Commitment To Christ Comes At A Price

Commitment To Christ Comes At A Price

Look at me

Ohhhhh, snap!

Did you hear that?

It’s just another social media influencer snapping a selfie, and posting it online for their millions of fans.

SMI’s live on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more.

It’s incredulous to me how serious this “influencing” business has become – to the point where SMI’s are now a brand for posting about their daily lives.

These “influencers” live and breathe R E P U T A T I O N, as if that’s all that matters in the world.

commitment to Christ comes at a price

Now, with millions of young people following the SMI’s every word, you have to wonder what would happen to these “influencers” if, overnight, they lost everything.

By everything, I mean every sponsorship, affiliate link, and follower who adore the ground the influencers walk on.

Talk about a letdown, meltdown, time-to-skip-town, kind of day for them.

We’ve seen it happen when a national name takes a dramatic fall.

An adoring crowd can turn on a dime.

Our Purpose Isn’t Elevating Ourselves Over Others

In reality, big egos, pride, popularity-chasing, fame seeking – it’s all meaningless in the eyes of God.

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.- John 3:30, (NASB).1

I . . . must . . .  decrease.  (That’s every narcissist’s nightmare.)

Any popularity we have acquired will be meaningless when it comes to our eternity.

As Christians, we already know this.

God has a bigger purpose for us in mind, and that is to bring Him the glory, not seek it for ourselves.

Commitment To Christ Won’t Win You A Popularity Contest

Fulfilling God’s purpose won’t win us any popularity contests. In fact, commitment to Christ comes at a price.

The Bible speaks of persecution, ridicule, and much more aimed at you and me because of our faith in Jesus Christ for our salvation, and our belief in His Word.

We have to be prepared for people to reject us, talk about us behind our backs, mock us, wish our destruction, and other toxic behavior.

Are we ready for this?

There’s no time like the present to pray for the lost, pray for our own strength, the right words to say, and for our ability to endure this coming onslaught.

Are we ready to die to self, take up our crosses, and become bold witnesses for Jesus Christ?

In today’s world, you can hardly even speak without someone getting faux “offended.” Eventually, the mob is coming for Bible believers.

Christians, we must persevere!   

This world is on a collision course, but our reward is coming.

Some day.

Keep looking up!

The One Who gave us Life has already won this battle.

22 Blessed are you when the people hate you, and when they exclude you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man. 23 Rejoice on that day and jump for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For their fathers used to treat the prophets the same way. – Luke 6:22-23, (NASB).

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1 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

2 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

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God’s Chisel

The Impact of God’s Chisel

God's Chisel

Life can be painful sometimes, let’s face it, even excruciating.

Are you at your wits end?

There could be a number of reasons for the trial you’re going through.

We have to face up to the fact that God allows these challenges.

God’s chisel is always at work, but there’s a reason.

I look back on some of the distressing events in my own life. 

At the time, none of them made any sense except that looking back, God had used those sad times to grow my faith.

God always has a divine reason for everything He allows. With every trial we can experience His love and great compassion for us.

God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty. – Peter Marshall, Presbyterian Minister.

God’s Chisel and a Not-To-Miss Video

Recently, the youth group at our church put on a dramatic presentation called, “God’s Chisel.”

It was so well done and unforgettable, that I wished I had filmed it. 

A search on YouTube gave me the next best thing – the original from The Skit Guys that their presentation was based on.

The title of this amazing video is called, “God’s Chisel.”

I contacted The Skit Guys and the only “official” version they had available was for a very large mp4 file used for church-wide presentations.

Thankfully, they do have a “Preview” version which is available on YouTube.

Before the video starts though, what’s this chisel analogy all about?

When I think of the word “chisel,” my mind immediately goes to a dentist’s drill.

Can you imagine having an offending tooth drilled away without Novocaine?

In life, when challenges and trials drill away at us, it hurts deeply.

This video, just shy of twelve minutes, is worth taking the time to watch.

I have to hand it to The Skit Guys – they produce some really meaningful presentations, with just the right amount of humor thrown in.

When you look in the mirror and all you see are your problems, remember that you are God’s creation and He is molding you into something beautiful.

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1 Peter Marshall, Presbyterian minister (1902-1949)) quotation, courtesy of and as quoted from Christian quotes.info

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Take It To The King

The Battle Rages On

spiritual battle

This awful virus has taken a toll. 

People everywhere are suffering or have suffered.

Lives have been lost – just what the devil wants.

People have left the church – just want the devil wants.

The media and certain politicians driving division between people – just what the devil wants.

Brothers and sisters in Christ – This spiritual battle that we’re in is way bigger than we could ever possibly imagine.

10 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. – Ephesians 6:12, (NASB).1

In this well-known verse, Paul warned the Ephesians that satanic influences were coming against any who professed their faith in Jesus Christ.

Why do we think the devil is fighting so hard, even now? Because he knows his time is eternally short.

It can be hard to encourage people not to fear when there are so many evil influences all around us. 

Worry and anxiety set in and can take hold, affecting all ages.

worry

This virus caused a mental health crisis.

Check out these sobering statistics from a Barna study,

When respondents had an opportunity to provide a portrait of their emotions, the image is one of a generation gripped by worry. Anxiety about important decisions is widespread (40%), as well as uncertainty about the future (40%), a fear of failure (40%) and a pressure to be successful (36%). Though this study alone can’t speak to actual diagnoses of mental illness, nearly three in 10 overall (28%) call themselves sad or depressed. – Barna Group Study.2

So What Can We Do About It?

There’s only one answer, and He is Jesus.

JESUS

Thankfully, our upcoming eternal victory over evil is based on what He did, not on what we can do.

We have to lay these spiritual problems at the throne, because we can’t solve this.

What we can do is love and support each other through all of these challenges, and most importantly, pray.

Ultimately, we must lay all of our troubles at the cross of Jesus Christ and take it to the King.

Take It To The King

I thought of many recent conversations with friends of mine.

Right now, they have teenagers who are agonizing over their futures in the wake of this terrible plague going on.

These teenagers should be looking forward to bright futures, but instead they are seeing businesses close and many large companies making crazy demands just for their employees to go to work every day. 

It’s overwhelming.

Recently at church, we sang a song that, I believe, is comforting during these dark times.

It’s called “Take Me to the Cross,” here performed by the talented Northwest Choralons.

No matter what difficult circumstance you are going through  – keep looking towards the Cross, and take it to the King.

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1 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

2 Quotation from Barna Group, courtesy of online study, “Only One-Third of Young Adults Feels Cared for by Others?” Accessed July 7, 2021.  Retrieved from https://www.barna.com/research/global-connection-isolation/

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God Who Forgives You

Wait, You Did “What?”

One of the things I love to do is reminisce with an old friend.

It’s fun to look back at the good old days and laugh our heads off, especially when it comes to talking about our former hairstyles.

What in the world were we thinking?   🙂

Case in point: Awhile ago, I got in touch with one of the news directors I used to work with.

We had a blast talking about some old memories, including a fashion faux pas committed by – you guessed it – me.

You did what?

I hate to admit this, but I once showed up at a morning reporter’s meeting wearing a braid in my hair, with a bead attached no less.

Not exactly, but kind of like this.  ↓
You did what?

Pretty fashionable, right?

After all, many women at the time were copying the “Bo Derek” look.

The News Director?

Well, let’s just say he said to “forget” the braid next time!!

That still makes me laugh.

Our Compassionate God Who Forgives You

Do you know what?

There is no “You did what?” with God.

He is never surprised.

As a Christian, we know from our Bible reading that there are a lot more serious mistakes we can make in life that actually equate to a sin in God’s eyes.

We’re not talking about a simple fashion faux pas here, it’s serious business.

Sin

Sin is the result of Man’s fall and we’ve been continuing on in our sin-nature ever since.

Look at our world today. So much evil has been unleashed that you wonder why God thinks us worthy of His love and grace at all.

Sadly, the popular culture is rampant with its hatred and condemnation of anything having to do with family values, strong male role models, God’s creation of men and women, working hard to earn a paycheck, and standing up for one’s faith in God.

We must face the fact that all of us are wretched sinners in need of a Savior.

We should always pray for lost people who deny the existence of God and salvation through His Son.

But in the meantime . . . aren’t we glad that, even though we continue to sin in God’s eyes, He’ll wipe away the sins of our repentant hearts.

There’s Peace in Forgiveness

He is the only God and the One who forgives you.

When God forgives he forgets. What is the ground and reason of the pardon. It is not for the sake of anything in us, but for his own sake, for his mercies’-sake, his promise-sake, and especially for his Son’s sake, and that he may himself be glorified in it. How God glories in it: I, even I, am he. He glories in it as his prerogative. None can forgive sin but God only, and he will do it; it is his settled resolution. He will do it willingly and with delight; it is his pleasure; it is his honour; so he is pleased to reckon it. – Matthew Henry, Christian minister and author.

That is good news! Despite our sin nature, God offers us a way out of Hell and that is only through His Son.

25 I, I alone, am the one who wipes out your wrongdoings for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins. – Isaiah 43:25, (NASB).

Our Only Mediator is Jesus

In the book of Isaiah, the prophet reminds us that God longs for the redemption of His children – all of us, not just His people back in the day.

Terrible things are happening in our present world – murder, incest,  harming children in so many ways – and yet, forgiveness is offered to the ones who are truly sorry for committing those sins. God knows the difference between real repentance, and a person who will say anything to avoid punishment, eternal or otherwise.

We must never forget that the murderous Saul eventually became the apostle Paul when he met the saving grace of our Lord.

There’s a lesson in this . . .

God who forgives you

No matter what you have done, whatever your “transgressions” are – God will forgive you and not remember your sins  – if you confess them in your heart.

Jesus Christ is the only mediator we will ever need.

We can take comfort in this – He is praying for all of us who belong to Him.

25Therefore He is also able to save forever those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. – Hebrews 7:25, (NASB).

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* Matthew Henry quotation, “Complete Commentary on Isaiah 43”. [1706.] Courtesy of Studylight.org., https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/mhm/isaiah-43.html., n.d. para. 33. Web. Accessed 2 July, 2021.

* All Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

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Independence Day 2021

Independence Day 2021

Sunday, July 4th, is Independence Day 2021 in America.

My favorite thing to see?

All of the American flags in people’s front yards.

Do you have yours up yet?

The roadside fireworks stands are out there too.

Although they’re beautiful and fun to watch, you and I both know that Independence Day 2021 is not about the fireworks.

Independence Day 2021

No matter what happens politically in this country – we were founded as one nation under God and will, at least in many of our hearts, remain so forever.

From our family to yours –

Happy Independence Day America!

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