A lot has been going on lately. The world is a crazy place. The “Church” has come under fire. In my opinion, people think that Christians are hypocrites. Some Christians say one thing, but do another. They act self righteous, but do bad things and unfortunately I have witnessed a lot of that lately. I am blessed with strong faith, but had it happened to me a couple of years ago, I would have run from Christianity. I am not alone in the life of a sinner. I get angry, do dumb things, and on occasion, I can drop “F-Bombs” like no one else. These are not things I am proud of, “that’s one of the reasons I need Jesus”. How we act can either bring people to Christ or turn them away, as my friend Jimmy says. As a Christian, its not about not falling, it’s about how we get up, how we deal with it, it’s part of our testimony.
Loving Jesus can be broken down into two parts. Long Term and Short term.
Long term: Eternal life is the part of the iceberg that people don’t see. It’s why Jesus got up the cross. He knew all along, that’s why He came.It’s long term planning. There are generations who aren’t necessarily looking at the long term aspects of anything. Eternal Life is important, but God could have brought Him down, Jesus could have lived His life, rose again… and that would be the story. No book of instructions.
God’s intentions were clear. They had a point.
He told stories, taught us lessons, there’s nothing in our lives that we can’t find an answer to in the bible. How we deal with what goes on in our lives and how we deal with it, is how we live our lives as the church. It’s not about dressing up on Sunday mornings, it’s about living a life that we’re not ashamed of. It’s not about perfect, it’s about making mistakes, and learning from them. It’s about helping others through struggles with what we’ve dealt with. It’s short term planning. People want to know “How is it going to help me now?” We live in a world that needs hope, peace, joy, and love. A lot of days, I need it myself.
There has been a lot going on in my life the last couple of months. There is no doubt in my mind that everything I have been through, it’s had a point. It’s been a lot of different lessons, two in forgiveness, I cannot tell you how hurt I’ve been, there have also been lessons in being real. I know that with all of it, people were watching, can I walk the talk. I believe people understand salvation, but I like I said, I live in a generation of people who don’t look past the short term, what is affecting them now. They want to understand, while in the middle of their struggles and stress, how adding more “rules” or an extra day of getting up and doing things is going to help them. I can only speak for myself when I say that I need Jesus, without Him I have no peace. I would never make it. He’s the first one I call out for when I need peace and strength. Whatever I have been through, my experiences, they help me to relate to others, and from there, they will experience the peace of Christ. Eternal life, the part of the iceberg we don’t see, because sometimes we just can’t even imagine it, it’s oh so important, but the part we do see, the part of our lives that we know that there is nothing that we go through that God isn’t with us, that’s the part I want people to see. In this day and age, which is really no different than others, the scenery changes, but it’s all the same… I feel like it’s so important that if we want people to follow Christ, reap the long term benefits, we need to show them the short term benefits. And then and only then, will they see the Love and peace that comes from Christ. Today and forever.
Romans 5:1-5 1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now
stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, whom he has given us.Lord, the Thailanders will be on the plane, on a very long ride home. Let them look back on their trip and see your wonders. Let them know that it was for Your glory, that they love You have for themis the love you have for all. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen
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