Verse of the day 4/1

[rl69]

Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!Psalm 14:1 NLT (https://www.biblegateway.com/button/votd/bcv)

[Boaz]

This verse will bear more than it's own weight , the truth .

[buckwheatpaul]

One of the preachers in out town has been preaching on: "The world isn't falling apart...it is falling together!" We covered a similar topic it Bible Study this morning....thanks, Paul

[Blackwater]

Amen! But of course, fools just do what fools do, and the saddest part is that they're generally so "proud" of their denials, and want to spread them. Perhaps it's to get some sort of affirmation by sheer numbers of their hopeless and lonely philosophy. Perhaps it's just due to any number of inner fears or temptations. Still, it's what they do, and I'm afraid we Christians have been very lax in our duty to be "my brother's keeper," as Christ called it. We have too long sat quietly, satisfied with our own salvation, and too ashamed and lacking in knowledge of how to deal with the haughtiness and blow hard nature of the deniers and so-called "agnostics." This is OUR error, and I suspect we've all done this, likely for years. How could things be as they are if we'd done our due diligence and learned to defend our beliefs effectively, and stepped up to take a swing, at least, at the idiocy the deniers propose so constantly?

None of us as individuals, or even all of us together, can ever show salvation to everyone. Well, we CAN, but of course they can deny it anyway, by virtue of the simple free will we are all granted at our births. But far too often, we Christians have tucked tail and "dusted off our shoes" when challenged. This sets a very poor example for us as believers, that I think causes far too many souls to be lost. We can't fight unless we're prepared, and simply WILLING to fight the good fight.

Yeah, we'll lose at times. So what? At least we got in the ring and gave it our best shot for the moment, and in losing, we CAN, if we deal with it properly (not with shame for losing but with resolve to learn to win later), learn what it takes to win in more and more situations. And at least we can say at the Throne of Judgment that we tried, even if it proved futile in many cases.

But you also never know who's listening on the sidelines, or how it might affect them. You might lose the battle you were focused on while winning one you didn't even know you were involved in!

We humans "have a lot of quit" in us, all too often. And without real effort, and study and thought, we'll never learn to do anything but mill around like a herd of cattle, secure in our own salvation but letting many fall prey to all the machinations of a very learned and determined Lucifer, who ALSO works in our world, and does so VERY diligently.

I keep remembering and hearing the reverberations of that promise Christ made, that if HIS people would simply admit their sins, and turn from our worldly ways, He would see it from Heaven, and would reach down His mighty hand, and heal our nation. We know He always keeps His promises, but even so, we STILL mill around like cattle, secure in our own salvation while allowing many to fall by the wayside and be lost. Personally, I don't want to have to stand at the Throne of Judgment and have to say I did nothing to prevent that. Whether I'm successful at it or not, I want to be able to say I at least tried, and did all I knew how to do to prevent it.

It's always been amazing to me how God and Christ don't expect perfection out of us. But they DO require us to at least put forth some effort. And this is where we've traditionally fallen down in our jobs as Christians. Being a Christian isn't just a condition of being, it's a very real job, for we've been assigned and instructed to DO some very significant things, and when we don't do them, it's fair to question at least the depth of our beliefs, isn't it?

Sometimes, I just marvel at Christ's and God's patience with us, and Their tolerance of such a bunch of dummies like we often tend to be, at least in times and with regard to so many things we've been instructed to do. I look back at my own history, and it's pretty humiliating how little I've really done of what I COULD have done along the way. Thanks to God's patience with me, I HAVE at least learned and been honest enough with myself and with God, to acknowledge this, and at least try, in some small way at least, to rectify my traditional failures to really BE a Christian like I should have been. Whenever we err, it seems we're ever more encouraged to become humble enough to receive and admit the very simple truths that God has given us, and with which we all must deal, sooner or later.

"By their acts ye shall know them." As Clint Eastwood might say, "I reckon so." And all it takes is to not be intimidated by all the adverse thoughts Lucifer puts in our minds, and some calm, lucid study and consideration, and we CAN at least make SOME inroads into the evil that surrounds us daily. And the more we try, the more experience we get, and the better we get at it, and the more confident we can become. That's just how our world works here on this mortal plane. Our first efforts might be rather clumsy, but so what? Bad starts often make for good ends, don't they? So get busy out there! Time's a'wastin'!