Normally, on Sundays people around the world fill their churches. Most would identify themselves as Christians. Perhaps because they grew up in a Christian home or because they have some general belief in God. But could there be a great danger in that assumption? Could many, even some who attend church every week, be Christians in name only?
When an observer in Jesus’ time asked, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” He warned that the gate is narrow. And when the people of Joshua’s day claimed that they would serve the Lord, he told them not to take that commitment lightly. Are there many today who have failed to heed those warnings? Are there many who base their relationship with God on something besides the true gospel?
That should be a heartbreaking thought for those of us who truly understand the gospel because it is the most incredible GOOD NEWS ever! Today’s post includes a link to a video that could shake your understanding of what the good news of the gospel really is!
Maybe you go to church, or maybe you don’t. Maybe you call yourself a Christian or maybe you’re not even sure you want to. What you do know is that you live with a sense of guilt and confusion. You lack any lasting peace and wonder if it will ever change.
Guilt sometimes leaves us with the vague feeling that we are not good enough and that we deserve whatever happens. But sometimes it leaves us angry and confused about why others seem to have peace and seem so sure of their relationship with God, while we live with constant doubt.
The problem with guilt is that it’s more than an emotion. It is a state of being. We are all guilty before a holy God. And there is only one remedy and one road to real peace.
I talked to a young mom recently about Christian parenting. She is struggling with a strong-willed child and looking for some answers. When I began sharing biblical principles, she told me, it’s a different world today where parenting is concerned. What did she mean? Should parents today ignore parts of the Bible’s instructions on parenting? If not, how can we be obedient to Scripture and, yet, wise in the world in which we live?
Things happen in life. Sometimes we’re sinned against. Someone hurts us. A friend betrays us. Other times, it’s a temptation. Someone or something looks good to us. We think we’re not getting something we need … or want. Like Eve, we see something that’s desirable. We may even believe God is withholding something good from us. How will we respond? We’re at a point of decision.
How will you handle your next point of decision, and what can help you make a better decision?
Today we’ll talk about how many of us are still trying to pay for all the wrongs we have done … kind of like making minimum payments on sin. We’ll also look at the need to be faithful in whatever we do and the importance of being ready for eternity.
It’s so easy to let hypocritical attitudes creep into our hearts and allow ourselves to become religious pretenders. We may look good on the outside, but have hearts full of envy, greed, anger, worry, and self-righteousness. In the process, we lose the joy of our salvation and find ourselves just going through the motions of the Christian life. But there is an even worse danger in being a religious pretender.
Death … it’s the thing many of us fear the most. But there is another death, a second death, that should concern us much more. This second death involves spending eternity in a place where Jesus said the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies. It’s neither purgatorial nor annihilating. And the bad news is that we all deserve this second death and left to ourselves, we have no hope of avoiding it. And while there is good news, it’s not automatic.
Today we hear a lot about tolerance and accepting people as they are. But in light of eternity is tolerance always loving? And what if we try to speak the truth and are told we need to be more like Jesus and just love everyone? Could they be right? Or could that be a misunderstanding of what is truly loving?
Can religion become an addiction? Can it offer an escape from reality? Worse yet, could it give someone a false sense of security concerning their relationship with God? What would a religious addiction look like? And could churches today be full of people suffering from religious addiction?
Also, read about how the Israelites tried to justify living life their own way and then tried to avoid the consequences of doing so. Could we be doing the same thing today?
