How do you want your death? Do you want it fast or do you want it slow? Any movie that has a scene where someone has the drop on someone else with the intent to kill them usually has this line. It is a stupid line! The answer would be “I don’t want to die!” If someone put that in a movie script it would take out the “wonder” of the whole thing and make the scene itself kind of lifeless. Proverbs 14: 12 says There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. So there is a possibility that we could be wrong some of the time? That doesn’t fit the modern narrative at all does it? WRONG? “That hurts my feelings someone might say.” To which I would reply “Better to hurt your feelings than to let you go down a dead end path to destruction.”
We live in a society that has done everything it can to do away with any possibility of following God’s Word in it’s entirety, so we make things up on our own. The end result is a group of humans who are Dazed and Confused. And if you bring any of this to one of those people’s attention they want to sue you for abuse. The only abuse is the abuse of God’s Word by a generation of those who set themselves up to be losers in a war that has already been won. Losers in seeking God’s Word and His Way. Losers in being drawn away by every wind of doctrine and dazed in their approach to serving. Losers in believing in the power of God and trusting that power. Losers that should be the ultimate winners!! We have dumbed down every pure and potent part of God’s Word with an easy “users” edition that allows people who are going to heaven because of what Christ did on the cross an easier way to be liars, thieves, sinners in every way, etc. As I write this I know there will be those who say, “NO, NO, NO!” Go ahead and say your “no”, but it cannot and will not stop God’s truth.
We are VICTORS!!! And we should “live our faith” like victors. Philippians 2:15 says so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, If you are going to get caught, then get caught being like Jesus!! If we are going to shine as lights in this dark and hopeless world then we need to live as the Word of God tells us to live and that will mean some things. Some are listed below, but a warning. If you are intent on living in mediocrity, do not read this list.
Live a life of freedom. 1 Peter 2:16. 16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Live out of the grace we are given through Jesus. Be sure of your salvation and be sure you “repented” when you asked Jesus into your heart. Repentance is very important. Salvation doesn’t come from a lifeless prayer that groups together words into a sentence we call salvation. It is a distinctive act of faith that is done from the heart. Why? Because in the heart is where change comes from and in the heart is where we derive our daily life.
Live out of a changed heart. Matthew 22:37 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ The epicenter of who we are and what we do with our life comes from our heart. Romans 10:9-10. says. 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. A change of heart causes a confession of where we were, and were we are, and where we are going. When you asked Jesus into your “heart” you were asking him to change your heart and change you at the core and that is what He did. So everything you do from there on is based upon that very internal change. Know Jesus, Know change. No Jesus, No change. It’s as simple as that…… By the way, you better have that one right!!
Live as a servant as mirrored by our Savior, Jesus Christ. I have probably heard every excuse known to man since being a called minister. Some excuses are “hall of shame” type and some are fairly logical, but all are just that. EXCUSES!! Since we are now a privileged people we can find every reason to not serve Jesus in the big and small things because “we have arrived.” Here is what servanthood was and is to Jesus, John 13: 5 Then He *poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 So He *came to Simon Peter. He *said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” This is where we ministers sometimes lose the battle on getting our churches to thrive. We make it a user friendly church and the reason for that is one thing….if we call our church members to do it, we will have to do it. Plain and simple…..no leading from the front. We will sometimes not plan something or follow through with something and sacrifice the work of the Lord on the altar of “family time.” For each of us, family time can be serving the Lord together time. We can build a Godly legacy of serving by leading family and church by example. Do it the “Jesus way.”
Live a life of constant change. If you are unwilling to accept change then you are on your way to the trash heap and it stinks there. God told the people through Isaiah in chapter 43. “Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert. When God works it is much different than we plan, but He still works. We will minimize or kill His working if we reject change. God is always doing something fresh and new and it is an exciting thing to ride on the “change express.” If you don’t accept God-centered change then you are in the way and keeping the lost out of heaven. You are also blocking those He called to serve by killing their enthusiasm. You are a buzz kill!! People who don’t accept God changing something are “skin of your teeth” type of people. Oh they may get to heaven, but it will be barely!!! Job in Chapter 19 went through a long list of things that had happened against him and the list goes on and on. A person who sets themselves against God doing something great has put themselves in a place they shouldn’t be in. God will not allow a person who is resistant to His Spirit moving to be a barrier that keeps His people from serving and His church from thriving. It’s time to have an open mind to God and and an open heart to what He wants and get on board, or just get out of the way. In verse 20 Job said. 20 – “My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.. There is still time to change your heart and mind and today is that day.
We need to be laser focused on what God wants to do in our lives and realize, because of the present condition of the church, you will be an unusual person if you dedicate your life to His service. But, you will be a shining light that leads others to do the same. No more DAZED AND CONFUSED. You will be FOCUSED AND WISE. And that is really what God wants for you.
The Pilgrimage continues…..
David Warren