Any honest appraisal of the life of men will end up agreeing with the teachings of Jesus.  So why reinvent the wheel?   Why so many false religions?   Why psychology?   Why humanism, or even atheism?   If what we end up with is truth, why so many versions?

The answer was given at the start.  Folks have chased down life’s puzzle until they came to The Son of The Living God.  That’s where the brakes got set hard.  They want all the glory.  You can’t have the truth of God and all the Glory at the same time.  So, it’s time to turn the steering wheel of logic and head down lie lane.

Don’t worry about people punching holes in your lie bag.  Fame, power and money will secure your place among the elite of the world.  And you can bank on them supporting anything but Jesus!  As for the masses, just give em a cookie, a soft pat on the head, and set them back to sleep.

The focus of God is on the redeeming of souls.  His words are not his concern.

His words remain never to change.  While billions of souls come and go.

If we would be like him then carry his words dividing them properly.  With every tool in creation exposed, we prove to our brothers His truth.

Explaining with ladders and ribbons and snakes.  Correcting with sky earth and sea.

Let’s busy ourselves with the work of God here.  Before our time closes for keeps.

“If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and the and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”

WHY?

Because God is pure good.  Everything that the word “good” entails  belongs to God.  Jesus is the exact radiance of the Heavenly Father. 

Who is ashamed of what is good?  He who would rather live in evil is ashamed of what is good.  How is it possible for God to be proud of such people?

And so, we who were born with evil hearts cry out to a people with evil hearts, “Turn to the Lord receive His forgiveness and learn to love what is good”. 

Does this mean God’s people have become good?  Absolutely not!  Rather we have come to desire what is good.  For it has proof in our soul that God is true.

Therefore we boldly walk out into the street and proclaim that God is righteous.  And because of his love for us we are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.

What has set the church apart from the world since its beginning, is not that it is filled with righteous men and women.  No it is the exceeding great joy we share in the forgiveness of Christ.  We believe while the world denies.

Look at what the power of true forgiveness can do.  Mary Magdalene shed exquisite tears of love and felt absolutely no sense of shame before the Lord as she openly love him in return.  On the other hand, Judas went out and hanged himself.

If you need more proof that the forgiveness of Christ is the difference between the church and the world, I set you ablaze with challenge.  Go out into the world and show me a forgiveness that is not filled with expectation.  Every time the world forgives it is conditional, not so with Christ Jesus.

We serve a Holy God.  And we cannot take away the call to holiness.  Neither should we remove the demand for righteous behavior.  But it is found in the motivation, this difference between the church and the world.

By His Grace

Evil looks out of its evil eyes and sees a world of evil.  Righteous looks out of its righteous eyes and sees potential.

Evil is real.  Righteousness does not deny that.  But while evil withers away everything it touches, righteousness brings the hope of life. 

What does man know of what is Holy, except what Righteousness whispers into his wicked heart.  Where is salvation found?  Anywhere you find The Son of God.

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;”  (Isa 42:3)

There is a wall that not even the thoughts of man can scale.  It bars the way between wickedness and Holiness.  It is made with gigantic smooth black rocks.  Nothing unholy will ever appear on the other side.  Nothing of flesh will ever see its top.

The wicked live in the dark and do not even perceive the wall.  Though  we warn them of their plight they see us only as great jesters.

The Lord Himself has built this wall.  It will never be breached nor done away with.  What then should be our response?