Retirement:

Many people will live their entire lives planning for retirement. Ensuring that all of their bills are paid, their 401K has enough money in it, planning a world cruise, or a camping trip across America. Day by day, week by week, they toil in this life waiting for the opportunity to enjoy the inheritance they created for themselves.

Here is a thought. What happens if you die the day before you retire?

The answer is in the story of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-3):

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”

What is the difference between a sheep and a goat? Let’s see

Matthew 25:34
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world”

Matthew 25:41
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

So what defines the difference between a sheep and a goat? Remember, Jesus is the Lamb of God. Those who are willing to accept Him by Faith, and confess of their sins, repent, and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior have the True Inheritance: Life in His Eternal Kingdom.

It’s amazing how our world has devolved so far to not only accept sin as acceptable behavior, but sanction that very sin. Is there an entity, an individual, capable of driving an entire nation, nay, an entire world into believing that sin is an acceptable behavior?

I’ve been befuddled how everyone that sanctions sin thinks that it is “cool” and “new” and “fresh” to sanction such behavior. There is nothing new in sin, it has existed since time itself. The bible records in multiple places that the pleasures of sin are temporary, and only for a season. That is because those sins can only be enjoyed in the flesh, because the flesh is the source of that temptation. Our flesh is the conduit through which Satan can tempt us, in his unending quest to pull us away from God. We are all tempted, and many unfortunately consciously choose to fall to that temptation in the belief that the temporary pleasure it brings is worth the price of their eternal life.

If you wish to strive for life eternal and receive your true inheritance, you must repent of your sins.

Open your heart to Jesus and pray the following:
Lord Jesus, I am a sinner. I repent of my sins and ask you to come into my heart. Wash my soul clean. I accept you as my Lord and Savior.

Remember what Jesus said about the sheep and the goats:

Matthew 25:40
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Many people will share memes of various things, but not posts such as these. Please remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.” 

Discernment

Discernment is a gift from God, delivered through his Spirit. Discernment is simply the ability to know what is right, or wrong, and that knowledge is delivered through His Spirit to His children, so that we may choose our own path through his gift of free will.

However, that can be problematic can it not? If one has not accepted Christ as their Savior, so that their sins can be forgiven, and receive the Gift of the Spirit, will they have the true power of discernment? If people do not receive the Spirit can they truly discern? Paul had something to say about that very subject:

1 Corinthians 14 (emphasis added)

“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”

I am often mocked and ridiculed, because I allow people to take advantage of me, or mock me, or steal from me, and in return I try to be kind to them. Many will ask why? Quite simply, can a person who commits sin, even a sin of conscious forethought truly know the repercussions of their actions?

Think about it a little more deeply. Here Paul is saying that if they do not have the Spirit within them they simply do not have the true power discernment that is within the Spirit, which is a gift from God! A child one time was playing with a glass on the kitchen table, knocked it off, and it broke. I said “Don’t worry about it” but the mother was frantic because her child broke my glass. In that situation, the child did not with consciousness of forethought make and execute a plan to break my property, she was simply playing with it on the table. This story shows the difference between an accident, intent (conscious forethought), and a lack of discernment if that person was an adult.

The key with discernment is you must feed your gift of the Spirit for it to grow. Many churches today preach the gospel of Salvation and nothing more. In order to grow in Christ, build your faith, and your Spirit, you must feed your spirit daily, even more than you feed your physical body. Or perhaps, you might consider asking yourself: “Which body do I care about more. The physical vessel that my spirit is currently living in, in this world, or my spiritual self that will live in Eternity with the father?”

It is so difficult for people to move beyond the physical trappings of this world; the sins of the flesh, the lust, the greed, envy, and spite. I wish I could communicate to them that this life was intentionally designed with a shelf-life. How long that will be is not up to us, but to God. You who are reading this, on your phone, tablet, or computer screen… can you feel your heart beating? If you place your hand over your sternum, can you feel the blood pumping in your body? What if it stopped… right now!

Are you ready? Are you ready for what comes next? Will God allow every single human being alive now to move on to the next life, or might there be a process to “ween the herd” so that only those that are willing to follow his desires may pass through into the next world.

Hebrews 4:12-13

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Hey… if you read this far you might consider clicking “share” and “like” if you found the words useful… Would a “click” on Facebook be written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life?

Don’t be troubled….

The God who upholds the stars loves and supports his people. We all grow weary, tired, confused and even sometimes bereft of hope. It is important to remember that hope is never lost, because God knows those who are against you, and those who are for you. He flings stars into space, and walks through time as if it were a revolving door of convenience, because time can not constrain God, nor can gravity, evil, childish affectations, or Satan. The key to troubled times is to understand that all of our trials and tribulations serve a purpose, and we must accept His purpose as our purpose to be part of the plan. Never lose hope and faith, but build your faith and Trust in God, because once you are safely and firmly within His grasp, you will know that nothing on this earth could ever truly bring you harm, because His love is Hope Everlasting. Even Jacob became troubled, and remember Our God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Billy Graham would often quote this saying of Jim Elliot, to emphasize that people who live this life for this life, will risk losing eternity… One of the greatest stumbling blocks for men of this generation is the sin of pride. Believing that they know better than God, or that God is an a la carte amalgam of morals and values that they choose, instead of what God has decreed. I pray that everyone studies the Word for themselves, instead of relying upon teachers that may not have the leading of Christ, or desire to serve that they should, to elevate themselves to the position they hold.

–Patrick L. Francis

Today I read Proverbs 26 for my daily reading, and within the chapter is an old literary device common to Hebrew Poetry of the time called “Synonymous Parallelism.” So I thought why not share a quick blurb on the idea! The words sound somewhat fancy, but really just mean to say the same thing in two successive lines in a different way. For example the word Synonymous means ‘to have the same meaning,’ and Parallelism means ‘juxtaposed’ or side-by-side.

Here is an example from our reading:

Proverbs 26:27:

Whoever digs a pit will fall into it;

if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them.

These sayings may not mean much to us today, but were similes common to the time.

A simile is nothing more than a figure of speech where you compare one thing with another thing that is different in order to state your idea more clearly or with emphasis. Such as “Crazy like a Fox, or “Brave as a lion” – here [“Crazy” and “Fox”] or [“Brave” and “Lion”] have nothing to do with each other, but help express an idea more fully.. this is a simile.

It helps if we examine each line by itself, in the context of the author’s time.

1. Why would someone “dig a pit?” Quite simply, to trap an animal, or person
2. Why would someone “roll a stone?” Stones were rolled to great heights for primitive warfare, literally to drop on someone else.

So what Solomon is saying here, is that if a person works to do harm to another, or institute another form of mischief, the result will inevitably be punishment of themselves. Why? God is a God of justice, and he is always watching. At this time God already clearly decreed to love one another, and to not be foolish (ergo not heeding the His Word). Notice that much of Chapter 26 in proverbs discusses the idea of fools. Here is is simply expounding on the idea that if you are foolish, in trying or working to harm another, harm will inevitably befall you.

We could generally reword the ideas to something like this for ourselves:

Harm will only come to you, if you dig a pit to trap another.

Harm will only come to you if you roll a stone up a hill to drop it on someone else. (doesn’t make as much sense to us today, but you get the idea)

So if you plot or scheme to bring harm to someone else (this can take any form.. physical, mental, emotional, gossip etc..) since God sees everything, you will not escape his Judgment.

Some proverbs are more fun than others… but hopefully you found this tidbit interesting 🙂

We have all suffered in our lives, some more so than others, and then there are those who have suffered beyond what a human mind would consider necessary. Often we will ask ourselves why this occurs if God is real, yet we must remember the control that God has allowed Satan over our lives as we live life in this current form.

People will often reference a verse in Corinthians that God will ‘never give us more than we can handle,’ but we must remember that is temptation, not suffering. Resisting temptation is resisting Satan’s hold on you, his attempt to pull you away from God. Here is the verse most people are referring too:

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Resisting temptation is not easy for any of us, be it lust of the flesh, a vice, greed (which is ever more common), or any temptation to act in a way that is against God. Suffering though, is something else.

I have written about suffering before, but tonight while looking over the Word I came across a verse that touched my heart again, as is happening more frequently than ever:

Romans 5:3
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Notice here that it says “glory in our sufferings.” Most of us would say, how on earth could that be a “glorious” thing? That’s something that is a little difficult to grasp. Essentially, if you are a Christian, and not the ‘pretender’ that was commonplace even in the time of Jesus, but is more so now; you are at Peace both with yourself, and with God. However, just because we are at peace with God, and ourselves, does not mean that our lives will be peaceful?

Why?

Quite simply, we are Christians living in a sinful nation. Our society has begun a path of dissension away from God, believing that they should live life as ‘they’ see fit, not as God has decreed. This is nothing new, as society has repeated itself here before on multiple occasions. We as Christians of course do sin, all humans do, but hopefully we make the choice of sinning consciously considerably less often than others, and at least attempt to live a life that will be pleasing to God. This brings us to the key of tonight’s thoughts: Our knowledge that God has accepted us because of our Faith in Christ, and through that Faith, Grace has been bestowed upon us, and the knowledge of our future glory should result in us exulting in trials and tribulations brought forth in this life.

Many times in this life I have allowed people to “do me wrong,” where I had both the knowledge and the means to “redeem myself” in my eyes, but I would have been wrong in doing so.

Why?

In this life it is not mine to redeem, but God. He is our salvation, and he is a jealous God. Remember our physical bodies and this life were designed with an expiration date, however, our souls have the opportunity for eternity.

I mentioned the other day if you want to live for a lifetime, live for this life. If it is eternity you seek, find out the meaning of life.

Today was one lesson, and that lesson is hope. Faith in Christ should spring hope eternal into your heart, and our suffering in this life should cause that hope to well up in our souls knowing that greater things are to come.

🙂