Hard Truths

“…When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift- the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry and he looked dejected.” [Gen. 4:2-5 (NLT)]

If you ask me, the hardest truths about following god are right here in the story of Cain and Abel. In here we find two ugly facts that tend to scare just about every Christian that wants to serve.

The first truth is that there are two types of believers, the Cains and the Abels. Much like the Pharisees and the Disciples.

Some serve like Abel. They are good shepherds and give their best to the Lord. They serve they way the Lord God intended. With all their heart, with all their soul, with all their mind and with all their strength.

Unfortunately, some also serve like Cain did. They claim to follow God but they just use him for personal gain and give very little in return. In other words, they serve the opposite of how God intended. They GLORIFY THEMSELVES more than they GLORIFY GOD.

“How do I know which one I am? I don’t want to serve like Cain, but I don’t know if I serve like Abel.” This is the situation for many of us. God’s answer…

“You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue and be its master.” [Gen. 4:7 (NLT)]

If you HEED THIS WARNING, and if you are willing to DO WHAT IS RIGHT by God no matter what the inconvenience; then you are serving the right way. The hard truth is, that will be too high a price for some, and with their own SELFISH PRIDE they will cut themselves off from God’s blessing.

“One day Cain suggested to his brother ‘Let’s go out into the fields.’ And while they were in the fields Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.” [Gen. 4:8 (NLT)]

This is what I’d consider the HARDEST TRUTH about being a Christian. Not only are there people who simply WILL NOT find the path of righteousness in their lives, but there are people who will try to stop the one’s who desire to do so.

Christians, we need to come to terms with the risks. By standing up for our faith we could lose our popularity, friends, jobs, family members, and in extreme cases our LIVES.

I know this is scary. But we cannot let this fear STOP US! Satan may have a pretty good grip on this world but do not let him have a grip on YOUR HEART. We need to serve BOLDLY. Do not hold your tongue to appease the persecutors, but shout his praises for the sake of THOSE WHO CAN BE SAVED! And never judge who goes in which category, as surely as Paul was converted, so can other sinners convert to The Way.

It all comes down to what Jesus said in the Beatitudes. “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.” [Mat. 5:11-12(NLT)]

It’s self-explanatory, Christians. We know there is a heaven. So let’s BOLDLY do ALL WE CAN to see people get there.

May the Lord’s guidance be with you all,

Gardern Gone?

“Then the Lord God said ‘Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever! So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. After sending them out, the Lord God stationed the mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden and he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” [Gen. 3:22-24(NLT)]

In this passage God has punished Adam and Eve for their sin. As well as exposing them to pain and making them mortal, he ultimately removed them from the Garden of Eden.

When I was not a Christian, I would often use this passage to explain why “God doesn’t love us” I mean it’s so contradicting to say God loves us and wants us to live forever when he put us out of paradise and locked away the tree! If he loved us so much then why didn’t he just forgive- as he likes to do so much- and let ‘em stay? To be frank, I was seeing through the eyes of an ungrateful child.

It says in proverbs, “Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. Those who love their children care enough to discipline them.” [Prov. 13:24(NLT)] Nine times out of ten whenever a mother or a father let’s their child get away with wrong doing, the child will do it again. God is our father, and we are his children. God gave us freewill for a reason. So if Adam and Eve got off Scott Free, who’s to say they wouldn’t eat more of the bad fruit?

“But wait! Is there still a contradiction here? I’m not Adam and I’m not Eve. So why did I have to be CUT OFF from the tree of life?”

God never contradicts himself. , Just because man no longer resides in Paradise does not mean we are condemned here in this world consumed by evil. He has not cut us off. For God has said “What if they REACH OUT, and take fruit from the tree of life? Then they will live forever!”

Christians, we all at some point in our lives feel that god might have left us...that he has cut us off. Rest assured he has not and he never will. Ever since we’ve known about evil, God has been rooting for us to OVERCOME IT! That’s why he sent Abraham, that’s why he sent Moses, That’s why he sent his son JESUS!

Even in your darkest hour, God is near. All you have to do is bow your head, close you eyes and REACH OUT.

May the Lord’s guidance be with you all,

Wear Pants? Read This!

“You should never betray anyone’s trust, because when you betray someone’s trust, you can never get it back completely to what it was.” These words came from the pastor of my church. They were and still are one of his favorite proverbs to use in Sunday school. For a long time I didn’t understand when he said this was also how we should look at sin. God forgives right? So we stumble… so we walk away…“have fun for a little bit”… we can still pick it up later and get back to where we were right? To anyone who thinks this way, I invite you to GET NAKED.

Fat chance! There is no way you would do that where you are right now. Even if you did you would be so embarrassed you would hide yourself as soon as someone saw you.

And yet it says in Genesis; “Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.” [Gen. 2:25 (NLT)]. Notice how most of us wear clothing. Never in this lifetime will Christians or otherwise go back to being shameless about nudity, nor will we look God strait in the face.

Ever notice how some of the weakest Christians have been in the church their whole lives? Adam and Eve were created believing in God, I mean they even met him! But humans are so curious by nature. That forbidden fruit looked so delicious to Eve that for a moment she put her desires ahead of God’s commands and ate the fruit God sternly warned her against. I’m sure the fruit was indeed delicious, but instantly she knew what she had done (funny how sometimes regret sets in instantly!). And so she could never stand before God the same way again.

You’re not any different, Christians. You, like Eve, cannot “temporarily” follow a path of your own desires and then be the same when coming back to his way, if you come back at all! In doing so all you will gain is guilt! I’m not saying God doesn’t forgive, but you don’t forget either.

Notice how Eve didn’t sin alone. Practically no one does. Luckily, Adam got right back on the boat with Eve, and they both recognized their sin. But who’s to say that will happen to you! The guilt of influencing others to sin is far greater than sinning by yourself. Just like the joy in bringing others to righteousness is far more than just living right.

God forgives you for your sins, but the guilt alone is often the punishment in itself, among other things. Stay strong in the Lord; always walk forward, and never walk away.

May the Lord’s guidance be with you all,

The Set Up

Many Non Christians would agree that the bible goes against any form of science still credible today, and they’re right. There is no phenomenon in which a body of water such as the red sea can be separated within the hour, and then put back in place. Nor is there a phenomenon in which fire can just come down from the sky and burn everything including water. And there is no man today that could claim to have been beaten, killed, embalmed, and after three days roll a huge boulder away and appear before his men looking fine.

Many of us believe in these miracles as God’s work, which is true. But non-believers think them to be farce and furthermore some even dedicate themselves to “proving” them untrue and telling us what “really happened”. What about these people? Do you avoid them? Do you think of them as fools? Wretched sinners? One of the hell bound?

No matter how smart any one is, they cannot make full sense of a book reading from the middle to the end. And anyone who walks into a movie thirty minutes after it started with surely ask himself or the guy next to him, “What’s going on?”

The “Set Up” of a movie is commonly referred to as the introduction, or scene/chapter 1. In the Set Up the stage is set and the main characters are introduced. It is the Set Up that gives the plot it’s purpose, and the story it’s meaning. Without the Set Up the story is weightless, and may seem a farce.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, the darkness Covered deep waters. And the spirit of got covered these waters.” [Gen. 1:1-2 (NLT)]. These are the first two verses of the bible. The first verse tells us about heaven and earth, and God made them, giving us the belief that THERE IS A GOD. The second verse tells us about a dark and empty earth. And yet how god was down there instead of up on his throne. This gives us the belief that GOD CARES TO DO MORE THAN JUST BE GLORIOUS. When you combine these two meanings, you can say that THERE IS A GOD AND HE CARES.

But the non-believers tend to ignore the Set Up. Instead they skip right to the miracles and the commands. And like the guy who arrives late to the movie theater, they’re likely to ask, “What’s going on? Who is God?”

Try reading a book from middle to end sometime. You’ll notice that when you reach the end not only are you confused, but also you’ll feel like there is no message. What’s the point of getting to point B if you don’t know where point A was to begin with?

Christians, do not let them miss out on the Set Up of God’s word. Answer them when they ask what’s going on. Encourage them to go back to the beginning, not debate with them about the middle.

May the Lord’s guidance be with you all,-