by David Brenneman
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit." Galatians 6:7-8.
So many people actually get through the day by unwittingly deceiving themselves or others. Probably nearly as many if not more, try to convince themselves of what's ok with God and what is not.
My Dear Reader, the Bible isn't something we can pick and choose in what we're accepting of or rejecting of.
We certainly should have eyes that see and ears that hear all that the Spirit is trying to teach us. Not just about us, but about the world around us.
Our feelings will deceive us.
Our thoughts will betray us.
We are to be lead by Jesus through this life. A disciple of Christ follows wherever He leads. Engaging in, participating in, whatever He sees fit for us. Upon coming to Christ for salvation, we are choosing His ways, not ours, in living life.
Read the four Gospels. The written accounts of the life of Jesus Christ were of Him directing, leading, teaching the Disciples what to do and how to live life. They, on their part, relinquished their authority in living life to Jesus.
So many people are fist shakers too. They're as stubborn as the day is long towards the plan and purpose of God for them and they aren't realizing they are doing that towards Him.
We cannot conceive in our mortal flesh how distraught and how bitterly angry people in Hell are and have been for the centuries of being there. Weeping and gnashing of teeth is our only description. We live in a society that mocks the very thought of following Christ with a whole heart. We live in a society that wants a god on their terms. Just as in the days of Noah. People marrying and being given in marriage. People buying and selling. People disregarding the warning signs. People persecuting those who are trying to show them the truth, just as Noah did for a hundred years.
Oh we can try to deceive ourselves, but God's own truth will be revealed in time.
No doubt people think that what comes next after dying is irrelevant. It's a guaranteed perspective as shown by Jesus that it's far from irrelevant to those experiencing Hell. Whether they are the ones who are weeping or those bitterly angry at God for placing them there against their will, none there want to be there. The painful torment is never ending. It's the cost for choosing to reject Jesus's free gift of salvation. It's what's to come for all who choose to reject the authority of Jesus Christ in their lives.
There is no magical powers to use to escape Hell. There's no incantation to speak to bring anyone back from the dead. There's no ultra high tech path to immorality that's yet to be discovered. Likewise, there's no quantum realm path to entering Heaven. There's no method of meditation to lifting oneself to enter Heaven's Throne room.
Jesus is the only way to Heaven.
Rejecting Jesus is the absolutely truthful way to Hell. All who have ever lived, by their own choice, are choosing one destination or the other.
We also cannot fathom the distress that will be at the Final Judgment when Jesus separates people. Those who are His by faith from those who are not because they rejected Him.
You can fool yourself but the price is higher than you want to pay.
A song that I heard a long time ago has the person crying out to God to open the eyes of their heart.
My prayer for all who find this blog or post, is to have their eyes opened. To really realize the truth of God's word concerning them and their choices. Rewriting legal documents, canceling people, redefining identities, choosing genders, will do absolutely nothing to the effective powers of the truth of God's word.
Our world will never know what a completely different life can be for them until they acknowledge the truth of the Gospel message and how it relates to them personally.
You cannot figure out what a life in Christ is like without coming to Christ first.
Prime example. You cannot know what it's like to perform in a philharmonic orchestra without becoming a professional musician. You cannot understand the true ins and outs of repairing a vehicle properly without becoming a mechanic. You cannot know the full extent of a position of Leadership without learning how to be a leader.
The nuances of what makes a person a Christian cannot be known, felt, understood, lived, apart from a right relationship with Jesus Christ.
If all who observe from the outside were to admit it...Christianity is foolishness. It makes no sense and it's not going to. It's written in the Bible that the unsaved cannot understand the things of God because they are spiritually discerned...it's foreign to them.
My Dear Reader please read this again. Look at your life and desires. Are you deceiving yourself in what you call living life? Are you seeking a relationship with Jesus or are you doing your level best to avoid that?
There are eternal consequences to which you choose. All who are in Hell do not want you to make the same choice they did.
God will not be mocked...God will indeed have a day where the whole of humanity will stand before Jesus. Those who have chosen the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ alone will be the only ones spending eternity with Jesus. All others will spend eternity suffering a worse fate than even the horrors of Hell in a place referred to as the Lake of Fire.
Ask God to open your eyes to His truth about you and living life. Time is not endless. The offer of salvation in Christ Jesus is for a limited time. That limited time is the number of days you have to live.
My prayer for you is that you would indeed experience the full life that God desires for you that you will only find in a right relationship with Jesus.
All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.
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