We are all accountable to the Lord for the life that we live. That goes for the believer in Jesus Christ and that also goes for the person that has rejected God. There is an appointed time for each one of us to die and then stand before the Living God in Judgment. The Lord is the just Judge and His Judgment is swift and fair.
There is something that stands between each one of us and our Holy God and that is sin. The human heart is bent away from God. We have all been born with a sin nature. We have all sinned and have fallen short of God's high standards. We are all deserving of being found guilty before God and be cast away in a literal hell forever away from the presence of the Lord.
God made a way for us to be reconciled back to Himself and escape the horrors of hell. The Lord, out of His great love for all human kind, sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect sinless life. Jesus came on a rescue mission to save us sinners. The Lord Jesus went obediently to the Cross and shed His blood on the Cross for our sins, yours, mine, and the entire worlds.
We must come to a place of repentance. That is when we are convicted by the Holy Spirit of our sin and then we must confess that we are sinners to the Lord. We must receive the grace that Jesus offers us by believing on Him and His finished work on the Cross on our behalf. We must receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
While we are in the world and we see the horrible things going on we must remind ourselves that we are only pilgrims in this world and our true home is in Heaven with the Lord Jesus. Someday the Lord will come and take us Home to be with Him forever.
While we are in this world we must continue to live for the Lord Jesus each and everyday. That may get more and more difficult as the culture continues to go down the hill of moral decline. When people and government polices head in a direction away from God things will only grow worse. When a culture chooses to chase after drugs and alcohol and other things that only breed bondage then the culture will continue to grow even darker and more ungodly.
We believers in Christ must be careful as not to conform to this world and it's ways. We believers in Christ must continue to stand up for what God says is right in His Holy Word, the Bible. We must never back down and we must never conform to the world's way of doing business. We as believers in Jesus Christ need to stand upon the truth of who the Lord is and be empowered by the Holy Spirit to live for Jesus each and everyday no matter what the cost.
There will come a time when we may even have to face death because of what we believe, but we must stand firm upon the Godly principles in which we trust and the Holy Living God that gave them to us. Times are tough, but unfortunately I am afraid we haven't seen anything yet. Things will indeed get worse just as the Lord Jesus told us they would.
Wickedness will increase until the very day of His return. Many people's hearts will grow cold because of all of the ungodliness. Judgment Day will come, but we must remember as well that we are not the judge. The Lord is the Judge. Our mission is to take the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ to our families, to our neighbors, to our towns, to our state, to our country, and to the entire world.
People are struggling with many horrible things. Many are addicted and in pain. Many are in extreme bondage and unfortunately some don't even realize it. We live in a world of sorrow and despair.
I just returned for a town meeting in my home town and we I returned home I picked up my Bible and started reading. Tonight's reading seemed to speak to me in a special way. The Lord loves to get our attention through His Word and by His Holy Spirit. The passage was Romans 13 which says,
"1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended.
4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.
5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.
7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”a and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”b
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh."
We are to obey the laws that our rulers establish for the common good of all people. Sometimes the laws and ordinates that the government passes may not be very good for people. There will be times when the government may have to be removed if they start hurting the people that they are supposed to be helping, but ultimately it is up to the Lord to do the removing and we are to follow His lead in the affairs of this world.
We need to live for Jesus in every area of our lives and that includes doing what is right. The Body of Christ needs to wake up and follow Jesus. We must no longer act as the world acts. We need to go into the world and be shining examples for Jesus by shining His Light everywhere we go.
We must no longer conform to this world and it's wicked ways. Let's clothe ourselves with Christ and live for Him while trying to save some people from the flames as the world continues to go down in flames.
Lord, Heavenly Father,
Help us to live for You in this wicked and evil age.
Empower us to live for You.
You are our hope and we trust You.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment