Sharing Christ with Others

God's invisible attributes, eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen in His Creation (Revelation 4:11). This takes away a person's excuse for not believing in Him as their Savior. 

We instinctively know that there is a God and that we should serve Him with all of our emotions, mind, choices and physical strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).

Yet, so many do not honor God or appreciate Him. They pursue futile activities, endless philosophies and fruitless enlightenment and their hearts darken further with each passing day. They think they are wise, but they are actually very foolish (Romans 1:20-22).

Authentic Believers trust in, rely on and believe in Christ even if we end up suffering for the sake of His righteousness. We learn to explain and defend our beliefs to those who ask us about the hope we have in Him.

Yet, we never impose our beliefs on someone who is clearly not interested in them (1 Peter 3:14-16). There is no point if the Holy Spirit is not drawing them to God. We never badger anyone about coming to Christ.

We share Jesus with gentleness, respect for the listener and a good conscience; even if someone slanders our good name or reviles our good behavior in Christ.

We are created for God's glory and service, and we will spend all of eternity worshiping our worthy Lamb who was slain in our place. For now, we live for His glory while we dwell on this earth and do only those works for which He created us to perform (Ephesians 2:10).

Prayer:

Father God, break the yoke of bondage that our flesh feels to sin and replace our weaknesses with Your strengths. Help us to decrease so that You may increase. We praise You as our living Lord and thank You for giving us Your Spirit to abide within us all the days of our life.

You are the only one worthy of all honor, respect, praise, glory, wisdom, might and blessing. We look forward to joining the myriads of angels already around the throne in singing Your praises (Revelation 5:12). Lead us to share Christ with those whom You are drawing to Yourself.

Thought for the Day:

The abiding Holy Spirit teaches us to follow His lead as we share Christ with friends, relatives, associates and neighbors; so that we do not push too hard, ignore their body language or fail to read the feelings of their soul in their eyes.

Heavenly Compassion

Read: Psalm 103: 9-13

God is collecting His anger over the sin of mankind in a cup of wrath (Jeremiah 25:15). He does declare, however, that He will not always strive with mankind or harbor His anger forever (Genesis 6:3). There will come a day, when He will unleash the furry of His wrath over the ravages of sin and He will take vengeance against all of those who caused innocent people to suffer and grieve. God collects all of our tears in His bottle (Psalm 56:8) and He will avenge every one of them (Romans 12:19).

In spite of His justice and holiness, however, once we repent, God does not ever make us pay the consequences we deserve for our sins. He covers us with the blood of Jesus and He casts our sins as far as the east is from the west. How far is the east from the west?

Imagine a plane flying north. Once it reaches the North Pole, and follows the curve of the earth, it will begin to head south. So, if God removed our transgressions from us as far as the north is from the south, there would be a definite limit to His forgiveness.

Now, imagine a plane flying east. When does it start to fly west? At what point does the east meet the west? It never does. There is no pole going east and west as there is going north and south. The plane continues flying east until it lands or runs out of fuel. It never, ever meets the west. That is exactly how far from us God removes our sins. They will never catch up with us. They will never be returned to us or be thrown back up into our face. They are gone forever.

Our Heavenly Father has compassion on those who fear Him. Once we recognize the omniscience, the omnipresence, the omnipotence of God, we realize how truly great He is. Our sin caused Him to pay a debt, which He did not owe. He suffered persecution and crucifixion for sin, which He did not commit.

The benevolence of the perfect Lamb without spot or blemish paid our sin debt for us. Once the enormity of His sacrifice pierces our heart, we fall on our face and repent of our sins. This is when we are humbled by His love, grace and mercy, which we do not deserve. We revere Him as He deserves to be worshipped. At this point, with tears of awe and gratitude spilling down our cheeks, we make up our mind to serve Him with every cell in our body for the remainder of our life.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, you do not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. You do not punish converted Believers for our sins. You do not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. Thank you for Your unfailing love toward those who fear You, it is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. Thank you for removing our sins as far from us as the east is from the west (Psalm 103: 9-13).

Thought for the Day:
The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. – Psalm 103:13