Knowing God

The other day, Mitch and I were talking and we began discussing the reality that so many people in evangelical churches today have a false hope of salvation.  So many people hold to the thoughts that, “I’m a good person,”  “I’m better than most,”  I’ve gone to church my whole life,” or “I walked down an isle, said a prayer, and was baptized, therefore I must be saved!”  It becomes scary when you press people in the church, to explain how they know they will go to Heaven when they die.  Their answers often times become vague or muddled.  How is it that a person can go to church all their life, they can even be involved as a leader or teacher in the church, and still not be able to give a clear, biblical explanation of the hope they have of Heaven?  Are people not LISTENING or is the church not TEACHING?

While Mitch and I were talking, I began thinking about what it would be like to stand before God on judgment day and hear Him say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”  My heart became full of dread and panic knowing that it would be too late to make a change but in desperation I would begin listing out all of the things my spiritual life consisted of:  “But God, I was on staff at a church, I dedicated my life to telling others about Your love and forgiveness!  I’ve been all over the world teaching others!  You were my everything!”  But then God would turn to me and simply say, “I never knew you.”  

That day, talking to Mitch, my heart was burdened and broken for the lost people within the church!  We as the leaders and teachers can do such a good job teaching our flocks to go out and serve, love, and disciple BUT I’m afraid we have missed the boat on teaching others how to simply KNOW GOD!  

Take some time today, to run that scenario in your mind.  What would you do or say, if today you were standing before God and instead of Him greeting you with excitement, He simply said, “Depart from Me, I never knew you?”  Would the desperate words of your defense be found in Scripture?  Please don’t wait until that day to discover what, ‘Knowing God’ really means!  

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”   Matt. 7:21-23

LORD, this week I pray that those who read this will KNOW, that they know You, not just know of You!  Change our hearts to look like Yours! Amen

Worn Out Pages

This week as I’ve thought about Father’s Day and family, I had to thank God because He has blessed me with a Godly heritage!  My mom was telling me the other day about a time when she was a little girl and she asked my Papaw why people where at church on a Wednesday night?  He said, “Because they had church then.”  So my mom responded, “Why don’t we go to church on Wednesday nights?”  My Papaw did not have an answer for that, so from that time on, they were at church every time the doors were open.  That fostered a passion for Jesus which has been instilled in my family throughout the years.
When I go to my grandparents house, I love to look through their Bibles.  They are full of worn out pages with notes in the margins and verses that are highlighted.  Some pages are worn so much, there is tape holding them together.  Looking through those worn out pages is almost like seeing my grandparents lives unfold before my very eyes.  I can read their notes beside the story of, ‘Jesus Walking on the Water,’ about a time when God called them to step out in faith!  Or at the 23’rd Psalm, I can see tear stains where they cried at their parents funeral.  I love that some verses are marked with dirty fingerprints, from where they visited and revisited a particular verse or passage which brought them hope!  

The words of Scripture are eternal!  They are the very Words of God which span from eternity to eternity!  And the worn out pages of my grandparents Bibles, they speak of a second story, they tell of the testimony of a grandparent who has walk, stumbled, and gotten back up in their pursuit of a glorious God!  

When we look at our Bible what do we see?  Are the pages crisp and clean or are they worn and marked?  I’m not talking about abused from being thrown in the back seat of the car and forgotten about until the next Sunday when we dig it out and blow off the dust!  I’m talking about do they show the marks of a servant who depends on their Master?  Do they reveal the passion of a lover who reads and re-reads a love letter?  This week, please don’t miss the abundant life that is revealed in the pages of God’s Word!  Start wearing out the pages for future generations to see!  I’m praying for you all!