Seeking HIS Face
January 20, 2014 
7 Comments
2 Chronicles 7:14 King James Version
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
You Are The Only One
January 19, 2014 3 Comments
Remember, you are the only one who can keep you from becoming the person God wants you to be.
Neil Anderson
Know My Heart
January 18, 2014 0 Comments
Psalm 139:23-24 King James Version
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
What Are We Waiting For?
January 17, 2014 3 Comments
There are fathers waiting until other obligations are less demanding to become acquainted with their sons. There are mothers who sincerely intend to be more attentive to their daughters. There are husbands and wives who are going to be more understanding. But time does not draw people closer. When in the world are we going to begin to live as if we understood that this is life? This is our time, our day…and it is passing. What are we waiting for?
Richard L. Evans
Union With Christ
January 17, 2014 0 Comments
“Union with Christ is really the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation…”
John Murray
The Faithful
January 16, 2014 0 Comments
Proverbs 28:20 King James Version
A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
To Become Christ-like
January 16, 2014 0 Comments
To become Christ-like is the only thing in the whole world worth caring for, the thing before which every ambition of man is folly and all lower achievement vain.
Henry Drummond
Keep On Singing
January 15, 2014 4 Comments
Colossians 3:16 The Voice
Let the word of the Anointed One richly inhabit your lives. With all wisdom teach, counsel, and instruct one another. Sing the psalms, compose hymns and songs inspired by the Spirit, and keep on singing—sing to God from hearts full and spilling over with thankfulness.
i Seek
January 14, 2014 5 Comments
Father, please give me courage to not lean on my own understanding. I know my thinking can be flawed and what I intend for good can blow up in my face. Please bless me with wisdom and insight as I seek to live for you in today’s confusing and immoral world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Unmindful
January 14, 2014 2 Comments
It is generally true that all that is required to make men unmindful of what they owe to God for any blessing, is, that they should receive that blessing often and regularly.
Richard Whately
Lying Religious Leaders
January 13, 2014 8 Comments
2 Peter 2:1-3 The Message
Lying Religious Leaders
But there were also lying prophets among the people then, just as there will be lying religious teachers among you. They’ll smuggle in destructive divisions, pitting you against each other—biting the hand of the One who gave them a chance to have their lives back! They’ve put themselves on a fast downhill slide to destruction, but not before they recruit a crowd of mixed-up followers who can’t tell right from wrong.
They give the way of truth a bad name. They’re only out for themselves. They’ll say anything, anything, that sounds good to exploit you. They won’t, of course, get by with it. They’ll come to a bad end, for God has never just stood by and let that kind of thing go on.
2 Timothy 4:1-4 Easy-to-Read Version
4 Before God and Jesus Christ, I give you a command. Christ Jesus is the one who will judge all people—those who are living and those who have died. He is coming again to rule in his kingdom. So I give you this command: 2 Tell everyone God’s message. Be ready at all times to do whatever is needed. Tell people what they need to do, tell them when they are doing wrong, and encourage them. Do this with great patience and careful teaching.
3 The time will come when people will not listen to the true teaching. But people will find more and more teachers who please them. They will find teachers who say what they want to hear. 4 People will stop listening to the truth. They will begin to follow the teaching in false stories.
The Most Excellent Way
January 11, 2014 0 Comments
1 Corinthians 12:31 The Voice
Pursue the greater gifts, and let me tell you of a more excellent way—love.
1 Corinthians 13 The Voice
Gifts of the Spirit, which are intended to strengthen the church body, often divide the body because members of the church elevate those who possess the more visible gifts over those whose gifts function in the background. In fact, this is the very problem facing the Corinthians. So while talking about the importance and function of these gifts in chapters 12 and 14, Paul shifts his focus to the central role love plays in a believer’s life in chapter 13. Love is essential for the body to be unified and for members to work together. Members of the body that are very different, with little in common, are able to appreciate and even enjoy others because of the love that comes when a life is submitted to God.
What if I speak in the most elegant languages of people or in the exotic languages of the heavenly messengers, but I live without love? Well then, anything I say is like the clanging of brass or a crashing cymbal. 2 What if I have the gift of prophecy, am blessed with knowledge and insight to all the mysteries, or what if my faith is strong enough to scoop a mountain from its bedrock, yet I live without love? If so, I am nothing. 3 I could give all that I have to feed the poor, I could surrender my body to be burned as a martyr, but if I do not live in love, I gain nothing by my selfless acts.
Paul boils it all down for the believers in Corinth. Religious people often spend their time practicing rituals, projecting dogma, and going through routines that might look like Christianity on the outside but that lack the essential ingredient that brings all of it together—love! It is a loving God who birthed creation and now pursues a broken people in the most spectacular way. That same love must guide believers, so faith doesn’t appear to be meaningless noise.
4 Love is patient; love is kind. Love isn’t envious, doesn’t boast, brag, or strut about. There’s no arrogance in love; 5 it’s never rude, crude, or indecent—it’s not self-absorbed. Love isn’t easily upset. Love doesn’t tally wrongs 6 or celebrate injustice; but truth—yes, truth—is love’s delight! 7 Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what. 8 Love will never become obsolete. Now as for the prophetic gifts, they will not last; unknown languages will become silent, and the gift of knowledge will no longer be needed. 9 Gifts of knowledge and prophecy are partial at best, at least for now, 10 but when the perfection and fullness of God’s kingdom arrive, all the parts will end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke, thought, and reasoned in childlike ways as we all do. But when I became a man, I left my childish ways behind. 12 For now, we can only see a dim and blurry picture of things, as when we stare into polished metal. I realize that everything I know is only part of the big picture. But one day, when Jesus arrives, we will see clearly, face-to-face. In that day, I will fully know just as I have been wholly known by God. 13 But now faith, hope, and love remain; these three virtues must characterize our lives. The greatest of these is love.
Tomorrow
January 11, 2014 3 Comments
Always put off until tomorrow what you shouldn’t do at all.
Morris Mandel
Nobody Ever Outgrows Scripture
January 10, 2014 1 Comment
Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the Book widens and deepens with our years.
Charles Spurgeon
Daily Prompt: The Outsiders
January 9, 2014 9 Comments
Today’s daily prompt “Tel us about the experience of being outside, looking in — however you’d like to interpret that. Photographers, artists, poets: show us OUTSIDE”
Thought i’d use my photo of Abbie taking a photo of big Ben. I’m on the outside looking in, and we’re both outside too! 🙂
See more of my Daily Prompts
Between Two Thieves
January 8, 2014 9 Comments
The cross must be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am claiming that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap, at a crossroads so cosmopolitan they had to write His title in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. At the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble, because that is where He died and that is what he died about and that is where churchmen ought to be and what churchmen should be about.
George Macleod
Walk In The Way
January 7, 2014 2 Comments
There is only one basis for really enjoying life, and that is, to walk in the way in which God leads you. Then you are prepared to find delight in all sorts of wayward incidents….When a man is drifting through life, seeking nothing outside of self-gratification, the world must become increasingly a barren and forbidding wilderness. But it is wonderful how many delights fall to the lot of him who is led by God. For such a one the clasp of a friend’s hand, a cool drink in the heat of noon, a merry salutation from a passing traveler, a glimpse of beauty by the road, a quiet resting place at night, are all full of unspeakable pleasure.
Leaves of Gold
Honourable Intentions & Horrible Implementation
December 31, 2013 8 Comments
“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” – Oprah Winfrey
New Year’s resolutions usually reveal honourable intentions and horrible implementation. It’s not a coincidence that we joke far more about breaking resolutions than we talk about making them. It seems like the best way to break a promise is to make one with your whole heart. What’s the problem? Resolutions focus on you. But revolutions focus on God.
Revolutionary Statement #1: To get an accurate view of yourself, focus on Him!
Agur, who wrote Proverbs chapter 30, gives an excellent example of this kind of focus:
“Surely I am only a brute, not a man;
I do not have human understanding.
I have not learned wisdom,
nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One.
Who has gone up to heaven and come down?
Whose hands have gathered up the wind?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is the name of his son?
Surely you know!” – verses 2-4
The answer to all of the questions is GOD, not ME. But even the best sounding New Year’s resolutions focus on what you can do rather than on what God has done and is doing. One of the favorite Christian New Year’s resolutions is: I’m going to have a quiet time of prayer and Bible study every day. I’m all for that, by the way, but it sets you up for failure because the focus is on you, and not on Him. Can you see that?
A revolutionary prayer, on the other hand, would be focused on God, asking Him to reveal Himself in any way that He sees fit – through the Word, through prayer, through nature, etc. Someone who makes resolutions believes they can get closer to God by their own strength. But the heart of a godly revolutionary is honest about his ignorance and inability to understand and relate to God on his own.
Lord, I want to know You more. Deep within my soul I want to know You. In the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I ask that You would stir up this desire I have to be intimate with You. I depend on You today, and every day this year, to reveal Yourself to me in any way that You choose. Amen.
Article by Pete Briscoe
What Love Is?
December 24, 2013 6 Comments
Some children were asked what love is. The responses were quite interesting and instructive for us adults.
One said “love is when my daddy makes a cup of coffee for my mummy and tastes a bit first before he gives it to her to make sure it’s ok.”
Another said ”love is when your puppy licks you, even when you’ve been out all day.”
one said “ you really shouldn’t say I love you unless you really mean it, but if you do mean it you should say it a lot, ‘cause people forget.”
One boy said “when someone loves you they say your name different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.
And finally one seven year old said “love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you just stop unwrapping your presents and listen.”
The Nativity
December 23, 2013 5 Comments
Mary is Sarah and Joseph is Dean and Craig is the innkeeper who’s ever so mean. The three kings are the triplets, the shepherd boy’s Daz and the sheep are most of the rest of the class.
‘Cept me I’m important – Miss Watts says I am,
‘cos I am the shepherd boy’s little white lamb.
Sarah’s in blue with a veil on her hair and Craig’s in a dress but his feet are quite bare. All the Shepherds wear towels tied on with long strings and most of us helped to make crowns for the kings.
‘Cept me, I’m important – Miss Watts says I am,
and I am wearing some wool like a little white lamb.
Mary (who’s Sarah) and Joseph (who’s Dean) have knocked on Craig’s door. And he’s trying to look mean, and he says there’s a stable at the back of the house they can share with the donkey and chickens and cows.
But as I’m important – Miss Watts says I am –
I wait with the shepherds “cause I am the Lamb
Then Megan an angel with tinselly wings appears to the shepherds who sit in a ring, And Megan, she says in a very big voice, “Hail to you shepherds, stand up and rejoice. Follow that star that is shinning so bright and find Baby Jesus who’s been born tonight.”
And as I’m important – Miss Watts says I am,
I follow them off, just as meek as a lamb
And there round the manger with Sarah and Dean, There’s more angels and Craig, some cows and three Kings, And Daz leads me forward and kneels on one knee and he says “here’s my present” And I bleat – ‘cos it’s me!
You see I’m important – Miss Watts says I am,
For I am Lord Jesus’ little white lamb.
Stop Us In Our Tracks
December 22, 2013 6 Comments
Heavenly Father, We think we are ready for Christmas …Not because we have read the pages of the Bible, but because we have read our credit card statements, And they say that we have left no stone unturned, and no gift unbought, if still unpaid for. We stand ready to stagger under the weight of Christmas, To eat and drink far too much, To party with the best of them, And to worry all the time that we’ve forgotten something. And we’ll do it all, not always because we want to, but because everyone else is doing it, and we’ll go along for the ride.
Somewhere in all of this, Father, please feel free to stop us. Any place, any time, just stop us in our tracks. Stop us, grab our attention, and then place your gift in our hands where we can see it, And in our hearts where we can feel it. The gift of knowing that, a little over two thousand years ago, you stepped into the history of this world and placed yourself in a manger in a dirty backstreet stable, And called yourself a Christ-Child. It was then that we could see you and understand you as we had never been able to do before: As Creator, as Spirit, and as a man who would walk unerringly towards a Cross.
Everything else, all the food, the fun, the partying, none of it matters, and none of it has any point at all, unless we grasp this simple, beautiful gift and press it close to our hearts and keep it there…..….. that we live with you, that we are one with you, Our Lord Immanuel.
What else is there to say?
Except thank you, Amen.
My Thoughts 💭
Our fantastic minister Nik convicted us with this prayer earlier this evening at our evening service, and she kindly let me share it with my loving brothers & sisters on iChristian! 🙂
Have You Received This Gift?
December 20, 2013 5 Comments
“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about? – Charlie Brown
“Aren’t we forgetting the true meaning of Christmas? You know… the birth of Santa!” – Bart Simpson
Are you aware of this simple fact, that God couldn’t possibly love you more than He does right now? That He loves you as much as a perfect God can? That He loves you perfectly, and there’s nothing you can do to make Him love you more? There’s nothing you can do to earn His approval; you have it. Are you aware of that? Do you realise how deeply God loves you?”
“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.” John 3:16
Have you received this gift?
Father, today and through this season, give me the ability and the willingness to realise how deeply and passionately You love me. Amen.
Impressions About Christmas
December 20, 2013 4 Comments
“One act of obedience is better than one hundred sermons.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Most of our impressions about Christmas revolve around concepts like “peace” and “harmony” and “unity.” But the first Christmas was filled with intense contrasts. On one hand, we have Herod who is willing to murder countless innocent babies in order to save his position as king. Then there are the three Magi, the wise men from the east:
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. – Matthew 2:11
These were gifts of great monetary and symbolic value:
- MYRRH was a substance used in embalming fluid. This little boy had been born to die as the Savior of mankind! So in giving that gift, the wise men said, “You are Savior, You are worthy to be trusted, we trust You fully.”
- INCENSE was burned in the Tabernacle and in the Temple as an act of worship to God. In giving frankincense, they were saying, “You are God, and You are worthy to be worshiped!”
- GOLD was a gift given to kings. In giving the gold to Jesus, they said, “You are King, You are worthy to be followed.”
There was a time when your sinful nature was inclined to do what Herod did – clinging to and defending your position as king of your own life. But now that you are in Christ, now that your sinful nature has been crucified with Him (Romans 6), now that His Holy Spirit lives within you (Romans 8), you can listen to His voice that invites you to bow down and worship the Child as Savior and King today.
Jesus, my Lord! With great joy, I follow the leading of Your Spirit in my heart today. I bow before You as my Savior and my King. May my words, thoughts, and actions all be expressions of sincere worship to You. Amen.
How Better We Can Love
December 20, 2013 1 Comment
Is life not full of opportunities for learning love? Every man and woman every day has a thousand of them. The world is not a playground; it is a schoolroom. Life is not a holiday, but an education. And the one eternal lesson for us all is how better we can love.
Henry Drummond
Believe Well, Speak Well
December 19, 2013 3 Comments
Be Renewed!
Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. (Romans 12:2)
We live in a very negative world. Evil reports spread and sell faster than good news. It is very easy to go along with the flow, thinking and speaking like “Joe Bloggs” around us at the work place, living down the road from us, and even attending the same Church with us. Just trying to fit into the mould and conform to this world standard.
But, God tells us that we are not of this world, the Bible says we…
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“But You Gave Me Two”
December 18, 2013 7 Comments
A friend who was working in the Dominican Republic with Habitat for Humanity had befriended a small boy named Etin. He noticed that when Etin wore a shirt at all it was always the same dirty, tattered one. A box of used clothes had been left at the camp, and my friend found two shirts in it that were in reasonably good shape and about Etin’s size, so he gave them to the grateful boy. A few days later he saw another boy wearing one of the shirts. When he next met up with Etin he explained that the shirts were meant for him. Etin just looked at him and said, “But you gave me two!”
Unknown
A Worldly Lifestyle
December 17, 2013 4 Comments
My Thoughts 💭
I’ve just finished reading this interesting article (see below) which i can relate too a lot, as i’ve been through this particular growth stage by cleaning up my music library, well more like deleting the whole lot and starting again! Have you had a similar conviction after giving you life to Jesus? Would love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this.
Why Christians should not listen to secular music
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” – 1 Peter 2:9.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. – 1 John 2:15-17.
Hip pop secular music and ChristianityOne sad truth in Christendom is the fact that many Christians do not recognize their identity in Christ. Being a Christian goes a lot more beyond being called a Christian. “Being a Christian is a work of a moment but living a Christian is a work of a lifetime,” Billy Graham observed.
Every Christian has a unique story to tell. However, in the midst of each story is a loving God who gave up is life as ransom for our sins. Different things and different circumstances had over the years led many to Jesus Christ. Every believer reading this post has been delivered from bondage of some sort. The Lord Jesus had met each of us at different points of our lives. Some have been delivered from drugs, others from excessive partying, clubbing and sexual promiscuity. And many others have been delivered from worldly lusts: the lust for money, the lust for material possessions, and greediness.
But when we become born again by the blood of the Lamb, we become new creatures (2 Corinthians 2:17), we become the sons and daughters of God (John 1:12), but most significant, we become a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and peculiar people. The attributes and identities of believers have been made evident by the apostle Peter (See 1 Peter 2:9). There is a reason why God gives the believer all this attributes. It is so that we can “show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light” – 1 Peter 2:9b.
What does it mean to show forth the praises of God?
I believe it means doing away with worldly lifestyle; secular music, secular movies and anything that do not glorify our Heavenly Father who loved us and sent His Son to die to save us. The scripture says “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” – (Galatians 2:20). Being in Christ means we are no more of the world. We have been delivered from the darkness and are now nigh to the marvelous light of God in Christ. This is why every Christian must grow to a point in their life where they can boldly say NO to secular music and all the profanity and deception that go with it.
How to Stop Listening to Secular Music
The lesson in Galatians 2:20 is that Christ lives in us. Every believer must always be conscious of the fact that Christ lives in us. Whenever you are tempted to sing or play a secular music, pause and ask yourself, “Will Jesus listen to this song I am listening to? Will He dance to this song I am dancing to? I have found this questioning approach to be an effective way to stop or quit listening to hip and secular music.
Alternatively Christians can stop listening to secular music by listening to more godly music. I used to really love hip pop, R & B and rap music. Now I am in Christ and I still enjoy these genres but I do it this time to edify myself and to praise the LORD my God. I no more listen to those secular artistes singing and rapping about sex, money, drugs and girls. Instead I listen to Christian rap music, Contemporary gospel and gospel reggae. It is the same rhythm but with edifying and uplifting lyrics. Just take a look at the music video below and you will understand what I am talking about. The song is by Lecrae(a Christian rapper). God bless you!
Update #3 On ‘Join Me In Prayer For Sarah’
December 16, 2013 11 Comments
A big thanks again to all of you faithful prayer warriors for your continued prayer for Sarah & i. We feel so blessed to have so many loving brothers & sisters here. God bless you all.
We’ve just arrived home from Sarah’s latest appointment with the eye consultant. It’s good news as the really painful irritation has gone, no scratches or damage to the cornea and the thick grey curtain that Sarah was seeing, is now a thin grey voile, so healing nicely! 🙂
Sarah still has Corneal Oedema, and we’d love if you could continue pray for this particular healing.
See also:
- Please join me in prayer for Sarah
- Update #1 for ‘Please join me in prayer for Sarah’
- Update #2 for ‘Please join me in prater for Sarah;
Need Prayer?
Do you have a prayer request? Please check out iChristians latest page ‘Need Prayer’
Hearts That Bleed Dark Streams Of Jealousy & Selfishness
December 14, 2013 6 Comments
James 3:13-18 King James Version
13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
James 3:13-18 The Voice
13 Who in your community is understanding and wise? Let his example, which is marked by wisdom and gentleness, blaze a trail for others. 14 If your heart is one that bleeds dark streams of jealousy and selfishness, do not be so proud that you ignore your depraved state. 15 The wisdom of this world should never be mistaken for heavenly wisdom; it originates below in the earthly realms, with the demons. 16 Any place where you find jealousy and selfish ambition, you will discover chaos and evil thriving under its rule. 17 Heavenly wisdom centers on purity, peace, gentleness, deference, mercy, and other good fruits untainted by hypocrisy. 18 The seed that flowers into righteousness will always be planted in peace by those who embrace peace.
Finding Christ in Christmas ~
December 14, 2013 0 Comments
I can’t find Christ in CHRISTmas,
it’s like they erased away His name
replacing Him with some greetings
that just don’t mean the same.
Happy Holidays,
is just too bland and generic
although it’s sounds pleasant
it doesn’t capture the true spirit.
Season Greetings,
doesn’t express or say anything
about the life-saving reason
the season we are celebrating.
Merry Xmas,
can it get any worse?
Yet, people can say Jesus Christ
when they swear and curse.
I can’t find Christ in CHRISTmas,
the world continues to resist
the Savior born on CHRISTmas
it’s as if He doesn’t even exist!
~~~~~~~~
Isaiah 9:6
King James Version
“For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given:
and the government
shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall
be called Wonderful Counsellor,
The mighty God,
The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace.”
Copyright 2013
Deborah Ann Belka
Time Is Short
December 13, 2013 9 Comments
You who are letting miserable misunderstandings run on from year to year, meaning to clear them up some day; you who are keeping wretched quarrels alive because you cannot quite make up your minds that now is the day to sacrifice your pride and kill them; you who are letting your neighbor starve until you hear that he is dying of starvation or letting your friend’s heart ache for a word of appreciation or sympathy, which you mean to give him some day; if you could only know and see and feel all of a sudden that time is short, how it would break the “spell.” How you would go instantly and do the thing which you might never have another chance to do.
Phillips Brooks
The Masterpiece
December 12, 2013 21 Comments
The Masterpiece
By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.
There is a story about a wealthy man and his only son who travelled the world together collecting priceless paintings by Van Gogh, Monet and many other masters. Tragically, the son died at war while rescuing others. Distraught and lonely, the old man dreaded the upcoming Christmas day.
Christmas morning, a young soldier knocked on his door and said, “I’m a friend of your son. I’m one of the ones he rescued.” Then the soldier presented a picture he had painted of the son. Though the picture lacked genius, the brokenhearted father saw the features of his precious son and immediately valued this painting above all the masterpieces in his home. Every day, the father gazed at the portrait and told his housekeeper of his great love for it.
When the father died, the art world buzzed with excitement over the sale of his extraordinary art collection on Christmas day.
The first item offered was the painting of the son, but no one in the self-important crowd would bid on the amateurish portrait. The auctioneer insisted that the terms of the will required the portrait must be sold before any other paintings could be offered. Finally, the housekeeper, tears streaming down her cheeks, said to the auctioneer, “May I pay ten dollars for it? That is all the money I have. I knew the son, and I know how much the father treasured that portrait.” The auctioneer said, “The bid is ten dollars. Going once, going twice, gone,” and the gavel fell.
The auctioneer then announced that the auction was over. “What do you mean?” said the stunned audience. “There must be hundreds of millions of dollars of art here.” The auctioneer replied, “It is very simple. According to the will of the father, whoever takes the son gets it all.”
Like the art collectors, not everyone can see the real value of a relationship with Jesus. John 1:11 tells us that Jesus came to His own but His own received Him not. They did not accept the precious gift of God’s Son, a gift that brings with it all the blessings and love of God.
If you are not intentional about recognizing and receiving Jesus Christ, you will have nothing in the end, and there will be no negotiation of God’s terms. God’s Son may have been born in the most humble of circumstances in a manger in Bethlehem, but He is coming back in power and glory. The next time we see Jesus, things will be very different from His first coming. Not only will He be the King of kings but He will be a judge and we will be held accountable for our lives.
Read John 3:18-36 and Revelations 3:16. Clearly, there are two categories of people: those who fully accept the Son as the only means to the Father and those who don’t. People who are indifferent or neutral about the Son will miss the opportunity to live eternally with the Father in Heaven. It is not enough to believe Jesus was a good man or a prophet; James 2:19 says that even the devil believes and “trembles.”
Have you said “Yes” to the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior? Luke 15:7 says there will be joy in Heaven when you do. Tell the Father today about your love for His Son. Ask God to protect your heart from being neutral or complacent about your devotion to Jesus. Is there someone you know who needs to acknowledge Jesus as Savior? Pray about being intentional about introducing them to the Son.
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