Are You Calling God a Liar?

God said that these shall not inherit the kingdom of Heaven. He then goes on to name who “these” are. 

     “Or don’t you know that the unrighteous won’t inherit the kingdom of God? Don’t be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

I take this list to be a partial one. Liars are included, along with the profane, worldly, unloving, un-giving, as well as etcetera, etcetera and a whole lot of etceteras. These unrighteous include those who are staying in Christ by continually trusting Him and seeking to love God and their fellow men by seeking to overcome sin as they fully glorify God with their lives. 

Shall they continue in these various sins in all of their multifaceted ways of disobeying God? Should they walk as though they are holding hands with Jesus the Groom on one side and the planned sin (think adulterous lover) on the other? NO! If we are using grace as a means of continuing in the very thing that sent Jesus to a gruesome death in the first place we are making a liar out of God. 

God said the penalty for sin is death. It was our future without Jesus. Did He give us freedom so we could continue walking in it, enjoying it and continually spitting in Jesus’ eye? One man, one woman for life was not just a reality … it was a picture of a spiritual reality as well. It meant that we wouldn’t be joined to Jesus and remain joined to our sin at the same time. Because we died to sin we would not continue as though we could have sin as our side lover.

Be very careful in how you treat sin. When we communicate that we can continue sinning without seeking to overcome it we are hurting ourselves and others. While it is very true that I serve a Savior Who is greater at forgiving than I am at needing it that does not change the fact that repentance is to be a daily endeavor and struggle. If I say I can give in to sin and remain in Christ I am walking and communicating a dangerous lie.

I was washed, set-apart and justified so I could overcome it. I must seek to leave it behind. I may stumble and fall and may struggle with the old, “ball and chain” of that previous life. But I must never forget that love dictates that I will always seek to leave it in my past!

By John Fields

Will God Welcome You With Open Arms?

My little Millie came for a visit last weekend. I was extremely glad because I hadn’t seen her since Christmas. I held her, cuddled, hugged and talked lots and lots of baby talk.

You know that I spoke at her level because that's all I could do if I wanted to have meaningful interaction. As hoped, my heart to hurt (in a good way) as she smiled sweetly, cooed and wiggled in delight as she did what she could to interact in return.

I wish more of us who love God and seek to do His will could have more compassion and understanding for one another as we all seek to serve God better. If God did not lower Himself and seek to save and interact in a way that accommodated us and sought our betterment despite our sordid, awful short-comings not a one of us would have a chance ... NOT ... EVEN ... ONE!

I will tell you to do this. CLING to God and love Him for all you are worth. And, all things considered when looked at in human eyes ... we aren't worth much! Not one is righteousness (including you) NOT ... EVEN ... ONE! But with God, He was willing to come to earth, become human and die a horrible and humiliating death to save us. It is through HIS eyes that we must find the measure of our worth.

As you size up others don't forget this. They fall short in many, many ways. Maybe they are too far gone. There is reason to doubt that. But IF they are it isn't for me or you to decide. Reach out to others in love and humility and seek to raise them up in what they lack as you agree to let them do the same for you. Why do we associate with the lowly? It is because we're lowly ourselves!

"Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil; consider what is good before all people. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people. Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay,' says the Lord. Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:16-21

By John Fields

What If I'm Wrong?

If I've heard that once I've heard it a hundred times. Let me take the pressure off because you are too uptight. Brace yourself ... here it comes ... you are wrong! And why would you think that it would necessarily impact your salvation?

Granted, if you deny the resurrection or deny that Jesus was born of a virgin or any number of other things that are plain. Yeah, that would be a big problem. But that requires a stubborn, unyielding heart.

But if you are in Christ and seeking to glorify and honor Him and seeking to honestly follow His will you will remain in Him. That is ... so long as you remember that what saved you in the first place ... Jesus Christ ... is what keeps you saved every minute of every day you are alive.

But you are wrong and will be wrong at various points in your life. God's grace covers that! The key is that you don't need to like it! Don't use grace as a shield and cover to allow you to live selfishly and not for God or others.

But be mindful, one of the slickest cons that the Devil ever pulls is making you think that you have to earn salvation. When you do that you are not serving God out of love for Him but out of love for the benefit you think you will receive from serving Him.

God wants love and gifts from a grateful heart. Give Him that as you live your life and you will not need to fear your safety!

"For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord." Ephesians 5:8-10

By - John Fields

SHUT UP! Good Morning …. By John Fields

Rarely was duplicity shown as clearly as it was this morning. A couple of Junior High kids were getting on my bus when one turned on the other and said .. “SHUT UP!!!” Then in one smooth motion came around, sweetly smiled and said to me, “Good morning.”

Although it is rarely that obvious, I think many of us have a problem like this. We are sweet when we want to be, when there might be some advantage to it … but down-right gnarly at other times. God did not call us to be sweetly kind some of the time only to be awful the rest of it.

How often do we give ourselves permission or justification to mistreat the lowest classes of people? If our justifications were given a voice, might they sound like this? “Lord, I thank You that I’m not like others, like … telemarketers, spammers or even those politicians!”

Guess what? God sends His sun, rain and all other kinds of blessings upon these people to. I really have to brace myself from hypocrisy here. I can be very nice in person or to talk to but become a brazen bully in a letter or email. I have to guard against that!

Jesus brother, the Apostle James tells us that what we are … we are to be ALL the time! God created those people!

“But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can saltwater produce fresh.” James 3:8-12

If you’re going to be a disciple of Jesus, you are going to need to love like He does. That can be a life-long endeavor to learn and the temptation to mistreat others a devil to overcome. But Jesus calls us to be overcomers!

“Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:29-32

Have You Ever Heard of Red? ~ John Fields

You likely know him by his real name rather than the nick-name he earned when he dismissed the greatest blessing in his life for a bowl of red-bean soup. Yep, I'm talking about Esau.

He came in that day saying something like, "I'm so hungry I could eat a camel," and his brother Jacob said, "Would you settle for a bowl of soup?" After telling him he would Jacob bargained, "Will you give me your birthright for it?"

I wonder to this day if he really thought that Esau would do that. Or did he think it was a joke and Esau surprised THE DICKENS out of him by agreeing to that? Regardless of how it began, we know how it ended. Esau thought so little of his inheritance that he gave it up for lunch.

I don't known WHO began calling him Edom after that. But you look up Edom you'll see that it literally means "Red." He EARNED that! "Hey Red ... Red Bean ... Bright Boy .... Have I got a DEAL for you!!!"

Do you know what that birthright meant? It was his place as the first born son. He got a double portion when the estate of his father was settled. He gave up his inheritance for that soup.

Don't forget the lesson. We have "Reds" all around us ... gangs of them! God has something magnificent for them and they won't exchange their handfuls of Monopoly money for the true wealth of Heavenly currency. It may even be your nick-name in Heavenly realms if you are missing your chance to spend earthly funds in a way that nets you Heavenly returns.

Christian, if you miss this opportunity because you won't let go of your worthless "stuff," then mark my words ... if you ever lay eyes on Esau in the next life you may hear him say as he walks away ... "And they said that I was dumb!"

"And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?'" Mark 8:34-37