-Another insert from my book-
If I Died…
If it came to it that I died today or
tomorrow, I want everybody to know that I never gave up. Regardless of the
temptations thrown at me, I keep pressing on. Regardless of how many times I
stumbled, I got back up, and pressed on. I want my family to know that I loved
them and would take a bullet for every one of them. In fact, I want every
person I have ever come into contact with to know that I would have died for every single one of you. I doesn’t
matter if I knew you or not, I can honestly say I would die for you. If I died
tonight, I know that I will be at peace with God. Maybe I won’t live to be an
old man. My life could end in an instant. This should scare non-believers to
the core. The beauty of Jesus is once you’ve accepted Him, it doesn’t matter if
you die. I know that I’ve messed up in every way possible. Jesus saved me now
suddenly I’m worthy! If I die
tomorrow, I want people to use the love I showed as fuel to never give up.
Be weary, those that seem to have this
“God” thing figured out might burn in Hell the next day. There’s fakes and
there’s the people who don’t believe at all. They throw this all aside like it
really doesn’t matter. But just like Jesus, I’m going to put my all in preaching to a world who hates
preachers.
When it comes down to it, this world
really doesn’t matters. It will all fade away eventually. Where are you going
when that happens? Have you been the guy who signed a paper and got baptized,
but never grew in your faith? It’s time to man up, because this is all that matters. Your grades don’t matter. Your looks
don’t matter. Basketball doesn’t matter. Football doesn’t matter. That job you
covet really doesn’t matter. Use your life preparing for eternity. Others
opinions will soon fade away. Your house will be wiped away, along with your
body. What lasts forever is your soul. The
best thing you can do here on earth is build relationships. Don’t wait to take
Jesus as your savior; He is standing there with arms wide open. All you have to
do is run to them!
Only Two
Ways
In the story of the cross, when Jesus was
being crucified, there were also two others beside Him. What this story breaks
down to is a perfect analogy of what will happen to everyone at the end of
their life. One of the men hanging there beside Jesus cried out for
forgiveness, and said he believed that what Jesus said was true. Because of the
man’s repentance, Jesus said “You will join me in paradise.” No matter what you
have done, or what stage of life you are in, you can always be forgiven. No sin
is too great to out-weigh what Jesus took on that cross.
The problem is, you don’t know if you’ll
die in your sleep tonight, get shot walking somewhere, or die instantly in a
car crash. It could happen, and it would be
too late. The other end of the story is that the other man next to Jesus
didn’t care. He was angry and full of hate. Jesus didn’t beg him to repent. He
won’t beg you either. When the two men died, one went to eternal bliss, and the
other to eternal torture. If Hell is the opposite of Heaven, and Heaven is full
of goodness, what do you think will be in Hell? For me, I don’t care what is
there, because that’s not where I’m going. Where
are you going?
Your
definition of failure affects your entire view on God.
I remember growing up and hearing all
these amazing stories of a God that did all these great things for people. They
made it seem like He was a magical fairy who sits up in Heaven waiting to hear
just the right words before giving the people what they want. People used to
say “I’ve been praying about this for years now and I don’t know why He won’t
answer me!” My response is, maybe your personal comfort doesn’t matter. Maybe
even though you do everything the spirit tells you to do, you won’t get
anything in return (physically at least). I propose that being a “prayer
warrior”, in the sense that you just pray for the same thing (wording it
different each time) for hours and hours, really does nothing at all. He wants
us to bring our struggles to Him and ask him to make sense of them, maybe if it
is His will, He’ll give us what we desire. Even in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus
says, “Your will be done”. If someone close to you has cancer, you should be
asking God for His will to be done. Perhaps dying and going to be with God is a
better solution than your selfish desires. I’m not saying you’re wrong for
wanting something bad to go away. I completely understand that in that moment
we just want it to go away. I’m saying we should be asking God to take what we
don’t understand, and use it for His glory. However, we have a big tendency in
this day and age to think we know as much as God.
How do you view a prayer that goes
unanswered? Let me assure you that God didn’t fail or forget. If we view
getting what we want as “success” then, we need to change. If “failing” is not
getting what we want, then God fails a
lot. He gives us the choice to choose what He wants and knows is best, or
to choose what he doesn’t want. Regardless, he stills gives us the choice.
Scary thought, right? “Luke, you can’t say that! God is perfect!” That He is,
so what gives you the right to define God’s failure or success at all? The only
failure here is us failing to see the bigger picture. God doesn’t give us all
the answers, and is in no way required to.
Just like children don’t understand why
they can’t go to the park by themselves, we question God like we know what’s
better. If we start being followers, and stop being the annoying guy that
always gives his irrelevant opinion, we can find a lot more peace. When we see
that the story isn’t about us, but God’s ultimate triumph over evil, suddenly
our problems don’t seem that big anymore.
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