Not Just Our Own

And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire;

hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Jude 1:23

Recently, a friend shared a picture on facebook that immediately got my attention. It was the same picture that I have included here. At first glance, this quote seems right nice. In fact, at first glance, this quote almost seems biblical. However, when we filter this quote through God’s infallible Word, we find that it is far from biblical. There is only one part of this quote that lines up with the Word of God, and that is the very first line. In fact, loving the sinner while hating the sin is exactly what Jude directly commands us to do.

If you really think about it, Jude only gives us two options. We can hate the sin and love the sinner, or we can ignore the sin and hate the sinner. I know what Mark Lowry was thinking. He was probably thinking that it seems unloving to hate someone else’s sin. However, Jude tells us that it is actually unloving to not hate the sins of others. You see, it is sin that will cast your neighbor into Hell. If you really love your neighbor, you will convince him of the reality of his own sin, that he might repent of it and turn to Christ.

If you have not yet acknowledged Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, I invite you to do so today. If you will turn from all sin and trust Jesus alone to save you, He will save you today and keep you saved forever.

Though I Do Not See

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

John 20:29

It’s been a good long while since I last posted to this blog. To tell you the truth, I just haven’t felt much like writing these last few months. You see, there are some things in my life that just aren’t going as planned right now. Ever since I was a young kid and heard my Granny tell stories about growing up with nine brothers and sisters, I always dreamed of growing up, getting married, and having a large family. However, when the first phase of that dream seems impossible to complete, I get discouraged; and at times, it’s hard to believe that God really does have a plan for my life. That’ when He reminds me of the above verse: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

I’ll be twenty-two at the end of this month. I almost dread my birthday this year because it means that I am another year older with precious little to show for it. All around me I see people my age getting engaged, getting married, and having children. It’s depressing, really. I’m not the kind of person that believes in putting off marriage and family for college or a career. No. I always dreamed of getting married right of high school. I always thought I’d have a couple little kids running around by now, but I obviously don’t. Marriage is nowhere in sight, and I still have a year and half of college left. So sometimes it’s easy for me to look at my life and say, “Lord, what are You doing”? The answer’s always the same: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you…thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

Friend, God knows what He’s doing. It’s up to us to trust Him and to remember that “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). It has been well said that, when we can’t trace His hand, we can trust His heart. Therefore, though I cannot see, I choose to believe that He still has plan for me.

Do you know Him today? Have you chosen to believe the One you cannot see? Have you experienced the blessing of eternal life that He gives freely to all who trust in Him? If you will simply turn from all sin and trust Jesus alone to save you, He will save you today and keep you saved forever.

Think About This

"An ineffably holy God, who has the utmost abhorrence of sin,

was never invented by any of Adam's descendants."

- A.W. Pink

Just think about the above quote for a minute. We’ve all heard people say that God was invented by man. However, what man, who by nature loves his sin, would create a perfect and holy God who hates sin with all of His being?

Why Jesus Said “Go…Preach!”

There is none that seeketh after God.

Romans 3:11

Have you ever heard someone say something like the following: “Everyone, down deep in his heart, is searching and longing for God”? We’ve all heard that, right? I know I have. In fact, I heard it preached to hundreds of students just a few short hours ago. However, God has put me here to tell you today that that statement is a lie straight from Hell. Anyone who has ever read Romans 3:11 knows that is true. When the Bible says, “There is none that seeketh after God,” it truly means that there has never been nor will there ever be any unsaved person who is looking for God in any way, shape, or form; therefore Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

If every person, in his own way down deep in his heart, is searching and longing for God, then tell me why John 3:19 says, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Maybe it’s just me, but it seems as though this verse is saying that, even after God had made a personal appearance in the form of the Man Jesus Christ, we turned Him away because we loved our sin more. Now don’t you think if every man were truly searching for God that, if He came to them, they would embrace Him? After all, they’re supposedly searching for Him with all of their heart, right? Wrong! “There is none that seeketh after God,” because “their deeds [are] evil.”

Since there are none who seek after God, we must seek them. That’s why we have the Great Commission to “go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). For it’s just like one very wise man once said, “You don't find God—He's not lost. You are, and He finds you.”

If you are out there today and you do not know Jesus as Lord, my guess is that you are running from Him; not to Him. Therefore, I’m pleading with you today to stop in your tracks, turn around, fall on your face before Him, turn from all sin, and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord. If you will do that today, He will save you today and keep you saved forever.

The Greatest Love Story

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,

but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

Today is Valentine’s Day. And depending upon your relationship status, you are either depressed or tickled pink. No matter how we plan to spend the day or who we plan to spend it with, we should not forget to remember the One who loved us so much that He gave His life for us on Calvary.

First John 4:10 says, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” We sing to our children, “Oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me,” yet we never totally think it through, do we? You see, the miracle of God’s love is not simply that He sent His Son to die on an old, rugged cross. No. The miracle of God’s love is that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). That is what the cross is all about.

Maybe you are here today and you are thinking, “God could never love me.” Just let me say with Adrian Rogers that “there is no one so bad that he cannot be saved, and no one so good that he need not be saved.” No matter your situation, no matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done, God loves you. In fact, He loves you so much that He spelled it out for you two thousand years ago with the crimson blood of the Lamb. And that is why the greatest love story is indeed the old, rugged cross.

If you have yet to acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life, there’s no better time than the present. Simply turn completely from all sin and trust Christ alone to save you. If you will do that, He will save you today and keep you saved forever.

No Greater than the Master

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served,

but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Matthew 20:28

I have heard a lot of good quotes in my lifetime, but perhaps the best one I have ever heard is this one from Adrian Rogers: “The servant is not great than his Master.” Maybe that doesn’t sound all that profound to you, but it is. You see, to use another Adrian Rogers quote, “Jesus did not come to show us how God was to live on earth, but to show us how man is to live on earth.” Everything Jesus did during His earthly ministry, He did as an example. And everything He did, He expects us to do also.

Just take the cross for example. Jesus died physically on the cross to save us from our sins. But what does He tell us in Matthew 16:24? “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” That also is a call to death. It is a call to die to oneself for the sake of Christ as He died physically on the cross for our sake. And I think we would all agree that it took selfless courage for Jesus to willingly go to the cross—a dying to Himself, if you will. Therefore, being no greater than the Master, we are called to die to ourselves also.

Now let’s take that principle and apply it to the verse above. Jesus said that He “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Therefore, being no greater than the Master, what does this verse mean to us? It is nothing less than a call to sacrificial service. But I do not believe that this is meant to take place only within the four walls of our churches or during mission work or within nonprofit organizations. I believe, like everything else Jesus said, He meant for this to take place within every area of our lives. Just as Jesus lived every day to serve those around Him, we are to put the same principle to work in our own lives.

So I ask you today, for what purpose are you living your life? Some might tell you that there is joy in serving God and others. Some might tell you that God will bless you for living according to His word, and they would be right. However, I’ll never tell you that. You see, that is what the above verse is all about. It’s about serving others while expecting nothing in return. So today I am asking you a question: knowing that we are no greater than the Master, are you living to serve or be served? You don’t have to answer that audibly because your career will tell. Your marriage will tell. Your family life will tell. Your friendships will tell. How you spend your spare time will tell. Your life will tell. So being no greater than the Master, do you choose to serve?

Maybe you are here today and you have never acknowledged Jesus as Lord of your life. If that is you, I am asking you today to give your heart and your life to Him before it is eternally too late for you. Turn completely from all sin and trust Christ alone to save you. If you will do that, He will save you today and keep you saved forever.

Michelle Duggar on How to Find the One God Has for You

Note: I am in no way promoting CBN broadcasting by posting this video.