The Cold Call - Day 131 Month 5-11 Week 19-5
Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year)
Deuteronomy 15,16, Psalm 106, John 5:18-38
The Cold Call
Who gave me this? That’s what I want to know. I woke up this morning with a chest cold. I twisted and turned in the night with a slightly sore throat and then once I got up, I knew it had settled into my chest. There’s only one person I’ve been in contact with, who I know has been sick, but that person was sick last week. Someone gave me a gift that I would not have accepted if it wasn’t so sneaky. So maybe this should not be considered a gift but an unfair judgement.
The gift I talk about often, is the free gift of eternal life. John 5:20 says “he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgement, but has passed out of death into life.” All that is required for this free gift is “belief.” Belief is much more than acknowledgment that there is a God somewhere up there. It’s faith in Jesus that changes everything. God is constantly pulling at your heart asking if you will let Him take over.
I mentioned this free gift is a faith that changes everything. You start to see things differently and things that were important to you become less and less while things that are important to God become more and more important. There are other changes too. People look at you differently. People who you thought were your friends may turn their back on you. It won’t be unusual for people to say about you; “(your name) has become religious.” (However, note that judgement may not be correct. Being religious is a set of rules hoping to appease a god or gods. Receiving and expressing Christian faith is belief in the words and actions of Jesus the Christ who lives in us and through every believer.) Even though you hear these things, you won’t be able to help yourself and you will love them anyway. Your greatest joy will be for them to make the same decision. In some countries, this decision may mean possible death because being a Jesus follower is against the law. Just know that there is a cost.
So in the big scheme of things, what is the difference apart from the chance that some of your friends or family may be ticked off at you? The difference is death to life. When that decision is made, you instantly have citizenship in the kingdom of God. Yes you continue to live on this earth until your earthly death, but your passport is in God’s kingdom. This means you bypass judgement of death but you are judged in order to receive rewards for good works done while on earth. I’m sure you’ve heard about the great judgement when we die. God looks through the entire microfiche (database if you don’t know what a microfiche is) of your life. Well, if we choose to be a Jesus follower, the microfiche shows the good and the bad but the bad is redacted because Jesus paid this penalty when He died and you got your passport to the kingdom which is real. Your judgement was taken on by Jesus. You live on because he’s been resurrected and lives on.
I know this is kind of heavy but since I have a cold I am more introspective and I think this is the most important message of my blog. As I often mention, contact me if you have questions or if you’ve made this ever important decision. My email address is below.
Have a great day
Steve
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