NLT)

As a Jesus follower we are, by virtue of our love for Jesus, a life-long student. Gratefully, we’ve been given the Bible, which we often refer to as the “Word of God,” but the greatest source of knowledge and understanding of what the Bible teaches about Jesus and how to walk faithfully with Him, is the Holy Spirit.

The two most powerful venues through which our learning comes are pleasure and pain. Ironically, for purposes of our walk with God, we learn far more through pain than pleasure. Why do you think that is? Is it because it’s not fun to follow Jesus? It’s a blast, but our most significant adversary is all about pleasure.

Satan is constantly seeking to distort and degrade the pleasurable things God gives us. If I can take off my “spiritual” hat and just speak as a human being, I’ll tell you that sex is the greatest physical pleasure I’ve ever experienced. Notice I said, “physical pleasure.” The most pleasurable sense I’ve ever had as a human being is to be in God’s presence, to live in constant awareness that’s He’s always with me.

So, what does Satan do? He distorts our view of sex by framing it in ways that are dishonoring to God and demeaning to those involved. God’s plan for sex is one man and one woman devoted to Him and to one another in a life-long marriage commitment. Anything less than that is a counterfeit that won’t satisfy long term.

For me the greatest pain and most long-lasting heartache were because of my divorce. The Lord taught me things about marriage, myself, and Him through that heart-wrenching journey that I couldn’t have learned in any other way. Please, if you’re considering a divorce or know someone who is, it’s highly likely there’s a better way.

“Yeh,” you may be thinking, “you don’t know what I’m going through!” And you’re right, I don’t. And if you’re in an abusive relationship please get help. Unfortunately, because of the world in which we live, divorce is sometimes the only solution. But let it be a last resort. Don’t give up on each other if there’s a thread of hope.

But aside from the pain of divorce, being single can seem like it’s God’s greatest punishment, when in fact it may be His greatest blessing. It may sound like I’m speaking out of both sides of my mouth, but I’m not. Marriage is a gift from God, but so is singleness. The Apostle Paul summed it up like this: “I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible.”

The bottom line for a believer is “What will be most pleasing to the Lord? What will result in the most glory, honor, and praise to my Master?” If our life in Christ is not an act of worship, it’s of little or no value to God. What does that mean? Worship is an act of devotion; a surrender of our will in favor of His; an effort on our part to clarify and declare our allegiance to Christ alone. It’s putting our “yes” on the table before we even know what we’re agreeing to do or be.

It’s to put your name at the bottom of a blank contract, telling the Lord: “Lord, You fill it in however You see fit.” At the end of the day, it’s not whether we experience pain or pleasure, it’s ultimately about what we learned and who was honored and glorified as a result.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

When Conventional Means Won’t Work

“They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above His head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven.’” (Mark 2:4-5 NLT)

Jessica McClure Morales (born March 26, 1986; widely known as “Baby Jessica” in 1987) fell into a well in her aunt’s backyard in Midland, Texas, on October 14, 1987, at the age of 18 months. Over the next 58 hours, rescuers worked to free her from the 8 inch well casing, about 22 ft below grade by digging a parallel shaft big enough for a man to be lowered into, then drilling a hole between the two shafts that enabled him to reach through and free the toddler. The story garnered worldwide attention, which resulted in a 1989 ABC television movie about the events entitled: Everybody’s Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure.

The point for our purpose is that conventional means couldn’t have enabled anyone to rescue the toddler. They had to think outside the proverbial “box” and work quickly or the little girl would have died. Consider what measures were taken to free “Baby Jessica” when you read the verses above. We don’t know the paralyzed man’s name; we only know that some of his friends loved Him enough to do whatever they needed to do to get him to Jesus.

Did you notice that when Jesus pronounced the man’s healing, He didn’t credit the man’s faith as being responsible, but his friends’ faith. “Seeing their faith!” Why is that so important? Two reasons. First, the man couldn’t have gotten to Jesus without help. And, secondly, since we don’t know how old he was or how long he’d been in his crippled condition, we don’t know if he could have ever mustered the faith to believe for himself.

How many people in our spheres of influence fall into one or both of those categories? People who can’t or won’t go to Jesus on their own, and/or they don’t have faith to believe Jesus would or could make any difference in their life’s circumstances. The plot thickens because some whom we know well aren’t “crippled” physically, but spiritually, mentally, emotionally, financially, relationally, or __________ and you can fill in the blank.

Perhaps, like me, you’ve tried conventional means and methods to reach loved ones and friends for the Lord, but to no avail. So, for all intent and purpose, we’ve given up. Yes, of course, we continue to pray and believe God will work miraculously, but to date nothing has changed, for them or us as we view their lostness.

During one of my recent walks, I saw one of my neighbors with whom I’ve been nurturing a relationship for many months, but this time when I asked him if he’d be open to attending church with me, without hesitation he said, “Yes!” I’ve shared with Him on several occasions about who Jesus is, what He’s done, and why, but with almost no response. Why the “sudden” interest?

I’m sensing in my spirit that God is going to release an unprecedented outpouring of His Spirit on those who have open hearts and minds to be used of God in unconventional means. The young man I referred to is only in his 40’s, but he’s had a stroke that has made it difficult for him to do anything for himself, but I’m going to do whatever I can to see that He gets to the feet of Jesus.

Like that little girl so many years ago, let’s covenant together to trust the Lord to use us however He desires to be light and love to those who walk in darkness, even if it’s in a way we’d never thought of before.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Living With Eager Expectation

“Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as He is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3 NLT)

Ron Hutchcraft wrote: “In a few places in the world, there is a man who literally embodies a nation. For the Middle Eastern kingdom of Jordan, for many years King Hussein was that kind of man. His stature on the international scene could be measured by a lot of influence he had on the Middle East peace talks and even by the unprecedented coming together of friends and enemies at his funeral. But those who loved him most, of course, were his own countrymen.

He was gone from Jordan for many of what turned out to be the last months of his life – gone for treatment of a deadly cancer. Just weeks before his final trip for treatment before the cancer claimed his life, King Hussein returned to his beloved country – flying his own airplane. It was a dramatic return for a king who had been gone so long, and the welcome he received was pretty amazing. As a display of affection and loyalty, people slaughtered sheep and goats right on the street as his motorcade passed by. One man even sacrificed a camel that was valued then at $10,000. They literally poured out their love for their returning king.”

How are you and I pouring out our love for our returning King Jesus? There have been many who thought they’d nailed down the exact time of our Savior’s return, only to be embarrassed at their lack of understanding of Scripture. Jesus clearly taught that “no one knows the day or hour” of His Second Coming, “Only the Father knows.”

Of course, the Scriptures give us clues, which should prompt our awareness that it could be very soon. But the plot thickens when we realize we can die at any time before the Lord returns, ushering us into His presence.

As I write, I’m anticipating the arrival of my only daughter. While she’s not a queen, she is my “Princess” and has been since the moment she was born. My heart stirs with excitement just to spend a few precious hours with her. My wife and I will make sure everything is ready for her visit – we’ll clean and prepare her room, have food she likes, snacks, and drinks she enjoys. We want to be fully prepared for her arrival.

Similarly, as we anticipate our coming King, how should we prepare for His arrival? Shouldn’t we make sure His “house” is clean? His Spirit resides in us, so shouldn’t we make every effort to honor Him with our body, mind, heart, and soul? Shouldn’t we live daily offering Him a “feast” of praise and adoration? And what about the sacrifices of our service given to Him as appreciation for all He does to make our lives so enjoyable, satisfying, and wholesome?

2023 has now passed, in the blink of an eye it seems. One day, sooner than any of us can imagine, our lives will end, or Jesus will return. We must not allow ourselves, as the five foolish bridesmaids in the Bible, to become tired, desiring rest more than making sure we’re ready to meet the Groom.

Folks, there’s nothing or nobody who can compare with Jesus. He’s the Treasure of my life; the joy of my heart, the foundation upon which I stand. Every moment of every day I want my heart to beat at the pace of my love for Him, drawing me ever more closely to Him. Death for those of us who know and love Him won’t be an interruption but cause for a celebration.

That’s what it means to me to live with eager expectation!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

What Else Can I Do?

“Then He added, ‘Every teacher of religious law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his storeroom new gems of truth as well as old.’” (Matthew 13:52 NLT)

The above statement of the Lord Jesus is on the heels of the parable of the fishing net that explains that at the end of time people will be divided into two groups – those going to heaven and those going to hell. The implications to me are two-fold. First, no one knew the Pentateuch like the teachers of religious law, which, unfortunately, increased their likelihood of never following Jesus. But secondly, those who did choose to become His disciple would have a resource that could magnify the Lord and multiply their effectiveness for Him.

On some levels that paints the picture of people who have attended church for many years. They know all the stories, have heard hundreds of sermons, very likely have led classes, and served on boards, perhaps even occupied a pulpit, but sadly, they’ve never made a commitment to have a love relationship with Jesus. It’s all in their head, but not their heart. They’re like a treasure that when filled with the Holy Spirit can multiply their effectiveness for Jesus exponentially.

It begs the question: “What about me?” Each of us has had a unique life filled with drama, heartache, suffering, and pleasure from which we could draw if we opened our heart to Jesus in a fresh way. Are you brave enough to ask yourself: “What else Can I do?”

The Lord lived a conviction that I have adopted, and I pray you will too. That conviction is: Every life counts! God doesn’t make mistakes. If He gives a person life, that life has purpose. That means YOUR life counts and it means that MY life counts.

Realizing we’re created with infinite worth and value, let me suggest three things we can do to make our lives count.

First: SHOW UP! It’s been said that 90% of life is showing up. That doesn’t simply mean our physical presence. It means wherever we are, whatever we’re doing, we should be engaged, attentive, alert to what God might be up to in this moment. It’s your life so show up for it!

Secondly: STEP UP! Be the person God created you uniquely to be. Your life counts, so act like it. Do what others aren’t willing to do in every avenue of your life. Step up for your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, classmates, even strangers. The Lord doesn’t allow someone to cross your path without a reason. Find out what that reason is!

Thirdly: SPEAK UP! Speak up with your life! Let your life declare the glory of God. Take care of yourself – physically, mentally, spiritually, relationally, financially – in every way! Why? Because you’re God’s child. He loves you as if you were His only child. Make Him proud! Declare His goodness by exuding goodness in and through your life.

Speak up with your limits! There are things a Christ follower can and will do, and things we can do, but won’t. We have God-ordained boundaries we dare not cross – in our morals, our work ethic, in how we love, how we care for others, how we speak.

We speak up with our lips! Unless we SHOW UP, and STEP UP, we have no right to SPEAK UP with our lips. Be someone who makes your words count. Let those in your spheres of influence hear words of love, compassion, affirmation, joy, peace, declaration of the goodness and grace of your Master.

What else can we do? Be the best man of God or woman of God you can possibly be. All in, no reservations!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

No Regrets

“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.” (2 Corinthians 7:10a NLT)

As you view your life, what do you most regret? Was it something you did that you now wish you hadn’t done? Or was it something you didn’t do that you now wish you had? Personally, two things jump to the forefront of my mind. First, when I was in college, I was invited to a party that a very beautiful girl I’d been wanting to meet was going to be. I chose not to go because I had no confidence that she would ever be interested in me. I still wish I’d gone.

The second scenario involves something I did that I knew even then I should never have done, and I will likely never know the damage I did to my life and others. Though I know the Lord has forgiven me, I live with the knowledge that I chose to do something that was clearly wrong. Thankfully, through the Lord’s forgiveness, I’ve moved beyond that regret.

Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

Godly sorrow doesn’t bemoan the fact we’ve sinned, we allow it to lead us to repentance that, by God’s grace, will help us to avoid that sin and any other sin of that type in the future. Sin not only separates us from God, but others who are affected by our disobedience. Regrets aren’t typically neutral as we ponder them.

They’re either toxic, moving us more closely to their evil draw, or they so repulse us we can almost literally throw up. Do you hate your sin? I’m learning to. What does that mean? It means I find it much easier to hate the sin in someone else than in myself. It’s hard when the person looking back at you in the mirror is the cause of your sin’s disgust.

However, the more closely I walk with the Lord the easier it is to hate my sin, not only for what it does to and in me, but because it grieves my Master. When I was young, I never wanted to disappoint my dad. Much of the time I felt I could never please my mom, but my dad was much easier to love and like. I enjoyed being with him and many of the patterns I now have in my life I learned from my dad.

He taught me to pay attention to detail when cleaning a car, my shoes, in living my life in general. That’s been helpful in my walk with the Lord as I’ve sought to navigate what it means to be a man of God. I’m less prone to let sin slide, keeping short accounts with God, in terms of my need to seek forgiveness and to turn from my sin.

I’ve spent a lot of hours over the years sitting by the bedsides of dying people. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for someone I perceived as living very close to God, being tormented with fear and doubt on their deathbed. It’s as if they feel they have unfinished business they wished they’d taken care of.

Often it centered on their uncertainty as to whether they’d done enough to deserve to go to heaven. That’s a fear I don’t have. You know why? Because I know I haven’t! But the good news is, I know who has! The songwriter said it well when she penned the words to the well-known hymn: “Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

Whatever your regrets, bring them to the Cross. Lay them at the Savior’s feet and allow Him to show you how to live a clean, wholesome, and fruitful life to His honor and fame. I love the words of Jacob Knapp: “No one regrets, at the hour of death, that he had felt too much, given too much, or done too much for Christ, or to save souls.”

Any regrets? Take them to the only One who can heal and turn them into triumph.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Are You the Reason?

“Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.” (Hebrews 13:17 NLT)

Have you ever wondered why you are the way you are? If someone were to ask you: “Why are you the way you are?” Would it depend on who’s asking? Or perhaps why they are asking? What if you’ve just had a heated argument with your spouse and in their anger, they shout that question? Or perhaps a friend or neighbor asks you in casual conversation: “You’re always so kind and thoughtful. I’ve often wondered why you’re so nice.” Often context can explain better than words what the intent of a question is.

In our lives as a Jesus follower the reality is, we’re giving the people we influence a reason to move closer to the Lord or move further away. Too often our attitude seems to be: “I don’t care what people think of me. I’m going to live the way I want to live and if they don’t like it, they can lump it!”

Have you ever considered you’re the way you are for a reason? As human beings we are, to a large extent, the sum of all the experiences we’ve had, with all the people who have influenced us, coupled with all the ways we’ve responded to those experiences and circumstances. And don’t neglect the people whose words have affected you through the things they wrote or spoke.

We’re challenged by stories we hear, movies we watch, Pastors to whom we listen, social media input we view, in addition to all the conversations we have or personal relationships we enjoy or dread. Ron Hutchcraft made an interesting observation when he wrote: “I wonder how many people are living the way they are because they’ve never seen another way to live. Everyone they know is living the same way, so how could they think about another way?”

In the technological age in which we live, we tend to be more influenced by people we don’t know well than those we do. How so? Teens and young people especially tend to love to “document” every event in their lives, taking pictures that are photoshopped to make them look better than they actually are. Then some young girl sees what she can’t conceive of herself ever becoming, so, she begins to believe her life has no meaning, thus no reason for her to be alive.

John Stonestreet noted: “An article in The New York Times summarized, ‘Nearly three in five teenage girls felt persistent sadness in 2021 … and one in three girls seriously considered attempting suicide.’ Jonathan Haidt, author of The Coddling of the American Mind, painted an even starker picture: ‘We are now 11 years into the largest epidemic of adolescent mental illness ever recorded.’

It’s never been more important to love and live Jesus in our homes, churches, neighborhoods, workplaces, wherever life takes us, than it is today. Why? Because as Ron Hutchcraft wrote: “either your life is a reason to come to Jesus or a reason to reject Him.” Through our professed “righteous indignation” and condemnation of another’s lifestyle, we push them away even with the best of intentions.

Were you “condemned” into turning to Jesus? I highly doubt it. I was loved to Jesus by friends and relatives who allowed the love of Jesus to create in me a desire to be like them and learn to love the Lord they loved. We can’t just speak the right words; we have to allow the Lord to live His life out through us in such an inviting way that those in our spheres of influence can begin to understand how they can live a life with and for Jesus. The reality is, without you, they may not ever see any hope of a better way.

We must, in ever greater measure, seek to become the reason for those in our spheres of influence to come to Jesus.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊