You

You
           In the book of Exodus we read that God tells us,

“You shall have no other gods before me.”

                                                            Exodus 20:3.

Here is one of the absolute values of Christianity. Christians are to have no other god’s except the Lord God Almighty.
Sadly however to many people especially here in North America have many other gods. Gods that they put ahead of the One True God. These gods range from the god of materialism, to the gods of politics, to their love of self and much more.
As Christians we must be careful that we don’t let other gods into our lives. Just because you have said the sinners prayer doesn’t mean you will necessarily get to heaven.
Leonard Ravenhill an English/American evangelist has said,

“The sinner's prayer has sent more people to hell 

than all the taverns in America.” 

                                                   Leonard Ravenhill

“I doubt if 5% of professing Christians in America are born again

and that's true of England!” 

                                  Leonard Ravenhill 

To be a Christian you have to truly believe the teachings of Christ and to put those teachings in your day to day life. You have to be willing to give up everything. As someone has said,

F. A. I.T. H. 

Forsaking 

All             

I               

Take Him. 

That means putting aside the gods of this world, materialism, money, politics, self. It means being willing to follow Christ to the grave if necessary.
So my question to anyone reading this who claims to be a Christian is, Are you willing to
Forsake all and follow him?
Please think about it.

You

You
Joel Osteen the American evangelist said,
“God didn’t make a mistake when He made you. You need to see yourself as God sees you.” Joel Osteen.
Osteen has a point. In the world we live in today, advertisers and the media try to dictate to us what is the ideal for you as a person. The fashion industry and the fitness industry spend billions trying to get us to buy their product so you can “look right” and “feel right”.
They present to the world a false ideal that is meant to sell their product by, saying we are lacking.
Sadly there are also many calling themselves Christians who are selling the same message wrapped up in a Christian package.
Now there’s nothing wrong with being in good shape, or looking nice. However few people can look like what the advertising media portray. And sadly too many obsess with trying to get “the look” the media say with should have.
Unfortunately it is because people buy into the media hype that can lead people into despair. They buy all the “right products”. Yet fail to get the “right results”. Which leads to a negative self image.
We need to see ourselves as God sees us. The Psalmist writes,
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:13-16.
I have said many times that the Psalmist is telling us that God knows us completely right down to our very DNA.
Every person is unique and every person is loved by God. My bible tells me God loves us irrespective of who we are or what we look like. Thus we need to love ourselves.
As Christians and for that matter non-Christians we need to follow God’s example. We need to do this because loving others and loving ones self is a universal truth we all can agree with.
 The apostle Paul setting the standard for Christian love when he said,

“Love is patient, love is kind. 

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, 

it is not easily angered, 

it keeps no record of wrongs.

 Love does not delight in evil 

but rejoices with the truth.  

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

Love never fails....

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. 

But the greatest of these is love.”  

                                                                          1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13.
Do you practice this kind of love not only toward others but toward yourself?
Please think about it.