Tag: Eternity

Accepting The Lord Jesus Christ As Savior Is Overrated

April 3, 2023

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. John 3:8 

Hopefully, the title of this post got your attention. This is its purpose, to bring you here to discuss a subject that needs our attention. My prayer is you will not be offended or “turned off” by it and that you will hear out what is communicated and draw your own conclusions. The focus of this post is centered around the following ‘Christian’ belief or concept making its way amongst “Christian circles”. The following two sentences summarize the object of this discussion:

“When an individual accepts Christ as personal Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live within him spiritually”. And …” When you accept Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your heart“.

The assumption here is that when “one accepts” Jesus Christ as personal Savior, they are at that point, endued or infused with his Spirit, which the Bible defines as the Holy Ghost. Does the Word of God actually support this belief? If it does then it does. But, if the Word of God does not, then I need to find out what it actually says about salvation and having the Holy Spirit actively guide my life.

Our soul is made in God’s image. And God is eternal, and therefore, our soul is destined for eternity …………. somewhere. Do you not think it a worthy undertaking to search out what the Word has to say about salvation and find ourselves before the Judgment Seat on God’s right hand? I hope you believe it is.

Who Is The One That Should Be Accepted Here Anyway?

According to the logic of the opening statement, that I need to accept Jesus to “be saved”, I need to step back a moment here and think about this. Does God need to be acceptable to me as a precondition to believe in him, trust in him and allow him to be my Savior? Okay, if He does then He does. But first, let’s consider who God actually is. Here is one small snippet of how powerful and magnificent this Creator really is.

God’s created the cosmos. There are an estimated 200 billion trillion stars in this space we know as the universe. Do you know how many people have ever lived on planet earth? A simple Google search tells us that a total of 117 billion people have ever lived on this planet. Now compare that to the number of stars (200 billion trillion) in the cosmos. Not even close. And God knows each star by name. He named each one individually (Psa 147:4).

If you pinpoint a speck of light in the massive sea of stars in a spectrograph of the Hubble space telescope and ask God to name the star you just identified amongst the 200 sextillion stars surrounding it, how fast do you think He can answer you? One second, 5 milliseconds, 8 nanoseconds? No, he already knows the name of that star before you asked the question because he knew your question before you spoke it. Instantaneously!

In fact, in his foreknowledge, He knew you would ask that question before you were born and where you would be when you asked it. So he had some time to do His homework, right? The intent is not to be arrogant here. The point being made is we really, really, REALLY underestimate who this God is we are talking about.

Now, that being said, does God need to be accepted by me? It would seem the opposite is the case.

Could it be that I need to be acceptable to God? How? By coming to Him in repentance, humbling myself before him in prayer, laying prostrate before His magnificence with jaw-dropping awe, in godly fear, and desperately seeking Him in my brokenness. That’s how I need to approach God, the God who is a consuming fire and the One who holds the earth in the palm of His hand:

The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Psa 34:18

What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. Psa 25:12

And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,  And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: Neh 1:4-5

And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:  And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; Dan 9:3-4

Now, this is acceptable with and to God and results in Him ACCEPTING ME!

And does God really have to prove anything? God does not have to prove anything to anyone! He is God. He is everything. He inhabits eternity (Isa 57:15). He is beyond our feeble and frail imaginations! So you might say – “You are wrong. God does ask us to prove Him”. That is not in the Bible. You might be referencing this one verse:

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Mal 3:10

The underlined words “prove me now” of this verse are actually two Hebrew words בָּחַן and נָא

בָּחַן means to test, investigate examine, prove, or tempt, and נָא means or is translated as “now”, “I pray thee”, “I pray you”, and “Oh”. The word “me” (as a reference to the name of the Lord or God) is not in the verse. In essence, God is not directly asking to be tested or proven. He is setting forth the conditional promise of His blessings for those who give sacrificially from the heart and encouraging the people to receive those blessings through obedience to His Word.

In fact, the scriptures show us that the time’s God is put on trial and tested (tempted), He considers it an affront to His character:

Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah. Deu 6:16

And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. Mal 3:15

When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Psa 95:9-10

Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Mat 4:7

If The Devil Believes, Where Does That Leave Me?

Let’s move on to another topic, the one of believing. If I believe in Jesus, if I believe his word and am truly convinced that Jesus is the only one that can save us, is this all that I need? If it is, then there are some problems with this thinking. Here is the first one:

Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. Jas 2:19

The devil believes. The devil and his cohorts are true believers in God and in the power of His might:

And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.  (29)  And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? Mat 8:28-29

There are many instances in the Bible where people “believed” in Jesus, but that belief did not take them where they really needed to be in God. Let’s look at one example, His name is Simon the sorcerer:

But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: Act 8:9
Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Act 8:13
But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.  Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.  For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me. Act 8:20-24

Simon believed in Jesus and in the power of God’s Spirit. But was it enough for him? The answer is evident it was not.

And the thought is to accept the Lord Jesus Christ and ,,,,,,,,,, you are IN! In what? What needs to be “in” is having Jesus in us, his indwelling Spirit empowering us to see God’s will fulfilled on earth. It is bewildering to think we can deal with our flesh, the world, and with an enemy out to destroy everything concerning our lives by only “believing” in Jesus.

Beyond Believing – The Promise Of The Father

The final area to look at regarding believing is in the lives of the core group of believers Jesus called to be the building blocks of his church after he ascended to Heaven. If believing is all that is necessary to “be saved”, then what was the need for the other twenty-two books of the New Testament (The Book of Acts thru Jude)? If believing in Jesus for salvation is fully established in the writings of Jesus in the Gospels, then why did the other writers extensively teach, admonish, exhort, and reprove in the letters written to the church (epistles) and the Book of Acts? If simply believing in Jesus was all the disciples needed and is all it takes to be saved, then why all the seemingly superfluous writings?

The answer is – Jesus had more for the disciples to receive beyond just believing in him. And if he did for the twelve disciples, then he has more for us also. Which turns our attention to the two Gospel accounts of Luke and John and The Book of Acts – or ‘actions’ of the church. Jesus had the following discussions with his disciples before his ascension.

Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. Luk 24:45-49

Whatever Jesus had for his disciples (and also for us), it was waiting for them somewhere in the future in the city of Jerusalem. In another discussion, Jesus tells his disciples that his Spirit, the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost, shall be in them and will come to them after he left them behind on earth:

If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Joh 14:15-18

Jesus gave this last promise to not only his followers but also to the entire world just before his ascension:

And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Act 1:4-5

The promise is the baptism of the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. So it is evident that Jesus has more for the believer than just believing. Jesus has the promise or the gift of his indwelling Spirit that is “in” the believer, and not something imparted to that believer upon their mental ascent of his lordship.

The follow-up to this post will be entitled “Got Born Again?” where we will look into the subject of being “born again”, define what that term means, and how one can tangibly know that their salvation is real, sent from God and sealed for eternity. What a great topic to discuss this next week before Easter. Stay tuned.

An Eternal Salvation

April 15, 2022

And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Hebrews 5:9

Precious things are worth fighting for. And what can be more important or essential in life than something that is endless, things that transcend both time and space?

What are such things? Two things are God’s word (Mat 24:35) and your soul (I Joh 2:25; I Joh 5:11, Rev 20:12-14 & Rev 22:1-5). God’s word and your soul are eternal. And the salvation God planned before the world’s creation was designed foolproof and for everybody. Let’s take a look.

Better Than God’s Good – God’s Best

God does not operate in the cheap, convenient or shallow. And his salvation is no different. When you get a glimpse of what God sees when he looks at your soul made in His image and destined for eternity, you will see something both spectacular and shocking at the same time. You will see a cross on a hill in Israel named Golgotha. And you will see a perfect, pure, precious and sinless Lamb crucified on that cross. That’s what God sees when He sees the value and significance of a soul destined for eternity.

What is the purpose of all this? The purpose of God becoming flesh and embarking the journey we know as the ‘human experience’ was to show Heaven something about Himself they had never seen up to this point. Angels never glimpsed it. Fallen angels and the principalities and powers in heavenly places never saw it. Even earth’s inhabitants had never laid eyes on what God was about to reveal.

Before we embark down this path of thought, there is something about creation that needs mention. And that is this – creation is speaking. The heavens and expansive galaxies in faraway places in space are saying something:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,” Psalm 19:1-4

What are they saying? Or in general, what is life saying? Life is saying one thing: “We are made with God’s best and we demand God’s best to exist”. If Jesus had never existed to bring to this earth love. hope, promise, light and purposeful life, it would have been necessary for us to imagine him or at the least fabricate something to mimic and substitute what he has to give. Why?

First, nothing or no one else can solve the profound puzzles and mysteries of life like the arrival on earth of a Savior who made bold proclamations such as: “I am the way, the truth and the life” (Joh 14:6). “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. (Mat 11:28) “Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise”. (Luk 23:43). And: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life”. Joh 6:47-48

Jesus’ words produce in the soul an attraction to things beyond the gravitational pull of earth’s “weak and beggarly elements” to things otherworldly, grandiose and everlasting.

Secondly, there is something that grates and abrades within our soul that cries and screams for things grand, majestic and wonderful. Our soul has an innate propensity to engage with the eternal. Just as the above scriptures in Psalm 19, creation speaks in wonderment of God’s majestic and creative power. And so does our soul. Our soul screams out: “Where is my Creator, where and what are the deep things of God, what is my purpose in the scheme of things and the reason for my existence?”

And God answered, and today He still answers these questions.

Now going back to our thought thread. What is it that God was yet to reveal? He allowed humankind to wait 6,000 years to reveal one thing. He waited to reveal ………………

Himself.

God slipped on the outer human garb we know as skin and entered this earthly stage. It was Him. The remedy was not a semi-god, a demi-deity, a Jesus. Jr. or a virtual revelation of himself.

Why did God do it this way? Because the lostness and depravity of the human soul both demands and commands its deliverance from something unlike anything ever created. Our miserable, broken human condition beckons and screams for things supranatural and supernatural because of the God-given sphere of eternity nestled within our human heart (Ecc 3:11) (the Hebrew word “world” is translated: continuous existence, perpetual, everlasting, indefinite, unending future, and eternity – Strongs).

The eternal soul’s dilemmas demand an eternal solution. The soul craves the connection of eternity lost when Adam sinned, which through the passage of time propagated the curse and all the emotional and mental burdens of being alienated from God.

In its quest to be healed, the soul’s lost condition demands the best God can offer. And what is God’s best?

God’s best is Himself. God came himself to give himself. This is what true love demands. Everything. Nothing short would suffice. Nothing else would do what needed to be done to secure for us an eternal salvation.

Reconciliation & The Power of the Blood

And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: Leviticus 16:20

Leviticus chapter 16 records the sanctification of the Tabernacle’s Holy Place and Most Holy Place by the high priest on the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament. It is interesting to note in this scripture the expanse of what the sacrifice’s blood reconciles. The animal’s blood reconciles or absolves sin’s affect from the outer court (location of the altar), through the tabernacle, and all the way to the most Holy Place. The blood was complete in reconciling the sins of those at the door of the outer court all the way to the High Priest who entered the presence of Almighty God in the heavenly realm.

As it was under the law of the Old Testament, today the precious blood of Jesus is sufficient to cover the sins of anyone who asks for forgiveness at an altar of repentance (the OT altar), all the way to those “in the church” who commune with God in the Spirit (tabernacle of the congregation and the holy place in OT terms), in the Holy Ghost, the eternal Spirit of Jesus Christ (Rom 8:11).

If the blood of bulls and goats could move the sins of Israel forward one year, how much more can the precious blood of Jesus cover our sins today?

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:14

When Jesus, the supreme High Priest without beginning or end (Eternal, after the order of Melchezedick Heb 7:1-3) applied his blood to Heaven’s mercy seat, our salvation was forever sealed for eternity. As the earthly high priest applied the blood of animals to appease God’s wrath upon sin for one year, Jesus shed his sinless blood for all mankind – for all time. And unlike the earthly high priests who rehearsed this ritual annually, Jesus once and for all offered his blood for the remission of sins never again to be repeated:

“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;” Hebrews 10:10-12

In Conclusion

Whether one finds themselves under the weight of unrepentant sin as a new believer (at the altar) or “in the church” tainted by sin (from the altar to the most Holy place), the blood, and only the blood of Jesus will reconcile us to the God who inhabits eternity.

The mark of true love is true and total forgiveness. Jesus’ primary mission was to give the gift of forgiveness to the unforgivable. You are no more like Jesus then when you unconditionally forgive. A minister once said: “To give is to be like God. To forgive is to be more like God”.

May we be “more like God” on this Good Friday, and every good day. And in doing, secure an eternal salvation.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Isaiah 51:6

Castles In The Sand

December 8, 2017

Castle 1Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Matthew 4:8-9

Building sandcastles is child’s play. Who has not built them either at the beach or in a sandbox in the backyard. A dream world of make-believe in your fingertips, a personal kingdom fashioned just to your liking and desires. Sandcastles – big, small, elaborate or just a row of simple pillars made from upside-down buckets of wet sand. Some things never change. The dreams just get deeper and more intense.

Cities of the world are built of the same stuff. Sand is the principle ingredient of concrete and glass. Skyscrapers are basically pillars of sand reaching the heavens, lifting and supporting its building occupants high above the earth. And the older we get it seems we prefer them bigger, higher and with fancier street names and fashionable zip codes.

The Bigger The Sandcastles The Better

It appears mankind has an innate, almost morbid proclivity to challenge God. The tendency surfaced long ago in the first created man, Adam. His legacy proceeded him for generations to include a man the Bible identifies as Nimrod:

And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and … Genesis 10:8-10

Nimrod was in the sandcastle business big time. The Bible refers to him as a “mighty hunter”. A mighty hunter not of the earth, but “before the LORD”. We never read anywhere where he ever hunted and killed an animal. But, he surely hunted after good real estate. There are nine cities listed in Genesis 10 attributed to him. And the man picked some prime real estate to build the greatest sandcastle of his day, what is commonly referred to as  the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:9).

In essence Nimrod said: “I will build a tower to reach the heavens. Just let God send another flood this way. I’ll teach Him. We’ll build a tower higher than God’s floodwaters can ever reach. Who needs the Lord and His protection?”

Jesus knows all things. He knew about this innate tendency within us to build sandcastles. You see, building them is easy for us. The material is plentiful, easily obtained, cheap and the results appear before our eyes almost instantaneously.

Unfortunately, the building of God’s kingdom does not work this way. God’s kingdom is not propagated with sand, but with three principle ingredients – faith, hope and love:

For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Galatians 5:6

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. I Corinthians 13:13

And all three are invisible with only their aftereffects to show evidence of their presence. It is said that the Apostle Paul gauged a church’s maturity and spirituality using these three criteria. How strong is their faith, how deep is their hope and how pure is their love? These things are priceless. Jesus desires his people to move beyond the sandcastle business and into the business of things eternal:

And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. Luke 21:27-28

Some Sandbox Rules

Building sandcastles and playing in a sandbox is a regulated industry. Within the sandbox are rules and regulations to follow.

Here is a list of the important ones:

1.  Play nice. Consider who you are playing with and who invited you here.
2. Stay on your side of the line and don’t play in my sand. Play in your own sand.
3. Don’t ever wreck or touch my work and sand creations. And I won’t touch yours either.
4. Never, never, never offend me by throwing sand, especially in my eyes!

Does something sound familiar here? We grow older in this life, but the rules of engagement do not seem to change. Maybe it is only this blogger, but we sometimes find ourselves playing by rules forged early in life. Sandbox rules. May the Lord help us grow up and to look up:

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. I Corinthians 13:11

Built Upon A Rock

Most are familiar of the parable Jesus spoke concerning the foundation material upon which one builds their house:

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. Matthew 7:24-25

Jesus came to this earth not to deal with its sand, Jesus came to this earth with the distinct intention of dealing with souls. Jesus came with the anticipation of life waiting to happen – abundant life. How we fall so short sometimes in realizing God’s expectations of us and how we fall short in realizing our expectations of God. There was one man in particular mentioned in the Bible who “got it”. His name was Abraham.

Abraham was a man of faith. He simply believed God was who He said he was. And Abraham trusted Him. In fact his trust was so sure that he offered his only son Isaac upon an altar with the expectation that God would raise him from the dead if needed (Genesis 22:2). That is pure faith. Abraham’s faith did not end there. Abraham was not looking for a castle made of and  in sand. He was looking for a castle that would stand the test of time. He was looking for a castle where God was not only the architect, but God was also the ditch digger:

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Hebrews 11:8, 10

A city built on rock and not sand.

My Own Sandcastle

In conclusion, we must ask ourselves what am I building my hope and trust in this life on and where am I building it? A simple thought, but with profound repercussions. What foundation am I building my house upon? Sand or rock? We can claim many things as our own, but there is only one reference in the Holy Bible that mentions the true owner of God’s church on earth. Who is it? It’s found right here:

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18

The Apostle Paul referred to many things as “My”: Gospel, Service, Helpers, Life, Kinsmen, Fellowprisoners, God, Brethren, Ways, Spirit, Work, Will, Liberty, Understanding, Soul, Joy, Children, Conversation, Body, Prayers, Record, Bonds, and Doctrine. Paul never penned the words “My Church”.

Jesus is the only one to refer to the church as “Mine”.  God’s church is His mighty fortress on the earth. The opening scripture shows the enemy’s strategy to point attention to kingdoms made of and built upon “sand” – sandcastles. What castle am I building today, the one on earth or the one forged upon ‘The Rock’ Christ Jesus spanning both earth and heaven?

 

The Heaven and The Earth – Part I

September 26, 2013

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1

He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is h&e2earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. John 3:31
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The Heaven and the Earth. Two simple words, yet so profound in meaning and purpose. One enduring forever, transcending time and space. The other bound by time, waxing old and eventually passing away.

Such are we. One part of us has access to the heavenly sphere, the other part anemic and earthbound. The God of Creation merged the two and spontaneously ignited lifeless, inorganic material with His spirit.

A Living Soul

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7

The supernatural embraced substance, eternity cloaked herself in a garment fashioned by time, the Holy intermingled with earthly dust – the Heaven and the Earth.

Heaven and earth are united in His unique creation called “a living soul”. Never to die as the fowl of the air or the beasts of the field, but to live forever – somewhere. Heaven and the Earth embodied in unison, co-existing to experience oneness with the Creator of all:

And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? Genesis 3:8-9

It is God’s desire to fellowship with His creation; an encounter between the heavenly and the earthly. It is on God’s earthly stage that the visible manifestation of the interplay between things that are eternal and the things that are temporal are acted out – God’s will-in-action, if you will. This interplay is recorded in what we know as the Bible – The Word of God.

God’s Word is the source code that runs the program we know as life on earth. Nothing escapes His eyes and no action on earth evades His awareness. Even the very birds of the air are under His command:

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Matthew 6:26

Did you catch the last part of that scripture? Sometimes we forget really how much Jesus is involved or wants to be involved in our lives. The Lord is more concerned about us than we will ever fully realize in this life. There is a God in Heaven who is keenly concerned about what goes on on this earthly theater:

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15

Our Choice

The question remains – which will we choose? Our actions are constantly weighed and tested. We make decisions daily between the heavenly or the earthly. The battle never ceases and it rages both on the inside and on the outside:

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Romans 7:23-24

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:  I Peter 5:8

The Overcommers

But, there will be a reward awaiting those who choose to do what is right and live above the reproach of sin.

The word “Overcometh” occurs 11x in ten verses of the N.T. Eight of those verses are located in the Book of Revelation, a book written to describe the end of time. This is not a coincidence. Only overcommers will inherit eternal life; those who made deliberate and intentional heavenly choices over earthly alternatives:

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. Revelation 21:6-7

The Lord did not create us to be robitrons or zombies forced to obey His commandments in autopilot. He gave us the gift of free will – the option of choice.

And true love can only be revealed from a human will that is free to choose. A love based on one relational non-negotiable – faithfulness. And faithfulness is proven how? By making consistent decisions that prefer one choice (and only one) above all others that compete and oftentimes combat to supersede.

The Lord has given us the liberty and the freedom to seek after the heavenly or the earthly. The choice is ours to make. And His grace is sufficient to keep us all on the right path that will lead to eternal life.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

Coming next in Part II: Carbon or Christ?