It seems like the battle that we are up against is the ever increasing pressure to conform to standards, definitions and values that are contrary to God, His Word and His Spirit.  The struggle robs our peace, our confidence, our focus and leaves us entangled in battles that is not ours to fight. We either get into the battle that is none-of-our-business like King Josiah did, or we fight the legitimate battles in the flesh, in the way that is not our business to be.

Return to Your First Love

We can never do God's work in our own strength and our own way. Moses missed going into the promised land because of doing this. We cannot get our heads, hearts and hands into that which we were not given by God to get into. It is so easy to get wrapped up in what is surrounding us, but it is not impossible to rise above it. Daniel did, Esther did.

How do we keep from getting baited into the net of mediocre pursuits that steal our time and energy and resources? We spend time with God. We pursue His presence. We return to our first love. We lay aside all ideas, teachings, affronts, offenses and high mindedness and share time and space with God.

I heard a preacher say that it takes TIME and TRUTH in God's presence to build an intimate relationship with Him. This is true. You cannot say that you love God and desire His will in and for your life if you never give of what we all have to give to Him. Where is God's time? When do you set aside a few minutes, an hour or two, a day, just to be with Him?

And then when you are finding those minutes, hours or day to be with Him, are you still your conceded self? Do you even know how to be honest with God? It always amaze me when I find myself trying to whitewash my thoughts and actions before God. He knows the truth. The question is whether or not we are brave enough to admit to it. It is only when I can in truth go to God about an issue that He intervenes. When I am self-deceived and hide behind the fig-leave of my own understanding, I may as well go fishing. The Psalmist write that God desires truth in the inward parts. 

O that all the pressure, all the filth, all the danger, hate, war and junk around us will squeeze us back to our first love. Maybe when we find in Him a friend so dear, maybe when we re-discover what a sweet, sweet presence He really is, maybe then will we rise above the murky, cesspool of circumstances, politics and evil that surrounds us.

The Question

The question is so simple yet so profound:

“Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?”

 It can be put this way: “Have you received Jesus and surrendered your life to Him?”

Or this way: “Have you committed to serve Jesus Christ and Him only, turning your back on self, satan and sin?”

The question makes some folks uncomfortable because they do not know how to answer it.

A simple “no” maybe the truest answer but then there will be the next question: “Why not?” and that one is not always so easy to explain.

A simple “yes” may also solicit a follow up question like: “Tell me about it. Did it happen on a specific date and time?” And some may not want to answer this either since there was no date or time. They just stumbled into religion and church. They learned the language, the terminology and can do the social aspect of it with the best of church-folks. Yet, they never had a day or a time when they actually made a commitment to serve God through Jesus Christ. These are the folks that imagine that one can get married by moving in together and calling yourselves husband and wife though you never actually had a day when you said your “I do” ‘s.

Let’s get back to the “no” answer. The question “Why not?” can honestly be answered by saying one of the flowing:

“I like my life as it is and I think God is unnecessary”

Or “I am enjoying all the stuff that I do and bringing God and Jesus into it will just take all my fun away. God is a real party poop.”

Or “I really do not have time for God”

Or “I do not believe in a God”

Maybe there are a few more heated responses from people who reckon that God owes them something or that He is somehow to blame for some or all the awful things people bring upon themselves.

There are a third group of people who can honestly say:”I don’t know?” They just have never considered this or have gone to church all their lives and never really heard the full gospel.

None of these answers to THE QUESTION is wrong. It is an honest response, a true response. And in that is hope. There are so many lies surrounding us. The truth, just by itself is already some sort of victory.

The best response would be something like this:  “Yes. I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I gave my life to Him. He is the dearest friend I have. I cannot imagine my life without Him. He holds my heart. I talk with Him day and night. His love, His kindness has helped me through many dark days and because I know, that I know, that I know that He loves me, this life makes sense to me. And yes, there was a day and a place when I made a commitment to serve God through Jesus Christ forever. There was a day when I said goodbye to satan, sin and self. And no, that does not mean that I never sinned after that or were selfish or pestered by satan. It does mean that I stopped pursuing them and instead pursue God through Jesus Christ by the power of His Spirit, to the best of my ability.”