A Day Is a Lifetime

To repent and become a disciple of Jesus Christ is no small effort.  In fact, it can seem overwhelming.  For this reason, Jesus makes clear to us that we should pursue this course…one…day…at…a…time.

When He taught us to pray, He told us to ask for daily bread.  This fits the pattern of the manna that the Israelites received in the desert after they were liberated from Egypt.  Manna came each day – in portions enough for the day.  It was not meant to be stored up for later times.  They were to trust that there would be other manna for other days.   

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus went on to say that each day had enough trouble or evil of its own.  Therefore, we are given nourishment enough to fight the battles of a single day.  To take on more than a day’s battles is asking for more than we can handle.   

Some people dismiss this advice with the criticism that it is impractical because it disallows planning.  Of course, it does not.  On the day Jesus was crucified, He was planning to rise from the dead three days later.  He conducted Himself with that awareness of the future, but without diverting His focus from the day that He was living.  Thus His advice about a daily focus does not mean that He only wants you to buy airline tickets of the day of travel.  Today is the day you buy the tickets; later comes the day you will travel.  You focus each day on the activities appropriate for that day – without taking on anxiety for any later day.

Jesus’ advice is quite consistent with the way the universe is constructed and the way we human beings were designed.  For us, a day is a microcosm of, and a metaphor for, a lifetime.  We awake from sleep, we live, and we return to sleep.  Thus, sleep is often a figurative expression for death in the Scriptures.  

We never know how many days we will have on the earth, so it is not wise to postpone the good that we can do until the future.  Jesus told a parable of a man so intent on amassing wealth that he decided to build bigger storage facilities to hold all that he was acquiring.  What happens, Jesus asks, when the man dies in the midst of this pursuit?  His folly is revealed, for none of it will matter to him. 

Do not wait for a crisis to focus your attention on today.  A crisis does focus the mind and bring us fully into the present.  However, you do not need a crisis to achieve that perspective.  Moreover, you can handle a crisis better if you are already living in the moment of a single day.

Therefore, when you look to Jesus today for direction on how to live, do not get ahead of yourself.  Do not allow your mind to be weighed down with concerns about money, the worries of the world, or the desires for things other than pleasing God.  All these things are distractions.  We think they will bring us the happiness we seek, but they do not.  What brings us true happiness today is knowing that we are pleasing God today.

Be a disciple of Jesus Christ…today.  Do not worry about what this will mean ten years from now.  Don’t fret about what repentance will mean for you next week – just focus on what it means for you today.  Don’t be anxious about anything beyond today.  Do today what today requires – for that is the very best way to prepare for all your tomorrows.

How Much Change Are You Willing to Experience?

We know that the good news of God through Jesus Christ calls us to repent.  In the original language, this word “repent” literally means to “change one’s mind or purpose.”  Therefore, to repent is to change, and specifically to change by submitting our mind and purpose to God. 

When some people decide to repent, they focus on outward things.  They say, “God, what do you want me to do with my life?  Where do you want me to go?”  Usually, however, God wants you to keep living the life you have been living…but to do so with a changed mind and a changed purpose.  If you are a husband, He wants you to make that husbanding a gift to Him.  In other words, stop doing the husbanding for what you get out of it and start doing it for the glory it can bring God.  It means you stop looking for a 50/50 relationship with your wife.   It means in the numerous little exchanges that occur between you and your wife, that you look at each one as an opportunity to demonstrate to God how much you love Him…by putting her well-being ahead of your own. 

As it is with husbands, so it is with wives, children, parents, employers, employees, and so on.  Jesus didn’t come to change everyone’s occupation, He came to change – and to dramatically change – the way each person fulfills his or her occupation.

I describe the change required as dramatic because this is the way Jesus described it.  Only when we take repentance seriously do we begin to realize how selfishly we have been living.  This is just as true for churchgoers as it is for nonchurchgoers.  Most church programs are designed to meet the perceived needs of the members or prospective members.  Therefore, when you go to church it’s usually to meet some need you have or think you have.  That has nothing to do with repenting and becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ.

True repentance means to live for the ideals of the one true God – Jesus Christ, your Creator.  Nothing less.  This cannot help but require radical change in your inward thinking processes.  For one thing, you will be conscious of Him all day long.  Before, you used to think as a lone individual.  All your thoughts were private, except for the ones you chose to reveal to others.  Living for Jesus means living with Him.  You think your every thought aware that He is listening to it as well. 

If you understand this, you know that this is no small amount of change.  Granted, almost all of it is of your interior monologue…so most of the world will be unaware.  But you will be keenly aware.  You are a changed person. 

Repentance is no mild change.  Unless you are willing to experience radical change of your thought life, you cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

The good news about all this change is that it is for the good.  That is, this is true improvement in the quality of life you live.  It is living God’s life…with Him.

Are You a Disciple of Jesus Christ?

Are you a disciple of Jesus?  I am not asking if you go to church, or if you call yourself a Christian.  I am asking if you are His student – if you want to learn from Him how to live. 

What a wonderful thing that He would be willing to teach us how to live!  If anyone knows how, He surely does.

Assuming you are His disciple, how do you learn from Him?  The most fundamental way, of course, is to imitate Him.  He is not one of those hypocritical teachers who tells you to live a way that He Himself does not live.  In fact, one of the most enriching aspects of His teaching is that we know that for anything He has said, we can look to His life and see Him flesh out that principle.

Most people know that Jesus summed up His teaching with the command to love.  And to the point just made, He said, “This is My commandment that you love one another – even as I have loved you.”  Therefore, our instruction can begin with this most fundamental of lessons.  It is both the elementary school curriculum and the graduate degree program in the school of Christ.  It the lesson we receive in the beginning and the lesson we continue learning as we take His commandment into deeper and deeper layers of our lives. 

Do you ever play hooky from the school of Christ?  Are there days when you haven’t even thought about living for Him?  Modern life can become very busy.  Some people who genuinely want to be disciples of Jesus Christ go days on end without giving much thought to practicing the lesson.  Yet a day lived outside of the school of Christ is just a wasted day.

Jesus was Jew of ancient Israel.  He was a carpenter, and the son of a carpenter.  At the age of thirty He became an itinerant rabbi walking the roads of Galilee and Judea.  Those are, of course, outward aspects of His life that He does not expect you to imitate.  He loved the world in which He dwelled; He wants you to love the world in which you dwell.

He lived His life for love of God and for the good of His fellow man; this is what He asks you to do.  Are you living your life this way?  Do you wake up in the morning thinking about what you can do for God and others?  Is this what motivates you through the day?  If so, why then do you become upset when someone takes advantage of you?  Or when someone takes what is yours?  Or when someone treats you with a lack of respect? 

Here’s an important point to catch: He teaches us by His example to live for the good of our fellow man, not the approval of our fellow man.  There is a huge difference.  Many people will object to your living for God and them.  Strange as it sounds, they will.  Of course, Jesus Himself encountered this reality in abundance.  The Scriptures had prophesied that He would be “hated without a cause.”  Yes, persecution is an irrational act.  Nonetheless, if you are a disciple of Jesus Christ you will experience it.  (Conversely, if you are never persecuted perhaps its a sign that you are not actively in His school.)

Jesus never complained about all the injustices that we’re done to Him.  Instead, He kept on living for God and those around Him through it all.  Is this what you are doing each day?  I ask because this is what disciples of Jesus Christ do, and I wondered if you were one of them.

If you are one, He knows.  If you are not, it is not too late to start.

To My Unknown Friends

So here we are.  You do not know me and I do not know you.  By some means, you have found this blog and wonder what you should do with it. 

You don’t need to know much about me.  So that you might know something, however, you can check About.

I write each post as a distillation of the essential and entire message of this blog but if you want a more comprehensive and detailed expression its message you can see Introduction.

As for you, I have tried to write in as open and understandable a way as possible.  Although English is my native language, I’m glad that it is one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world today – so as to reach the most people.  I try to always remember that I am writing for irreligious as well as religious people, non-spiritual as well as spiritual people, and sinners as well as…actually I don’t believe there are any human beings who aren’t sinners.  Therefore, let me say that I write for those of you who sin a lot and those who sin a little.  I write for those who consider themselves Christians as well as those who do not.  I recognize that there are many varieties of Christians and even more varieties of those who are not Christians.  I write just as much for you who are atheists and agnostics as I do for those who profess some sort of faith.  I write for every adult age group, but hope also that my writing is accessible to children, who always seem to have an interest in our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ.  Even if you feel you don’t fall into any of the groups I have explicitly mentioned in this paragraph, I have written for you, too. 

I say again: You are the reason that I write this blog.  Whatever your background, race, nationality, age, gender, religious affiliation (or lack thereof), political affiliation, degree of sinfulness, or other form of human categorization, know that God loves you and His good news (of which I write in this blog) is for you.  Though I am by no means the sole source for the truth that you find here (any human being is capable of making known the truth about God’s kingdom), I am not for that reason absolved from being accurate and complete.  And I hasten to add that if it were not for the Bible, I would know hardly anything about God.     

There is no human being that I do not want to hear and believe the message of this blog.  Thus, while you and I may be unknown to each other, it seems quite appropriate for me to call you friend.  For as Jesus Christ, when He told us to how to love one another, said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to give his life for his friends.”

The Enjoyment of God

If you know that Jesus Christ is the exact representation of God, and if you are repenting of your sins and seeking to imitate Him, then you can enjoy God…and He can enjoy you.

God always intended that we should enjoy living with Him.  Sin blocks that process, but forgiveness of sins unblocks it.  This is why relating to God through Jesus Christ is so productive.  By His very existence, Jesus Christ speaks of the forgiveness that God is willing to give us.

When there is no block between you and God, you enjoy the fact that He reigns over the universe while He counts the very hairs on your head.  You know that He is paying attention to all that you do for Him.  You know that He will never leave you nor forsake you.  You feel secure because He is a loving Father upon whom you can always depend.  He is everything -  and more  – that you could ever want any father to be!

When you walk with God, you enjoy doing good things for others.  Even when they don’t appreciate it, God does.  You feel good inside and your face brightens because you are doing those things you were created to do – that is, showing kindness in every act whatever the act may be.

What I mean is that this moral pleasure comes to you regardless of whether you are a student, or an office worker, or mother.  In every one of these roles, you shine forth the light of God.  You live just as God would live if He walked in your shoes.  Therefore, your life is a blessing to everyone around you.

It’s not just you who enjoys God, however.  In this life I am describing, He enjoys you as well.  How enjoyable is it for Him, you ask?  Well, Jesus said there was more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine persons who need no repentance.  Infants need no repentance and you can imagine God has a great deal of joy over them – even we evil humans automatically cheer up at the sight of a newborn.  Jesus Christ is the only adult who never needed to repent and God certainly had pleasure in Him, speaking proudly from the clouds, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  So, we can know that however much joy infants and Jesus instilled in God – you and I instill even more when we turn to God and live for Him day by day.  Can you imagine!

Are you willing to let God enjoy you today?  Are you willing to let Him enjoy you to the fullest?  You and God – two close friends, enjoying each other and doing everything together.  Inseparable.  You looking out for His interests, He looking out for your interests.  

This friendship does not depend on circumstances.  The two of you stick together through thick and thin.  For better or worse.  When you slip and sin, He will forgive you, cleanse, and pick you up to continue walking with Him.  It is a friendship that endures any and every challenge.

 The enjoyment of God – it works both ways.  Let it work…today and every day.

Repent of What?

God wants us to repent of our sins and live according to His righteousness, as revealed through Jesus Christ.  What is a sin?  Some are more obvious than others.

Obvious sins are those generally condemned by any respectable society. These include murder, theft, adultery, lying, cheating – ten commandment kind of stuff. 

Jesus took the ten commandments to a whole new level, however, saying that it was not enough to conform to them in our outward behavior.  Rather, we must conform our thoughts – even our most secret thoughts – to them as well.  In this regard, He said the commandment against murder translated to not even hating someone.  Needless to say, this raises the bar for us considerably.  In one litany of sins of the heart, He included coveting, sensuality, envy, sexual immorality, slander, pride, foolishness, and – as if to stress the point with a catchall category- evil thoughts.  Therefore, any departure from a pure heart is sin.   

Even in spite of this, someone in our day will ask, “What about homosexuality?”  Of course, homosexuality is a sin.  All sexual promiscuity is sin – even in thoughts.  Sex is righteous between a man and a woman in the lifelong commitment of marriage.  Everyone knows this but not everyone is willing to admit it – even to themselves. 

Someone else will ask about abortion.  Of course, abortion is wrong.  Again, everyone knows this…no matter how many arguments they may make to the contrary. 

The reason so many people are outspoken on the subject of what they call sexual freedom is that they are looking to receive from others what they know they can never receive from God: approval for sinful behavior.  Alas, many in society are willing to grant it but it is merely mutual reinforcement of wishful thinking: “I’ll say you’re right if you’ll say I’m right; let’s call everyone else self-righteous and hypocritical.”  Even the inhabitants of ancient Sodom tried to shame Lot in this way when he was unsupportive of their sinful activities.

So far, however, we have only talked about the sins that are more obvious.  What are the sins that are less so?  These include the sins -  whether of omission or commission - which are circumstantially based.  For example, if we see someone in need and we have the ability to meet the need, but do not do so, then we have sinned.  Our guidance in this regard can be described as follows:  to him who knows the right thing to do but doesn’t do it, it’s a sin.  In other words, there may not be a law or commandment telling us what to do, but we are still sinning when we resist the guidance of our conscience.

Ultimately, we may know that sin is anything Jesus would not do.  Thus, we have a more than abundant answer to the question, “Repent of what?”

Conscience is the part of us that tells right from wrong.  It’s how we identify sin.  However, our conscience can become sick when we disregard it.  That’s why we need God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in our conscience in order to heal it and restore it to its full original purpose.  We receive the Holy Spirit when we believe in Jesus.  He comes to tell us more about Jesus and open up to us the way to live completely for God – whether you are a truck driver or a cook.

Repentance doesn’t mean quitting or changing your job.  It means becoming a truck driver for God or a cook for God – instead of for yourself.  Know that every sin you have committed will be forgiven whenever you confess it before God.  The only sin for which there is no forgiveness is speaking against the very Holy Spirit who is leading you to do right.

Repent of your sins and enjoy life with God.

Behold, the Lamb of God!

In Palestine two thousand years ago, John the Baptist introduced Jesus of Nazareth by proclaiming, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  This metaphor had particular meaning for the people of that region in that day.  Lambs were offered as sacrifice to God in Israel’s temple for forgiveness of sins.  John was in effect prophesying that Jesus would be offered for the sins of the people.  In retrospect we know what that meant: Jesus died for no sins of His own but rather because of the sinfulness of His persecutors and executioners.  Moreover, Jesus’ apostles eventually made it clear to us in the New Testament that Jesus died not just for the sins of ancient Israel and Rome, but for the sins of all humanity…of all time.

After dying on the cross, Jesus was raised from the dead.  After appearing on earth over a period of forty days in many convincing ways to hundreds of His followers, He ascended into heaven.  From there He continues to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.  Therefore, we ourselves may even now “behold the Lamb of God.”  We do so not with our physical eyes, but with the eyes of our heart – that is, our understanding.  This is faith.  Do you now behold the Lamb of God?  He certainly beholds you!

We are fortunate indeed to be able to see Him who is unseen.  Thomas who doubted was able to see and touch Jesus’ resurrected flesh and bone, but we are blessed to be able to see Him who is spirit with the eyes of our faith.  When we keep our eyes fixed on Him who watches us day and night from heaven, we are able to endure all things in life for He is the source of our unending strength.  We live for His approval.

Beyond a sacrifice for sins, the picture of a lamb also conveys innocence, for according to God’s command the sacrificial lambs had to be without blemish.  They also convey humility and gentleness, for whoever thinks of a lamb as brash or arrogant?  Jesus is innocent of all sin, and is gentle and humble of heart.  He bids us come to Him by faith (that is, to acknowledge Him with the eyes of our understanding), and He will give us rest for our restless hearts.  How can the ruler of this mighty universe have a heart like a lamb?  How can He who rules the planets and brings judgments on humanity be so sweet and tender?  This is the majesty and mystery of our glorious God.  He rules as a lion but has the heart of a lamb.

When you behold Him, He takes away sin.  That is, He forgives you of all your sins.  He doesn’t forgive you so that you can keep on sinning.  On the contrary, He forgives you so that you can begin to live a righteous and holy life before Him.  John’s phrase, however, contains even more meaning.  He is saying that Jesus not only forgives individual sins, He also removes the foundational (or “original sin” if you will) of all humanity.  What sin is that?  Thinking as if God is not as present in the earth as we ourselves are.  That is, the fundamental sin of the world is ignoring God.  All other sins proceeds from this one. 

Turn on the news, go to a sporting event, drive down the street.  Everywhere you go, humanity acts as if God is absent.  Even if portions of humanity insist that God exists, they still act as if He is somewhere else most of the time.  This is the sin of the world.  Do not love the world.  Do not be like the world.  Do not love the things that the world loves.  If anyone loves the world, the love of God is not in him.  If anyone is friends with the world, he’s an enemy of God.  Your choice is clear: accepts God’s perspective on life or the world’s perspective.  There is no middle ground between the two.

Love the only One who can remove this sin of the world.  Whenever you behold Him, the sin of the world is taken away – you can glimpse reality.  And act accordingly.

Don’t Bring God into Your Life; Enter His Instead

A common mistake we can make when seeking an active relationship with God is to attempt to bring Him into our world.  While this is commendable to some extent, it will ultimately fail.  There are several reasons for this.

Our world is, by definition, a self-centric world.  This is at odds with the very way God would have us live.  In fact, it’s the fundamental problem with the way we have been living up to this point: that is, we’ve been living self-centeredly, or selfishly.  We have been the center of all our thoughts.  Our interests have marked the beginning and end of all our thought processes.  Therefore, even though we do well to acknowledge God, this self-centered worldview will undermine the life we seek to live with and for Him.

The second reason that bringing God into our world doesn’t work is that our world is the world of flesh, that is the world of what is visible.  This worldview has never worked for us in the past because it is a darkened world – a world without recognition of the spiritual dimension where God dwells.    In such a darkened world, you never see any issue in its fullness.  It’s an attitude that says subconsciously, “God is elsewhere.”

Thirdly, the whole idea of “bringing God into your world” diminishes the status and place He deserves.  It places God in the role of a “supporting character” in the drama of your life.  He, however, is the central character in all of life and we are the supporting players – not because of any ego needs He has (Jesus Christ demonstrated dramatically that God has no ego problem), but because as the Creator and Sustainer of life He is central to it.  To view life any other way is to view it unrealistically.

Therefore, our right relationship with God is achieved by entering into His life.  Every room we enter, we do so acknowledging that He is already there and already has an agenda.  We enter every room seeking His interests, not our own.  The story of the good Samaritan amply demonstrates this point.  A certain man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho and was accosted by criminals who robbed him, beat him, and left him for dead.  After two people passed by without offering any aid, the fellow we call the good Samaritan came along.  He cared for the victim, put him up at an inn for the night, and left money with the innkeeper for his further care.  As a result, the good Samaritan must have been at least a day late and a dollar short for his original appointment.  Nonetheless, this did not bother him because he was operating according to God’s agenda, not his own.

When you enter into God’s life, one of the first things you notice is that it’s a solo experience.  That is, others generally do not join in the process.  Oh, they will acknowledge His presence if they’re in a religious building, especially if it’s a scheduled time to ”worship.”  Recognizing God everywhere, however, is something you have to do on your own – in the integrity of your own heart.  In other words, if you do it, only God will see it.  (Others will merely see the beneficial consequences of your having done it.)  That God alone sees your acknowledgement of Him, however, is all the audience you need. 

Entering the life of God is something you must do alone.  You cannot take anyone through those gates with you, nor can anyone piggyback you into it.  If you are unwilling to be swayed by the myriad ways that most people – including many self-proclaimed Christians – ignore the God who is all around them all day long, you will do well living in the life of God.

Me Repent?

The sign of a hardened human heart is the attitude, “It’s other people who need to change – not me.”  A large part of political and social discourse today is taken up with one side wanting the other side to repent.  Environmental advocates want everyone else to repent of their carbon footprint.  Reformers on every issue want everyone else to repent of not wanting to reform.  And, of course, everyone wants everyone else to repent of racism.  It seems everyone wants change - for the other guy. 

Through Jesus Christ, God makes repentance a very personal issue.  Jesus is the standard for human behavior.  Therefore, God’s question to you and to me – as individuals – is “What are you going to do about it?”  God’s call is that we repent – that is, we change – and become more like Jesus.  This is, to say the least, a formidable task.  It consumes all our faculties.  So much so, that any honest attempt to imitate Jesus leaves no energy left over to tell anyone else how to live.

You could well ask, “How then do you find the energy to write and tell us that we should repent – aren’t you consumed with amending your own life?”  That’s a fair question.  Here’s the fair answer: I am not telling you how to live; I am acknowledging Him who alone is worthy to tell us all how to live.  To borrow a line from antiquity, “There is a King in Israel!”  It is past time for everyone to be doing what is right in his own eyes.  For me to repent without declaring Him who commanded us to repent would be to withhold honor from Him to whom it is due.  Further, for me to eat the bread of life which He gives me yet not to tell other hungry people where I got it would be heartless.  And, finally, to sing His praise is actually part and parcel of my repentance.  That is, I’ve spent my life hoping people would think I was a good man, yet viewed in even the most charitable light I am mere filthy rags compared to Him.

So let me be clear: only Jesus Christ is qualified to tell you how to live.  That does not mean, however, that we don’t already have some basic understanding of what He wants from us.  In fact, if don’t remove from our lives those sins that we already know are wrong, we will not be able to accurately discern further direction from him.  To use an exaggerated example to illustrate the point, a serial murderer need not waste time asking God where he should buy a new home.  What are those sins that we already know are wrong?  They include, of course, stealing, lying, cheating, lust, adultery, greed, hate, and so on.  Jesus pointed out that it’s not just keeping such things out of our outward behavior, but keeping them out of our hearts that matters.  He pointed out that the man who condemns someone caught in adultery, yet who himself lusts for other women in his heart, is himself guilty of adultery and hypocrisy. 

Jesus’ point was that we humans tend to tolerate a lot more unrighteousness in our hearts than we let on to the world.  Moreover, the world’s standards aren’t all that high anyway so that even if we let on that we’re comfortable with a little bitterness, revenge, superiority, righteous indignation, lust, or such, society is not likely to think that much the less of us.

God did not command the world to repent until Jesus had lived the model life.  Until then, there was no one else to whom God could point us – even though in human terms there had been a lot of righteous lives.  Yes, Jesus is the standard which we are asked to meet.  To reach for that standard, we must repent – that is, change or improve.  It’s between you and Him.  No one else should be the person to whom you confess, but every person should be the beneficiary of your repentance.  If you want to be close to God, this is what you have to do…and no one else can do it for you.  And it’s something you do not once, but rather every day.  He’s waiting right now – what say you?

Christians, Unite…to Him!

The ongoing shame of today’s self-proclaimed Christian church is that it exists in over 30,000 (yes, over 30,000!) unique denominations.  Like a Tower of Babel, it speaks so many different versions of Christ’s message that the world only hears babble.  The reason for today’s state of affairs is the same that created the first Tower of Babel: the unwillingness of its inhabitants to be scattered for God’s purpose. 

God had commanded humanity to fill the earth and multiply, yet mankind clung to each other in fear instead of going forth with God.  They thought if they constructed a great building, that they would be protected, would have honor, and would better serve themselves and God.  Like Eve in the beginning, they had been deceived into thinking that God’s original command was unwise given the current situation.  They thought they knew better than God. 

Similarly, Jesus instructed His people to be as the salt of the earth.  Salt has no effect as long as it stays in the shaker.  It must be scattered upon the food to give its taste.  Christians should be as the salt of the earth, spread around it, living for God.  Churchgoers have clung to each other instead of God.  The fear of persecution has driven them into the catacombs of today’s church buildings and homes.  As long as they keep their worship to those caves where the world does not see them, the world will leave them alone.

God, however, is everywhere.  Jesus is the sun of righteousness and His light and warmth fill the heavens and the earth.  Our service to Him does not consist on patting each other on the back in dark cells of separation from the world.  Rather, we serve Him by doing justice, showing mercy, and walking humbly with Him wherever we go.

As He did with Pharoah of old, God is commanding today’s church leaders to let His people go that they might celebrate a feast to Him in the wilderness.  The feast is the daily giving of ourselves to the glory of God, serving His purpose, and honoring His name.  But Pharoah did want to lose the slave labor that he had.  He wanted the people to continue to build tombs to his glory.  Nonetheless, God’s people were ultimately freed and it will be so in our day as well.

Christians, stop being deceived.  Is Jesus not enough for you?  Serve Him with gladness.  Keep His commands.  Unite to Him in faith, not to your brothers in fear.  God did not command you to trust in your brother or to trust in your brother’s faith.  Rather, He commanded you to trust in God and love your brother.     

There is a church in the earth today.  It is a mighty church.  It is a glorious church.  It consists of all those who fear the name of the Lord and walk in the light and warmth of the Sun of Righteousness.  These are the stones built not upon each other, but upon the Cornerstone – Jesus Christ our Lord.  The members of this church have no need of affirmation from each other for the affirmation they seek is from the Lord.