I can’t add much to this, except that I pray that those of you who have had questions about following Christ will earnestly pray this prayer and mean it in your hearts. Our world is not going to get better until He comes again!
Tag: eternal life
It’s your decision, so make it a good one
This question or rather this statement was made by Jesus two thousand years ago, He said: “What will it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose his soul.” Our world is on the verge of doing just that, losing our collective souls because of our tendency to reject the Truth. Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to be forgiven of your sins and to gain access to Heaven itself!
Just as in John 3:16-17 it states: 16“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him
Yet, many people today reject this teaching, this prophecy, and some even reject the entirety of the Bible itself. That is, of course, your choice even if it is a bad choice. We are allowed to choose our own way and our own destiny, but what good will it do you if you come to the end of your life and find that God does exist and you didn’t believe in Him?
It may not seem to be important now, while you still live, but just a few seconds after your death it really won’t matter. This life is the only chance that you get to make that decision and once it is done, you will face your judgment by God. That is how it is told all through the Bible, when a man dies he faces the judgment of God. What you did throughout your life, good or bad, is taken as evidence and shown to you. It is your decision about Jesus and His atonement for your sins that will cast you into hell or not.
If you have accepted Him as your Savior, then your sins are covered and you are assured of eternity in Heaven. If you rejected Him as your Savior, then your soul will live on into eternity but it will be in hell, separated from God, forever. There is no gray area, no waiting for someone to pray you out of. The Bible is clear on this, and there are only two sides just as with a coin, heads or tails, right or left, black or white.
God loves all of us, no matter what color you are or where you are from, but the choice that we make about Jesus Christ will determine the direction of your life for eternity, Heaven or hell. Many people say that “My God would not send anyone to hell”, God doesn’t but He won’t force you to choose one way over the other. So, it is your choice which condemns you to an eternity in hell, not God. It is your decision only and you have your entire life to make up your mind about it.
But, when your life is over then your choice for going to Heaven or hell and your ability to choose which direction you will go is over. There was an old commercial that said something like this: You only go around once in life, so grab all the gusto you can! This was a commercial about a beer that you should buy, but the message is true. You only have one life in this body, when you die your soul and your spiritual body will stand in front of God to be judged for your life and what you did with it. Did you grab all of the gusto or were you scared? By gusto, I am speaking of Jesus because if you took hold of Him in this life, eternity is assured for you in Heaven! If you were scared of asking Him into your life or you just didn’t want to accept Him, that is okay but your eternity will be much different. Satan’s lies that many people believe say that God wouldn’t send you to hell for not accepting His Son. Maybe you’ve also heard this one: You will have plenty of time, don’t worry about that until you get old.
What about the drive home today? What if you don’t make it home? Your time may be up this afternoon and when you stand to be judged all that you can say is “I thought I had more time”. You will be welcomed into hell but it won’t be a loving welcome.
Seek Jesus in His Word, the Bible and pray that you can come to know Him before you life here is over. God loves you and wants to bring you to Himself, but if you keep pushing Him away then one day He will give you over to your life the way you want it to be and He won’t bother you anymore.
Think about it.
What will it profit you?
It is written in the Bible, “What will it profit a man, to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul?” All of the riches and power in the world today, if they were available and given to only one man, it would corrupt him so completely until his life would be over. Worry and hatred and bitterness would be his constant companions, even with all of the wealth of the world, if he were not saved by Jesus and a Christian. Moral living and a life of wealth on that scale has never been had by one person. If he were a Christian, I am not saying that the wealth wouldn’t corrupt him even then because it could and likely it would.
He would forget his faith in God and put it in money, because he doesn’t need God since he owns the whole world. God would say to him the same thing that He said to the farmer who said to his soul, “We can be at rest now, we have barns full and can take life at ease. God said to him, “Thou fool, tonight thy soul is required of thee”. Even all of the wealth of the world, and it would be in the trillions of dollars or whatever currency that you choose, could not extend your life or make it more comfortable. It is true that you would be able to take life easy, up to a point, although you would have teams of lawyers to watch over your wealth and CPA’s to take care of your taxes and investments. Many people would be getting wealthy from your wealth, and for some that would nearly drive them mad.
Money, gold, silver and wealth measured in any way over the Earth by title to land or oil or jewels is just stuff. It it true that by the world’s standard that much wealth would be seen as a blessing and a curse. A blessing because of all the good things that you could accomplish with it for those who are in need physically and financially, and a curse because everyone would be trying to profit from your wealth in some fashion. Yes, by the world’s standards, you would be a king and wealthy enough that you could do anything and live anywhere that you wanted to. But, if your moral compass was pointing toward yourself rather than toward helping others, then this much wealth would make you a very bitter and cruel person because of the things which you could do and get away with in order to keep your money.
What would you do with all of that wealth? I can’t even imagine having one billion dollars to use any way that I choose, let alone having all of the wealth in the world at my command. No one person has ever had that much and likely no one person ever will, but the good that could be done with it is extraordinary and hard to imagine. Yet, it pales by comparison when you consider eternity with God by accepting Him as your Savior.
Think of it. A pile of money that could cover the entire United States more than a mile deep, but what or who will it benefit when you die? Wars would be fought over it, people would die to have part of it, for what? Your life and your charity would be forgotten within a century, and where would you be spending eternity? Life doesn’t end with your last heart beat and breath, you were created with an eternal soul and it will go on…somewhere. Choose today where it will be, either in Heaven with God or in hell with Satan and his demons.
And now, the news….
Today, most people don’t care what you or I think about anything. But, it seems that they are most interested in things which don’t matter at all in the great scheme of things. You can tweet or post about almost anything from what you are wearing today to something that you heard on the news or even something at home or school. Sometimes, you might even get enough people’s attention to make that tweet go viral! What is going on?
Mostly, I think it is too much information. We are bombarded with so much from our radios, our phones, our tablets and our computers. Then, when you get home you have to deal with all of the news and sports and commercials on the TV. Don’t you wish that we could just turn it all off for a few days or weeks? I sure do! Many people today would be totally lost if their electronics suddenly shut down or lost their connections. No more information, no cell-phone calls, no tweets, no posts on Facebook or videos on Youtube….what are we going to do?
We have lost our ability to get by without information constantly available. Just twenty-five years ago there were no real cell phones and the Internet was just for bulletin boards and email, not the huge amounts of data that is on it now. Going way back to the seventies when I was in school and you had the newspaper, dial phones which were land-lines and the news on the TV, that’s it. Other than listening to the radio or reading books or magazines there wasn’t much for entertainment unless you could get outside and ride your bike with your friends. That’s right, there also were no video games!
To many of the new generation, that particular time in history would be classified as the stone age. But, we survived and made it through high school too even without common core, thankfully!
Oh, yeah, the reason for all of this history lesson in how people are overloaded with information today…we are coming to the end of the church age folks! News flash! This has been in the Bible for many years. “But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.” Daniel 12:4 Why do I refer to a prophecy from over 2500 years ago? Because that is exactly what is happening today. Also, the book of Revelation explains the age that we are in as coming to an end and when knowledge increasing.
So, what does it mean by “the end of the age”? We are on the edge of time, the time when prophecy is coming to fruition and we should be watching for its Author coming in the clouds. The world is changing so rapidly until we are covered with information constantly, but the problem today is that most of the information is irrelevant to history or prophecy. It is causing people to pay attention to things that are not important and they won’t see what really is important. Like giving your life and your heart to Jesus and searching or seeking to know Him even better than you ever have before.
Why would you do that? Well, He died for your sins so that you wouldn’t have to pay the penalty for them. Is that really important? If you don’t want to go to Heave, maybe not. But, if you would like to enjoy eternity and live in it forever in a home that was built by God, then it is the most important decision you may ever make. Seek Him out in the Bible. Read it, study it and pray about it. You might just meet your Savior and His Father and get to know them better. If you do, you will be on your way to eternity and it will be one that you will never be bored in ever again.
Life and God
For life like ours to exist, there must be water,
Not because we live in it or breathe it, but
Because it is necessary. We also need God for the
Same reason…He is necessary for our life.
Consider….
Consider life and how it flows through time.
Consider your life and where it may go in time.
Consider love and what will become of it in time.
Consider our society and what it will become…in time.
Consider your family and what will happen to them…in time.
Consider your nation and what it may look like in time. Will it still be a nation?
Consider the world and what may happen in it in the future of our time.
Consider your future. Where will you spend eternity at that time?
Just…consider the possibilities for all of these, then decide if there is one of them that you can have an influence on.
The last one on the list is the only one that you can really have an impact on and it hinges upon one decision. That decision is whether you believe in Jesus and His atonement for your life and sins and whether you have accepted Him as Savior or not.
That’s it.
Life…
Life is opening your eyes in the morning.
Life is seeing your child running in the yard.
Life is working in the garden.
Life is being there for a friend.
Life is going to visit someone in the hospital
Life is living your life in accordance with Christ.
Life is seeing a puppy or a kitten before their eyes open.
Life is holding your child for the first time.
Life is living with your sweetheart until they pass from this world.
Life is joining them in Heaven to carry on into Eternity.
Life is in Jesus and the grace that God grants us through Him.
Life is …..
God has left the building!
And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. (Isaiah 4:21)
Is this what is happening in our culture and our country today? Is this happening in the world today? From what I have seen on the news and on the Internet, it seems to be happening. The thing is that it was prophesied to happen at this time and we are going through what is called the “falling away” or in some translations it is called the rebellion. In any event, it is the people of the church, who have attended church…some for years and yet when persecution comes or times get hard then they turn away from their faith and rebel against the teachings of the church.
These are people who I believe aren’t really Christians at all, they were just going through the motions. The did all of the “churchy” things like being teachers in Sunday school and even being Deacons in the church, some were even pastors, but they had never accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
I don’t understand how that is possible myself. How could you deceive people, and even yourself, into thinking that you are saved and even called to be a pastor, if you don’t have Jesus in your heart? “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17; isn’t this the scripture which shows exactly where your heart is and to Whom you belong? If you aren’t a new creation, then how can you possibly act like and perform as if you are, even when it isn’t genuine?
Our lives, in Christ or not, are in God’s hands and if we continue to push Him out of our lives then one day He will leave entirely. He will still be in control, but He won’t be there when you call on Him just as He did when Israel did this. There are many people today who don’t want to believe in Him or don’t want to hear about His message and that’s okay. Not what you were expecting me to write though huh?
The reason that I did write it is because I can’t convince you, all that I can do is give you scripture or some wisdom that I have gleaned from God’s Word. It is your choice to do with it what you will. Take it into your heart and learn about Him, then ask Him to come into your heart and live every day seeking more of His wisdom. That is His desire for us, at least in part.
Of course, you can ignore it and choose not to learn of Him. Deciding that He is an imaginary being from myth. Choose this road for your life and follow it carefully, watching everything along the way. Then when you die one day, and you stand before the One that you rejected maybe then you will see and understand. By that time, it will be too late to change your mind and your eternity will be before you.
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15
What should we do?
I read a report today about some research that the Barna group did and here is a small excerpt from that report: The California-based Barna Group reports that the combined number of unchurched people in America, approximately 156 million, would make the eighth most populous country in the world.
What can we do about these people who don’t want to go to church? Can we, as Christians, reach them in ways which might make a difference? I don’t know.
I have heard from some who say that we are all hypocrites and that they don’t want to go to a church service with people who claim one thing and live another. Then, change your own life! Be the Christians that God intends for you to be! If you truly are and you have given your heart to Christ and asked Him to come into your life and change you, then show it! Let people outside the church see Him and not a fictitious version, a fake Jesus, through your life and your actions.
Why do I say this? Because, if they won’t come to church then you may be the only Jesus that some people ever meet! And, if you aren’t being Jesus outside the church walls, then what good are you doing? What is your fruit that Jesus said that you would produce if you really are His disciple and an adopted child of God?
Are you going to fulfill the role of being the “hands and feet” of the church and of Jesus? This is what we are supposed to be doing if we truly belong to Him after all. I know that many of us can’t provide much in the way of monetary help to people in need because many of us are also in need too. Just being a worker for Jesus, showing your Christian character when you are at work or in a public place, essentially practicing your Christianity. That is what we are called to do and to be!
The best part about practicing your faith is that it will be easier for you and it will help you to learn more about being like Christ if you act like Him every day. Just as practice makes you better at sports or music, it also helps with your walk with Christ and since you are doing it every day it will become more genuine to those who don’t go to church with you. Therefore, they will see how you are enjoying life with Christ and they might want that joy with Him too.
You know, it seems that many people think that being a Christian or becoming a Christian will restrict your joy in life or even take the enjoyment out of life and that is not true at all! I have more joy in my life because I am a Christian, not because I pastor a church but because I have a future to look forward to. Not just in my life here but also in the life that I will have in Heaven or on the renewed Earth one day! The best part to look forward to is that time and the measure of it won’t matter anymore!
We will have all of eternity to learn from Abel and Adam and Noah and Abraham. We can know the wisdom of Solomon and of all the people in the scientific past such as Isaac Newton and Leonardo Da Vinci (they weren’t agnostic you know).
What is your passion?
A friend asked me once, “What would you do if you could make more money?”. My answer was, “Pay off all of my bills.” The problem today is that I am disabled and can’t work at a regular job, so I write on this blog. It doesn’t pay me anything, at least in this life, but I am hoping that some of you get a lift from it or from the words that God gives me to write.
Your passion is usually something which you are, well passionate about! For some people it is their job or making money, for others it may be conservation or community projects, still other people may just be passionate about their immediate family and their well-being. Then there are the sports fanatics and others who are passionate about their teams or whatever. Today, many people seem to be involved in online gaming and for some this is a bit too much.
The point that I was making in the paragraph above is that we sometimes put more of ourselves into something which has no future at all. It doesn’t provide us with any tangible reward other than the enjoyment of our passion, but outside of that, what do you get from it? In truth, many people don’t really care about getting something from it, they just enjoy it period.
Writing does that for me. Sometimes, the words that I am given are inspirational and sometimes they are uplifting or even critical. The reason behind my writing is something which we can’t experience yet and that is eternity. We all have it ahead of us in one form or another. Some think that they will be buried in the ground for an eternity and that is it, others think that when you die, that’s the end of everything like turning off a light.
I write here to tell you that you and I have an eternity ahead of us because that is how God created us. We have a part of us which will live on, our soul or spirit, and depending on our choices in this life will determine where and how our eternity will be spent. Your life, compared to even a portion of eternity like one million years, is pitifully short like a puff of smoke in the wind. It is gone in an instant, like the snapping of fingers.
That is the amount of time that we have here to make a small difference in our lives and in the lives of others. How we accomplish this depends upon Who we choose to follow, God or our own desires. Following our own desires is what we do to begin with and for a while we feel okay with it. But, when you feel something from the Spirit of God usually like an empty feeling like something is missing. Then, you want to fix it as if something just isn’t right.
We try doing this by experimentation with all sorts of “feel good” things. The problem is that they don’t work, at least not in the long-term. They are temporary just like our life. The only real fix is seeking out the Creator, Jesus, Who will fill that empty spot with Himself and then your life will be totally changed. Your passion won’t be the same any more, the hunger that you felt for other things will change.
Following and learning from Jesus is a journey and it is one which doesn’t end, until we are in His presence. When we are there, we will know as we are known. At that point, it won’t matter because our eternal life will be in front of us and all of those friends that we know now who are Christians, we can have fellowship with them for eternity. Although, I am sure our experience will be far above what we can experience here on Earth.
Determine your destiny, seek out God’s wisdom in His Word, seek Him out by prayer and learning of Him because until you find Him and His purpose for your life, you will feel as if something is missing that you can’t put your finger on. That something is Jesus, the missing piece to all of our puzzles.
The Living Message of Christ 