Because of his righteousness

 Because his righteousness

The Psalmist writes,

"I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High." Psalm 7:17.

Here is a very simple statement. Why do we give praise to God? Answer, because of his righteousness. 

In psalm 100 we read,

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100:4,5.

So do you give thank and praise to God? Do you believe the Lords love endures forever?

Please think about it.

Accepting Gods Salvation

 Accepting Gods Salvation

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

Perhaps its because we are in an information age and we see more things happening because of it. We see our society degenerating. People are becoming lovers of self. Society is heading toward the abyss.

In his book "Essentials in Christian Faith" John B. Harrington, published in 1958, there is a quote that could have been written yesterday.

It's from Paul Gallico in Esquire Magazine in 1948 who writes,

"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."

What Gallico is speaking about is what the apostle Paul predicted. And the solution to the problem. The only solution is the Christ Jesus.

Jesus said,

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30.

Society is degenerating and as I said the only way to overcome what is happening is to accept the salvation that comes from God. Through Christ Jesus.

Please think about it.

If we find

  If we find

The Psalmist writes,

“Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:8,9.

Have you ever found yourself asking what is life all about. Have you ever tried to fill your hearts desire with “things” material things, cars, fine jewels, high end houses, designer clothing. Only to still be empty inside?

C. S. Lewis wrote,

"If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world."  C.S. Lewis.

I believe there is a “God sized hole” in everyone. One God has put there to point us to Him. One nothing in this world can fill.

Do you believe this? If so are you willing to accept God into your life?

Please think about it.

Where can I go?

 Where can I go?

The Psalmist writes,

"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Psalm 139:7-10

The Psalmist makes it clear there is nowhere we can go to hide from God’s spirit. 

C. S. Lewis writes,

“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God.” 

                                                                                              C. S. Lewis.

God is always there for the believer and non-believer. All we have to do is turn to him.

The Psalmist writing,

"The heavens declare the glory of God; 

the skies proclaim the work of his hands." 

                                                              Psalm 19:1.

If we look carefully we can see God in the perfectly designed world around us. Again all we have to do is look.

Do you see God in the world around you?

Please think about it. 

Gambling on Christ.

  Gambling on Christ

Jesus said,

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matthew 7:13,14.

I’ve heard it said by many outside the church that there are many ways to heaven. Jesus did not say that. He said enter through the narrow gate that leads to life.

Jesus also said,

“Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6.

If this claim is true, and I believe it to be so. Then all who hear about Jesus and the saving grace that comes from God through him, need to consider carefully what they believe.

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.

Ultimately the choice is yours. You either believe or you don’t. 

Please think about it.

Ready?

  Ready?

Jesus told this parable,

“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.  

It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.  

It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.  

But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.  

You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Luke 12:35-40.

Jesus here uses the metaphor about the thief breaking into a house. Saying if the owner knew when he was to break in he would have been ready.

When applied to the return of Jesus it means we don’t know when he will return. As such we need to be ready for his return.

So my question to you dear reader is, If you consider yourself a true believer in Christ Jesus, are you ready for his return?

Please think about it.

Loving God and your neighbour

  Love God and your neighbour

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 neighbor as yourself.’  

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 

                                                                                                   Matthew 22:36-40.

So Just what is true love?

As I have noted in previous blogs the Christian definition of love was written by the apostle Paul when writing to the Corinthians. Paul wrote,

“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.

So if you claim to be a Christian a true follower of Christ Jesus are you showing this kind of love to those around you?

Please think about it.

Are you telling?

 Are you telling?

Isaiah the Prophet wrote,

“And will say in that day:

Give thanks to the Lord call upon his name,

make known his deeds among the peoples,

proclaim that his name is exalted.

Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously

let this be made known in all the earth.

Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, 

for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

                                                                          Isaiah 12:4-6.

Jesus said,

"Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20.

We as believers in God are to make His name known around the world. That is the job of the Christian. To tell of the grace of God. The salvation that comes from God through Christ Jesus.

We may not be able to travel to distant countries. To tell people about the love of God. But we can tell the people around where we live about the Salvation that come from God.

If you consider if you consider yourself a Christian a true believer in Christ Jesus, are you telling those around you about God’s saving grace?

Please think about it.

A word about love

 A word about Love

In the book of Proverbs we read,

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you;

 bind them around your neck, 

write them on the tablet of your heart. 

Then you will win favor and a good name

 in the sight of God and man.”

                                                             Proverbs 3:3,4.

The apostle John write,

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”1John 4:7,8.

The apostle Paul defines love this way,

"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.

Is this the kind of love you show to others?

Please think about it.

Giving thanks

 Giving thanks

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:4,5.

Today in Canada is thanksgiving. A national holiday. A day to gather with friends around a table full of food. While for some it may simply be a day off work or school. For others especially Christians, it’s a time to think how blessed we are. And in Canada we are truly blessed.

Please, wherever you are in the world today take a moment to thank God for all you have. Do what the Psalmist commands,

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 

Let Israel say: "His love endures forever." 

Let the house of Aaron say: "His love endures forever." 

Let those who fear the LORD say: "His love endures forever."

                                                                                          Psalm 118:1-4.

Please think about it.

A first hand account

  A first hand account

The apostle Peter writes,

"We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.  

For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."  

We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain." 2 Peter 1:19-18. 

Here is a first hand account about Jesus and a voice heard by the disciples saying “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am will please,”

Anyone reading this has to decide for themselves if it true of false. If false it is a monumental lie that has lasted millennia and deceived billions of people through the centuries. 

If it is true as I believe it is. Then we need to consider following Jesus.

C. S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity wrote,

"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.

Please think about it.

Judged by what we know

  Judged by what we know

The apostle Paul writes,

"For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.  

(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) Romans 2:13-15.

I’ve been asked many times what happens to those people who have not heard the gospel message? 

The above message is the apostle Paul’s answer.

First he states that it is those who hear and obey the law who will be declared righteous.

Then in notes when the gentiles who do not have the law do by nature things required by the law it will be they will get to heaven.

God who is just will judge everyone justly. The individual will only be judged by what they know and do. It’s that simple.

So the question becomes are you following the teachings of Christ and obeying what God commands us to do?

Please think about it.