Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. --
Rev. 3:20
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By now most all of us have lived long enough to be well aware that life is filled with a great series of choices. Oftentimes, a single choice at a fork in life's road can have major implications on what happens to us the remainder of our days. And, when it is in regard to spiritual matters, perhaps even beyond this life.
We've all made our share of bad choices that produced consequences that came back to hit us in the pocketbooks or elsewhere and to otherwise haunt us later. Some have likely even turned out to be so significant as to become unexpected, but definite forks in the road for us.
At times, when we found that a choice was a mistake, we have been able to go back to that turning point and (hopefully) forge ahead from a new direction by choosing better. Other times, we found we had "made our bed, and then we had to lay in it."
By being so fortunate, as I am, to live in these United States, we do have a considerable amount of control over our destiny. Still, there are some people, particularly those in authority, who have the ability to intervene in our lives and hinder our progress.
Through it all, we still can be thankful we're Americans. Especially, when we compare the circumstances under which people live in many other lands around the world. So, it's usually difficult to point our finger at others and blame them for our own troubles. We're usually our own worst enemy.
The older we get, the more we learn that it's more often than not the choices we've made in the past that make our lives better or worse in our own futures.
While decision making may sometimes be hard for us, procrastination or refusal to make any decision at all can turn out to be just as devastating to us as a bad decision. This is true in both the natural and spiritual realms.
My concern, of course, is the spiritual. And, I hope you are concerned as well because the Bible tells us that human beings are the only creatures on earth God has endowed with souls. The Creator designed our soul to live forever.
The entrance of sin--the transgression of God's law--into the lives of mankind, has brought a pronouncement of death upon both the body and soul because as Romans 6:23 declares, "The wages of sin death." Thus sin's final payday is always DEATH!
The same verse in Romans also declares that God's gift is eternal life. The Word explains that Jesus Christ gave his life--became the sacrifice that paid sin's debt--to free us from that curse of death.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
WANTED: TRUE BELIEVERS
If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. -- Job 14:12
_____
What are some of the things YOU BELIEVE most strongly? That's important you know. Because just who and what a person really believes has a major impact on what he or she does in life, and what happens to them as well.
There was a day when people most everywhere were convinced that the world was flat. Mariners feared that if they sailed too far in any one direction they just might fall off the earth. Christopher Columbus changed all that, of course, when he bumped into the New World while seeking a new route to India. Today you could probably poll an entire mall full of shoppers and not find one person who believes the world is flat.
What do you believe about life and death?
Biblical sufferer Job tells us in Chapter 14 of his book: Man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. (Job 14:1-2)
As a follow-up to that statement, in verse 14, the writer asks, "If a man die, shall he live again."
Do you believe in a resurrection? Do you believe in eternal life? Or are you of the opinion that this life is all there is? And that once you die, you're simply dead a long time? Ever wonder where you got your belief on this matter, whatever it is?
Job did believe in life after death. "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come," he declared in answer to his own question.
In John 5:24, Jesus Christ announces: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life.
Jesus goes on to say in verses 28-29: Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. And shalt come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
Thus Jesus, who also identified himself as "the way, the truth and the life" in John 14:6, advised those listening in John 5:39, to "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."
Now, of course, if you happen to choose not to believe that the Bible is God's Word, and that Jesus really is not the way, it seems logical that you'll also disregard many other instructions from both the book and Christ Jesus when it comes to other facets of living.
Now I've never heard of anyone dying because their ship fell off the earth, have you? So, I guess you could say that no real harm came from that false belief.
If you have chosen to believe in ways opposite of what the Bible teaches concerning such key things as life, death, sin, righteousness, good, evil and eternity, that's your option. You really should, however, make a careful study of the Bible's teachings, including its thousands of promises to believers. You just might adopt a whole new belief system.
Everything God's word has to offer is predicated on faith. You really do have to believe this book to be eligible for its promises. Check it out for yourself, it really works.
_____
What are some of the things YOU BELIEVE most strongly? That's important you know. Because just who and what a person really believes has a major impact on what he or she does in life, and what happens to them as well.
There was a day when people most everywhere were convinced that the world was flat. Mariners feared that if they sailed too far in any one direction they just might fall off the earth. Christopher Columbus changed all that, of course, when he bumped into the New World while seeking a new route to India. Today you could probably poll an entire mall full of shoppers and not find one person who believes the world is flat.
What do you believe about life and death?
Biblical sufferer Job tells us in Chapter 14 of his book: Man that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. (Job 14:1-2)
As a follow-up to that statement, in verse 14, the writer asks, "If a man die, shall he live again."
Do you believe in a resurrection? Do you believe in eternal life? Or are you of the opinion that this life is all there is? And that once you die, you're simply dead a long time? Ever wonder where you got your belief on this matter, whatever it is?
Job did believe in life after death. "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come," he declared in answer to his own question.
In John 5:24, Jesus Christ announces: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life.
Jesus goes on to say in verses 28-29: Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice. And shalt come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
Thus Jesus, who also identified himself as "the way, the truth and the life" in John 14:6, advised those listening in John 5:39, to "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."
Now, of course, if you happen to choose not to believe that the Bible is God's Word, and that Jesus really is not the way, it seems logical that you'll also disregard many other instructions from both the book and Christ Jesus when it comes to other facets of living.
Now I've never heard of anyone dying because their ship fell off the earth, have you? So, I guess you could say that no real harm came from that false belief.
If you have chosen to believe in ways opposite of what the Bible teaches concerning such key things as life, death, sin, righteousness, good, evil and eternity, that's your option. You really should, however, make a careful study of the Bible's teachings, including its thousands of promises to believers. You just might adopt a whole new belief system.
Everything God's word has to offer is predicated on faith. You really do have to believe this book to be eligible for its promises. Check it out for yourself, it really works.
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