Just as the devil does his work by deception, God does His by truth. Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Are we willing to search for and hold on to truth? The wise man said, “Buy the truth, and do not sell it.”
Neither the individual nor the collective part of our service to God can be neglected without serious consequences. But in the end, we will not be saved just because we have been members of a sound church. We ourselves must be sound in the faith.
Do you wish to wear the name “Christian” (Acts 11:26)? If so, Christ must be the standard by which you make your decisions. His purpose is to reign in love and wisdom over every aspect of your life, not only on Sunday but Monday through Saturday too.
We may find ourselves setting aside parts of God’s instructions that we find objectionable. But surely this approach will not work. If God is our Creator, than all of His will must be taken seriously. We are not free to disregard some parts of it.
The invitation of Christ is to receive the forgiveness of our sins. That is a truly wonderful invitation. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The gospel is God’s invitation to find rest in Him.
Rich family relationships thrive in the natural soil of contentment and gratitude, not in the hothouse of financial or material prosperity. And if we’ve not yet learned this lesson, our families are probably suffering as a result of our ignorance.
Whatever we’ve done in the past, are we willing to demonstrate courage today? Are we willing to make a genuine commitment to God? And will we faithfully confess our commitment as long as we live? If so, we have the makings of true discipleship.
What counts for goodness in God’s sight is what we do about the wrong we talk against so much. At the judgment, we’ll be judged not on our words or our ideals or what we knew to do. Our judgment will be based on what we actually did.
One of the most basic decisions anybody ever has to make is whether to live on the principle of selfishness or the principle of unselfishness. Depending on what we decide about this question, our lives will be greatly affected for better or worse.
We must choose what kind of life is most important and sacrifice the lesser things so we can enjoy the greater. Throughout the coming week, may we be renewed in our determination to seek, above all else, that which our Creator defines as real life.
