Sky continues to clear up a bit,
wind is blowing in the high teens, not as high as could be, but sufficient to
help. Still, I feel the chest pains when
I emerge into the open, so I am remaining hunkered down for another day.
In our household, Murphy’s law
is a homesteader. What should have take
but a few minutes of Teresa’s time on a project ended up over an hour – not her
fault, just had to get everything just so.
I always figure if something says a project will take an hour, it will
take me ten. Could be a self-fulfilling
type process, but regardless I always have to allow much more time than most
people.
Nothing else of significance is
going on right now.
Psalm 116: 12-14
What shall I render unto the Lord for
all his benefits toward me?
13 I will take the cup of
salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.
14 I will pay my vows unto
the Lord now in the presence of
all his people.
One of my favorite comments is
“freedom is not free.” It is, of course,
said to show that men and women died in defense of our freedom.
Salvation is free to us, but it
is not free. Christ died for our
salvation.
We rightly give thanks and
praise to those men and women who placed themselves in harm’s way in the defense
of this nation. We cannot pay them for
their sacrifice; we can only thank them, praise them and honor them. We do this publicly and with pride as we
remember their payment for our freedom.
If we give that honor to them,
how much more important is it to give honor, praise and thanksgiving, in public,
to the Man who sacrificed His life that we might have eternal life with God?
We cannot repay Him; we can only
proclaim His righteousness to others and tell them of the ransom He paid for
us.
Luke 12:8-9 Also I say unto you,
Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess
before the angels of God:
9 But he that denieth me
before men shall be denied before the angels of God.
Christ made a point for all of
us to follow. If we do not declare Him,
if we do not tell of His wondrous gift, then why should He stand before the
Father and declare us His bride?
He won’t.
We cannot excuse ourselves from
this mandate by saying it is too hard; if I confess I will be ostracized,
persecuted, tortured, imprisoned or even killed – He suffered it all for our
sakes.
We cannot say that if we
professed Him it will cause division and dissension in our lives, it will
destroy the harmony and peace we try to maintain – even saying we are doing it
for His sake - after all we don’t want people to feel threatened. And, didn’t
the Angels say, when they announced that Christ was born, Peace and Goodwill to
man?
We want them to feel loved and
safe – without the acknowledgement of sin in their lives.
Nope not good excuses.
Luke
12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace
on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
We can proclaim Christ in a
manner that shows His love, we don’t necessarily have to get in people’s face to
tell them that they are sinners and only by God’s grace through the death and
resurrection on His Son, Jesus, will they be saved.
But still we are separate from
them, and they have not true peace.
Since most of us are not
ministers and don’t speak to a large group of individuals, we deal with people
individually. Most of those people are
neighbors, friends, relatives or co-workers.
We have a relationship with these people and over time we can show Jesus’
love and provide a witness to them of His salvation.
The Holy Spirit will work within
your heart to give you wisdom and within their heart to show them how to quench
the pain of a sinful life.
But they must be told, that will
not give them peace.
I well remember a man that I
witnessed to for years. We had a lot of
conversations about the love of God and His Son. I didn’t press him because I didn’t feel lead
to try and force a decision from him. I
was transferred to another store, the next week his children were allowed to
attend Sunday School, in the church that I had attended, when they were invited
by a neighbor.
Both he and his wife (who didn’t
“think much of (y)our organization”) came to the programs and activities
involving their children. I do not know
if he made a decision for Christ or not, I do know that God had been working on
his heart for years and, to me, the allowing of his children to attend our
church was an indication he was, at least considering, what I had said.
I came to Christ because of a
personal relationship with Carla and her friends. They showed me love, but also weren’t afraid
to let me know that I needed Christ in my life.
Most people come to Christ in a similar manner, they don’t have a great
epiphany or an on the road to Damascus experience like Paul. Most people learn of Christ and His salvation
through other people who are willing to share their faith in Him with them.
It is important that we are
unashamed of the Gospel of Christ and we tell others of His Love; but that
Gospel also tells them that sinners are not going to be with Him in
paradise. To do the one, and completely
neglect the other is a half measure and is not giving the full truth of God’s
Grace.
It is not designed to give peace
without Christ and until the realization comes to them that only Christ can give
that peace, there is a divide between us.
It is a denial of who Christ is
and what He expects from His people.
Later, Art :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment