By this shall they know
Jesus said,
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John13:34,35.
This is how people will know Christians. While at times we, as someone once said, “respectfully disagree” with other believers on the minor things. We must always show love.
Please think about it.
Do you Praise The Lord?
“I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will tell of all your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High."
Psalm 9:1,2
A simple question to believers.
Do you do what Psalm 9:1,2 is saying?
If not, why not?
Please think about it.
Words from the apostle Peter
The apostle Peter writes,
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 1Peter 1:3-5.
If you are a true believer in Christ Jesus you can join the apostle Peter in praising God.
We praise God for,
Giving us a new birth.
Giving us a living hope,
Giving us an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
All of which is kept for us in heaven.
Question is this you?
Please think about it.
He died for you
The apostle Paul writes,
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8.
In the book of Ephesians we read,
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8,9.
It is by the Grace of God that we get to heaven. Through our faith in Christ Jesus.
C. S. Lewis wrote,
“He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.” C.S. Lewis.
Christ died for you. It really is that simple.
The apostle John writes,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16,17.
Thus you have a choice to believe in The Lord Jesus Christ and be assured you are going to Heaven, or take your chances on not believing in Christ Jesus.
But before you make your decision think about this.
Blaise Pascal wrote,
“Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists. Blaise Pascal
Please think about it.
God entered His creation
John’s gospel states,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men....
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-4,14.
What John is saying is that Jesus whom I calls “The Word” is God. That God in the form of Christ Jesus entered the world which He created to point us to heaven.
Which if you think about it is an incredible claim. Yet it was something John and all the disciples all believed.
C. S. Lewis noted,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.
Please think about it.
Actions and Faith
In the book of James we read,
“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?
In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” James 2:14-17
James makes it very clear
“faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
So my question to you is. Is your faith alive or dead?
Please think about it.
Doing God's work
Jesus said,
"Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
"Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” Matthew 25:34-40.
Are you doing God’s work?
I am part of a church that encourages people to volunteer. We have both a food bank and an outreach to those who are homeless living on the street.
For those who volunteer it is a very rewarding ministry. Not only are they feeding those in need but at the same time they are showing the Love of Christ by their actions.
Francis of Assisi wrote,
“Preach the Gospel at all times
and when necessary use words.”
Francis of Assisi.
So my question to you the reader is; Are you showing the Love of Christ by your actions?
Please think about it.
What will He say to you?
Jesus said,
“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:22,23.
I look around North America where I live and particularly in the United States I see the so called Christian nationalist mixing their religious beliefs with their politics. Never a good thing. A wise man once wrote,
“Mixing religion of any kind with politics is like mixing gasoline and water. The gasoline is unusable and the water is undrinkable. And the whole mixture is explosive.” Anonymous.
A true Christian is an alien in this world. The apostle Peter writes,
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Dear friends,
I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." 1 Peter 2:9-12.
Peter makes it clear Christians are alien to this world. And that we are to preform “good deeds and glorify God...”
The apostle Paul tells us,
“We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20.
We are God’s representatives on earth.
While we may be citizens of the country we were born in. The moment we accepted Christ into our lives we were held to a higher standard. God’s standard. Thus everything we do should be for the glory of God. To draw people to Christ.
Sadly there are many men and women who upon standing before Christ will here the words,
“I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”
They will here those words because they mixed there faith with their politics and other things.
Therefore if you consider yourself a Christian do what the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy,
"Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart" 2 Timothy 2:22
"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15.
Please think about it.
How far we should go
Jesus speaking of Himself said,
“For the Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve,
and to give his life a ransom for many”
Mark 10:25.
Do you serve?
I am part of a Church where people love to serve and are encouraged to do so. There’s a call to help with the food bank, a homeless and street ministry, children’s ministry, music ministry, the list goes on and on.
Years ago when I was just new to the faith while attending another church. I remember a man who was in his mid to late fifties, who by his actions taught me to serve. He was on our church board.
I met him one day in the church nursery just after the service. He was holding a young baby who had just thrown up on him smiling and rocking the child gently.
He wasn’t suppose to be on that particular day but they were short staffed and he offered to fill in during the service. That man was the vice president of a major Canadian bank. A man who firmly believed in serving God and his fellow man in whatever way he could.
As Christians we are called to follow the example of Jesus who came to serve.
Think about it the very person who created the heavens and the earth, entered the world He created in the form of Christ Jesus to point us to heaven.
Jesus showed in very human terms how far He would go to show us the way to heaven.
The apostle Paul echoed what Jesus is quoted as saying in Mark 10:25 when he writes,
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.
That’s how far Christ would go for us. And I believe should the circumstance require it, it’s how far we should be willing to go to show someone the way to heaven.
Please think about it.
It’s not luck It’s God
In the book of Genesis we read,
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Genesis 1:1.
Can you imagine wining a lottery in which the odds are an astronomical 700 quintillion (7 followed by 20 zeros 700,000,000,000,000,000,000) to 1 against you. That’s what Discover magazine suggests is the odds of a planet anywhere in the universe having life as we know it on it.
Some scientists tell us that we got the winning ticket. Christians say it was God that designed the universe for us.
Even Stephen Hawking one of the brightest minds of the twentieth century noted,
“The universe and the laws of physics
seem to have been specifically designed for us”
Stephen Hawking.
Lord William Kelvin Noted for his theoretical work in thermodynamics,
“If you study Science deep enough and long enough,
it will force you to believe in God”
Lord William Kelvin
Werner Heisenberg father of Quantum Mechanics Nobel prize in physics said,
“The first gulp from the glass of natural science will make you an atheist,
but at the bottom of the glass God is waiting for you”
Werner Heisenberg
William Philips Nobel prize winning Physicist stated,
“I believe in God more because of science than in spite of it”
William Phillips
All of these are distinguished all agree there is a God. So my question to you is, Do you have the faith to believe in God, because the writer of Hebrews states,
“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6.
Please think about it.
Are you looking for this?
The Apostle Paul writes,
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God...”2 Timothy 3:1-4.
I hear from the pulpit and other reliable Christian sources that it is widely believed we are in the “Last Days”. The days just prior to Christ coming and the ultimate judgement of mankind. And I have no reason not to believe it. And besides we technically have been in the last days since Christ ascended to heaven.
That being said my wife ever the book worm was given some old books One book entitled "Essentials in Christian Faith" by John B. Harrington, published in 1958, could have been written yesterday.
It opens with this quote from Paul Gallico in Esquire Magazine in 1948:
"A writer in a popular magazine has written the following words; 'We are all, if you will pardon the expression, Headed for Hell in a handbarrow. If, ever the people of the world stood in need of a spiritual revival, it is now. We are beginning to poison the face of the earth with our miserable presence. The brakes are off. The cart of the world is sliding down the way greased with hatred, ambition, lies, self-seeking and avarice toward the pit.'"
Harrington notes that Gallico makes no pretense of being "a religious man" noting that "...for him it is precisely religion in its organized forms which has in part caused the situation he deplores. He is careful to state that it is not "religion" for which he is looking. For in his opinion, religion throughout the history of our culture has advanced its control over human beings by the investment of bigotry and persecution.
Yet, out of despair over the current human situation he says; ‘The voice for which my heavy spirit is yearning must reach us all... For if it is not heard, we are lost. Something beyond our material enrichment and lust for power and position, some rewards founded on good will, selflessness, and the innate dignity of the human spirit...honour, humility, decency, courage."
This is exactly what the apostle Paul was talking about in his letter to Timothy. Sadly especially were I live in North America, there are many claiming to be Christians who are simply religious men and women saying they are Christian.
While the true Christian message of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control is lost.
Paul Gallico and many others are looking for true Christianity. A life style fashioned on Love for God, and one’s neighbours.
Jesus when asked,
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: " ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.'
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Matthew 22:36-40
Please think about it.
Watch out for false prophets
Jesus said,
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?” Matthew 7:15-16.
This warning from Jesus is sadly not listened to a lot of the time where I live here in North America. Many people see and follow some self-proclaimed man of God and don’t check out what he is saying against biblical teaching.
These men and women sound like they are teaching the word of God truthfully but are not. Most are in it for the money and prestige.
They are charlatans leading people astray.
As Christians we need to question pastors, priests, evangelist, and Christian teachers. We need to hold them accountable for their words and deeds.
Please think about it.
