To say the least I have learned a lot of things this year. One of them being that God means business. He presents a choice before us to either choose to follow Him and receive His gift of salvation.
Whereas, the other choice to reject Him by turning away from following the truth and going down the road to eternal damnation.
The choice of turning our hearts towards Him, the truth and light, or the choice of walking in darkness and hopelessness is before us.
There is no in-between it is an either-or choice. God does not fool around with salvation or extending grace and eternal life to everyone willing to receive it.
Now, let me break it down for you there is no amount of self-love or a positive attitude can save you from your own sin. There is nothing you can do self-sufficiently to save your own skin or change how your mind works.
Nothing you do yourself will save you from sin. No amount of surrounding yourself with positive things or positive people can save you from sin and death.
No amount of money can satisfy your soul like the love of Jesus. Besides, you can't take money with you whether you die and have eternal life in Christ or if you die and end up in hell.
This culture and world is saturated with self-care, self-love, self-sufficient help, you can save yourself mentality. By surrounding yourself with only positive or non-toxic things or people. Yet, if people turn into negative toxic people ditch them.
Which is completely false and gives people unrealistic expectations of life and themselves. This world is filled with broken people who may fall into negative slumps who need to be lifted up by the love of Jesus Christ.
Wake up you are also a broken person too who needs the love of Jesus to fix you. I am an imperfect person who needs Jesus to fix and redeem me.
"Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the turn and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."(2Timothy 4:2-5ESV).
The only thing that can save us is the blood of Jesus by dying on a cross and His resurrection three days later.
Moreover, it is the work of the Holy Spirit that can change how our mind works on how our thoughts change our attitudes. It is the Spirit of God in us that changes us nothing else works.
We can either turn our hearts towards God to live under His blessing, or we can go about doing things our own way and end up hopeless, alone.
Furthermore, this year has been an awakening and reckoning to awaken the hearts of God's children to turn back to Him. If we do not have the love of God and if He does not live in us. Then there is no hope and we have nothing to live for.
Nothing can save us but the love of Jesus.
This world cannot save us. Politics, government, this culture, other people cannot save us. Jesus is the only way.
So we either choose to be obedient to God or we choose to follow the ways of foolishness and the darkness of this world. It is that simple.
There is no middle ground choice. It is simple do we choose to walk in truth or do we choose to walk in the lies of the enemy. There is no surface-level relationship with God. You are either all in or all out.
This year has also been eye-opening because it has been a year of letting go of unreal expectations and things that have gotten in the way of following hard after God. It has also been about burying things that hinder us, and accepting what God is birthing new inside our hearts.
God does not like it when we worship false idols in place of HIm. Which can be anything that takes our worship, our affections, attention, love, adoration away from God to something else or someone else.
We cannot serve God and something else. We can only serve one.
Also, when we serve God whole-heartedly and accept the gift of salvation, He puts a hedge of protection with favor and blessing upon us because of His love for us.
But if we choose to reject Him then that protection is gone.
"For whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."(1 Peter 3:10-12ESV).
Those who deliberately choose to do evil will be against God. Yet, those who choose to walk in righteousness through the grace of God will be with God.
This year has also been a reminder God will not bless something if someone chooses to walk in sin or causes someone else to stumble. If something is done out of haste or hate or done to cut someone else off from serving it will not be blessed.
This passage in 1 Peter reveals that those who desire to follow God and are obedient to Him will gain peace, self-control, righteousness, and the Lord's face will be towards us.
These benefits far outweigh the opposition of being rebellious against God. But walking in rebellion, the darkness of sin leads to despair and depression, anxiety, believing lies, slander, and death.
"to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me."(Acts 26:18ESV).
"and said, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever, humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."(Matthew 18:3-4ESV).
It boils down to whether or not we desire to have a real relationship with God or not. We cannot fake a relationship with God. He sees what is within our hearts. God knows what is authentic and what is not.
Will we choose to turn our hearts towards the light of God?
God wants us to turn to Him. He loves us and sent His only Son to die for us.
God has chosen us.
God has chosen you. Will you choose Him in return?
References
English Standard Version Study Bible (2008) Crossway Publishing, Wheaton ILL,
Picture by: wix.com
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