Wednesday Morning Devotional

Forgiven Much

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven–for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” — Luke 7:47

When I got saved as a 16 year old kid at Calvary Baptist Church in Salem, SC…I wasn’t really that bad of a kid. I had always gone to church. I had always pretty much done what was right in school. I had always pretty much honored my parents. I just didn’t do a lot of stuff wrong. Even though it felt great to ask for forgiveness and be clean, looking back, I didn’t think I was that dirty to begin with. Everybody told me how good of a kid I was, and by the world’s standards, I was. I guess it just wasn’t that hard to believe those people. I was a good kid who had asked for God to forgive me. Therefore, I deserved to go to Heaven. God, if He made me, at least owed me a way into Heaven. Writing this now, I cringe, but back then as a teenager, this is what I thought.

Reading this story in Luke 7, I can now see myself on both sides of the table. For several years I was the Pharisee who just had Jesus in my house. He was near, and He was available for me when I needed Him. I would look at other people crying and weeping at His feet and think they were just weird. They should have been like me…gone to church, stayed out of trouble, and they would have been fine…like me.

So, here I was, a forgiven, born-again Christian. I had asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and come into my life and make me a Christian. Within a few months of making the best decision of my life, I started making the dumbest decisions of my life. Over the next five to six years, if I didn’t think I was in need of any kind of serious forgiveness, I’d make up for it. All of a sudden, it was important for me to be “cool.” Following God just wasn’t “cool.” To hang out with the “cool” crowd you had to cuss. To fit in with the “cool” crowd you had to have a girlfriend. Of course, if you were 16 years old and hadn’t had sex yet, you were a loser. If you didn’t do some underage drinking, being cool was impossible. Every single time these “opportunities” were presented to me, the Spirit inside me told me not to go there. I can still remember the conviction and how God asked me, but did not force me, to do the right thing. After years of rejecting the leading of the Holy Spirit repeatedly, I felt so empty and lost. I certainly didn’t feel “cool.”

At this point, I was in no man’s land. I definitely moved out of the Pharisee’s seat. I was in no position to look down on the people weeping and crying at the feet of Jesus. In fact, I began to wonder if He could ever accept me like that. When I didn’t think I was that bad, I could see Him forgiving me. However, I didn’t know what He did to people who willfully reject Him. All of a sudden, I was one of the people that deserved Hell. I absolutely knew not to do the things I had done, and I did them anyway. Was there really mercy and forgiveness for me?

For years I stayed here. I went to church, I read my Bible, but I was one defeated Christian. I was just doing “good,” whatever that means, in an attempt to earn His favor back. I wanted to “make right” the sinful things I had done. At the end of the day, I just saw my Heavenly Father as really disappointed in me. I saw myself as never going to be “good” enough.

Then, I met Tonya. After we had been together for almost two years, I wanted to marry her. She was the best follower of Jesus that I knew. I had never told her of my past…especially the sex outside of marriage stuff. I just knew that if she knew, I was finished…she would leave. As much as I didn’t want to tell her, I had to. Looking back, telling her might have been the best thing I’ve ever done. Here I am telling her everything (minus the details…of course), and I begin to cry. Then, she begins to cry. She simply asks me this: “Have you asked God to forgive you?” I said “I ask Him all the time.” She said “stop doing that.” I said “why in the world would I do that?” She said “If you have asked Him to forgive you, He has! I forgive you, too! From this day on, let’s go forward together and never look back!”

There it was…a picture of His mercy and grace. If she could so easily forgive me, did I really think God couldn’t? Was my future wife more forgiving that God Himself? No way! At that moment I realized I had been forgiven the whole time. He loved me. In fact, I was hurting Him more by living in defeat. The floodgates were opened and I became the sinful woman at the feet of Jesus. I could not stop praising Him and worshipping Him. I still can not believe how good He is to me.

I now love Him much. But even then, my love is just a cup of water from the ocean.

His love is the ocean!

How much do you love Him?

Later

Adam

Opportunities

…making the most out of every opportunity… — Ephesians 5:17

I‘m still amazed when someone tells me they really appreciate my “ministry.” I guess I’ve heard it enough now that I actually think of WMD as a ministry. I’ve heard people say God “called” them into the ministry. That sounds so cool, but I can‘t say that. I never had a moment that I just knew this was what I was to do.

For me, everything good in my life started with a simple act of obedience. For example, I met my wife because I obeyed God and left my bar/party band. I didn’t want to…I loved playing AC/DC and Metallica tunes. But, because of that simple act of obedience, I was in church on a Friday night singing to the Lord as opposed to playing in a bar with my old friends. There was a lady in that church that wanted to “set me up” with a nice girl. A VERY long story short…I met Tonya a week later.

In another example, I was never “called” to preach. I got this opportunity to preach once a month at a Methodist church. The only reason I said yes was because I had 2 sermons that I really wanted to preach. This was my chance. However, I never really thought just how fast my two sermons would run out. I quickly had to learn to depend on God, which is exactly what He wanted. I would preach to anywhere from 5 to 20 people. For whatever reason, that never seemed insignificant to me at all. If I was going to pull off one sermon a month, I had to study the Bible. I had to pray. I had to ask God for direction. I had to ask Him for a topic. I had to listen to other preachers preach. God threw me in the fire, made me depend on Him, and grew me like crazy at that little Methodist church. The progression has been amazing…I preached for less than 20 people. Then, when that season was over, I just started getting opportunities and found myself preaching for a hundred people. Then, this past December, I stood before close to 500 people and brought the Word of God…Amazing. Never once, did I ask for any of it. He just keeps putting me in these positions. As of right now, I’ll preach at Boone’s Creek Baptist in Salem on May 29^th. Then, I’ll preach at Golden Corner Church in Walhalla on June 19^th. The ONLY reason I’m not freaking out about this is because of how He has grown me. I know He will give me His words and He will be glorified…not me.

WMD just blows my mind. The first WMD was a small paragraph sent to 5 other people. All I knew was that God wanted the few teachers who said they were Christians to start doing their jobs for Him. He wanted us to start living our lives better for Him. I can’t speak for the other teachers, but this totally changed my life and the atmosphere of where I work. Almost two and a half years later, here I am at my computer at 6:45 a.m. on Spring Break writing another WMD. I woke up, and the Spirit told me exactly what to write. He wants someone out there to take advantage of some opportunity that they’ve been given.

So, what is it? Is He asking you to lead a small group Bible study? Is He asking you to invest in someone’s life? Is He asking you to sacrificially love your husband or wife REGARDLESS of the fact that you may not be loved in return? Is He asking you to write for Him? Sing for Him? Volunteer at church for Him? Maybe He is simply asking you to give up dating. Maybe He is asking you to give up a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship so that you might really develop your relationship with Him and allow Him to bring to you the person He made for you. Maybe He is asking you to remove yourself from a friend or group of friends that “change” you. When you are around them you talk different, act different, and just do things you would not do on your own. Is He asking you to ditch them?

Now, you might be asking…If I do this, where does that leave ME? I know, I know. It left me at home on many weekends alone with my guitar and my Bible, so I sang praises to the Lord and read His Word. It left me going to every church revival I could find. It left me watching old Billy Graham Crusades on TBN. It left me listening to hundreds and hundreds of sermons on tape. It left me growing in the Lord. I’m so thankful for those seasons of life that everybody else would call “boring.“ Check out this last verse which sums it all up…

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” — Hebrews 12:11

I remember standing on the platform at Golden Corner Church and seeing probably 75 hands raised in the air. Every hand represented a person who had just made things right with the Lord.

A harvest of righteousness that started growing years and years before from a simple act of obedience!

Later

Adam

Who Owes Who?

Just randomly out of the blue someone asked me a question. They said “If someone really hurt a member of your family, like your kids, would you forgive them?” Now, my mind went to all the extremes of someone hurting my little man, my little chick, and/or my wife. At first, I thought that I’d hurt them back, you know…make ‘em PAY! They deserve punishment…they OWE me! Then, I thought that maybe if they got down on their knees and begged my forgiveness and tearfully apologized, I mean, if I saw true repentance…I’d forgive them. Then, I read a Bible Story and a Bible verse that changed my opinion about the whole thing. In fact, it changed my whole LIFE! I hope it changes yours.

In 2 Samuel 11-12 we read the story of David’s sin with Bathsheba. If you have ever thought you could not be saved because of something you did that was bad…you really need to read about what David did. The famous giant slayer became the infamous adulterer. He got another man’s wife pregnant, then committed first degree murder in an attempt to cover it all up. Not only did he commit adultery and murder, other innocent men were killed in the process (2 Samuel 11:17).

Several months went by before David was sorry. Basically, a preacher came by and told him a story. David was convicted of his sin, and he repented. David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Samuel 12:13) When you continue reading that verse, you find that God’s forgiveness was immediate. However, in verse 14, even though David is told that he himself will not die for his sin, he is told that his little baby boy will die. The baby got sick. David fasted, prayed, and pleaded with the Lord to spare his life, but the child still died. Who harmed David’s baby boy? God did, but only because payment had to be made for David‘s sin. Remember? The wages of sin…is death! (Romans 6:23)

I hated this story for a long time. When Tonya’s first two pregnancies ended in miscarriage, I thought when I read this story that it meant my babies were dying because of some things I’d done in my past. I thought God was paying me back. However, when I played the comparison game, I didn’t think I deserved it. I mean, I didn’t do anything as bad as David! I didn’t do anything as bad as other people that were having completely healthy babies (then not taking care of them). It turned me really bitter for a while.

Then came the day when I “got it.” I personalized Isaiah 53…”He was pierced for MY transgression, He was crushed for MY iniquity, the punishment that bought ME peace was upon Him, and by His wounds I am healed. I, like sheep, have gone astray, I turned to MY own way: and the Lord laid on Him MY iniquity. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth…Yet it was the Lord‘s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer.”

So, back to the original question…would I forgive? I don’t really have a choice…I have to! I have already harmed another person’s kid. Look what I did to Jesus…God’s kid.

Anybody that says to someone who has harmed them or one of their family members “I’ll kill them, I’ll pay them back, they owe me…blah, blah, blah” does not understand the forgiveness that they received when they repented of their sins, placed them upon Jesus, and asked the Lord to forgive them and come into their heart. You don’t just ask for forgiveness and He says “Sure, no problem!” and that’s that.

It goes more like this. I repented of my sins when I was 16 years old. Just like David in 2 Samuel 12:13 I confessed “I have sinned against you, Lord.” From now on, every time I repent of a sin, I finish verse 13 and 14 this way and pretend this is God‘s response to me…”Yes, but I have forgiven you, Adam, and you won’t die for your sin. But, because you have done this, Adam…MY child, my one and only perfect Son, Jesus, died!”

Nobody owes me anymore.

Nobody will ever owe me anything.

I owe Him everything!

This Easter season, thank Him. Then, thank Him again for what He did.

Later

Adam

Jude 1:11 “Woe to them, they have taken the way of Cain”

Genesis 4: 1 – 15

Last week, I told you how I responded to God about work. I don’t know if you noticed or not, but Cain didn’t respond to God at all which, I guess, was a response. In fact, sin got Cain, just like God said it would if he didn’t respond in the right way. I have learned from this story that my responses to God determine everything about my future. At this point of the story, Cain is at a crossroads. He has to choose a path: repent and follow God, or stay in his anger and let sin “have him.” Cain is a perfect picture of all the wrong responses. Instead of responding to God in repentance, Cain chose to remain in his anger. Another interesting thing about this point in the story? Nothing major has happened. Nothing has been harmed except for Cain’s ego. Unfortunately, Cain’s poor response caused major harm…he murdered his brother. The innocent was slain because of the sin of another. Sound familiar?

Now, remember that we are talking about the “way” of Cain. Jude 1:11 says “Woe to you who take this way!” It is a stern warning. Let’s look at Cain’s second chance to respond to God. You would think that after murdering Abel, God would just lay the smack down on him. You’d think that God would just slowly torture him and give Cain a nice slow, painful death (good thing I’m not God!) Look at what God does…He gives him another question: “Where is your brother, Abel?” Now, just like the “Where are you, Adam?” we talked about a couple of weeks ago, God knows where Abel is. However, this isn’t about where Abel is, this is about Cain’s response. Isn’t it amazing how God gives us chance after chance even when we don‘t deserve it? So, how does Cain respond?

This is the part that scares me about this generation, especially those in middle school through college. There is such little respect for authority that it is really scary. The majority of kids talk to their parents like they are garbage and give them very little respect. Now, if they talk to their parents like this, I get to be the next in line because we teachers get to be disrespected next. I mean, if they talk to mom and dad like that, do you really think they are going to automatically go to school and respect authority there? Then, many of these kids drop out, or barely graduate from school and then soon show up in the arrest reports. They didn’t respect mom and dad, then they didn’t respect teachers and principals, and then they didn’t respect the LAW! Surely, they’ll respect God though, right? Wrong!

Cain’s response is the most brazen example of arrogance that I know of in the Bible. Listen to the cocky arrogance in his voice as he responds to the Almighty God…”I don’t know! Am I supposed to keep track of him wherever he goes?” In the Salem Standard Version he says “I don’t know! He’s YOUR favorite…YOU go find Him!” What an attitude! Do you see why this is scary? This is so prevalent in the present day and time. We are the generation who is OWED a living. We are the ENTITLED generation. Everything should just be given to us and we should have to do NOTHING for it!

Now, I don’t really want to talk about this, but God wants me to, so I hope that this helps some marriages out there. Here is what this part of Cain’s story looked like for me. Before I asked Tonya to marry me, I basically told her that playing golf was number one in my life. I told her that I didn’t want any whining about me going to play all the time…it’s just what I did, and she would have to be cool with it. Tonya has always been a human “picture” of God to me. She acted cool with my arrogance and just loved me and was patient with me. Well, during the first few years of our marriage, I still treated it like a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. I made absolutely no sacrifices for her…I didn’t help clean, in fact, I rarely helped at all. When I did happen to do something around the house, I expected some sort of medal from her or some sort of praise or something. Eventually, in the coolest way she could, she started pointing these things out to me. Of course, I responded with “you know baby… You are right! You’re always right! Thank you for showing me the error of my ways.” …NOT! I stewed in resentment. I thought of all the ways she was LUCKY to have me. I was mad at the lack of her appreciation of me. At this point, I had a choice. I could either let this resentment destroy my marriage, or I could start loving her as God has loved me! It put me on this journey of figuring out what it looked like for me to truly have a sacrificial love for her. I read books on marriage, and I asked people who had good marriages what they did. I discovered a lot of things and started putting them into practice. Long story short…my selfishness was about to destroy our marriage. It was when I started doing my part that things changed. Looking back, I can’t believe that I thought she needed to change and just accept me and my selfish ways. Of course I did because this required NO CHANGE and NO EFFORT on my part. Years later, I can not tell you how awesome it is being married to Tonya Hopkins. She is by far the best thing that has happened to me outside of salvation. However, the road to a great marriage started with ME…not her! Just like Cain, I was faced with a choice…humble myself and submit to God and my wife, or stay arrogant and let sin “have me” and my marriage.

All Cain had to do was say “I’m sorry, I did what you told me not to do and I killed my brother…I’m sorry!” Instead, we read this arrogant response that is now serving as a warning to those who are taking “the way of Cain.”

The world does not need one more person who behaves like Cain. It needs someone who will wholeheartedly submit themselves to Christ and SHOW others what God looks like! Please, please, please, if you recognize any of the Cain attitude in any area of your life…repent and start brand new today!

Later

Adam

The way of Cain (part 1)

Jude 1:11 “Woe to them, they have taken the way of Cain”

Genesis 4: 1 – 15

In the small book of Jude, there is a warning for people who have a certain attitude. There is a warning against people who have a certain “way” about them. When I studied this “way,” I was shocked at the comparisons of this generation and “the way of Cain.” The really interesting thing is that this warning comes right before the book of Revelation. I think it is kind of a hint to us that right before the end time events unfold, or perhaps while they are unfolding, people will have this “way” about them. So, what does “the way of Cain” look like?

After the fall of mankind in chapter 3, the next time we hear God speak is a question to Cain: “Why are you so angry?” Cain was angry because his offering wasn’t accepted and Abel’s was. It’s pretty obvious to me that God really cares about our attitudes when bringing offerings to Him. Proverbs 21:27 says that “God loathes the sacrifice of an evil person, especially when it is brought with ulterior motives.” WOW! You’d think that God would be cool with anybody bringing SOMETHING to Him, I mean, at least they are acknowledging Him, right? Wrong! If my heart isn’t right, God doesn’t want anything from me nor does He want me to do anything for Him…in fact, I make Him sick if I even try. It is so easy to be a member of the Laodicean church in Revelation 3. You go and act all good and give off the appearance of being hot on Sunday, then Monday through Saturday live as cold as you want. Jesus says “Be one way or the other…ALL the time!” (Salem Standard Version, of course)

Cain was angry because God didn’t accept his half-hearted effort. After he saw Abel’s offering being accepted, he played the “what makes him so special?” game. Oh man, this game is easy to play, and unfortunately it feels good to play. You get to point out all of the other person’s flaws to God and try to convince Him that they are no better than you. You get to find others who give half-hearted effort and slander and spew insults about the ones doing it right…it’s a really fun game to play, but in the end, God is not going to accept you or your offering. He tells us how to correctly respond in Genesis 4:7: “You will be accepted if you respond in the right way. But if you refuse to respond correctly, then watch out! Sin is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must master it.” I love this verse…I learn to master sin, or sin masters me! Personally, I have decided that, with God’s help, I can and will master sin!

Now, let me tell you what this looked like for me a few years ago. I remember sitting in our awards ceremony at the school where I work. I had just watched a teacher have the yearbook dedicated to them. I thought to myself “I’ve been here longer than that person, why didn’t I have it dedicated to me?” Soon after that, the Teacher of the Year award was given to a teacher that was not me. I thought, “what makes them so special? How come I’ve been here 10 years and never been teacher of the year?” A week or two later at our sports banquet, I watched the Coach of the Year award be handed out. The coach of the year was, once again, not me. Now, I began to think of all of the reasons that I was better than all of them. I can only imagine how putrid I smelled to God (and I wondered why He seemed so far away). However, God asked me in a similar way that he asked Cain “Are you giving me your best?” At first, I responded by telling God how I was better than those others who were chosen, but it didn’t take long before I saw the half-heartedness in just about everything I did. I wanted to master sin so I told God I was sorry, and I went for it. In two years I became a completely different worker. I discovered two things. One, I love my job when I do it for Him. Two, if I’m doing my job for Him, I do not need or even want human rewards or recognition. The joy I have in the Lord is more than enough.

However, just to show His sense of humor, in 2010, He gave me all three of those awards I coveted just a few years before.

So, if you claim to be a Christian, what is your attitude about work? If you’re a student, what is your attitude about school? Do you do it to honor God? Are you giving your best? Most people are taking the way of Cain. They are giving God SOMETHING, but not their best, then complaining about the ones who do give their best. Our generation wants maximum reward for minimum effort. Unfortunately, you don’t get credit for just “showing up.” You get a real deal relationship with God for giving your ALL!

Later

Adam

Where are you?

Genesis 3:9…”Where are you?”

This question used to bother me. I mean, God knew where Adam was, right?…He’s God. However, now I realize my mistake. I was thinking God wanted to know Adam’s physical location. He wanted Adam to evaluate his spiritual location. See, for the first time, Adam was disobedient to God. For the first time, God came to visit and Adam wasn’t eagerly waiting for Him. As soon as he disobeyed, sin separated him from God. For the first time, instead of hanging with God, Adam was hiding from God. He went from fellowshipping with God, to wanting nothing to do with God.

I guess because my name is Adam, I think about this question often. I especially think about it when God feels far away from me. He sometimes asks “Where are you, Adam?” In my mind, He continues, “You used to be right here with me. You used to want to spend time with me. You used to couldn’t wait to get up and pray to me. Your heart used to fill up so quickly with my presence when you listened to sermons, went to church, and listened to praise and worship music. I had your heart at one time, Adam…where are you?”

Typing those words, it makes me hate sin. It makes me hate sin because it’s usually something totally meaningless that grips my heart. I start practicing a bunch of secular music on the guitar instead of playing and singing praises to Him. I start reading books just for entertainment and put the Bible and other books that help me learn more about Him on hold. I get busy. I basically go a day without Him, then a day turns into days, and days turn into weeks. All of a sudden, I find that I haven’t felt Him in a while. Sooner or later, I hear the words…“Where are you, Adam?”

I think it’s interesting that when you read the 10 commandments in Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5 that the words “for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God” appear. I think it is interesting because in Galatians 5, jealousy is listed as an act of the sinful nature. Why does He get to be jealous, and we don’t? Well, that’s kind of obvious, we get jealous out of envy and it leads to discord, fits of rage…etc. I think a perfect picture of the wrong kind of jealousy is Cain and Abel. God flat out told Cain if he’d just do what was right, just like Abel did, that he would be accepted as well. Instead of doing the work and developing his own relationship with God, Cain let sin “have him.” Now, instead of reading a story of how to turn your heart towards God, we read a story of jealousy and murder.

I remember back in the school days that three girls absolutely crushed me. I mean, these girls put my heart in a blender and hit “puree.“ Ohhh, probably not that bad, but I really, really liked these girls. One girl in middle school hurt me really bad. I remember that she didn’t even tell me that it was over. I had to watch her walk to lunch holding hands with another dude. I thought everything was cool between us. In just an instant, I was history. As sad as that is, it gets more pathetic…I let her do this to me TWO more times! After the third time…she was OUT, and I was never going back! However, I would see her with these other guys and wonder why I wasn‘t good enough. I was jealous. Not the “I’m going to kill somebody” jealous, just the hurt kind of jealous.

So, why do I tell that depressing bit of information to thousands of people? Because, I believe that’s the kind of jealousy God feels. I used to just wish that those girls would get their hearts crushed just like I did, you know…what comes around goes around? But now, I totally forgive them in my heart. I have to because I’ve done God that way so many times. Thank God He didn’t say “three strikes and you’re out.” I would have been “out” a long time ago. He is so patient, and so kind. All He wants is to spend time with you. He wants you to put Him first. When He has first place in my life, I can’t tell you how great life is. Even when the crappiest stuff happens to me, I have such joy in my heart. When I put anything else in first place, I lose twice. I lose in the fact that life just stinks. Then, I lose in the fact that my God feels like I did when I saw that my middle school girlfriend’s heart didn’t belong to me anymore.

Just the other day, I said to my little man “hey, come give Daddy a hug!” He said “I go play computer!” Immediately, this entire WMD filled my mind. Imagine how God must have felt when Adam took that bite of that fruit.

Where are you?

Later

Adam

Matthew 7:14 …few there be that find it.

In December of 2004, I remember seeing on the news that one of my used-to-be favorite guitar players was murdered. I still love to max out the volume and distortion on my amp every once in a while to crank out some of those catchy guitar riffs he came up with. Soon after his death, I remember reading a Guitar World Magazine where many of the popular guitar players said their good-byes to their deceased friend. One that I don’t think I’ll ever forget said this: “Rest in peace, bro…you’re in God’s tavern now.”

The second commandment says this: “Do not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in Heaven…” I never really though about it until recently just how much this commandment is broken. Pretty much everybody believes in God, but which one? Is it the God of the Holy Bible that collects dust on our table tops and shelves? Or is it the image of someone or something in Heaven that we’ve made up because we never actually pick up those Bibles and read them? People don’t like the notion of Hell…so why not just make up an image of a God in your mind who would never allow any person to go there? People don’t like the notion of changing their behavior…so they make up a God who allows them to live any way they please, then still be allowed access to “a better place.”

There are a couple of verses that I want us to really take a look at. John 14:6 says “I am the way the truth and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through me.” As much as I’d like to believe that one day I’ll meet this famous guitar player and he’ll teach me some cool stuff on the guitar, it probably isn’t going to happen. Everything about the guy portrayed the “acts of the flesh” in Galatians 5:19…sexual immorality, hatred, fits of rage, selfish ambition, and drunkenness just to name a few. Remember, the end of the verse says “those who live like this WILL NOT inherit the kingdom of God.”

Listen, I hate writing this. I feel like I am judging the guy, that is NOT my intent. I have done everything that I mentioned he did. However, through the power of the Holy Spirit, I USED to live like that. I am in no way, shape, or form any better than him or anybody else. The only difference is that I’ve placed my complete trust in Jesus Christ. He made the way! He changed me. He gets all the credit. I’ve done nothing but choose to follow Him. I just find that the more I hang out with Him, the more I fall in love with Him and want so badly to please Him! This is how I know that I am a new creation…I never wanted that before!

I think it is interesting that everybody knows John 3:16. Nobody knows John 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” Once again, I wish that wasn’t in there, but it is. By all indications, this guitar hero never put his trust in Jesus Christ. I hope he did, but his death should be a reminder that we will all meet death one day. We will all stand before the king and give account for what we DID and the way we LIVED! His death, or anybody’s death is not a time to make a false god in our minds who will allow us to join him despite the fact that we keep living any way we want. Don’t get me wrong, not one single person is going into Heaven because he or she was a good person on Earth. The bible is clear…NOBODY is good (Mark 10:18) The only reason any person will set foot in Heaven is because of Jesus and what He did on the cross. It is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8) But, a gift can be rejected. God offers the gift, but the majority of the people aren’t accepting it, much less being transformed by it!

I realize that we want our loved ones to go to a better place. We want to rationalize their lives by looking at how they loved their friends and family. Check out Matthew 5:46, it says that EVERYBODY loves those who love them back and there is NO reward for loving those who turn around and love you right back. If you are reading this devotional, learn to love your enemies. Learn to love and pray for those who do you wrong. Learn to forgive no matter what. Become self-disciplined. Display self-control. Let your language be pure. You absolutely can NOT do these things unless you have the Holy Spirit living inside your heart! Ask Him to help you. Then, when you draw your final breath, people won’t have to wonder where you are or conjure up some false god who will excuse your denial of Him. They’ll know!

I’m sorry this is so hardcore! I promise I do not write this with a light heart, for it is broken for the lost.

Later

Adam

The Fearful

Revelation 21:8: But the fearful…shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire.

Of all the verses in the Bible, this one stands out to me more than any. I think I know the reason why. Before I gave my life to the Lord, I saw a t-shirt that I still think about sometimes. It said on the front “If you died today, where would you go?” Then, on the back, it said “It’s the burning question.” Underneath, it had Revelation 21:8. I immediately went home, looked it up, and unintentionally committed it to memory. It was just scary. It got me to thinking about eternity. If there really was a hell, and everybody in this verse from the fearful to the liars were headed there…where did that leave me? At the time, it was the liars that worried me because I was one! Today, I’m understanding more and more what it means to be fearful.

Before I get into it, I want you to understand that this is the American version of being fearful. We don’t have a clue what it’s like to be tortured and potentially lose our lives for Jesus Christ. In America, we stand to lose position, social standing, or worse…our “cool” factor among our peers. Though I’m making light of this, it is a very real and very painful loss to us “comfortable” Americans. That being said, I don’t know if you are feeling it like I’m feeling it, but the pressure is being turned up on those who are really trying to live the Christian lifestyle. I will give you some examples from the education world…you’ll have to apply them to your own.

I witnessed a student a few weeks ago take a huge step of faith. He was about to get into a fight. I told him not to do it, it just wasn’t worth it. He told me about all the names that he would be called and told me he would be made fun of if he didn’t go and fight. Immediately, my mind went to Matthew 5:10…Blessed are those who are persecuted because of RIGHTEOUSNESS, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. The next two verses are even cooler: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you falsely, and say all kinds of evil about you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in Heaven.” Wow! If he does what is right and does not fight, there is an eternal reward. Yes, there will be the enduring of some name calling, but if that happens, he isn’t supposed to well up with anger, he is supposed to REJOICE! He is suffering for doing what is right, and one day the God he did that for will reward him. If he does what is wrong, do you know what he is?…fearful!

Contrary to popular opinion and belief, I do not “proselytize” in my classroom. Not one time have I ever told a student what he or she should or should not believe. However, I do teach right and wrong under the guidelines of our three “R” rules that are posted in our hallways and classrooms…Be Respectful, Responsible, and Ready. I do my best to model these every single day. I also tell a great number of stories that illustrate the consequences of poor choices and actions in hopes that they will not make them. However, because students see me preach from time to time in various pulpits, lead devotions at a Tuesday morning breakfast right across the road from our school, read WMD, see me play on our praise team in church, and hopefully see me live this stuff out every single day, I am a magnet for questions about the Lord and the Bible. This has led to many students in my school receiving the Lord. There are people that frown upon this. What am I supposed to do? If I tell them about the Lord, I am being obedient to my faith and honoring the one who gave His life for me. If I succumb to the world‘s wishes, I’m fearful, and I don’t care for the last words of Revelation 21:8 that clearly states what happens to those who are fearful!

I’m starting to read where coaches are being placed under intense pressure to stop prayers before games. The Lord’s prayer found in Matthew 6 is a common pre-game ritual all across the southern part of the United States. Because a few people, and I mean a few people, find this offensive, many coaches are just saying “no more prayers.” I’ve even heard of teachers in the classroom being asked about their beliefs and they won’t even tell their students that they are of the Christian faith…fearful!

Read Daniel 3. These guys were willing to be thrown into a blazing fire rather than bow down with the rest of the world. Read Acts 4 and 5. These guys had their skin beaten off of their backs and fronts, then still kept carrying on “the Name.” They prayed for boldness…not protection. Americans pray for comfort and safety. We hope that we won’t ever have to do anything hard for the one who did the hardest thing imaginable for US! The early church believers prayed for many signs, wonders, and miracles in the name of Jesus, not for themselves to see, but so others might see…and believe. Shouldn’t we do the same? Or, are we too…fearful?

One day soon, our Lord will return. Revelation 21:8 lists the qualities that He is NOT looking for. If you have repented of your sins, asked for forgiveness of your sins, and placed your trust in Jesus, be bold and live the remainder of these last days for Him. It is difficult, but extremely rewarding. 365 times the Bible says “fear not.” That’s one for every day of the year.

He is in control. He’s got your back. He loves to see and reward faith in action.

There is no need to fear.

Later

Adam