Easter means springtime is here, looking for bunnies, hunting Easter eggs, and eating lots and lots of candy, or is it?
Being a Christian and attending a local church was never intended to be merely a religious and special celebrations a few times a year, aka: Christmas and Easter. The true Christian has a personal and daily walk with the Master. Those who follow Christ do so everyday. Just like when He walked on this earth, Jesus continues pressing forward today. You can keep up with Him as he leads and guides you, or choose to fall far behind or totally reject him and walk away.
A relationship with Jesus is very close to being married to my wife Penny. A healthy marriage requires constant communication, of which I struggle with daily, sharing good times and bad, loving each other, giving our attention away, even when we don't feel like it. Forgiving, encouraging each other, being honesty, and just spending time together. What if we only celebrated our anniversary, but didn't do much else together during the rest of the year? Then my marriage would be what I call PLASTIC. The same thing applies to being a Christian.
The question for us as an individual this Easter season was not whether or not the Lord wanted me to attend a church service even if I rarely attend church the rest of the year. His arms are always open. The question is this: Do I want a "relationship with Him that is like a "marriage" where the couple only celebrates on their anniversary? Or do I want to live an authentic Christian life with Jesus everyday so that He will know that I really do love Him and trust Him? His action on the cross revealed His love for me. My actions reveal whether or not I love Him. I have seen so many over the years walk down an aisle, sign a card, maybe get baptized and NEVER see change. They are in for a rude awakening one day.
Jesus definitely rose from the grave, but has my spirit been raised to new life....or do I remain dead inside regardless of my attending a religious holiday observance? Am I a born again believer through faith in Christ? If I am born again, I will be pulled like a giant magnet to Him daily, which includes Wednesday and Sunday at worship and to have fellowship there with others who believe in Him. If I have little or no interest in growing in my faith every week with other Christians, that is a strong indicator that I may very well not be born again. The Bible says ,“ Examine yourself”. When Jesus truly comes to live within a person, it changes everything. My thinking. My motives. My decisions. My priorities. My relationships. No change equals no new birth.
The fact is that some marriages are on life support. Likewise, some professing Christians are only kidding themselves. It could happen to any of us if we just went through the motions. The minute I begin to neglect my marriage or my relationship with Christ is the minute I begin to drift into "cyberspace”. Minutes of neglect turn into hours and eventually weeks and months of neglect. By the time you wake up to what is going on, the relationship is already nonexistent. We leave Christ, because He NEVER leaves us.
That doesn't have to happen to you or to me. After all, Easter is a GIANT reminder to us all of what happened 2,000+ years ago..., but it should always be in our daily thoughts, actions and lives. What a perfect time RIGHT NOW to give your life to Christ for the first time, or to rededicate your life to Him and seek to restore my first love with Him....and if you are married, do it with your spouse.
So are Good Friday and Easter just dates on your calendar?
Do they thrill your soul everyday and each week as I worship with my Faith Family?
Those are questions for anyone who checks the "Christian" box on those salvation cards you may be signed.
I ask you today, “ Is your soul secure or have you been led stray but wrong thinking or something else along the way”?
Today is YOUR DAY for Salvation. Jesus is waiting and in return, I expect a phone call, text, email or Facebook message, DEAL ?
Till next time,
tc
Romans 5:1
peace out
Friday, April 13, 2012
It's Only Time
Why are people always in a hurry. Always running behind as usual. Is life supposed to be this way?
People never enjoying the journey to get to where they are going. All the missed opportunities along the way.So that begs the question.
How do we get so busy that we over book ourselves or we just haven't learned to say no?
Many times in life we say yes to some really good things and therefore leaving no time to the better things. Eternal things. Things that have eternal rewards.
I remember back not too too long ago in my student ministry days, I would say yes to EVERYTHING. Can ou come to my ball game? Can ou come see me dance? Can you come to the football and watch the me in the band? Yes Yes Yes.......Wrong move. It seems like I was about to fall off a cliff and I woke up. Since that day, I ask myself, do I have time for this or not. Ya see, even Jesus needed some well deserved " J time aka: Jesus aka Daddy time" when He needed recharging or just clarity on His Fathers wishes. We call that God's will. I have heard thousand of people say, " I want to be safe right in the middle of God's will for my life". If you are doing God's will it is NOT always safe. Several times I have asked, they did they really say that or do they have any idea of what they just said. After I explained it they were like. I had no idea. God's will NOT always a safe place people. You see, God requires SURRENDER and most, if not all of us, are still working on that, I know I am.
So with all this being said said so far, I have to ask you these questions. Because the Bible tells us to examine ourselves and YOU probably have not done that in a very long time. So here we go, and I will go from #5 to the top question of #1.
#5 - Do you read your bible daily, maybe even a devotional? Yes /No
#4 - Are you plugged in to local church? I mean INVOLVED, not just sit on the back row and make a fast exit. Yes / No
#3 - Do you pray at least daily? I mean a no selfish prayer and pray for others? Yes / No
#2 - Have you ever accepted Christ as Lord and Savior? Yes / No
#1 - Do you TRULY love Jesus? Yes / No He asked Peter that question multiple times and Peter still didn'y get it. Do you ?
If you were honest with your answers, that LIGHT BULB, should have gone off over your head.
So re-evaluate your priorities and give your time and attention to Jesus FIRST and make HIs Misson your mission, then let good works follow that have eternal meaning.And, if you need eternal things to do, email me at tim@lifechurchconnect.com or tcmlive@gmail.com. We have plenty of ideas to share.
till next time, peace
tc
People never enjoying the journey to get to where they are going. All the missed opportunities along the way.So that begs the question.
How do we get so busy that we over book ourselves or we just haven't learned to say no?
Many times in life we say yes to some really good things and therefore leaving no time to the better things. Eternal things. Things that have eternal rewards.
I remember back not too too long ago in my student ministry days, I would say yes to EVERYTHING. Can ou come to my ball game? Can ou come see me dance? Can you come to the football and watch the me in the band? Yes Yes Yes.......Wrong move. It seems like I was about to fall off a cliff and I woke up. Since that day, I ask myself, do I have time for this or not. Ya see, even Jesus needed some well deserved " J time aka: Jesus aka Daddy time" when He needed recharging or just clarity on His Fathers wishes. We call that God's will. I have heard thousand of people say, " I want to be safe right in the middle of God's will for my life". If you are doing God's will it is NOT always safe. Several times I have asked, they did they really say that or do they have any idea of what they just said. After I explained it they were like. I had no idea. God's will NOT always a safe place people. You see, God requires SURRENDER and most, if not all of us, are still working on that, I know I am.
So with all this being said said so far, I have to ask you these questions. Because the Bible tells us to examine ourselves and YOU probably have not done that in a very long time. So here we go, and I will go from #5 to the top question of #1.
#5 - Do you read your bible daily, maybe even a devotional? Yes /No
#4 - Are you plugged in to local church? I mean INVOLVED, not just sit on the back row and make a fast exit. Yes / No
#3 - Do you pray at least daily? I mean a no selfish prayer and pray for others? Yes / No
#2 - Have you ever accepted Christ as Lord and Savior? Yes / No
#1 - Do you TRULY love Jesus? Yes / No He asked Peter that question multiple times and Peter still didn'y get it. Do you ?
If you were honest with your answers, that LIGHT BULB, should have gone off over your head.
So re-evaluate your priorities and give your time and attention to Jesus FIRST and make HIs Misson your mission, then let good works follow that have eternal meaning.And, if you need eternal things to do, email me at tim@lifechurchconnect.com or tcmlive@gmail.com. We have plenty of ideas to share.
till next time, peace
tc
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