Be faithful in the little things…

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
Luke 16:10 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/luk.16.10.KJV

Life ahead

Are you prepared for life ahead of you? Most people today are not. Mainly because they don’t see much life ahead of them, particularly if they have a terminal illness or maybe they are advanced in years. But God says that eternity is in front of us even after this body is gone. Jesus told the thief on the cross that he would be with Him in Paradise that day. The cross and the death which it brought was not the end of life. Even though it was the end of the body, the Spirit would live on into eternity.

Most of us seem to have trouble preparing for retirement for the end of our working years (so we are told). Many don’t save up or invest enough to carry us into our later years and we miss out on the travel and the “golden years” as they used to be called. Nowadays people are working at Walmart or some other part-time job just trying to make it during those years after the job that they may have been lucky enough to retire from. Some don’t even get that luxury. They are laid off at such a late age until finding a job is next to impossible.

Your life with Jesus in eternity is something which we should be preparing for well ahead of the time, even when we don’t know when we may die. We should still prepare for it and we should start doing so as soon as we hear the gospel message and determine that we truly need Jesus! Many of us have been in church since we were children especially if we live in the South, the so-called “Bible Belt”.

But do we prepare for crossing over into eternity?

Unfortunately, most of us don’t consider our mortality until a near miss on the highway or when we get a disturbing diagnosis from our doctor. Until some of our friends begin dying before we do, death is just not part of our thinking process. Then when our grandparents and our parents die, we begin to consider that our life could end at any time as well. Even then some of us still put off any kind of preparation for eternity. I suppose we think that we will have time to do it just before the end.

The people killed on 9/11/01 didn’t have any warning that they wouldn’t be going home that night. People who are killed in car wrecks don’t have time to “fess up” before the car flips over or a truck hits them. Most of the time people who have a heart attack don’t even have the time to do more than die. The end of our life usually takes us by surprise. So much so until there is no way to prepare for it or the eternity which comes after it unless you have done so by giving your life to Jesus ahead of time. I pray that anyone reading this will seek Him out as their Savior today because tomorrow is not promised to anyone.

Deny your sins and follow Jesus

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.
Luke 9:23‭-‬26 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/luk.9.23-26.KJV

Be slow to anger, but quick to hear..

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
James 1:19 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/jas.1.19.KJV

Peace of Christ

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Colossians 3:15 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/col.3.15.KJV

Walk with Jesus in His Light!

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:7‭-‬10 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/1jn.1.7-10.KJV

God gives us…

We have wind and rain. God gives us breath and our health. We are also given the light of the sun to warm us and water from the rain. God has given us all of these good things but we take them for granted each and every day. Some people are living with problems which make their lives miserable, but God is still there with them.

Why do I bring this up today?

Because in the world that most of us live and breathe in, we forget about all of the good things which God has provided for us. Humanists tend to look at the world around them and think that we have destroyed or rather we are destroying this world. The fact is that we are living in a world which has been under a curse since Adam’s fall. Of course, the “world” doesn’t look at things from the perspective of God’s Word. Much of the world and those living in it don’t even believe that the Bible IS the Word of God.

But, that is a story and a sermon for another time.

God is our Creator and He is the One Who takes care of our needs, not our wants. When we look at life and His provision for us in that light then we will see just how His provision is the best of all things. We may not get the best of those things here and now, but His best comes when He deems that we are able to receive it. God gives us talents and abilities in this life to be representatives of His goodness and His love toward the world, the people, around us.

Why? Because we are the only representatives which Jesus has in this world today and in many instances, you and I may be the only representation of the love of Jesus and His mercy that someone may see before the end of their life. Seek God’s wisdom and His direction for your life each and every day. Every decision that we have to make should be prayed over and placed in God’s hands through prayer and reading of His Word. I am speaking of major decisions here, not whether to put creamer in your coffee or not.

Make sure that people can see Jesus in your life and in the way that you live and conduct yourself in this world. Sometimes it is difficult to do, sometimes bills come due for one thing and prevent you from paying another bill. But…you can still honor God in your life and let others know how you are doing and living.

God gives us more than we need most of the time. Maybe not more money but more than we could ask for in regards to our relationships and our salvation through Jesus.

Live under His protection

Love one another…

God told us this. Jesus commanded it. But…do we do it? Even as Christians or even a society which claims to be “Christian” in its principles, no we do not! If we did there wouldn’t be a legal way to kill your baby. If we did there would be fewer murders and rapes and other kinds of crimes against human decency and against God’s law which most of our laws were based on, to begin with. So, what happened to America?

The same thing which has happened to every other country, Christian or not. We want to do things our way, not God’s way. Even though history has shown that doing or living life by our ways and our wisdom has usually ended up badly. If you have ever read the book of Genesis, humanity doesn’t get too far before the inclination of their hearts was evil continually! This was only six chapters in from the beginning! After the Fall in the Garden, mankind didn’t waste much time before they had forgotten God almost entirely.

God’s laws are based on love. His love toward us and His command for us to love one another. But when we demand our own way and our own ideas about life and freedom to do what we want without His laws interfering, we are walking down a very slippery slope. Yes, it is permissible and easy to live with because when we are following our own ideas of “right” and not God’s law of Right and Wrong we are missing the Truth which comes from God.

In our world today people are willing to ignore God’s Word because they don’t believe it is the Truth. Many don’t believe that it is God’s Word, to begin with. Some even pick some parts of it to believe and then choose not to believe other parts which they don’t agree with! God’s Word is True from the beginning to the end and either all of it is the Truth or none of it is! So, picking some parts to believe and some which you don’t believe is not really an option!

That would be similar to believing that the Sun is going to come up tomorrow but not the next day or that gravity works for some people but not everyone. You can choose to believe or not believe in physical laws if you wish, but God put those in place for a reason. They don’t go away just because you don’t like them or you don’t want them to be true on a certain day or time. The Truth of His Word is the same. It is either true and absolute in its meaning all of the time or it isn’t God’s Word at all!

His Love for us is the same. It never is less than it was yesterday and it is never more for one person over another. God chooses those whom He will use and those that He won’t, it doesn’t mean that He loves one over the other. Yes, there is a verse which says “Jacob I loved and Esau I hated” but that doesn’t mean human hatred. God loved Esau too, just not in the same way and it was because He knew that Jacob would become the nation of Israel.

Read God’s Word and learn about Him because He already knows all about you and your capabilities and your usefulness for His Kingdom!