March 30, 2017 – Luke 21
Be careful, or your
hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of
life, and judgment day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. Luke 21:34
There are many ways
to mess up our relationship with God, but only one way to keep it –
effort.
Dianna and I had the TV on recently, and an episode of a
show we don’t normally watch was dealing with the death of a friend. In this episode, one family member consoled
the other by saying their lost friend was in heaven. She was immediately asked why she believed
that, and the consoler said their friend was a good person. In her judgment, doing good things in this
life is reason to believe you will receive eternal life in the next.
That’s the common philosophy in every funeral home. Every loved one who dies is going to heaven,
because of their list. Everyone has their list… the self-governed set of actions or comparisons that make us
good enough to earn eternal life. No
matter what regular behavior they exhibited in life, their past list qualifies them for heaven. It seems logical at the time in our grief,
but is totally wrong in reality. You don’t
get to heaven based on your list,
because the list isn’t ever good
enough. Unless we are perfect without
any sin or flaw, we cannot enter the Kingdom of God. I didn’t say that… Jesus did! The only way that someone who has sinned can
receive eternal life is not in our list,
but in our beliefs. We MUST BELIEVE
fully in the one who can forgive our sins --- Jesus.
Jesus cautions everyone to be very careful when it comes to
our behaviors, because they expose our true beliefs. If we TRULY believed Jesus is Lord, we would
behave that way. Poor behavior indicates
we have stop believing something. So when sinful behaviors like intoxication,
fornication, immorality, (YES, EVEN WORRY) gets into our lives, it exposes the
fact we have a belief issue. Without a
correction, we’ll face judgment like every other sinner.
Just goes to show us --- we can ALL screw up our eternity
pretty quickly. All we have to do is
quit believing and stop behaving. It’s
simple: No effort leads to no relationship.
Constant effort leads to deeper relationship.
Praise God that He loves us too much to let us do that. He is kind enough to give us mercy, gracious
enough to provide us time, loving enough to set up consequences. God wants us to avoid the deadly trap of sin,
and stay out of the eternal pain of judgment.
He gives us His FULL EFFORT every day.
Doesn’t He deserve our full effort in return?
Don’t bank on your list
– count on your belief and give Jesus your effort. Stay away from the enticing sin behaviors
that will crush your relationship with God.
You give Jesus your effort, and He will guard you from judgment.
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