by David Brenneman
That subject came to mind after reading in Zechariah Chapter 1 when the Lord Jesus was speaking to Zechariah. The Lord IS Jesus before He came to this Earth in the way we just celebrated.
This sentiment in that subject line is what you really see in this world today. People challenge God to do this or do that IF He's really REAL. People disregard His Word, the Bible as if it's some fairy tale or myth. Some use it as a gag in a stand up comedy. Some just don't care what it says because they think that not acknowledging it will give them the life THEY really want.
But what does that have to do with what I was reading?
"Therefore say to them 'Thus says the Lord of Hosts, "Return to Me," declares the Lord of Hosts, "That I may return to you," says the Lord of Hosts.
"Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying 'Thus says the Lord of Hosts,"Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds."' But they did not listen or give heed to Me," declares the Lord. "Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? "But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? Then they repented and said 'As the Lord of Hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.""'" That's verses 3 to 6 NASB.
That last line is possibly what goes through the minds of thousands per day that wake up in Hell. "As the Lord Jesus purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us."
But my Dear Reader it does not have to be that way for you or I while we yet live and breathe.
Jesus came to seek and save the lost. The lost are all who are in the darkness of the evil that permeates this world. In the book of John it's written that He is the Light. He calls all who will listen to come out of the darkness. We read from Jesus Himself of Satan being the great deceiver. He spreads his lies about life and living and we fall for them, over and over again.
The truth is God DOES care what you think and what you do. It was for you and I that He died the most horrific of deaths...the one and only time in all of eternity He was cut off and separated from His own Father was on account of paying the price for the sins of mankind in that way.
God DOES want what's best for you but you must trust in Him for what He knows is best. The Bible says to trust in the Lord with all our hearts, in all our ways to acknowledge Him and He will make our paths straight. He will guide us in what's right to do, to say and to be. Eating better, excercising, sleeping more, thinking 'positive thoughts' won't save you. They won't help you at all actually. With out a soul that is saved by Jesus, Hell is the next destination. Perfectly healthy people have hearts that just stop because God says it's time.
People do not consider the truth of the Bible because they love the darkness rather than the light. That's written in the book of John as well.
Doesn't say 'like the darkness' says 'loved the darkness' because their deeds were evil.
We think we see evil in this world but we haven't really. That's coming. We see evil activity and often dismiss it. Or we often go the other way from it.
After Jesus DOES come and receive His Church to Himself...true evil will rear it's ugly head to this world.
Ever think you would worship a human being? No? Well, if you're still here after Jesus returns and removes His Church...you will be faced with that.
Ever think you would willingly have a tatoo on your hand or forehead just to eat, to have a place to stay, to live your life? No? Well that's coming to those people too.
Ever think you would...there's more. But consider this...as bad as this world has been at times...much worse is coming to those who continue to reject Jesus as their Savior.
Jesus loved mankind enough to give His life to save us from eternal separation from God. That's what Hell is. Eventually everyone in Hell will come out to receive their own glorified bodies...only to be cast next into the Lake of Fire for all eternity because of their not being saved. Their lives will be reviewed by Jesus...and will be shown all the opportunities that they could have said yes and didn't.
Jesus loved you, my Dear Reader, enough that if it had only been for you, He still would have done it. He still would have taken a bullet for you, still would have taken your sentence of death upon Himself.
Jesus has a plan and purpose for your life unlike anything you could possibly come up with on your own that would be more than you ever expected to see, hear or know of in this life you have been given.
He knows where your thoughts go, He knows what desires you nurture. He knows. He knows more about you than you ever could understand of yourself. He wrote in the Bible that it is He who searches the hearts and minds. He knows you and STILL loves you anyway! He knows your every single sin and STILL would wash them all away if you would but come to Him to be saved.
Consider this as well...the Plan of Salvation is so effective that all during His life, Satan tried more times than is written to keep it from happening. He tried on multiple occasions to kill Jesus to keep it from happening, JUST IN CASE IT WOULD WORK. He cried out in victory when Jesus was finally dead on the cross!
He cried out again in anguish when Jesus was the first to say "I'm back!" Sin, death, could not hold Jesus in His obedience to His Father. He was granted by His Father to lay down His life and to take it up again. Nobody else in human history ever has or ever will have that authority granted to them.
If Satan is so bent on preventing people from finding salvation in Jesus...consider it well why He would! Those who DO come to Christ are protected by Christ.
They might go through a rough life but they are no longer alone in it. Satan must get permission to do anything to anyone in Christ. All his attempts at those who are saved are limited because Jesus limits them. He only allows those things that will make us more like Himself. We won't get it when we go through it. I certainly don't get the things that I've been through in my life and I have been blessed with a mind that figures out things and problems.
God DOES care about your every heartbeat. Your every synapse in your brain that fires for every single thought you think before you even think it.
God DOES care about your days that you face. Your every move is known by Him.
I once saw a painting of Jesus in a lifeboat reaching down into the water with His hand outstretched, reaching for someone who was drowning.
That's what He's doing today all over the world to millions. Offering a hand to pull people out of the lives they are living and into the life He wishes to give them...to save them from sin and from themselves. We ARE our own worst enemy. We WILL talk ourselves out of the path He wishes to give us.
Consider your ways...Jesus repeated that twice in my reading yesterday. Consider your ways...when I was younger, I was taught that when God repeats Himself...really pay attention! When a "therfore" is used, back up and find out what it is there for.
Christmas the holiday might be over but Jesus still wants to save as He came to do 2,000 plus years ago today, and into the future.
Come to Jesus while He yet may be found. That too is from the Bible. There will come a day that's fast approaching when men and women will seek Him earnestly and cry out for Him to come back. But it will be too late to go when He first comes. Choose life today. Choose to come to Jesus today and find out what living life is really about.
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