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Seasons of loss bring reflection and contemplation in the solitary moments of your own grief. It boils all the complexities of life down to the very rudiments of our existence. To pass through this valley without it is to waste a very precious time of learning and growth.
As I attended the funeral of my dear father this week, I heard these words spoken about my dad…
Continue reading “You’re Preaching Your Own Funeral”The event happened many years ago, but it left a picture in my mind that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. I was in church, walking up the side aisle when another church member, an older woman who had been so dear to my husband and me was walking towards me. I smiled and greeted her. She jerked her head up, her nose towards the ceiling and swiftly passed by without a word! It was an obvious rejection – not just of my greeting, but of me personally. I was bewildered! So what did I do? I followed her to inquire!
Continue reading “How Does Jesus Respond To Those Who Reject Him?”It’s almost here – Easter, my favorite holiday! Without Easter there is no reason to get out of bed. No reason to celebrate a birthday. No reason to hope for anything good to come to this difficult life. No hope for eternal life with God.
But there IS Easter! Why? Jesus arose from the dead! He is alive! He conquered death and hell. That means my I can live, truly live in this life, and live eternally. I have trusted in Christ – that His death on the cross was the penalty for my sin. He has rescued me! Oh, what reason to celebrate not just this Sunday, but every day!!
Today on Good Friday, we remember that Jesus died on the cross. We remember His pain and suffering as He hung between the thieves, though He had never sinned. We hear Him cry out in the darkness, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do,” and we know that the word, “them” includes you and me. We crucified Him. We were guilty. We remember that He was buried in a borrowed tomb, and three days later, He arose!
My heart is so thankful that He lives and He gives me purpose for every day! If you don’t have an assurance of eternal life, He loves you, and if you had been the only one born, He would have died just for you. Acknowledge that you are a sinner and put your faith in Him alone. He can rescue you from sin and eternal separation from Him in hell and fill your life with the joy of knowing Him now.
My church, Boones Creek Bible Church is having a Good Friday service today, April 15 at 4:00 in the afternoon. We would love to have you join us. It’s going to be a precious time of remembering His sacrifice on the cross.
Also, if you don’t have a church home, we’d love for you to come to our Easter service at 10:30 Sunday morning.
If you need a great object lesson to share with children about what Jesus’ death on the cross accomplished, you can watch this demonstration I did here on You Tube.
Happy Easter, friends! He lives!
I recently watched a decorating video entitled, The Biggest Decorating Mistake We All Make. The title drew me in! I mean, who wants to make a BIG mistake in their home decor? While watching, I found that I, too, am guilty of making this “Huge blunder!” The good news is, it’s fixable! (Read on and I’ll tell you what was shared as the biggest decor faux pas.)
The video didn’t just make me want to go take care of the problem areas in my home, it also got me thinking about BIG MISTAKES we make in other areas of our lives – things that could be avoided.
Let’s start today with the one that is the most detrimental. I’m calling it The Biggest Mistake of a Lifetime.
Before I watched the decorating video, I was trying to anticipate what the decorating mistake was. It was all about perspective – too small a picture over a sofa, or too large a television for the small table, for example. Maybe you’re doing that same kind of guessing right now with my statement. What comes to your mind when you consider The Biggest Mistake of a Lifetime? Some may say…
The list could go and on…but these are all incorrect.
For the answer of life’s biggest mistake, we’re not opening up a popular blog. We’re not listening to a dynamic motivational speaker, we’re going to the One Who gave us life – our great God.
In Luke 12, Jesus speaks to a group of people who had gathered around Him. Listen to His warning to them and to us ~
And He spoke a parable unto them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, because I have no room to store my fruits?’
18 And he said, ‘This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I store all my fruits and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’
20 But God said unto him, ‘Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?’
21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
This man planned out his business,
“I’ll get more!”.
He planned out his life,
“I’ll build barns to store everything!“,
but he had no control over his death.
Jesus called this man a fool, not because he was rich, but because he put all his value in the things of this life with no consideration of where he would spend eternity. His soul was the most valuable possession, but he made no provision for it.
People of this world would look at this rich man and think he was successful, but God says this is foolishness. One author said,
It isn’t only sin to give material things too high a place in your life – it is also stupid.
If that seems too blunt for you, stop and consider the weight of this parable. Eternity banks on it! The mistake of a lifetime is to pour our best efforts into the temporal things of this life and never think about where we will spend eternity. Jesus is giving a warning to not be foolish like this man. In a moment, this life is ended. None of us knows when that moment will be, so we must not delay considering that Christ has made the provision for us to have a relationship with Him now, and then a home with Him forever when this life is ended.
The Biggest Mistake of a Lifetime would be to pour all our time and efforts into this world and miss out on the blessing of knowing Christ, both now and after our death. The Biggest Mistake of a Lifetime is to think that accumulating more stuff and climbing higher and higher on the ladder of success is where real life is. Friend, that’s a lie from the pit of hell. Christ came to give us real life through Himself.
If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior for your sin and you’re wondering why you’re feeling empty and unsatisfied, even though you have lots of worldly possessions, it’s because your heart is craving what God created you for – a personal relationship with Him. To know Him is to truly be rich in this life and in the next.
Don’t make the biggest mistake and miss it. Just like the decorating mistake, this is fixable. Just don’t be like the man in the parable and wait too long.
If you want to read more about how to know Christ as your Savior, I invite you to go here. Feel free to email me at Refreshherblog@gmail.com. with any questions you may have.
A quick glance at today’s headlines are more discouraging than the wrinkles that reflect in my mirror. With daily reports of violence, inflation, deadly storms and a global pandemic, a person could look around them frantically for a means to protect themselves.
Horses and chariots are man’s means, and they can help, but how wise to trust even more in the name of the Lord!
Author Johanna Weaver put it this way –
If God isn’t bigger than my life, then my life is bigger than God and that’s when anxiety takes over.
But let’s go a little deeper in this subject of trust. Are we so foolish that we put our absolute trust in any of those methods of protection, but NOT put our faith and trust in the God of this universe?
All around us there are men and women who will accept the plans of people with their whole heart, but then shake their fist in the face of God as they mock Him and deny His very existence. They have turned their back on God’s plan of salvation through the shed blood of Christ. They reject the God Who gave them life, and the gift of His Son Who died to give them eternal life.
Some trust in horses and some in chariots.
Horses die.
Chariots fall apart.
Our resources crumble.
But when you remember the name of the Lord our God and depend on Him for the one thing that matters most – your eternity – then you have a sure and solid protection for both these difficult days and eternity!
What are the “horses” and “chariots” that you are trusting? Are you keeping your faith more in the eternal God or the short-lived fixes? This is Satan’s tactic – to get us so focused on the temporary that we neglect the eternal.
To choose Christ is true wisdom. To reject Him is more foolish than anyone you may point at that isn’t using the temporal protection of your choice. It’s so easy to get upside down in what we value most. We can be wise in making good choices for our earthly protection, and totally miss what is truly important. Friend, be sure of eternity. Jesus is the choice that matters most.
RefreshHer 