Tag: Salvation

Seek Him and everything else falls behind


I realize that by saying this, it seems that I am saying that work doesn’t matter or your life doesn’t matter but that is not what I mean at all. By seeking out the Son of God and putting Him first in your life, everything else will fall into its correct place. It may not happen immediately, but it will happen. Life is hard at times, but when you put the One who created Life in your life and make Him first above all, then He can cause the rest of your life to work like it should!

Think of it like a chain, when you are the one in charge and you begin making the chain you start with one or two links. It isn’t hard to handle and it is easy to control. But, when you add more into or onto the chain, it really becomes a chain of binding then. By the time you reach adulthood, the chain that is your life is getting a bit harder to handle, some people turn to friends or family to give them advice. Others want to drop the chain altogether. Still others will look to drugs or alcohol to help them cope. The chain of life now has debt and responsibility added to it and it is getting very heavy and hard to handle.

Carrying the chain is getting almost impossible, dragging it is hard because of its weight and length, but if you will give your life (the chain) to Jesus and allow His strength to guide you and help you in this journey it becomes easier. He doesn’t get rid of the chain for you but He will help you carry the load and show you how to handle the pressures and problems which come with your life.

Remember, chains cannot be pushed and they are hard to carry and in order to pull them you have to be strong. When He is giving you His strength and helping you in pulling it along, life isn’t such a struggle anymore. It won’t be a breeze either, but it will be easier than it was before. Jesus loves you enough to come to Earth and die in your place, the least that you could do is to seek Him out and learn about His offer of eternal life through Him.

If it isn’t for you, then refuse Him. You haven’t lost anything if you do…except your eternity. Yes, there will be an eternity for you if you refuse Him, but it will be one of torment, regret, and pain because you will be cut off from the love of God and your reward in Heaven had you accepted His offer. What do you have to lose if you do accept Jesus?

The only things that you may lose in this life if you choose to follow Jesus are things which you could live without anyway. Some people lose their family ties because of this choice. Some lose friends, some may even lose their jobs, but look at what you gain! Forgiveness for all of your sins, eternal life and a home in Heaven…is there anything which could be more valuable than those gifts of God’s grace? You will also gain more friends and family through the church and by association with other Christians and the best part of that is that you will be a part of God’s Kingdom!

Life is…..


Personal and individual and collective and cultural. Do you know what I mean by this? It is very touching and personal to each of us, because each of us who wakes up every day we experience it anew again. Each day and night is special because it will never be again. This minute has already passed while I have been writing, and it will not be back.

Why is it so fleeting? Because time flows like water and one ounce of water that has passed you in a stream will never be back. It is the same with the seconds and minutes of your day, the one that is passing right now will never be back again. Your life started with your first heartbeat in the womb, and it will continue until that last heartbeat.

For some, this line of thinking is circular because it is just double-talk to some of you, but the comments that I made in the first two paragraphs is true. This minute right now will never come back, yesterday is gone and the future is still a minute ahead of us at all times. Your life is and always has been lived in the moment, right now. You can plan for tomorrow or next week if you wish but you are not guaranteed that time until it gets here.

God loves you and He prepared to give you an eternity of time with Him through Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on the cross. It is your choice to believe in Him and the grace that is extended to you through Jesus, because it is the only way for you to have an eternity in Heaven. No amount of work or money or attendance will open the door for your salvation, only the redeeming power of belief in Jesus will do that.

Yes, it is simple. Some claim that it is too simple, because there must be more that I can do or you can do to be saved. Unless you confess your sinfulness and ask Jesus to forgive you for waiting so long and ask Him to come into your heart and change you from the person that you were to the person that He needs you to be…your life means nothing and it will end with your last breath.

By giving your heart to Him so that you can be cleansed and changed by Him, you become like Christ. Little by little, day by day, in reading and prayer through the Holy Spirit and His Word you will become more like Jesus and less like your old self. You won’t be perfect and sinless, but you will be forgiven! Your name will be in the book of Life and your life will be eternally with Jesus and all of the other Christians.

Life is tough sometimes and it is hard some days, but mostly life is something that we each live through. What our life means in eternity, the outcome of our influence in this life, will be apparent only when we enter into Heaven. For some, you will see many people who you had influence in their lives positively, even though you may have never met them. Everything that you say or do for Jesus like saying thanks for your food in public, giving back money that you got in change that was too much, helping out someone who needs help without them knowing who did it…all of these things show that part of Jesus in you.

It gets noticed by everyone. You may not know who sees it, and it may not make much of a difference in your life here, but you will be surprised when you get to Heaven and find a person that your actions or words made an eternal difference in their life. Consider life today because the moments that it has taken to write this or read this will never come back, but what you do with the rest of your life could have eternal consequences for you and for others too!

Today…


paintingFor most of us today began about four hours ago, depending on when you may need to get to work. Some of you may have been working last night until this morning, so your morning was during the night for the rest of us. I worked the night shift in the hospital lab for years after I graduated from Clinical Lab Science with a BS. It was different, not very enjoyable though. Your body was not designed to be awake during the night and try to sleep during the day.

Anyway, today is the day that we all have to work with. What we do with it and what we accomplish in it are up to us and the abilities that God has given us. So…what will you do with yours?

Some of us have to go to work for the day, some, like me, are disabled and get to spend the day doing what we can do. For some we can do almost as much as we could before, but pain or tiredness comes on really easily. Like today for me. I was painting a couple of hours ago, but my shoulders began to hurt pretty bad so I had to quit. Hopefully, I can get back to it before it dries completely. If I can finish it, I may put it up here so you can see it.

The painting above is what I was working on yesterday. I hope you like it. I can do better I think, but that will come with practice.

God gives each of us a talent, some of us get more than one. The problem with having more than one is that you have a hard time figuring out what you are supposed to do with yourself. For me, it usually has to do with how much pain I have and how I feel that day. I am sorry about bringing my situation in here because it really doesn’t belong here, but sometimes that is how I feel.

I hope that you don’t have to go through the pain that I have. God loves us and our life, each and every day, is our service to Him and for Him. Regardless of our job or our talents, your day can be useful to you and to God as well. Seek Him out and do what you can do with what you have, every day.

Love wins….


Your life and mine have been influenced by love at one time or another. It could be when we were small children and we could tell that our grandma loved us by the way she spoke to us or played with us. Love is expressed in many ways and in many different cultures. Some are very affectionate, some are not. Parents are this way too. Some express their love for their children and their spouse by gifts, some by physical expressions such as a kiss or a hug. The best way to show your love toward someone is by being present. Be there with them during special occasions or just be with them period. Don’t be an absentee Dad or Mom, because that makes your children feel like you don’t care. This is especially true with your spouse. Be there when they come home, physically and mentally. It is too easy to be there in person but “zone out” into your own world when they are talking to you.

Why am I writing this on Easter Sunday? Because, we need to be present physically and spiritually in our relationships with God too! Don’t show up once a week, listen to a sermon, sing a couple of songs and then forget everything that you heard as soon as you leave! Some people even leave their Bibles at church during the week! How can you read and study God’s Word and get to know Him better if you don’t read His Word?!

I used an illustration this morning and I am not sure it sunk into everyone’s mind when I did it, and it went something like this: How would you feel if you only saw your spouse for about an hour one day per week? They never read your letters or poems which tell of all that you have done in times past or what is happening right now. Would this relationship be a good one? I don’t think that you would be in a relationship like that for very long, do you?

But, this is how many people treat God when they go to church. They visit for an hour or so, listen to the sermon and maybe read a few verses in the Bible. The sing and pray along with everyone else and then they go their separate ways until the next time. What kind of relationship is that? It really isn’t a relationship at all, but “Christians” do this to God every week. Why? Pride, selfishness, fear, apathy…these have infected the church and its people and this began a long, long, time ago. This is not something new. It isn’t something that is only happening in the 21st. century. This has been building up for a long time.

True, there are some Christians who are very dedicated to serving God and reading His Word, praying for others and for each other. These are the ones that you read about in the Scripture where it says that God has saved Himself a remnant. There are many who think that they are saved and in good standing with God but they are not. Sometimes, I wonder if I am in that group who thinks they are saved but aren’t. I think that is Satan trying to take my joy away from me, which he does easily if you listen to him much.

Some days, it is hard to only hear what God is saying but if you read His Word and learn how His voice sounds then you can discern His voice from another’s. Love shows through all of the areas in your life and mine, especially where God is involved in it. God is love and Jesus was God’s perfect expression of His Love for us, but many people don’t look at it that way. Many people today try to say that we are bigots and hateful preachers for preaching the Truth from God’s Word, instead of coating it with sugary words and making it say one thing or two that God did not say. This is happening in churches today, and many of those churches have large congregations. People like to be told that they are OK and that God loves them just as they are.

He really does love you just as you are, but He also wants your life to change when you open your heart to Him so that others can see a difference in your life and they want what you have! Telling someone their sins that they are living in are OK with God when they are not is just plain and simply a LIE FROM SATAN. Seek Him out while you can because your sin will show up very plainly when you are standing in front of God at your judgement! Without Jesus and His blood covering your sins and making you as righteous and Holy as Jesus is, you will go into hell because you turned away from Him while you had the chance or you were fooled into thinking that you were saved when you really weren’t.

Think about it while you can.

Good Friday


I used to wonder what was so good about the day that Jesus hung on the cross? I know that it was the fulfillment of prophecy and it was necessary for our salvation, but for Jesus and those two thieves, that particular day was not a good one at all!

Jesus willingly went to the cross, even though His human mind and body didn’t want to do it, He knew that it was necessary in God’s plans for all of mankind. It hurt, and He endured it for three hours or more if you count the scourging and carrying His cross up the hill. The pain that He had to endure from the point that God had to turn away from Him was even more excruciating than the physical pain that He experienced from the nails and the whips. Why do I say this? Because, in all of existence back to the very beginning of everything, He and His Father had never been separated, EVER!

That was the hell that every person in hell goes through forever. Not just the pain from the heat and the fire, but the total separation from God and everything good in the universe is a pain that I can’t describe because I don’t know what that feels like. Jesus suffered through that separation until He realized that His job, His mission was finished and then He gave His Spirit up to God. He was in control, not the Romans nor the Jewish leaders that is why Pilate was surprised when he heard that Jesus was dead already.

He could’ve called many angels to take Him from the cross, but He didn’t because He loves each of us more than He did His own life. Which is why He gave His life as a ransom for each of us, every person on Earth! Isn’t that amazing? Our God loved us enough that He would go to such lengths to redeem us to Himself which is why few people believe it. Why do you think is it that few people believe that each of us don’t have to do anything in order to gain entrance to Heaven?

I think it is because, in our minds we just can’t fathom the kind of love and the amount of love that it would take for God to do this. Of course, if you don’t believe in God or Jesus or even any of the events which happened in the Bible, then it truly won’t make any sense at all to you. The Bible says that the “wisdom of God is foolishness to those in the world”, and it is true. Before I believed or was convicted to believe, much of the Bible didn’t make any sense at all to me. I heard it in Sunday school and in church, but that didn’t mean anything because to me those were just stories. Like “David and Goliath”, that to me was a children’s story and nothing more. Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, I saw Charlton Heston play that role, that was from Hollywood.

The thing that you have to learn by reading the Bible is that these things are and were given to prophets and priests to write down by the Spirit of God and He can’t lie! These stories are true because every part of the Bible is true! Why do I believe this? Because if any part of it isn’t true, then none of it is true, so my faith and my spirit agree that it must be and that is that. If you are curious about Jesus this season, read Matthew 26 and 27. Both of these chapters describe the Passover (Last Supper), the betrayal of Jesus and the mock trials leading up to His crucifixion. The best part of the narrative is that on the third day…Jesus arose from the tomb.

empty_tomb11Our future, our hope lies in the resurrection of Jesus because He said that He would come again and take us to be with Him in Heaven! That is a Christian’s home, not this place. Since He lives, we will also! Amen!

What is your question in this life?


Do you go around asking or just wondering about life and all of its do’s and don’ts? Have you seen all that there is to see, for you at least or do you still seek out the next curve or over the next hill? Do you still question why the wind blows or where does the sun go at night? How does the grass know when it is time to come back in spring? How do the flowers and trees know when to begin to bloom again?

These questions have been answered by science, to an extent at least. The sun doesn’t go under the Earth and come out of a cave in the East during the night and even today few people can tell you where the wind actually comes from or blows to. Yes, we have weather vanes which can point out the directions for me for the wind blowing. But, how do the trees and the grass know when to wake from their slumber during the winter? I know, it is the ground temperature and the angle of the sun or at least that is what botanists tell us.

Questions allow us to learn things and grow our minds. They help us to see the world around us, not as a static place but as a place that is alive and growing. Science can explain many things but emotional attachment cannot be quantified nor explained. Love can’t be bottled or analyzed, but it can be felt and in a relationship it grows deeper and sweeter with age.

God created our world and everything in it and He gave us the capacity to love and to be loved. Why? Because He loves each of us! He created us unique and one of a kind. There isn’t another person on Earth who is like you or me. Some of us may resemble each other so closely that it may be hard to tell us apart, but our personalities are different, our likes and dis-likes are different. Why are we made this way? Because God wanted it that way. Of the millions of birds and fish species that are in the world, very few of them are “clones” of each other as well. Some are colored the same, but each bird has a different personality too.

Why did God make all of this diversity in the world? What is the purpose of it? Mainly it was to make us ask questions about Him and His creation! Scientists like to analyze things to the point of not having anything left to analyze, but unless you are looking to the Creator for your answers, you will never find them. God is the answer to all of your questions and mine. Jesus is the Savior Who can open the door to Heaven for you, all you have to do is believe in Him and give your life to Him. There are no amounts of money that you can give or even telling others about Him that will get you into Heaven, unless you have given your heart to Him first!

He LOVED us enough to give His life and shed His blood for our sins so that we wouldn’t have to do anything to earn eternity. There is nothing that we can do on our own to earn our way into Heaven. Believe in Jesus and His sacrifice for you, ask Him to forgive you and to change you forever and He will! That is all that is required of you…nothing else.

Nothing is free


There is a lot of truth in that statement because nothing really is free, if that is all that you have. But, have you considered that our lives and all of the blessings which God bestows on us every day are NOT free? It is true that we don’t have to pay for our breath or to open our eyes, nor do we have to pay anything for our salvation, but those things are not free entirely.

Our salvation was paid for by the blood of Jesus. God gives us without cost (free) all of our other blessings simply because He loves us. We owe God our lives and everything that we have now and for the parents that we grew up with as well. God loves us because He is the Creator and because it is His pleasure to do so, not because of anything that we have done or will do in the future.

God was in the past and He is in the future now as well as today, so He knows the problems that you have but He is preparing a way for those things which will come upon us tomorrow, next week or even next year because He is already there. Why doesn’t God work it out so that we don’t have to go through those times? Because it makes us a better person. You didn’t take all of the obstacles away for your child when they were growing up and neither does He. But, He enables you to get through them if you will lean on Him and trust Him.

Life is not free if you look at the cost of living, but God is the owner of it all. He gives us the opportunity to live, not just this life, but in eternity. Eternity is worth more than all of the wealth in ALL of the world! Even though I said that Life, especially eternal life, is not free…it is for us. What do I mean by that? I mean simply that there is no amount of work or money that we can use to purchase eternity! It was paid for by Jesus when He was crucified.

This was done by our Creator because He knew from the foundation of the world that it would be necessary for our salvation and for our entry into eternity. We couldn’t do it on our own, we can’t keep even the ten commandments, Jesus paid for our passage and our forgiveness with His blood and His Life. When He arose from the grave a few days later, He reminded His disciples that He was preparing a place for them and would come back for them. This promise extends to the WHOLE Church which began being built on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem.

We as a world, not just in America, NEED to turn to God and repent of our sins. Not just individual sins but corporate sins which we have allowed to happen over the centuries! Repent and turn back to God so that He can and will heal our world, before the world goes too far into the darkness of anarchy which is exactly where we are heading.

Whom do you believe?


Many religions in our world today purpose to worship men. Men who are dead and have turned to dust or dried up husks in the grave. Why would you worship these who are nothing more than portions of creation itself? Living and breathing in our world is a wonderful grace that God gives to us, hard though it may be at times. Dead men don’t give any such grace or knowledge to us while we live or dream, only God our Creator will do this. We will not see Him, but our spirits will recognize our Creator and God when we hear and feel His calling.

So, whom do you believe in and determine to follow? There are many so-called “prophets”, even to hundreds of years before Christ. Some were in Eastern nations such as India and China, some came a few hundred years after Christ in the Middle Eastern nations. The difference between them and our Lord Jesus is that they lie in graves or have turned to dust while Jesus stands at the right hand of God, alive and well.

Some portions of the Middle Eastern religion say that Jesus is a servant of Allah, which is not true. God the Creator is not Allah, He is God. It is easy to place a name upon One whom you have not seen and give Him a name which you want Him to have and yet is a name which is not His Name. God doesn’t share His glory with any other god because He is God and there is none other!

The Bible speaks of God in three persons. The Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God, the Angel of the Lord or the pre-incarnate Christ and Jesus and of course God the Father. The One that we, as Christians, worship is a Triune Godhead. Being God doesn’t diminish His Spirit nor does it take away from the Son, Jesus the Christ. Trying to make the Son of God into a servant of Allah is blasphemy and is completely wrong.

God sent His Son into the world in order to redeem the world and all of those in it from the consequences of their sins. The only requirement is that they each believe in Him and that He did this for them, repenting of your sins and my sins and following His example in our lives. Following Him every day so that others may see the joy and the example that He set for us to follow and to do. We are not to do it selfishly or in response to the dictates of man, but selflessly and by the order of Jesus. Be a reflection of Him in all that you do every day, in your words and deeds so that you will glorify Him until He comes to take us to our eternal Home.

Will it matter that I lived?


I am not asking this question just for me but for  every person who reads this. It is a question which begs to be answered. Will it really matter that I lived? I don’t know the answer to that question. Have I done or said anything that is profound enough or thought-provoking enough that it will be noticed when I am no longer posting? Some may say that they will notice, but there are many more who don’t know that I am here even now!

My family will notice, of course, but will the words and the wisdom (if you can call it that) be noticed enough that the words that I write will be missed? Honestly I can tell you that I really don’t care and that is the truth. If you have noticed and read some of the things that I have posted, great! I pray that some of what I have said here has made a difference in your life.

NO! I am not dying nor have I been diagnosed with some fatal illness. I read something recently which asked this question and I became curious, so I thought why not put it out there and see if someone might notice or care to comment on this question. Just as an experiment if you will.

Before I go and finish this missive I want to make sure that you know this: God LOVES you with a love that is above your emotional feelings for your children or your spouse. This is why He sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins. The only requirement for your salvation is that you believe in Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask Him to change your heart and your life into the one that He knows that you can be. Join a church that teaches from the REAL Bible, not a paraphrase or watered-down version of it! Learn as much as you can learn about Who God really is because He is not the Man upstairs nor is He a genie that grants your wishes! He is the Creator of all the stars, the galaxies, our planet, the Sun and every atom that exists in the entire universe AND He cares about you!Inspiration

There was a celebration today!


A friend of mine died this past Saturday and we celebrated his life today, February 22. He was a devoted Christian and went on mission trips to tell others about Jesus. He also was very opinionated and set in his ways, but we loved him. He was also selfless and would do anything for you if he could. The best part though was that he died exactly the way he wanted to, reading a book and then he went to sleep.

When he woke up, he was in the Presence of God with his family and friends who had gone before him.

Life has a way of throwing you a curve like that sometimes. My wife and I just went to see him in the hospital last week and he seemed to be doing really well, although I knew he was ready to be with Jesus.

I envy him in a way…because he doesn’t have to wear glasses anymore or take pills for his diabetes and for his arthritis. None of the health problems that he had here went with him. He has a new body and it is better in every way than the one he had here. God renews us when we die so that the body that we leave here and all of its problems and corruption stays here.

We don’t really understand death but it is part of life. Yes, doctors see death as a cessation of the body’s systems. Biologically, death fits that description of all body functions shutting down. The problem with our country and the world that we live in is that there are “cancers” growing in all areas of society which are targeting the Life giving Word and trying to silence it in one way or another.Many of these groups of “cells” are in an extreme minority of less than one percent of the population, though some may be as high as three percent.

But, the effect on society that they have is deadly to the well-being of the whole. Like a poison from a certain viper which can kill you with just a drop of its poison or just the touch of a poison-arrow frog’s skin. The point that I am trying to make is that, even in the time that Paul was going on his journeys telling people of the Christ’s saving grace, there were groups which opposed him in every town that he went to. The started riots and stirred up the people so that he was nearly killed more than once.

In our time, the news tells us of many threats to Christians from groups overseas, but there are threats here at home too. Legal threats coming in the form of laws to put buffers on what can be taught in our churches or to our children. The spirit of anti-christian groups and behavior is growing and it is gaining strength. We should be praying and seeking Jesus in church and in the Bible so that we can stand and give a testimony for the defense of our faith. The King is coming back and this time it will be as a judge and a Lion of Judah!