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Come Home

Have you been wandering?

Come home.

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord , meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly.
For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.
Psalms 1:1‭-‬6 NLT

Are you tired of being blown around by the wind,  chasing all kinds of things that just slip through your fingers and leave you unsatisfied and restless?

Come home.

For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.” Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised. Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.
Hebrews 6:13‭-‬19 NLT

Do you know the good news of Jesus Christ? That through faith your sin is forgiven and that you can come home to the promise He has for your life?

Come home.

He is a heartfelt prayer away because He had never left you. He is waiting with arms open wide. Just look to the cross.

Come home.

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Here Today

Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.
James 4:13‭-‬17 NLT

life is short. These bodies all have an expiration date, and it will amaze you how quickly time slips through your fingers. You will look up one day and wonder where it has all gone. You have spent valuable minutes just now reading this message that you cannot get back – they are gone, spent, non-refundable.

So what are we doing with our time?

Do we treat it as of it is valuable and precious? Or waste it in idleness, procrastination, and laziness towards our purpose and goal of sharing this Good News?

Or do we waste it in time spent planning, worrying, fretting and stressing over tomorrow when we could be acting and doing right now. Don’t let the possibilities for an effective tomorrow stall the reality of an effective today.

“Now” is the only time that we are alive, let’s not let the enemy steal that from us, friends.

Let’s us our “now”, our “today”, realizing that it is our one spot at it.

Let’s work like our livelihood depended on it,
let’s love like others lives friends on our example.

If today is a time to laugh,
Let’s laugh whole heartedly,
If today is a time to mourn,
Let’s cry tears from the very river of our hearts,
Whatever the season,
Let’s live it with strong conviction of heart and a dedicated purpose.

Because today is precious and valuable, and we will only see it once even though it is a flash within the expense of eternity.

We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.  But while I am here in the world, I am the light of the world.”
John 9:4‭-‬5 NLT

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Joy in Justice

When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. – Proverbs 21:15 ESV

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. – Isaiah 30:18 ESV

I had several friends that were facing court today. One in particular was having a rough time because he was facing the possibility of his first trip to prison.

I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning with him because he was absolutely distraught over what he was facing. And we went on a journey that took him from the valley of pointing fingers at others and wallowing in self pity to the mountaintop of offering forgiveness to the person he had been “blaming” for putting him there. He finally accepted that he was the one that shouldered the full responsibility,  and he finally realized that if he was going to expect mercy from a judge, that he needed to show mercy to others first.

We didn’t have this counseling session in some closed room at a desk,  or inside my house, or inside a church,  we had this counseling session over a “quarter a game” pool table at the old pool hall that I grew up playing in. While we spoke about justice and forgiveness and personal responsibility and mercy and love  and Jesus for hour after hour, different groups of people came and went from the tables around us. And we didn’t care or pay attention to them, we were focused on an all important discussion. This young man was facing the very real possibility of tonight being his last taste of freedom for a long time,  so we didn’t care about what so many overheard that night in the pool hall. And we didn’t care that at times, the reality of the situation would bring this huge,  Goliath of a man to heartfelt tears.

But I expect that this odd site may have seemed quite interesting to many – of little me, beside this lumbering hulk of a man, with both of us talking about Jesus and life and prison and “real freedom” and “real discipleship”, while I drank a canned Pepsi and he drank a bottled water in the midst of a regular “bar crowd” that was playing pool at all hours of the night and morning. I expect that some might have gotten a different impression from us about “what a Christian looks like”.

Now I’m going to tell you – never once did I promise this man that if he would believe Jesus that the court would show him mercy. In fact, when he explained how he had been trying to barter with God in his prayers, I encouraged him to stop wanting it his way and to hand it over to God. I asked him point blank if he loved Jesus and if he thought that Jesus deserved the cross and to lay down His life while offering forgiveness to His accusers. I asked him if he was more interested in a God who could get him out of the consequences he rightly deserved by breaking the law than a God who would offer justice and trial to teach us and change our hearts. No, I don’t bring “buddy Jesus” who just wants to cover your sin and hide it. I know Jesus Christ, the powerful and victorious redeemer, who delivers people from their old lives, who is more interested in your eternal salvation than your temporary circumstances, and who turns all things to good for those who delight in the Lord. He is the one who brings justice that is a joy to the righteous and a terror to the evil doers. We choose how that justice is received by our choosing who truly is Lord of our life.

This big man who was at first distraught with the idea of the consequences and who preferred the idea of “death by cop” to having to go to prison finally laid down his insistence on “receiving mercy right now” and instead wrapped his big ole heart around Jesus to accept “whatever may come” as long as he could have Christ. He changed his prayer from being about his wants and “getting it his way” to simply be,  “Lord, draw me closer to you, however you see fit.” And chains fell away. Big chains. Heavy chains. Legion was no longer in control.

Today, he stood before the judge,  and as I watched, the very mercy that this man had given up chasing after and insisting on the night before  – was handed to him and he was not celebrating a victory over the system, he was thanking the Lord for such undeserved mercy. I couldn’t say “Thank you,  Jesus” enough times today. And even though at the end of my work day, there was no way that I could make it to the jail tonight because of my lack of sleep from the night before – the Lord offered me that same mercy,  encouraging me that the 99 were fine tonight,  and so was this one precious little lamb of his now that the day’s work had been accomplished.

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?  And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.  So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Matthew 18:12‭-‬14 ESV

My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
James 5:19‭-‬20 ESV

if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV

NOTE: To give you some background on this story, I go into the jail Thursday nights to share the gospel, to encourage a life of discipline,  and to counsel prisoners. And on Sunday nights, I preach at a drug rehabilitation center where recovering addicts are living and going through a 24×7 intense Christian discipleship program. This is just a piece of our family’s weekly ministry focus, but knowing these things about me will let you understand that I have friends that many people understandably might not feel comfortable inviting into their homes and lives. Friends that have been or still are drug addicts, drug dealers, rape victims, rapists, battered spouses, spouse batterers, abused as children, abusers, thiefs, liars, drunks, atheists, religious, gossips, etc. I’m not saying this to boast about myself or to shame anyone – I’m saying this because I know this is uncommon and may be difficult to understand when considering the risks of “bad company and influences”. I understand and agree with that advise. But you see, I’m not here to join them in those “old ways”, I’m here to offer them healing and redemption and freedom from those things so they no longer have to be defined by those “old ways”, but so they can walk as a new creation.

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Honoring men? Honoring God?

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:1‭-‬3 ESV

I would ask, are we living as a prisoner for the Lord?

Are we seeking to honor Him or are we seeking to honor men?

Are we urging one another to walk in a manner worthy of our calling?

Are we standing against wickedness while being gentle and patient with each other, or have we chosen one or the other?

Are we eager to make war against our brothers and sisters – or are we maintaining a false peace because we have become lukewarm and complacent towards sin, worldliness, and wickedness?

I rest in a tension between the two sides that seems to me to be the narrow path that is rarely chosen. It is a path where we genuinely care enough about someone that we want to see them delivered from a life of sin, not just accept their life of sin. So we love them whether or not they are sinning, but we do not delight in their sins or make light of them.

Much of the world wants to justify their sin, even rejoice in it. I daily see people laughing and rejoicing together over their being law breakers. Laughing about putting others’ lives in danger with their careless attitude of entitlement to be able to consider the law as only a “suggestion”. And instead of joining in their public celebration and delight over their being lawbreakers, I am humbled, realizing that I set some of that example when I do things like ignore the speed limit myself. But I cannot join in their celebration or honor them for their wickedness, even if I too have been guilty myself. Instead, I ask the Lord to help me so that I might live a better example.

It would be easier to join in the laughter. It would be easier to honor those people’s rejoicing – but it would not be honoring to God, and that is more important. Aren’t we supposed to urge one another to walk in a manner worthy of our calling – not just be advocates of sin?

Also, it would be easier to point my finger at them and say, “Look how you celebrate wickedness, you are of your father the devil!” Than to examine myself and identify how I need to change to be a better example myself. Only after I’ve committed to change my own example can I speak on the subject from a place that is not ripe with hypocrisy. But I’m not meant to remain unchanged and I’m not meant to join in their celebration – I’m meant to repent, and to urge others towards a righteous life while maintaining peace and unity.

It is easy to maintain peace and unity if you are bringing a sugary sweet message that wickedness can be celebrated, because you will not have opposition from the carnal and the worldly. It is easy to maintain peace and unity if you bring a biting and condemning message that points a finger from a position of pride, because you will not have opposition from the religious and the self righteous. But to speak from the position that convicts both of these groups individually, this is how Christ brought Truth in Love.

Lord, you always teach us first with your message, if we are willing to listen and to change. Don’t let our hearts be hardened to either openly rebellious or self righteous ways. Set our feet on that path that makes both those groups uncomfortable that while we don’t walk in either of their camps, that we do not walk as their enemy, because we walk with their deliverer.

Deliver us from evil, Lord. Amen.

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Near? Or at a distance?

Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near to the Lord , but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”
Exodus 24:1‭-‬2 ESV

Drawing near to the Lord.

Even those in darkness who will not acknowledge God in their minds know in their hearts the danger of approaching God. Even those who will not acknowledge any fear of God with their words prove it by their lives when they shrink back from the idea of godly, sacrificial, merciful living – they are clearly most comfortable in their selfishness and pride and worldliness.

Those living in darkness run from the light because they are afraid of what it might reveal about their hearts. But I have a secret to tell those lost in darkness, every Christian knows that fear of the light shining on and revealing sin and darkness in our lives. We call it conviction. It is when God not only shows us or imperfections,  but offers us the power to see them overcome and replaced with His Holy Spirit. That is when chains are broken and captives are set free. You see, it isn’t about you being good enough to come to God, it’s about who He has called to come close so that He can change them from the inside out.

Many He has not yet drawn close because they are not yet ready in their hearts, they are not yet spiritually mature or fully surrendered, they are not yet that good soil where His love can grow and thrive, but He is patient and has a plan in mind for their lives. All things are being reconciled to God – different vessels for different purposes.

I ask you, where does God want you? Far away or close?

If you are not meant to draw close, I love you friend, but you might find that I have left you behind for a time or season – not because of a lack of love for you, but because of a greater love for the Lord. If you are meddling in a life of sin and swimming in the slop, you might think that I don’t like you because I avoid getting trapped up in your mess – but I love you and I’m asking the Lord to lead you along the path that He has for you.

I’m not going to drag anyone kicking and screaming up the mountaintop because they are left at the bottom so they won’t be destroyed. If you aren’t ready to climb the mountaintop and be close to the Lord, I hope that one day you will be – because it is amazing and wonderful. But if you’re not today, I understand. I remember how it used to be. It hasn’t been that long. The only one that called me up onto the mountaintop was the Lord, and that is the way that it should be. So I’m not being you to come on your own, friend. I’m being the Lord to draw you near.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:44 ESV

I don’t ask you,  friend, if you have “accepted Jesus”. No, I ask you,  “Is the Father drawing you near to His presence? Do you know His voice? Do you love Him?  Do you feel that need,  that urge, to draw closer to Him?” 

I don’t condemn you if you are satisfied right now at the bottom of the mountain, far from God. I’m not trying to manipulate you into accepting a religious mindset that will destroy you by you forcing things under your own power. I’m not offering you a heaven ticket in trade for a prayer and some tithes. I’m asking if you are a fellow disciple of Christ,  called and chosen to step forth and serve the Lord faithfully who laid His life down for you on the cross. If the burden is too great, I’d you have counted the cost and it is too great, if you are not drawn close to the Lord today, you have made your choice,  you know who you serve. May your belly be full and your time on earth be happy if you have chosen this world and the things in it as your portion. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, we will bring Him honor and glory forever and ever – not because we are better or worse people, but because we believe and because He draws us, He has chosen us,  and for His name’s sake we will not turn back. Amen.

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Light, Truth and Love

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:1‭-‬10 ESV

We once walked in sin when we were dead and lost.

We found hope in the offer of grace, a gift freely given to those who believe, to those who are called, chosen, and drawn by the Lord to Himself.

It is by this grace that we are saved, liberated, redeemed, freed.

Now we walk as new creations, with a new purpose of good works for the glory and honor of God.

Now we have a new master. Sin and temptation and wickedness was our old master leading us along as we chased after it for ourselves – but now Christ is our new Lord, a merciful yet loving guide,  who has the best for us.

We have traded the short sighted blindness of worldliness and sin,  for the patient vision of light, truth, and love.

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Your Baby

Once upon a time, an elephant and a dog fell pregnant at same time. Three months down the line the dog gave birth to six puppies. Six months later the dog was pregnant again, and nine months on it gave birth to another dozen puppies. The pattern continued.
On the eighteenth month the dog approached the elephant questioning, _”Are you sure that you are pregnant? We fell pregnant on the same date, I have given birth three times to a dozen puppies and they are now grown to become big dogs, yet you are still pregnant. What’s going on?”…

The elephant replied, _”There is something I want you to understand. What I am carrying is not a puppy but an elephant. I only give birth to one in two years. When my baby hits the ground, the earth feels it. When my baby crosses the road, human beings stop and watch in admiration, what I carry draws attention. So what I’m carrying is mighty and great.”. _

Don’t lose faith when you see others receive answers to their prayers.
Don’t be envious of others testimony. If you haven’t received your own blessings, don’t despair. Say to yourself “My time is coming, and when it hits the surface of the earth, people shall yield in admiration.”

_Penned by, Eric Kinoti, Enterprenuer, Kenya.

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Abounding Love

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:9‭-‬11 ESV

Love.

This word has been twisted by the enemy to be used when talking about things that are so much less than love. Sometimes the world uses the word love when they really mean lust. Sometimes they use it when they mean tolerance. There are all kinds of misuses of the word love these days.

For example, is love a woman’s willingness to be manipulated and abused by her abuser over and over again, whether battered by words or fists – because she has this “feeling” for the man that she just can’t get rid of no matter how many times he betrays her or cheats on her or demean her? No. This is not love.

Is love seeing someone doing wrong or who is planning to do wrong and overlooking it and allowing it to continue without dating or doing anything to correct the person or stop them from breaking the law, hurting someone else, cheating someone in business, etc.? No. This is not love.

Love is not blind, it abounds with knowledge and discernment about what is right and what is wrong. Love does not passively seek the easiest option for ourselves, but love actively sacrifices self for what is right.

Jesus demonstrated love. He did not leave sinners in the traps of their sin, but delivered them and said,  “Go and sin no more.” He did not leave the rich, powerful, and secure in their pride, but delivered them with a rebuke that either left them humbled or drive them to anger to the point that they wanted to kill Him. But it was love because it was the cure for the disease that ailed them.

Yes,  Jesus came for sinners – and He did it to bring them to repentance, not to join in the debauchery and fornication. Some of the newer Bible translations may leave that out of Matthew 9:13, Mark 2:17, and Luke 5:32 but where is the love in leaving out His purpose, in leaving out the Truth? Many “emerging churches” (that are really synagogues of Satan) may feel most comfortable leaving out repentance and righteousness from their messages and focusing on a feel good message of positive thinking and treating God like a worldly genie who gives us stuff, but where is the love in a message so much more about self and things of the world,  and empty, completely lacking, devoid of the basics of the gospel laid out in Acts 17:22-34 or Christ’s own preaching of repentance made clear in Matthew 4:17.

But today, instead of offering people the cure for what is killing them,  it is said to be more loving to give more drink to the drunk, more drugs to the addict, more pornography to the lustful, more sex to the immoral, more weapons to the murderers, more money to the wealthy, more poverty to the needy, more power to the oppressors, more persecution to the persecuted, until the stench of a nation burning wildly out of control either finally awakens our nostrils to the warnings of destruction or we remain asleep and unspecified until the Lord steps in Himself.

No, love is not adding fuel to the fire. It is not putting on a Sunday mask of religion and continuing to add fuel to the fire. It is not finding a gathering that makes you feel more comfortable with your participation in sin, death, and destruction. Love is about loving God and His ways and in turn loving others enough to want to see them delivered. Love is about living the light and yes, hating the darkness. Because the darkness comes to steal, kill,  and destroy.

Is God the love of your life that He should be today?

Is sin the enemy that it should be?

Do you know about the type of love that I’m talking about?

Will you live it today?

Will He demonstrate it through you today?

He can, and He will, if you surrender your life.

Do you just know about Him as Savior, and know how to cry out His name, but don’t yet know Him as Lord in your daily life?

Seek Him today. Lay down your old life and let Him walk with you today.

Today is the day of salvation. Today.

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Slaves?

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Romans 6:15‭-‬18 NKJV

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt  to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Galatians 5:1‭-‬5 NKJV

Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.  And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever.  Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
John 8:34‭-‬36 NKJV

We naturally like the idea of being powerful and in control and in authority over our own lives. We naturally like our who to be inflated and proud,  in fact,  the world and modern society rewards and applauds those with inflated egos and envies them and puts them in high places of honor because they are usually very productive and successful from a worldly perspective.

I’m not saying that the humble cannot also be very productive and successful, but for the humble it is a byproduct of the Lord’s favor and blessing poured on them so they can help others – while for the proud, it is a heeping up of treasures for themselves. Yes, it truly is about the master of our heart and desires. You cannot say rich=favored/forsaken and poor=forsaken/favored anymore than you can say works=heaven and still=death. The Lord is not a respects of persons, stations, or titles and sets us each in our own position to be used according to His will and guidance, for His glory and honor.

Yes, if I’m seeking my own honor and glory, isn’t it clear which master I am serving? If I choose to live in evil and doubt over living in the righteousness of faith and godly love, isn’t it clear which master I am serving?

Do not fear, little ones, He corrects you in order to change you. He shows you what needs to be cast out of your life so that the enemy will not gain a foothold within your life. He tells you that there is a better master to free you, not just from the wages and consequences of death “some day” but to free you from a life of sin TODAY.

He who Christ sets free is free indeed. Are you on your way towards being set free? Are you longing for that day when sin and death and the darkness of this world will be long forgotten and you will walk in light? Then keep seeking Him diligently and remain steadfast in the faith,  because many have fallen away,  friend. And don’t rest in your own strength, which is weakness and imperfection. Our help comes from the Lord. Trust in Him and Him alone.  Hunger for righteousness for His name’s sake, not so that you can appear righteous in the eyes of others. Become a slave,  and in doing so, experience true freedom.

Slave to the master who frees slaves to an abundant life – or slave to the master who steals, kills, and destroys? We each choose. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

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Has my hard work been for nothing? Thank you, Jesus!

So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing. Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles—free from those laws. You did not mistreat me when I first preached to you.
Galatians 4:9‭-‬12 NLT

The world has spiritual principals and ways that sound good. The enemy does not seek to steal, kill and destroy with only things that are clearly evil and wickedness. The enemy also does a great job of offering us something that sounds “good” but that isn’t the “best”. The poison and traps that the enemy set before us are not always clearly marked as evil – in fact, they can appear to be good and attractive and useful.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Genesis 3:6 NKJV

Eve didn’t see the danger in eating the apple because it looked good to her eyes. She reasoned with herself and listened to the enemy who told her – it’s okay, you don’t have to listen to God. But God doesn’t warn us of things so that we just can ignore them and die – He warns us so that we might live and have an abundant life. His warnings aren’t there so that we can decide to ignore Him and choose the broad way of destruction where we make all kinds of justifications for ignoring His guidance and doing it our own way.

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the hearts. To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Proverbs 21:2‭-‬3 NKJV

It is better to live His way than to live our own rebellious and powerless way of constantly seeking forgiveness through religious sacrifices. And I’m not talking about the laws and “relative moralities” of men or even the law of Moses, but I’m talking about a greater law that fulfills both. I’m not talking about something “good” that the enemy can twist and turn for evil purposes. I’m talking about what is best.

Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 22:37‭-‬40 NKJV

Have you been satisfied with doing it your way, justifying all kind of things in your life that are “good enough” and settling for less than the best?

Have you fallen into religious practice and tradition and sacrifice instead of resting in the freedom of loving Him with your everything, surrendering to His perfect advice and guidance, and loving and serving others?

He is perfect and best. Let Him be your only portion, you holy fools, you faithful servants, you recklessly abandoned lovers of Christ – whose ways confound the wisdom, philosophy, and reasoning of the scholars, the theologians, and the religious. 

Are we foolishly trying to earn favor with God who lived us even when we were His enemy? Or so grateful for this free gift of grace, for our adoption as Children of God – that we offer the only thing we have to bring, our lives, as a living sacrifice – as our worship to our perfect, holy, righteous, merciful and loving God?