abandoned to Christ.

My old church had a volunteer position called, “Decision Counselors”. As a Decision Counselor, part of my job was to “sign up” new people who desired membership at our church. Part of that “sign up” process was to first ask this question, “In your own words, describe how a person can go to Heaven.” I got some interesting answers, but most times, I’d get the “right” answer, “Ask Jesus into your heart.”, or “Ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.” But I didn’t usually get just answer. About 95% of the time people either added a statement right before saying the “right” answer, or something after, “Do good things, read the Bible, obey the Ten Commandments, go to church, believe in God”, etc. Sometimes, the really well-versed would even quote Ephesians 2:8-9 or Romans 10:9-10 , or some other verses that has nothing to do with salvation. To everyone who gave me a “weak” answer, I’d ask a second question, “What does Jesus mean to you ...personally?” These are the responses I received 100% of...

I know some of you are thinking "Worship in the presence of our enemies? What a strange thing to say!" I suppose it does sound a bit strange. After all, is it not written in Scripture that we ought to worship in the presence of our LORD God? ( 1 Chronicles 16:29 , Ezekiel 46:3 , Psalm 95:6 ) Good point! Yes, it's true, God calls His children into an intimate relationship with Him and invites us to enter His presence to worship Him "in the splendor of His holiness". But God doesn't call us to worship Him whenever or wherever it's most comfortable, convenient or in a situation that "makes sense" to us. No, instead, God calls His children to worship Him anywhere and everywhere and ALL THE TIME! Our Father God expects us to even be able to worship Him before the presence of our enemies so that they will know that we do not fear those that can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. No, instead we fear [ revere ] the One [God] who can destroy both s...

Spirituality has always been popular. But spirituality and Christianity are two VERY different things. Do you know why spirituality is so popular? Because it requires nothing of a person. To be spiritual, all you need is to do is just say you believe in a "higher being", "higher authority" or "higher power", trust you're going to Heaven based on your "good" deeds (i.e., attend a local church, give to charity, read the Bible, feed the hungry, help the poor, etc.) and just overall, feel good about yourself. But Christianity (that is to follow, resemble, and have the same character of Christ) requires everything ... your very life. Why is this? Because Jesus Christ suffered and died to give us His righteousness and took on our unrighteousness, our sins, and our filth (2 Corinthians 5:21). Basically, by Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection, God has offered us a "trade"...Christ's righteousness for our unrighteousnes...

Proverbs 27:5-6 "Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." One of the greatest things Jesus said will cause the world to know that we are His...His followers...His friends....His Bride....one family of God, united in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit is this - our love for one another ( John 14:34-35 ). And how do we Christians love one another as Christ has loved us? We do what Jesus did. We love with: No concern for what we might gain or lose from loving the other person ( Matthew 16:25-26 , Galatians 1:10 , 1 Peter 3:13-14 ). The best interest of the other person, not according to our opinion of what is best, but according to what God says is best ( 1 Corinthians 10:23-24 , Ephesians 4:29 , Philippians 2:3-5 & 1 Peter 4:11 ). Sacrificial love - for if we serve & give to one another only when it's convenient for us, we are no longer "living sacrifices", but conveniently living ...

I am so thankful for the patience of our Lord and Savior. I am so thankful that God is good and that He is perfect and suffers long with us. Aren't you? Sometimes I struggle with what God wants me to do vs. what I think He wants me to do. During these times, I ask, "Lord, is this what You want me to do? Are you sure? It doesn't make sense. And here's why I don't think it's a good idea." Then I remember Jesus' words in Luke 6:46 , "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" I'm grateful Jesus didn't leave me without an example to follow and with no light to cast away the shadow of my doubts. I'm glad He showed me the Scripture below: John 11:7-14 In this passage, the disciples questioned Jesus' decision, not because they didn't love or believe in Jesus, but they questioned him because they loved Him with fallible, human love, a friendship love ( philia ) and were trying to honor Him by ...