2015 was a good year for me. It was a year of God’s
pruning, cultivating, correcting and encouraging me.
In asking God for a title for today’s commentary, I
came across a video on hell. This is in no way a message on hell, but I will
share briefly a small portion of this brother’s testimony. After experiencing chest pains at a Casino, he
fell to the floor and died of a heart attack. He says he was in hell for seven
minutes. He entered a place where there
was no escape. He had no use of his legs so he could not move. When he died he had $2000
in his pocket, but for him the money was useless. In hell there are no malls,
restaurants or movie theatres. There are no video games to play or any form of
entertainment. The man began to cry out for someone to help him, but there was
no one to help. As he kept crying out for help, he awakened in the hospital
emergency room. Shaken by what he experienced, he waited for the room to be
free of people. The man again cried out to God and asked what must I do to avoid
ever returning to that place? And God
answered him, “Get to know Me”.
As I listened to his testimony, I thought this could
have been me. Yes, a born again Christian. When I think about how I was before
God changed me. Hell could have been my
destination. As Christians we fool ourselves into thinking that we are alright
because we go to church every Sunday and do Christian things. We live life
knowing about God, but never really living for Him. God knows what is in our heart and nothing is
hidden from Him.
Recently, I had a health scare that almost
devastated me. A routine breast examination came back with negative results. A
follow up visit for more testing was required. I wasn’t ready to share anything
with my family at the time, so I asked God who could I trust to stand with me
if indeed I have breast cancer? The Lord gave me a name of a person whom I have
not had a relationship with in years. No phone calls, no texting, nothing. It
was a person who I chose to disassociate myself from for various reasons. Yet, in my time of crisis God spoke this person's name to my heart.
After further testing I received a good report from the doctor, no cancer. I remembered my question to God and after a
few weeks I contacted the person and scheduled a lunch date. I had the best time. We chatted on like school girls. I told her of my health scare and what the
Lord spoke to me. My friend responded,
“I would have stood with you. My mother
had breast cancer and I was the one who accompanied her to all doctor’s visits
and I never missed an appointment”. I
had no knowledge of her mother ever having breast cancer. I learned so much from this experience.
Life is a journey and it does not necessarily take
us down the same road. We all grow, mature, develop and process things
differently. We each have our areas of
strength as well as weakness. And as imperfect as we are God knows what is in
our heart. God knew the love and devotion in the heart of my friend towards
him. How else would she be willing to stand with me? I have learned that my
thoughts and opinions of others are meaningless. The only thing that matters is if
I am pleasing and obedient to God. Words also echoed in the man’s testimony. I wonder how many of today’s Christians would
have welcomed Peter back as a disciple especially after denying Christ three
times. I can answer this question for
you, not many. But Jesus knew what was in Peter’s heart and He knew Peter loved
Him.
When you come to know Jesus you will discover a
relationship that transcends time. It is
a relationship that will challenge your ideals, thoughts and opinions while
rooting out self righteousness.
As you “Get to know
Jesus” the veil between what you think is right or wrong becomes thin. This is
why the enemy of our soul wages war against us constantly. He knows as long as we remain ignorant to the things of the Lord, or have a lukewarm relationship with Him,
his plan to kill, still and destroy will continue to be an effective tool
against us.
When you come to know God it will be easy for you to discern that He is
a good, good Father and perfect in all of His ways. His love for us is relentless.
In 2016 let us GET TO KNOW JESUS
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