Under Cover

"How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings—but you were not willing!"

—Jesus

As He stood on a hillside overlooking the city of Jerusalem—Jesus wept for His chosen people, Israel—because they rejected Him. They turned Him away, mocking Him, and were plotting to kill Him, arrogantly saying: 

"We will not have this Man rule over us!"

For years I had the same arrogant attitude towards Christ.  

"I'm fine. I don't need a Savior!"

Look at the love and gentleness of the mother hen in the picture above. She tenderly gathers her chicks under her wings. There is warmth, safety, and most of all—closeness and intimacy—under the "shadow of her wings."

That loving tenderness is the heart of Jesus towards you and me.

Jesus does not want to rule over you like a tyrant or a bully. He wants to gather you to Himself, where He can care for you, talk with you, teach you, help you, protect you, provide for you, and just love you.

The question is—are you willing?

My sweet mother, now in Heaven with Jesus, preached the loving truth about Jesus' love to me for years. And, loving my mom as I do, I always politely said to her, "Mom, I'm really glad that you found something that works for you. But I don't need that. I'm a good person. I don't need a Savior."

"I'm fine."

But the sad truth is, I was not "fine."

It was the early 80's and my wife and I were not yet married at the time. We were living together, and we were as selfish and self-centered as any two people you could ever meet. Our life together was an emotional roller coaster. We were high as a kite on 'love' one day, and hatefully tearing each others hearts out the next. I shudder when I think back on how brutal, spiteful and malicious our words and actions were towards each other in those early years together.

I was oil, and she was water. We just didn't mix.

We finally got married in 1987, but I had to ask her to marry me four times before she said "yes."

However, over a period of about ten years, we went through six or seven separations, two divorce proceedings, and I betrayed her by committing adultery. By the world's standards, without question, we should absolutely be a divorce statistic today.  

But in spite of our destructive and tumultuous roller coaster life, destined for divorce and heartache—here were are, 30 years later—happier together than I ever thought possible. How I always hoped it would be.

How can this be?

We surrendered our hearts and our hurts to Jesus—allowing Him to gather us to Himself, as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings. And we are now just like the two little chicks in the picture above.

We are under cover. 

God has given every human being the gift of free will. And our free will can be either a blessing, or a curse.

It's all about what or Who we choose.

"How precious is Your loving kindness O' God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings." (Psalm 36:7)

My wife and I, by our own free will, had to choose to place our trust in Jesus. Our marriage was in a slow, downward spiral into destruction and darkness. But all the while, Jesus, with outstretched arm, was reaching out to us, calling us to come and abide under His love and protective covering.

And we still have to choose every day to remain under His covering. 

He promised that He will never leave us or forsake us. But if we choose to step outside of His protective covering and live in a way that is contrary to His will, then we put ourselves in harm's way. 

Think of the story of the prodigal son.

"A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of inheritance that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself, he said, 'Father I have sinned against Heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son..."

“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’" (Luke 15:11-21)

What really stands out to me in this story is that the father never goes out and chases after his son. He waits patiently for him to come home. Finally the son comes to his senses and heads back home to his father. And, seeing his son coming from a distance, he has compassion and rushes out to meet him, and hugs him and kisses him.

That's how God is with us. 

He is always there for you. He never changes, He'll never leave you or forsake you. But you can choose to leave and forsake Him. You can choose to step out from under His protective covering.

The little chicks in the picture above are safe and warm under mama's wings. There is closeness with her. There is intimacy of relationship. There is protection. There is provision.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord; 'He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him will I trust." (Psalm 91)

Jesus wept for His people because they chose to reject His love. 

He came to gather His people to Himself—just as a mother hen tenderly gather her chicks under the warmth, closeness, and protection of her wings.

But they were not willing.

—Are you willing?

—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.

Why Are You Depressed?

"Why are you downcast O' my soul? And why are you so disturbed within me?"

(Psalm 42:11)

Staggering, are the statistics of the untold millions of people who suffer from depression. 

And many people suffer from 'clinical' depression or mental illnesses, of which, I have very limited understanding.

But while I don't pretend to be a psychologist, I can speak from long, painful, personal experience of what caused my own depression—and that is an inordinate self-focus and a willful self-isolation.

My heart truly goes out to anyone who is suffering from the painful loneliness of depression, and I am not without compassion. But what I have had to personally learn the hard way over the last forty or more years, is that I brought this on myself.

How?

By my sitting around constantly wallowing in my own self-imposed self-pity and isolation. By putting all of my focus on me. 

"What about me?" 

My heart and my intent is not to be insensitive, but to offer the only solution that I have learned over time. 

Believe me—I know all too well from personal experience that loneliness and depression is perhaps the most painful experience in the human existence. 

Again, speaking solely from my own life experience in this area, I have found that the worst place to be, is sitting by yourself in an empty house or apartment, wondering why no one is calling you, or inviting you out to lunch, or to go have coffee, etc.

The more that you isolate yourself from others, the more the enemy of your soul will pour his gasoline on the fire of your self-pity. "Nobody loves ME!"  "Nobody wants to spend time with ME!" "Nobody cares about ME!" The intent of the enemy of your soul is to isolate you, taking your focus off of God, and instead, do everything he can to try to get you to feel sorry for yourself.

And so you isolate yourself even more, shutting yourself off from the world.

Do you see the dangerous cycle that your self-pity perpetuates?

You have to choose to get off that merry-go-round of self-loathing and self-absorption.

"How can I possibly do that?"

Look at the second half of Psalm 42:11. Speaking to his own disquieted soul, the writer of this Psalm admonishes himself to:

"Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him—my Savior and my God."

You can't pull yourself up by your bootstraps and put on a happy face. 

That's an illusion.

But what you can do, is start by exercising an act of your own free will—crying out to God—placing all of your hope in Him—asking Him to lift you up out of the self-imposed darkness of depression that you have chosen to lie down in. You have to confess to Him that your self-absorption is actually willful self-idolatry.

You have to be willing to confess to God that you have chosen to wallow in your own self-pity.

But I promise you, that if you will do these things—crying out to God—asking Him to lift you up—confessing your sin of self-idolatry to Him—He will lift you up out the pit of your self-imposed, self-pity. 

And then He will help you to turn your eyes off of yourself and off of your problems, and He will absolutely bless you by showing you people all around you who need His love, mercy and encouragement.

Jesus said: 

"The Son of Man did come to be served—but to serve, and give His life as a ransom for many."

It truly is far better to give than to receive.

Over the years, I have endured several long periods of unemployment where I let myself get into a pattern of behavior where I would eventually give up hope of finding a job. And then I would slowly give up even looking for a job. Soon, I would isolate myself and sit around feeling sorry for myself and depressed about the whole situation. 

And because I would isolate myself from everyone around me—any thought of other people who might need God's love, mercy and encouragement were not even on my radar—because I was so self-absorbed.

Putting yourself into the "Poor Me" cycle, is a guaranteed downward spiral into self-destruction.

This kind of self-absorbed life is not God's will for you at all.

When the Prophet Elijah ran away and hid in a cave, wallowing in his own faithlessness, fear and self-absorption, God came to him and said, 

"What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:9)

Just like He did with Elijah when he hid himself in self-absorbed isolation, God is calling you out of your self-imposed cave of isolation and self-pity.

God has a purpose and a calling for your life. And that purpose is to worship and glorify Him. And then to love and serve others—not wallowing in self-absorption, self-pity and self-isolation.

Just as the Psalmist did, you and I need to speak to our souls and admonish ourselves with these words:

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him—my Savior and my God!"

—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.

Let it Rise

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you." (1 Peter 4:12)

Without heat applied, these heart-shaped biscuits could not have risen, and they would have remained colorless and flavorless dough.

Without the heat of being placed into a hot oven, they would be inedible.

In much the same way, without the heat of fiery trials applied to our lives, we too would remain colorless and flavorless.

Viktor Emil Frankl, who personally endured and survived the horrors of the fiery trials of Auschwitz during the Holocaust wrote:

"What is to give light must endure burning."

Frankl, who lost his wife and most of his entire family to the murderous Nazis, wrote the the following from his experiences during the Holocaust:

"For the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth—that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way—an honorable way—in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory."

Honestly, I don't know if I personally could have endured all that Frankl endured, losing his wife and family in the way that he did, and be able to proclaim the above statement.

But the Word of God tells us to rejoice in life's fiery trials.

Rejoice?

How do I do that?

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:6-7)

Our faith—which is not of ourselves, it is a gift from God—is said to be "much more precious than gold." And this precious gold must be "tested by fire."

Why by fire?

A refiner of gold uses extreme heat to bring the dross, or impurities of the raw gold to the surface, where he can sift it off. The refining and sifting is a process. The way the refiner knows that his gold is pure, is when he can see his own reflection in the shiny gold. Our God is the Great Refiner, and He uses the fiery heat of trials to bring our impurities to the surface, where He can sift them off—as we confess them.

Our precious faith must be tested. And it's going to burn at times.

But when Jesus Christ is revealed and we, once and for all, see Him face-to-face, we shall truly rejoice, because the Word says, "When we see Him, we shall be like Him; and we shall see Him as He is." (1 John 3:2)

Personally, I can't wait for that Day!

But until that glorious day comes, be patient, and let your Great Refiner have His way in you. Surrender yourself to His refining fire process. Through this fiery process, Jesus is making you more and like Him, every day.

When He comes, He will see sons and daughters that are like Him.

"Love endures all things." (1 Corinthians 13:7)

Bread can only rise in the heat of the oven.

Let it rise!

—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.

Keep Looking Up

"I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from?" (Psalm 121:1)

Do you know where your help comes from?

The writer of Psalm 121 knew—answering his rhetorical question in verse 2:

"My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."

If you notice a recurring theme about focus and the pitfalls of self-focus in my recent entries, it's intentional.

The root cause of much of our emotional depression and problems is an inordinate self-focus, or, more accurately; "self-absorption." As the pastor of our church has rightly defined it several times this year, it is "self-idolatry."

As tough as that is for me to hear, I know he's right.

Throughout most of my life before I met Jesus Christ, I wasted countless hours on constant self-focus and self-absorbed introspection. I'd sit in coffee shops and parks, 'journaling' my thoughts and feelings about my life, and on all the angst other people caused me. I even traveled halfway around the world trying to "find myself." I was so deceived that I actually believed that my introspective thoughts and musings, written down in the form of song lyrics, were actually pretty good writing.

Talk about self-deception.

All those secular 'self-help' books I read only caused me to look 'deeper within' to try and bring out the good person that was supposedly dwelling in me. I believed the humanistic lie of Satan—that my help comes from within myself.

Dead wrong.

Self-absorption is a guaranteed recipe for failure and depression because it causes you to take your eyes off of God. It also causes you to take your eyes off of others who are in need of God's love, mercy and kindness.

Self-absorption is the root of divorce, adultery, and a myriad of other sins. The mantra of self-absorption is, "It's all about me."

Here are a few synonyms for self-absorption from Webster's Dictionary:

"Egocentricity, egocentrism, egomania, egotism, narcissism, navel-gazing, self-absorption, self-centeredness, self-concern, self-interest, self-involvement, selfishness, selfness, self-preoccupation, self-regard."

I used to see signs in yards in the east end of the town we live in that read: "Create Global Peace."

As my wife is sometimes fond of saying, "How's that workin' for ya!"

Seriously, if humanity were indeed evolving—having the capacity within to supposedly attain enlightenment and create global peace—I think the jury has come back on that one folks.  #Fail.

Human nature's first instinct is to look within and ask, "What about me?" Look again at all those synonyms for self-absorption.

From years of being self-absorbed, I can truly testify that it's exhausting being constantly focused on oneself, constantly worried about "me."

Aren't you sick of it?

There is a better way.

The apostle Paul wrote

"Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3-4)

Jesus said:

"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)

The secret to experiencing true joy is to, in the love of Christ, take our focus off of ourselves, off of our problems and off of our own needs, and reach out to others in need—to serve them and be concerned about their needs.

Just as Jesus said: "It is far better to give than to receive."

First, look up to Jesus—the Author and finisher of our faith. He is our only source of strength, peace and joy.

Then, look out, to others who are all around you, desperately in need of God's love, mercy and encouragement.

As you deny yourself, taking up your cross, laying down your life and will to follow Jesus, the problems that you are inordinately focused on now, that seem so insurmountable to you today, will grow faintly dim, in the light of God's glory and grace.

Try it—you'll see!

—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.

Keep Walking by Faith

"O Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited for You. Be our arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble." (Isaiah 33:2)

Up again at 3:30 AM.

As I sip my coffee this morning, I am looking back over the last two years of blog posts, and I came across one that really stood out to me. I was reminded of just how much God has brought us through, and protected us and provided for us.

He is always faithful.

One of my customers has a favorite saying that comes to mind today:

"God never comes when you think He will—but He's always right on time." 

Today's post is a re-posting of my entry from September 2, 2011, entitled "We Walk By Faith."

How well I remember the morning I wrote this post.

I was at rock bottom. I had been out of work for over a year. Discouragement was dragging me down. Way down. But in this—one of my darkest and most hopeless times—it was only 3 months later, and God provided an amazing job for me that not only meets our needs, but those who know me say it is the "perfect job" for me.

God didn't come exactly when I thought that He would. But, as always, He was right on time.

So, for those of who who feel like you've lost hope—your marriage appears to be done. You've been looking for a job for months, or even years, and nothing is coming your way. The things that you've prayed and asked God for just don't seem to be materializing and you feel like giving up...

Don't quit my friend—keep walking by faith!

"God never comes when you think He will—but He's always right on time." 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"We Walk by Faith" - (9/2/11)

"Lord, what am I supposed to do now?"

I'm in one of those extremely challenging seasons in my life where I know that eventually, the painful trials that I am going through are all going to work out in the end—but right here, right now, I don't have the slightest clue of how I'm going to get there.

I just can't see exactly how this is all going to work out.

Perhaps you too are in a season like that right now in your life.

You're not alone.

I know a lot of people who are going through all kinds of difficult and painful trials. Marriages that have ended, or are on the brink of divorce. People who have been out of work for extended periods of time, and whose options are running out. People who have serious health issues and don't know what the outcome is going to be for them. People who are close to losing everything they have and don't know what to do next.

So many of us have been praying for an open door in whatever our situation is, but that open door we so desperately long for, seems elusive.

What do you do in times like this?

In your despair and desperation you cry out to God with all that is in you.

That's what He wants you to do.

Today, I hit the wall and pretty much lost it. I felt like I had hit rock bottom. Emotionally, there was nowhere to look but up. I haven't cried out to God like that in a long time. Oh sure, I've asked for help and wisdom and for many other things.

But this cry to the Lord was from the deepest place in my soul. It was primal. My cat came and brushed up against my leg as I sat at my desk. He was checking on me to see if I was okay. Thank You, Lord, for that little guy.

Just a few moments later, a friend of mine called and just wanted to talk, and see how I was doing. The timing of his phone call was literally a God-send.

Cry out to the Lord.

That's what we do when we hit the wall—when things look hopeless—when we don't know how all this is going to work out. We cry out to the Lord. And then, we call someone else who is going through hard times and we reach out to them, to see how they are doing, and we encourage them. We reach out and extend God's love, kindness and mercy—to them.

Unbelievable! I have been taught this lesson so many times, and yet, here I was, again, so focused on my own problems—so self-absorbed—that I let myself wallow in my little pit of despair. I have no excuse for forgetting this lesson. I've been down this road way too many times, and I have reminded so many other people who are going through hard times that the secret of joy is to forget about our problems and reach out and encourage someone else.

Today, when I cried out to God with all that was in me, He did answer my prayer. He did intervene and had my friend call me when I absolutely needed to hear from a friend. But more importantly, He reminded me that it's not about me. It's about serving and encouraging others. No matter how difficult my trial is, many other people are going through far more difficult times than I am.

Jesus came to heal the broken hearted.

As Christians—the Body of Christ—we are His hands and His feet. We are to be "Jesus with skin on" to others who are hurting and suffering. We are to bring encouragement and comfort to those who are lonely and who need hope in the dark night of their souls.

This is a timely reminder of the acronym for J.O.Y.

Jesus

Others

Yourself

Our love, devotion and adoration is to always be for Jesus first. This the first and great commandment. The second commandment is like the first—to love others as (more than) you love yourself. Your focus on yourself should always come last.

And the secret is, if we will invest all of our time and focus on loving and serving God and loving and serving others, we won't have time to dwell on our own problems and circumstances. And we will experience great joy.

Jesus said, "It is far better to give than to receive."

It really is.

Walking by faith is to trust in God and wait for Him—even when we can't see how things are going to ever work out.

Walking by faith is trusting in God, that He will do all that He has promised to do, even though we can't always see Him doing it in that moment when we feel that we can't go on. Walking by faith is trusting in God and not giving up, even though we may feel that God didn't answer any of our prayers in the way that we had expected Him to. Walking by faith is loving and trusting God, even when He didn't heal us when we prayed and asked Him to. Walking by faith is trusting in God to provide for us, even when we've been out of work for a year and still have no prospects for a job. Walking by faith is trusting in God, even when our spouse wants us out of their life forever, even though we've done all we can do to love them and seek to be reconciled to them.

Walking by faith is trusting in God to cause all things to work together for our good—even when our whole world is falling apart.

Most of the time, the difficult things we go through in this life just don't make any sense.

But remember, God said, "My thoughts are higher than your thoughts; and My ways, higher than your ways."

A good friend of mine and I were having lunch today and he reminded me that Jesus, responding to Thomas who had doubted that He had risen from the grave, said to him,

"You believe because you have seen Me. But, blessed are those who believe and who have not seen."

Friends, we walk by faith—not by sight.

We can't see right now how our problems and situations are ever going to work out for our good. Many of our situations appear hopeless... at least to us.

But our God—Jesus Christ—defeated Death, Hell and the Grave by rising again and ascending to His throne in Heaven.

To us, our problems and situations tend to look impossible.

But with God, nothing is impossible.

We can only see where we are at in the parade of life. We can't see the end. But we know the end of the Story. We've read the Book.

The same God that defeated death and rose from the grave, knows the end from the beginning. He holds us safely and securely in the palm of His hand, and absolutely no one can snatch us out of His hand.

Cry out to Jesus today, with all that is in you. Wait for Him. Trust in Him. He is the Arm of our Strength every morning.

He is our salvation in times of trouble.

   —Look up!

—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.

Self Absorption Kills

"Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind." (Ecclesiastes 2:17)

This passage was written by a man who is said to be the wisest and richest man who ever lived.

He went to extraordinary lengths to build himself the most lavish houses and gardens. He spent millions upon millions of dollars to buy every luxury known to man. He had more servants and wives than you can imagine.

And yet, near the end of his life, as a wise old man, he could lament the above statement of truth.

This wise king spent a lifetime being self absorbed—to the point that he hated his own life.

Self absorption is self-idolatry.

And self absorption kills.

It kills your peace, and it kills your joy. For, no matter how rich you may be, and how beautiful you think you are today, riches and beauty are fleeting. They will one day disappear.

The apostle wrote:

"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (Mark 8:36).

The bible says that we are to set our eyes on the heavenly things, not on the temporary things of this world.

If your focus is on yourself you will continue to be an unhappy person, because we reside in fallen bodies, and live in a fallen world. There is no perfection in this life. And as we age, we are living proof of the Second Law of Thermal Dynamics—it's all breaking down.

If it hasn't already, just like it did to that wise old king, self absorption will cause you to hate your life.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Set your heart and your mind fully upon Him.

Everything else is just vanity and grasping at the wind.

—God is Love, and Love Never Fails.

Fruit—Fragrance—Follow.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, all the days of my life." (Psalm 23:6)

Oh, how I love the taste and fragrance of ripe summer fruit. Seriously, is there anyone out there who doesn't love it?

When I used to read the above passage from Psalm 23, I always assumed it meant that surely, God's goodness and mercy would always be with me, providing for me, blessing me—which it does.

But it means so much more.

The biblical word used here for "follow" means "to chase after—to pursue."

My wife and I had a blessed time together early this morning, enjoying the (from scratch) biscuits she made, hot out of the oven. And while sipping steaming cups of coffee, we discussed what this passage from Psalm 23 means to us.

She said, God showed her that as we love and serve Him—His fruit and fragrance will follow us—meaning, the fruit of His goodness in our lives will linger, and be there afterwards—as a legacy of what God has done in, and through us.

Fruit produces a wonderful Fragrance, and people Follow after that fruit and its fragrance.

Fruit—Fragrance—Follow.



Fruit
Where does fruit come from? It comes from the vine. Fruit cannot produce itself. It grows from the branches, which come from the vine—the root—the living source. In spiritual terms, any good fruit in our lives can come only from our source—Jesus Christ; just as He said. (See John 15:5).

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." He is our source of life—our source of good fruit. To abide in Him means to live, to stay—to abide. This is true communion—unity, intimacy: close relationship. Good fruit in our lives (love, mercy, giving, sacrifice, service, kindness), is the result of an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus Christ.



Fragrance
What do you do when you smell ripe summer peaches or strawberries? If you're anything like me, you want to get closer, to see the vibrant color of the fruit, and if you're really lucky—to taste it. When my wife is wearing her favorite perfume, I want to get closer to her. Her fragrance can be, well... almost intoxicating.

When summer fruit is fully ripe, ready for harvest, it gives off an unmistakable fragrance. The irresistable fragrance of the fruit makes you want to get closer—to follow after it—to pick the fruit, and enjoy it.

Speaking of Jesus...

"His branches shall spread; His beauty shall be like an olive tree, And his fragrance like Lebanon." (Hosea 14:6)

Lebanon was known throughout the entire region of the Middle East, for its massive groves of cedar trees, which gave off an incredible fragrance. The fragrance of Jesus draws people to Him—His never-ending love, mercy, goodness, and kindness.

Follow
It is the goodness of God that leads people to repentance. It was the fragrant aroma of His goodness—of Him first loving me—giving His life as a ransom for sinners like me—that led me to repent: to change my mind—and then allow Him to change my heart, and then my course in life.

What do you think people would say about the fragrance of your life? Is it sweet? —Or does it stinketh?

Good fruit grows from a good tree, and bad fruit grows from a bad tree, just as Jesus said:

"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit." (Matthew 12:33)

We are known by the fruit of our lives. Is your fruit good? Or bad?

If you reject Christ, you will be known by the bad produce in your life—which is: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, and revelries. (See Galatians 5:19-21)

However, if you abide in Christ, your fruit will be good, and you will be known by your fruit—which is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (See Galatians 5:22-23)

"Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place." (2 Corinthians 2:14)

When a fragrance is diffused in a house, everyone who enters the house can smell and enjoy the sweet fragrance that was diffused. That sweet fragrance lingers for a period of time, even after the one who diffused it has left the room.

Let that be so in our lives.

God uses His humble followers to bring the sweet fragrance of the love, mercy, goodness, and knowledge of Jesus Christ to a lost world, desperately in need of Him.

Anyone can be loving and kind to people. But without proclaiming the knowledge—the Good News of what Jesus Christ did for them on the cross by sacrificing His life so that they could live with Him in eternity—they will remain lost and separated from God for eternity.

Invite them to come to Jesus...

"And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely." (Revelation 22:17)

Jesus Himself invites you to come to Him...

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest...learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28)

If you're weary from years of being beat up by this empty, hateful and evil world...call out to Jesus.

He will not turn you away.

Come to Him. 



—God is Love and Love Never Fails.