Month: August 2022

First Things First

How does one begin their Christian life? The first and most important thing is to become a Christian. Jesus says that He is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to God or will see heaven without accepting God’s gift of salvation. You don’t deserve it and you can’t earn it with your tithes and good works. But God’s mercy and grace provides eternal life freely to all who accept Jesus’ death on the cross as payment for their sins. Once you have accepted God’s gift, your spirit will be reborn and God’s Holy Spirit will take up residence in your heart. Then, and only then, you can begin living as a Christian and a son or daughter of God.
Without that decision, nothing you do or say will matter. Church membership; showing up every time the church doors are open; tithes and offerings; helping the needy, even trying to be a kind and good person. None of it will matter in the end. Multitudes of people have convinced themselves that those things without salvation has purchased a fire insurance policy to keep them out of hell, Those people are in for a very sad surprise when they stand before Jesus at the final judgement. The saddest words in the English language are, “I never knew you.” Without a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, there is no hope.
Of course, there is also some very good news for those of us who have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. When our sins have been covered by the blood of Christ, our acts of obedience are pleasing to our heavenly Father and Jesus personally accepts our kind acts as if they were done to Him. All we have to do is obey the Holy Spirit and follow Jesus.
Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? Does He know you and do you know him? It is not too late to start a real Christian life today.

Applying Scripture

I’m still thinking about my last post that highlighted the wonderful blessing we have in our Bible. We have God’s inspired and completely true guide to human relationships and our relationship with God right at our finger tips. But do we put it to good use? The Bible is still at the top of the all-time best seller list, but how often is it opened and read? If you do read it, how do you use the knowledge you gain from it?  I am reminded of something Theodore Roosevelt said, “Knowing what’s right doesn’t mean much unless you do what’s right.”
Reading any book can just be a mental exercise unless our mind is open to receive the message the author is conveying. I have known people who read the entire Bible from cover to cover without getting anything out of it until they had a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Then the Bible suddenly came alive to them. There have been confirmed atheists who studied the Bible to disprove it and were instead convinced it is true and those people came away born again Christian believers. In my case, my parents and I attended Sunday School and church service at a small non-denominational church in rural Indiana from the time I was five until I was nine. I was exposed to Bible stories during that time. When our home burned to the ground when I was nine, the church had a dinner in our honor and lavished gifts on us. My favorite gift was a red letter King James Bible from my Sunday School teacher with a touching personal note on the inside cover. Two years later, I was carrying that Bible to vacation Bible School when John 3:16 drew me to kneel at the altar and accept Jesus Christ as my Savior and the Holy Spirit to join my reborn spirit in my heart. I began to delve into that Bible with the odd language of 1611 England. I am still amazed that at eleven I understood everything I read under the tutoring of the Holy Spirit.
Have I always done the good I have learned to do from my Bible? No, although I have always tried. It has been a slow process, but I have continually improved my obedience to God’s word. I have made the biggest advances in obedience since God made my blog possible. You see, the messages I write in my blog with application of scripture to the Christian life are just as much for me as they are for you as you read them. A friend once told me she had trouble relating scripture to her daily life until she began to read my blog. That was proof to me that God has been the inspiration for my writing all along. I may have mentioned this before, but I have gone back and read some of my posts from several years ago and I think, “Wow! That is really good. Wish I had thought of that”. Proof it has always been His message and not mine.
I encourage you to read your Bible with an open mind and an open heart to know what God has in it for you to do. I can read a familiar passage sixty times and then the sixty first time it has new and applicable meaning to my Christian life. When the words seem to jump off the page, you will know that the Holy Spirit is trying to get your attention.

Inspired Word of God

A new caregiver questioned me today about my faith in the Bible as God’s word. He wanted to know why some books were left out and why those were included. He knew that the Bible contains the written record and experiences of many people and insinuated that there must be some human motives in choosing what was considered scripture and what wasn’t. It kind of reminded me of the objections from the King James only crowd about verses omitted from modern translations, which I have explained in detail in a previous post. I first made it clear to him that although I’m old, I was not a member of the councils who chose the books of the Bible. However, I do know, after 68 years of experiencing how God works in the lives of people, that God made those choices and not men.
I find it interesting that some people point to the diversity of backgrounds and experiences of the many authors in the Bible as a human influence on scripture. I see it as proof that God used many writers to record His eternal truth. There is no single human writer to take credit for God’s message to us. Paul reminded Timothy, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” (2 Timothy 3:16) I don’t believe Paul ever dreamed that those words and his inspired letters to the early churches would become a large part of New Testament scripture even though they match his description perfectly.
Scripture is the basic truth God wants us to live by; However, it is not the only words He has inspired. As you know, the lyrics to many Christian songs touch my heart and lift my spirit as only His inspiration can do. There are other Christian books that have had the same effect on me. “A Man Called Peter” comes to mind. It was written about Peter Marshall, who was the chaplain of the U.S. Senate for many years and pastor of a church. It was written by his wife and I read it several times as a teenager. Since then I have encountered many sources of God’s inspiration, including nearly every sermon I have heard. l hope and pray that you have found my blog inspiring and encouraging. I know what I write is definitely inspired by God through His Holy Spirit. My writings are not to be placed on the level of scripture; that is why I quote scripture often to include God’s eternal message as well.
I hope this blog post encourages you to read and prayerfully study the Bible. It is a history of God’s relationship to mankind and your “manufacturer’s guide” to living a full and abundant Christian life.

Swimming Up Stream

Another quote from C.S. Lewis caught my eye. “When the whole world is running toward a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.” You may wonder why I like to quote that man so often. When someone with a brilliant mind like his suddenly goes from denying the existence of God to becoming a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, there is nothing lukewarm or shallow about his observations. That particular statement rings with even more truth today than when he wrote it.
I don’t know about you, but I often feel like my Christian life is like swimming up stream against a strong current or trying to move forward with a strong wind in my face. When those around me have bought into lies, the truth sounds like a lie to them. The only time I have been unfriended on Facebook was when I told the absolute truth and my friend preferred to believe the lie. People who are expecting God to change His word to suit this generation are going to be very disappointed, because God’s word exists to change this generation instead.
How can we be sure we are not swept away with the crowd? By keeping our attention on Christ and God’s word. I love the old hymn that tells us to “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” Peter walked on the water as long as he kept his focus on Jesus. It was when he became aware of the storm around him that he began to sink and call out to Jesus to save him. (Matthew 22-33) Jesus doesn’t say that he always tells the truth; what he says is that He is the Truth. (John 14:6) When we focus on God’s word and the prompting of the Holy Spirit within us, we will always be running in the right direction whatever the world is doing. Swimming against the current will make us stronger and, like an airplane taking off, the wind in our face will lift us up above the crowd.
Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying that we need to keep our heads in the clouds and not be aware of what’s going on around us. There are opportunities to show love and kindness to those in need and to share our testimony with those who are interested, Our mission is in the world, but not of the world. As long as we keep our focus on our specific calling as God’s son or daughter, there is no danger of being caught up in that crowd running toward disaster. I know that may sound contradictory at first, but it is easier than it sounds when we allow the Holy Spirit to show us what He sees.

Under Attack

I have mentioned before that nearly every Christian I know is going through some difficulty right now. I don’t know if it is because Satan is increasing his efforts against Christians because he knows his time is getting short, or if it is because we are becoming more obedient to God’s calling. The enemy doesn’t care if we attend church on Sunday or even read the Bible, but when we live out our faith by drawing closer to God and making advances in our mission as His children, the enemy will do everything he can to distract us or block our way.
My most recent problem began about ten days ago when for the first time in more than five years I was unable to post my blog to my website. I am using a new laptop and there was a new update of WordPress on my website, but none of that should have caused this sudden roadblock. I’m just a writer, not a tech guy, but even my friend who designed my website was stumped. Yesterday, after spending time in prayer, I spent nearly an hour on the phone with WordPress tech support and I was able to post a blog on my website; Today they called to say they had found more problems between my computer and WordPress on my website that they would correct for a fee. I’m hoping I will be able to post this blog to my website this evening.
What should your reaction be when you face an attack from the enemy? First, you should give thanks to God that you’re accomplishing enough in His service that you are drawing the enemy’s attention and his resistance. Next, you need to remember that He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world., (See 1 John 4:4)  Make sure you have the full armor of God to quench the fiery darts of the enemy, (Ephesians 6:10-18) Finally, you must continue moving forward as God clears the way for you. Keep your eyes on the prize and your attitude positive as God fights your battles for you.      .

Reason for Light

Today I saw a quote from C.S. Lewis that I haven’t read before. “Don’t shine so that others can see you. Shine, so that through you, others can see Him.” I see now how important it is that we know why we are to be the light of the world.

As an old pest control trainer, I can visualize God’s bright light causing demons and evil-doers to scramble like cockroaches to get away from the light and back into hiding. But is that the primary reason we are to shine? I have also used florescent light traps for moths and other flying insects that are attracted to light. Luring them to be zapped and killed by electricity or die on glue traps. I know that is definitely not the negative reason our light is to shine.

No, we are to let God’s light shine through us like a bright beacon from a lighthouse to guide those who are lost in a sea of sin to the safe shore of God’s mercy and grace. Jesus said “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12) His mission was to seek and to save those who are lost. Then He passed that torch to us and told us, “You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14) We are to lure people to life, not death. Will some people reject the light? Of course, just as they rejected Jesus. We must never let that keep us from getting as many to safety as possible.

Is the light you are shining in this world bright? Does it introduce them to Him instead of illuminating you? Is it attractive to those seeking God?