The Simple Life

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.  John 13:2-4 (ESV) Jesus understood the tremendous battle that was about to ensue. The enemy made his move on Judas and Jesus countered it by being a servant. Satan cannot attack someone dead to themselves. He cannot attack someone who is standing next to God. He cannot attack someone who embraces the truth. Judas and the crowd who would yell "Crucify Him" were prime targets of the Evil One. Jesus, the servant man God, was untouchable. Judas and the people saw the temporal significance of this moment. Jesus saw the eternal. Jesus understood how men should fight. Judas was clueless, blinded by Godless, human ambition. Eventually, the blind human...

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. John 13:1 (ESV) Jesus knew that His time, His hour, had come. Jesus lived with His cross in mind. If we are His followers, He tells us to pick up our cross daily and follow Him. He was prepared for the day when His life, His job, His ministry on this earth was finished and proclaimed such on the cross. To be effective in this life, we must keep one eye on the next. To be fulfilled in this life, we must invest in the next, and realize that fulfillment cannot be had in this war-torn, temporal world. The more we make ourselves at home, the less we will be prepared for eternity. Jesus showed us how someone who knows God and all truth lives. Therefore, we need to align our thoughts and actions with His to succeed in this life and our death. https://www.podbean.com/relate365

Life is not as complicated as it is often portrayed. When we ignore that God created the world and universe, we worship the world and universe because we think they sustain life. When we forget that God created people to love, we live as random blobs of protoplasm. When we ignore that God made male and female, that He made us different, we cannot celebrate differences and are constantly in competition for superiority.  When we ignore that God crafts each human life in the womb, we lose the value of the unborn. When we choose to be entertained for hours by violence, we become violent. When we allow pornography to be normal, we learn to use people rather than love them.  When we continually live in a virtual world, we struggle with reality. There is no right or wrong when there is no God, making it impossible to acknowledge good and evil. This always leads to living in a culture where each person does what is right in their own eyes and will leave the ultimate decisions in this ...

For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me." John 12:49-50 (ESV) Confidence comes to those who know the truth and express the truth. False confidence displays similar traits as true confidence, yet ends differently. Those who have confidence in the truth will win in the end. Those who put confidence in lies will lose in the end. We cannot tell what is right or wrong by observing someone's confidence levels. We can only know the truth when it's all over. Those who know God, who listen to Him, and who proclaim what He has said will find, at the end, when it matters, that their confidence was legitimate. We must be careful to examine truth apart from rhetoric, confidence, or emotional ties, for the Evil One uses all those things to block the simple truths of God's Word. https://...

I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. John 12:46 (ESV) Walking in darkness gets old and we were not created to walk in darkness. C. H. Spurgeon said this: "Perhaps the worst feature of darkness is, that it is so bewildering. You have to walk, and yet your way is hidden from your eyes. This is hard work. God will help His children, will He not? Ay, that He will, but we cannot see how I We look upward, and see no twinkling star; downward and do not even find a glow worm. Surely we shall see a candle in some window! But no! we are lost in a dark wood. Have we not somewhere about us a match that we could strike? We fumble for it; we find it, it is damp, we have no light. The question that now chills the heart is—How can God deliver me? We do not see how He can make a way of escape. What simpletons we are to fancy that if we do not see a way of deliverance, God does not see one either! If you have ever steamed up the Rhine, you h...

If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. John 12:47-48 (ESV) Jesus came to give us life. He came so we could thrive, not just survive. If we ignore Him, we are in trouble, yet it is not Him that is our trouble; it is our ignorance. Those who seek God find God. Those who obey God find that He is faithful and true. Those who ignore God find that their ignorance is costly. We like to focus on God's mercy and grace, and rightfully so. However, we would be wise to refocus on our obedience to God to live healthy lives. Those who focus on obedience stop focusing on perfection, because perfection is a byproduct of obedience. We can never be perfect, but we can be righteous. We can never be sinless, but we do not need to sin. We can never be blameless, but we should be responsibl...

And Jesus cried out and said, "Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.” John 12:44-45 (ESV) Jesus is the perfect example of how we are meant to live. As people see me, they need to see Jesus. As people hear me, they need to hear Jesus. We are the arms and feet of God. We represent Him to a world that knows nothing of Him. We are tools in His hands, and the work He does through us always points to His craftsmanship. Jesus brought the concept of God into reality, and we are to do the same to the world in which we live. What do people know about God by observing me? What do people know of His justice, mercy, grace, and generosity by seeing my life? May God give me the wisdom and courage to represent Him well today. https://www.podbean.com/relate365