Do you serve God?

This bit of wisdom from a homeless man got my attention and I had to repeat it here. I read this in a Desiring God email and the man asked: “Is following Jesus hard or easy?”; then he turned around and answered his own question, “If you have given your heart fully to him then following Jesus is easy. If you are split in your devotion and torn between following Jesus and this world, then it is hard.”

When Jacob was working for Rachael in Genesis, he had agreed to work for seven years. But the love that he had for her made those seven years seem like days. Why can’t we serve God in the same way? Life here is not easy regardless of your work or your vocation and for many, many people it is a struggle to even maintain life on a daily basis.

We seem to have the idea that our devotion to God can be an on one day and off one day kind of devotion, but how would you feel if that was God’s view of us and our life on this world? What would happen to us and our world if God just turned the Sun off for a while? The first notable difference would be that global warming wouldn’t be an issue any more. The temperature would drop in the first thirty minutes and it would be so drastic until the oceans would begin to freeze before the news could report on the Sun being dark.

There will be no “freezing of the oceans”, that is just my illustration. It is our devotion to God which can make life much better for us and for those around us. Many of us have a lot of trouble loving Someone without being able to see them but when you consider that God has loved each of us individually long before we were born…shouldn’t we at least try to focus our devotion on Him during the rest of our lives however long or short they may be?

Jesus came to Bethlehem to be born as a human being with His nature as God intact. He came to pay the price for all of mankind’s sins and that is what He did. He did this because of love, especially the love of God, is far stronger than anything that we could do or be. We could not “help” Him to bring salvation to us because it could only come through His sacrifice. Living as His child and being devoted to Him for the rest of our lives should not be hard. Even though you and I can’t see Him, you can look at all of the life and the wondrous beauty of creation and see that the Creator’s hand is now and was involved when creation began.

We are coming to the end of the church age so I hope that everyone who has not made a decision about their salvation will do so and soon. We don’t know what day He will call the church, those who have given their hearts to Him, to come home to heaven but it could be any day now.

Laboring a Few Days for Christ: How Great Loves Make Burdens Light | Desiring God

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The man in the beginning of this story solved his own riddle. Read it and see how wisdom is given to those who seek the Author of Wisdom.

The Cross…

God knew how to put us together because He had done it before. Every cell, whether it is a muscle cell or a nerve cell is there for a reason. Just like each of us who have a purpose and so do each one of our cells. This molecule is the “glue” which holds our cells and our body’s systems together. God’s Word points us in this direction because it says so.

God is doing something new!

God can do amazing things in your life and mine if we will give Him our hearts. Follow Him totally in your life not just a little while on Sunday or on a holiday. When the disciples began following Jesus, did they follow Him one day every week or were they with Him every day until His ministry was ended on the day of His crucifixion? Even though His message has been taken around the world since His resurrection because His disciples never stopped. The rivers of life in a wasteland are the the gospel of Jesus has gone all over the world.

Freeze!

This past week has been cold all over the United States. Why would I celebrate this cold and dangerous time in our country? Everything in our country can’t always be good and equitable for everyone. Life always has ups and downs. Good days and bad.

God loves each of us and offers us eternity with Him so why do people refuse His offer? We go through trials and trouble and problems with our bodies and at our jobs and even with our relationships. Sometimes we depend on God for our help with these things and sometimes we tell Him that we can handle it even when we know that we can’t. Oh, we may not actually tell Him that we will handle things but when we don’t seek His help with whatever it is then we are telling Him to His face that we can do it. He will let us try and usually we will fail. Then, if we have any conscience at all, we will seek His help to fix the mess that we have now.

After all of this ice and snow melts we will have really mushy yards and mine is already on its way to being that way. It is pretty when it falls and stays for a while but it is a pain and so muddy when it is melting and going away. That is another way of looking at our life with or without Jesus in it. I’m not saying that becoming a Christian will solve all of your problems immediately because it won’t. Satan will still attack you on many fronts and try to take your witness away or at least mess it up so that people who don’t really know you will just dismiss your witness as fake.

That is why when the ice storms and the hail and sleet come into your life as problems and pains and broken hearts, make sure that you turn to and lean on Jesus. He can strengthen you and give you the faith and ability to get through all of these problems. Some people will scoff at this but God does care about each of us and He will be near you in all of your problems IF you give your heart to Him and repent of your sins. Don’t expect Him to comfort you if you don’t belong to Him. That would be like expecting a total stranger to comfort you and take care of your needs. Some people might but not all.

God has always been close to humanity because of Israel and the Jewish people. He always has His attention on us and if you are a believer He knows you more intimately than anyone.

Beautiful but deadly

There is much beauty in the ice and snow that covers the trees and the ground but they can be deadly. God’s love is extended to everyone who wants it, see that you seek Him as your Savior while there is time. The creation that is all around us that is sparkling and pretty right now won’t last and the effect that it is having on our country will get better after all of it melts. Yes, it seems like winter is taking a little while longer to go away but it will. I pray that those who have had pipes to burst or have been without power for a few days will get some help to stay warm.

If there was something that I could do for those in need I would but all that I can do is pray and that is the easy part. God will provide for you if you will depend upon Him for your needs and your rescue. Seek Him for your help and for your Salvation and both will come.

Add a little spice

Now don’t get crazy with your imagination because of the title. If you really want some spice, see how long you can read through the Song of Solomon. It has many verses in it that would bring steam to your glasses and possibly embarrass you if you were preaching from it. This is why there are very few who have preached from it in church.

God designed the human body and He ordained sex as a way for married couples to populate the world. So why shouldn’t Solomon write about it? He did have 700 wives, not a very wise man in my opinion but I’m sure he found out a LOT about women!

God really did spice things up when He had to. Most of the time the spice that God added in the Old Testament had to do with getting Israel’s attention back on serving Him. Many times they would for a while but they were just like the rest of us today. When things are going good we don’t want to know God or even feel that we need Him…but when things aren’t going well at all we do cry out to Him because we know He can help!

Even people who don’t believe in God will cry out to Him when they feel helpless and there is no other possible help available. God has loved humanity ever since He created us and it is His grace and mercy which sustains us even on those days when we forget Him or refuse to acknowledge Him for all of our blessings. Jesus would not have given His life for us if it weren’t for the love that He felt then and still feels for us today.

Your life in Christ is assured if you repent and give your heart to Jesus and ask Him to be your Savior and Lord.

We are coming to the end of the church age. Likely much sooner than most will admit or even consider. I pray that all who come here will give their life to Jesus because when the Trumpet of God sounds and the dead in Christ rise your choice will be much harder than it is today. In service, until He comes.

Wait patiently for Him

Strange times we live in

Well, it seems that the groundhog was right. We are all getting a bit more winter weather even in the deep South. In reality, winter doesn’t actually end until around March 21st anyway but the temperatures that are being felt in the southern part of the United States don’t come to our neck of the woods very often.

Life has a way of throwing curve balls when you least expect them and this happens to be one of them. I pray that when this winter storm moves north it doesn’t carry so much of a punch with it as it has had here. In other ramblings, the time that we are living in was foretold long ago in the Bible. Even the changes in the weather and the unusual way that politics is working in these last few years of the church age. All of it is found in Matthew 24 and in the beginning chapters of the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

The truth is this: we aren’t living in the strangest of times, those are yet to come. I pray that most of you who read this have given your heart to Jesus and are reading His Word and learning of Him during these trying times. If you have not but you are curious about Christianity and the promises of His Word, please seek Him in the New Testament and do it soon. There are dangerous days ahead of us especially for those who have not made a commitment to Jesus and are following Him now. When He calls the believers home to be with Him the world for those who are left will be much worse in many ways than it is today.

Becoming a Christian today is not hard if you will answer the call on your heart when you feel it. Sometimes the touch of the Spirit is not very noticeable and sometimes He will call you in a dream so that you know exactly Who called you and that you can’t let it go until you are His. God knows the ones who will answer His call and the ones who will hear it but turn away so make sure that you are in the first group. Eternity is a very long time to live without God at all.

Right this moment we enjoy His blessings, although some people may not see their circumstances as blessings. We have air to breathe and usually a warm place to sleep at night. Food to sustain us and clothes to cover us. Some may not have these “luxuries” and to many people these simple things don’t sound like luxuries but to someone with no food to eat for a week or two just a small serving of fries from McDonald’s would be wonderful. Those of us who live in what is called the “developed” world who are poor in wealth would almost be considered rich in some countries.

God blesses us with far more than we deserve and yet there are so many without the necessities like clothing, shoes, water and shelter that many of us take for granted. Life is hard in many parts of the world that most of us in America will never see first hand. Even if we visited those places we wouldn’t want to stay and help because we cannot understand poverty of that magnitude. God knows each person on this Earth and He sees all of the conditions that they live in. Many of them cry out to Him even though they don’t know His name, their soul cries to the Maker of all there is and He hears their cry. He will repay those who could help but choose not to or are too greedy to help. When this age is over and the work that God is completing is finished they will have their reward or their punishment, whichever He gives to those who have done His will and to those who refused to follow Him and be the “light in the darkness” for this present age.