Choose Eternity

Choose Eternity

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^“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it “ (Romans 7:15-20, NIV)

Those verses written by Paul in Romans chapter 7, to me, are powerful and remind me that, yes, I am human, and I am not perfect. Being a Christian, sometimes I think that I have to be perfect, and if I’m not, then I’m a failure in the eyes of God. This is a thinking error on my part, and I believe a lot of Christians and those investigating whether to follow Christ fall into this error of thought and it turns them from following Christ. This verse reminds me that I’m not perfect but that by grace I’m saved and through Christ -- I’m redeemed, justified and forgiven.

You see we are of sin because of the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (Genesis) when they ate the forbidden fruit. Since that event, sin has been part of the human species. Sin is a natural occurrence and to disregard the laws of God is a byproduct of our sin nature. We should not dwell on that we are of sin. We must dwell on the knowledge of grace, salvation, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, and if you think you can earn faith, that is a thinking error also.

For example Ephesians 2:8-9 says, ^“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

I have to remind myself every day that it is by grace and faith that I am a child of God. What is faith and what is grace? Well, faith is belief in the unseen. When Jesus was manifested as a man on the earth, many didn’t recognize him as the Son of God even though they saw Him in the flesh. Since He ascended to heaven, we do not have the luxury of seeing Christ in the flesh. I may not see Christ with my eyes but my heart sees him continuously each day. As for grace, it is God-given through Christ. Grace is empowerment from God that enables us to be who He created us to be and to do that which He has called us to do according to the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit. Grace gives us the will and desire to follow Christ and do His will according to His plan for each of us.

I don’t dwell on sin too much nowadays. I acknowledge that I’m of sin and that sin is prevalent and that it is always trying to sneak into my life. But I don’t focus my energy on sin. I focus my energy on Christ, grace and salvation.

Look forward, not backward. Look forward, not sideways. Look up. Focus on God and the temptations of sin when it is presented to you, and it will flee from you when you call on Christ. For me, when I’m faced with a temptation to sin I will quickly pray for strength to resist those things I don’t want to do -- but have the urge to do, as Paul stated. I hold fast to my faith and remind myself that temptation of sin only leads to dismal outcomes and moves, me away from my relationship with Christ.

Let’s be honest though, we all sin, even when we try our hardest not to. For most people committing sin it is in minor things every day─not extreme events like robbery or murder. Daily sin occurs in actions and thoughts, like shown in Mathew 5:27-28:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Even thinking about a sinful action is the same as committing the sin. But don’t fear, even the great apostle Paul struggled with this as he stated in Romans 7:15-20.

For my unbelieving brothers and sisters and even my Christian brothers and sisters, I want to assure you that grace is the overshadowing blanket that covers us through faith in Christ. If you don’t have faith in Christ, if you’re not saved, then you are unfortunately left out of grace and ultimately heaven─destined to hell. I know this sound harsh, but the Bible states this numerous times throughout the New Testament.

For example, Romans 5:21 states: “So that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

You see, sin is death and grace through Christ is life, eternal life in heaven. If you do not believe in Christ and believe and that he died for your sins (John 3.16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”), you will perish to hell for eternity.

Can you imagine eternity out of the presence of the Holy God, forever? What a horrid thought that forever and ever, you are separated from the love of Christ. Christ does not want this for you, friends. Christ wants all of His children, His redeemed to be with Him in heaven. It is not a hard choice. Either you believe that Christ died for your sins or you don’t. Your salvation is not in the hands of God, for Christ freely offers it to all and has already died for your sins. Your choice is to accept the salvation offered to you or to not accept it.

I hope that this choice scares you. It scared the heck out of me when I learned of Christ and salvation. That is why I choose Christ in my life. I want heaven. I want eternity with my Creator and eternity, with love. Hell is eternity without your Creator close to you and is without love. Satan, whose goal is to steal, kill, and destroy will use all his trickery to try to convince you that you do not need Christ to go to heaven. He will distract you, trick you, and do his best to convince you that Christ is not the way, that Christ is not real, that Christ is, well, not Christ.

Listen, brothers and sisters to that little voice in your heart. That little voice in your heart is God calling you to Him. He wants you. It’s your choice though. God gave us the free will to choose whom to follow: Christ or the world and Satan. I’m not saying that if you don’t believe in Christ that you are a Satanist. I’m saying that if you don’t believe in Christ, who died for your sins, you are not a child of God by default. If you are not with Christ then you are against Christ.

Matthew 12.30: ^“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

The choice of believing in Christ or not will ultimately determine if you will spend eternity with Him or eternity in hell with Satan and his minions. Don’t think you are too sinful to come to Christ. He died for the sins you committed. Don’t think that you can’t live a Christian life because you may sin in the future, for Christ died for those sins, too. We have every day grace through Christ. Just believe in Him. Pray. Pray to Jesus that you know you are a sinner and that you want His redemption and blood to cover your sins, past, present, and future. Pray that you want Him in your heart and to guide your life to lead you to heaven.

You don’t know when death will come to you, so make your choice now. You could expire at any moment due to an unknown disease, an accident, or some other action. No one awakens in the morning and says, “You know what? I’m going to get in a car accident today and be killed.”

So make your choice NOW.

Don’t wait.

Your eternal destination is dependent on your choice to serve Christ or not.

When you accept Christ, you will be a changed person. You will be saved and will spend eternity with Him. You will look back at your life as you progress in your growth in Christ and you will be extremely relieved that you accepted Christ into your heart.

 

God bless you.

 

In the Light of Love

In the Light of Love

 

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John 2:1-2

“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Sin. Sin is a horrible thing that we all commit on a daily basis. In thoughts and actions, they are both the same in the eyes of God. I love the fact that Christ died for my sins. You should be, too. Christ died so we will live eternally in heaven─if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Christ is the atoning sacrifice for us and for our sins, our sins yesterday, today and in the future. The atonement of Christ means we are reconciled to Him for our sins and that we are washed in the blood of His sacrifice.

Accepting Christ’s atonement for our sins is only the beginning. Once we are reconciled to Him, we are in the light of Christ.

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” we are no longer in darkness. The light is love and darkness is the separation from Christ” (1 John 5-7).

I used to live in darkness. If Christ is not in your heart, and not the center of you, then you probably live in darkness. Notice there is no mention of a gray or shadow area in the verses you just read. Either you are in the light or you in darkness. Before anyone came to know Christ, he or she lived in darkness, the darkness of the world away from Christ. I thought I was fine before I knew Christ. A lot of people who don’t know Christ think they are fine as well, and as long as they are good people and live mostly moral lives, then they will go to heaven. This is not true. If you are not with Christ, you are not in the light and will not spend eternity with him, simple as that.

Living in darkness, away from Christ is living in the “world,” the world, being life without Christ. Those who are of the world don’t know Christ’s love and atonement and are therefore clueless as to what they are missing by being in the light. The light is love, peace, joy, and serenity, to name a few. I can look back on my life prior to knowing Christ and can attest that being in Christ is so wonderful that words cannot describe the feeling.

Having Christ in my heart is such a peaceful and loving feeling that no matter how bad my day may be at work or the worry I have about my family and the world in general, I feel an overall unspeakable and indescribable peace. Mostly though, I feel love. The love I feel in my heart while being in the light is a different love than what a nonbeliever feels. It’s so much more than the love you have for your children, your spouse, your pets, your family, your hobbies, etc. The love I feel in my heart from the light of God is like being wrapped in a warm blanket of love that is full of caring concern for my well being while at the same time being nonjudgmental: pure love.

I never want to go back to the darkness. While in the darkness, looking back at my life before having Christ, I thought I was happy. I had everything I needed and felt I was good enough to go to heaven because I’m a good person who cares and because of the love of my friends and family; it seemed to be enough. But I admit I had a void in my heart that I could not fill with worldly things.

I tried filling this void with countless things such as hobbies, books, movies, other types of entertainment, etc., trying to find that ‘thing” that was missing. I thought that void just meant I hadn’t found the right thing yet in my life and that the world would fulfill my void. I kept searching and searching. Looking back and seeing now, that void in my heart was Jesus.

My wife introduced me to Jesus by making me go to church with her. I avoided church as much as I could. Yet my wife would overcome my objections and drag me there anyway. I used to hate going to church because I would leave feeling sad, and disappointed in myself. I would say to my wife that church was not a place of happiness for me. After about a year of this, I began to change, thanks to prayers from my pastor and friend, my wife, and others that I didn’t even know. Slowly but surely, Jesus began to move the mountain of resistance in my life and my hardened heart began to soften.

One day, I decided to pray to Jesus. I prayed for Jesus to work on me and help me to get to know Him better, to prove to me that he is real and to help me understand Him. I began to read the Bible in a hit and miss manner and actually listened in church and began to feel better. I eventually became convinced that Jesus is─who the Bible says He is. I believed He died for me, and my sins (and everyone else’s too). One day I finally asked Jesus into my heart and to forgive my sins. I asked Him into my heart, to live inside me and be part of me and to change me. He did.

The road wasn’t easy at first. In fact it was pretty bumpy, but with continual prayers from others and my own prayers, I began to change. I can attest that the change was pretty slow, which was my fault. I slipped a few times back into some old sinful ways. I began to doubt what I believed because I wasn’t studying the Bible and I was really just stubborn in my ways. I got back on the fence and wasn’t sure which side to jump to. Jesus fixed that through a cancer scare.

My doctors thought they found some carcinoid tumors in my intestines. Long story short, after a few weeks of intense testing and investigation, they determined it wasn’t cancer, but I did have Crohn’s disease. During those weeks of not knowing if I had cancer or not, was really scary. It brought to light my immortality and put my thoughts of my salvation back on track. I no longer sat on the fence, but leaped to the side of Christ. I fully renewed my relationship with Him and got baptized.

Fast forward months later, I was able to look back at my life before I truly accepted Christ and realized He was the void I had been missing in my heart. He filled that emptiness. He filled my heart with love. It’s been a couple years now since I’ve been saved and I can look back at my old life and can attest I was in darkness. Darkness means not having Jesus in my life. He is so wonderful. I’m so grateful that He sacrificed Himself for my salvation. I’m thankful for His faithfulness. He is still working on me with me, in our relationship. He is faithful and I’ll spend eternity with Him. Thank you Jesus.

Is it your time to accept Christ? Are you ready to fill that part of your heart that you feel is missing that something?

[Jesus said,] “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

If you are ready to accept Christ or are investigating Christ, remember the previous verse. If you seek the Lord, you find Him. If you ask for Christ or to know more about Christ, He will work in your heart and give you the desire for Him. Christ is waiting for you. If you knock the door to salvation will be opened to you. Christ is on the other side of the door with His arms wide open ready to embrace you and begin with you a journey to eternity with Him that you will not regret. Knock, my friends. Knock.

May God be with you always and may you always seek Him daily.

Peace and Joy

Peace and Joy

 

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV).

In our Christian walk, this type of fruit should be manifest in our lives daily, moment by moment, in our hearts and our interactions with those around us to emulate Christ to the fullest.

I’ll admit though, sometimes it’s a challenge to bear and represent the fruit of the Spirit. We all have strongholds in life and people that irk us that we have to overcome. This is the challenge though, to work through those strongholds to bear the fruit of the Spirit at all times. Your boss says something to you and you want to lash out at him; give heed to self-control. Hold that thought in your mind and let your heart work on that lashing statement until it calms down and you can respond in a calm or humbling manner. Your pastor preaches something that makes you angry, like convicting you of living in sin: Take some time and let it soak into your heart. Get it?

For me, my biggest challenge: My teenagers. Boy, they sure irk the heck out of me with the rebellious things they do and say. They know everything and my wife and I are stupid in their minds. We are outdated in thoughts and our advice is worthless to them because they are smarter and younger than us (comical, really). This really irks me. When they do or say things that get under my skin, I force myself to take a step-back, try to see things from their perspective, and then when my heart is right, I let the Spirit guide me in what I need to say to them to impart the experience and knowledge I have that they think I don't have. Sometimes this works, and when it doesn’t, I have faith that one day it will click for them.

Joy is another thing I have struggle with at times, but the Spirit is working in me on this one. I suffer from many ailments: Depression, anxiety, bipolar II, Crohn’s disease, fibromyalgia, cornea disease and arthritis, to name a few. This is a lot for a 38 year old to deal with every day. I’m always tired and fatigued and my joints and body hurt all the time. Even the pain meds I take, they just take the edge off. For me then, I find it hard to have joy in this world physically and mentally. Spiritual joy is different.

I put joy in perspective when I’m feeling sorry for myself. I pray for healing, and God has partially answered my prayers. The Crohn’s is in remission, my cornea disease is actually getting a little better (went to the eye doctor yesterday and he said he rarely sees this disease improve), and my mental status is stable. I’m not cured of anything, but I'm as bad as I could be. Like the apostle Paul, he had an ailment that God did not heal, and so I must believe that I’m not completely healed for reasons only Christ knows.

I do find that my faith and strength in Christ make me stronger by my ailments, for I lean on Christ more than I would if I didn't have these issues. I do find joy in Christ's help. For me then, joy is not limited to the world but with Christ. I find joy in the love of Christ for me. I find joy in my relationship with Christ. I find joy in the fact that I am saved and will go to heaven when it is my time to leave this world. I find joy when I read and reflect on the words of God in the Bible.

You see, joy is not limited to the natural world around us, but in our relationship with others and with, most importantly, Christ. I find great joy in my relationship with my family─my wife especially. Joy that she is my best friend and we are connected so closely that I find joy that God put us together. Together, we are unstoppable. I also find joy in my children, even though my teens drive me nuts at times, I find joy that they are on the path to finding Christ and it brings me joy that they are on the track to eternity. With joy come peace in this life and my relationship with Christ is strengthened.

My heart is at peace, even when things go wrong around me in life -- such as work, or drama with the kids, when my health flares ups, or what is going on in the world around us. To me, I have a feeling of unspeakable peace. I have peace that even though the world is falling apart around us, I am safe and Christ will care for me, and my family. I find peace in my heart when pain comes from my ailments, when my kids are being, well─kids. This peace in my heart is important because it reflects to me that my faith is strong and Christ is working in me and helping me along in my journey to improve my relationship with Him and others, as well as growing my faithfulness in Him. I find peace in that Christ is in control, and everything that happens to me is part of His plan for me and for his glory, not mine.

For unbelievers (those not saved and have not accepted Christ by His grace and sacrifice for our sins) they will not fully understand this as stated in Galatians 5.22-23:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

The unsaved may have all these “nice” attributes, but if not saved, then it is all for nil. These attributes are from and of the world, not of Christ. Don’t get me wrong, for the unsaved these attributes listed as “the fruit of the Spirit” are okay to have. The problem is that if it is not a result of accepting the saving grace of Christ, then exercising these attributes does nothing for your salvation and future for eternity in heaven. Basically, if you don't accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, then bearing these fruits of the Spirit without the foundation of Christ is all for nothing. You will not go to heaven. You will go to hell.

Some say this kind of statement is wrong and it is not fair to say that a good moral, but unsaved person will go to hell. It is fair and it is not wrong for the Bible is very clear about this, as in John 14:6:

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

God gave his Son as atonement for our sins, past, present, and future. If you don’t accept Christ as your Savior, the fruits of the Spirit, the peace, love, and joy that come with it is not be the same as when it comes from Christ. You may think it is, but from someone (me) who was not always a follower of Christ, I can tell you that it is much more fulfilling to have the fruits of the Spirit with Christ as your foundation than from the world. It is more satisfying in your heart, is calming, and brings great comfort more than not knowing Christ can ever give you. Believe me.

1 John 4.13-16 says:

“This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.”

Is God in you? Do you have the Spirit and do you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind? If not, it's time to act today. Not tomorrow, but today.

My friends God loves each and every one of us, and wants us to be with Him in eternity. I hope I made some of you uncomfortable by stating if you are not with Christ, you will go to hell. Eternity is a long time, its forever. The decision you make today about your eternity is ultimately your choice, but choose wisely. You either choose Christ, which is eternity in heaven, or you choose the world, which is not Christ, and means eternity away from God’s love in hell.

Take a moment to reflect on Christ. Pray. Pray that He works in your heart. Pray to accept Him into your heart and ask for forgiveness for your sins. Ask for Christ to be in your life and lead you to salvation. The decision to choose Christ is one you won’t regret. Your life will change. Your heart will swell and you will feel an unbelievable love as Christ works in your heart. You’ll begin to change your worldly ways and will desire to serve God, not yourself or the world. You will have a new perspective on life and your future, as well as your present.

From a recent convert, I can attest that it is an unbelievable change for the better and I look forward to growth each day. To always feel the love and guidance from Christ is a great way to live. Please, please look into your heart and seek Christ.

Rest in God

Rest In God

 

PSALM 62 1: My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.  (NIV)

 

What do these two verses mean to you?

 

What about rest? Have you ever thought about what rest means?

 

What do you think rest means?

 

Rest: Hebrew word for rest is dumiyya, which means silence, stillness, still. And the Greek means peace and/or relief. Now, re-read this verse, what do you think rest is?

 

Let’s go to Exodus 33:12-14 12Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” 14The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” NIV

 

1 Chronicals 22:9 But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. NIV

1 Chronical 22:17-19 Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon. 18He said to them, “Is not the Lord your God with you? And has he not granted you rest on every side? For he has handed the inhabitants of the land over to me, and the land is subject to the Lord and to his people. 19Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God NIV

1 Chronicels 23:24-25  24These were the sons of Levi according to their fathers’ households, even the heads of the fathers’ households of those of them who were counted, in the number of names by their census, doing the work for the service of the house of the LORD, from twenty years old and upward. 25For David said, “The LORD God of Israel has given rest to His people, and He dwells in Jerusalem forever. NASB

Isaiah 14:1-3 When the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and again choose Israel, and settle them in their own land, then strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the LORD as male servants and female servants; and they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.

      3And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved… NASB

 

Describe for me rest in these verses

 

What part of your life do you seek peace or relief in?

 

Have you ever felt the rest as described here?

 

New Testament.

 

Hebrews 3:16-19. 16Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. NIV

 

 Hebrews 4:Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. A 3Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger, a

‘They shall never enter my rest.’”^b

And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.”^c 5And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

6It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.”^d

8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. NIV

Are there places in your life where there is unrest, spiritually speaking?

Psalm 95:11“Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

Look at Hebrews Chapter 4, verse one again.

Turn to Hebrews Chapter 12, verses 15: “See to it that no man misses the grace of God and no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”

Look again at Hebrews Chapter 3, verse 18 and 19: “18And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief”

How do you fall short of his rest? Is there places of unbelief in your life that have caused you to fall short?

 

How do you receive rest? Through belief and freedom in Christ.

 

Galatians 5:1 states that it is for freedom that Christ has set free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (bondage)

 

Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

 

John 14:21, "He that has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved of My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

 

Mathew 11:28“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

 

Children of God

Children Of God

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (1 John 3:1).

The world: I live in it, you live in it and until death or the Rapture─we are stuck in it. The bombardment of “the world” every day and everywhere is overwhelming. But I’m not here to knock on “the world,” because we as believers know all about “the world.” Even though we may live in it we are not active participants of “the world.” To those who don’t know what I’m talking about when I say “the world,” I will make it plain. If it is not for Christ, to further Christ’s kingdom for the glory of God and salvation for you or others, then it is “worldly.” I’m going to stop using quotation marks now. I think you get the point.

To my brothers and sisters living in the world, let me first say thank you for reading this and know that I love you. Remember, true believing followers of Christ love you and want nothing but the best for you, which is to be saved by the grace of Christ. I am one of them.

1 John 3:1 says: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

This is the kind of love He has given to those that love and believe in Jesus and sets us apart from those that don’t know Jesus, hence the world. If you don’t know Jesus, then this will make no sense to you.

I didn’t know Jesus for a long time. I was raised in a mostly Christian home and went to church on some Sundays, and of course on Christmas and Easter. I was a nominal Christian. Then I became a follower of Jesus a couple of years ago. Before then I thought I was on a glide path of success and happiness. I was (and still am) a good person and figured out my own plan of salvation between me, and the god of the universe. That is, until I met Jesus.

Okay, I’m not going to say that I wouldn’t been as successful as I am or have most of my health or my family, if I didn’t know Jesus. The world is full of greater material and surface-looking-success stories than my own. The success I’m talking about has eternal consequences for your soul. I didn’t know about this until I met, Jesus.

I’ve known about Jesus since I was a child and through my formative years and into adulthood. I knew He was a guy that supposedly died for all people and came back to life and then went to heaven. The kicker was that if I wanted to go to heaven then I had to believe in Him. When I did go to church I would drink juice as a representation of his blood and stale pieces of bread that tasted like cardboard, signifying His flesh. Whatever, right? I figured that since I did go to church, did the communion thing, and was a good guy, I was a child of God. I was wrong… I didn’t know Jesus. We hadn’t met yet.

I met Jesus a couple of years ago. Actually, He was there the entire time I just never opened my eyes to Him. When I did, I was set apart from the world. Looking back to before I truly accepted Christ, I can see that my transformation has been amazing. For me, it wasn’t an immediate transformation, but more like a slowly moving river, etching changes into the landscape of my heart and mind steadily but surely. The more my heart is etched and changed, the more I realize the world I had been living in was leading to death.

When I left the world and moved into Christ, I looked at the world completely differently than I did before I was saved and accepted Christ. Looking back, with retrospective 20/20 vision, I can see the errors of the world and the errors of my ways. The details aren’t important but the holistic view is, to me. The world was leading me to eternal death. My focus was not heavenly, but earthly. I focused on my career, money, pleasures, always looking to fill that void. If you’re not saved, I think you can relate to the void. The void is the something that is missing in your life. You may think it is money, sex, thrill seeking… or some other emptiness that you try to fill with earthly endeavors. I can tell you, Christ is not the void, but the void is filled with Christ.

If you don’t believe in Christ, you can’t understand. Before I knew Christ I tried other spiritual things to try to fill the emptiness I had within, but I was never fulfilled. I had convinced myself that I was fulfilled, but true introspection revealed I was really just fooling myself. Christ is the water that fills the cup full. Not half, not a third, but fully.

Once I accepted Christ, truly accepted Christ, when I stopped playing church and stopped going through the motions -- thinking the motions were good enough (they weren’t, I was still empty), I found true happiness and joy.

To my brothers and sisters in Christ, you know what I mean. To my brothers and sisters who don’t know Christ, I urge you to seek Him out. You will be fulfilled. Don’t go through the motions; don’t go to church just to go to church. Investigate Christ in your heart and pray. Pray for revelation and fulfillment. Find friends who are truly filled with Christ, not the ones who are Christians only on Sundays. Find someone who can help answer your questions and guide you in this journey. I promise that you won’t be disappointed. More important, read the Bible─the New Testament─to learn about Jesus and his works and wonders. Read books on Jesus that will help you understand better what the Bible is about, and just who Jesus is.

I urge you to get out of the world and get into Jesus. Be a follower of Jesus, and be set apart from the world. Your eternity depends on this simple choice. Once you truly accept Jesus, you will be transformed into a new person. Maybe not overnight, but maybe so. Pray daily, study daily, and after awhile, when you look back at your previous pre-Jesus life, you will be amazed at how much you have changed and will be eager for the future eternity with Christ. You’ll understand the reason why the world does not know us and we are not part of the world, but are called “children of God.”

God Bless,