It's Not Easy

It's not easy to be a Christian. Those of us who have decided to live our lives according to the Word of God have realized that it is difficult. There are so many parts of this world that try to push us and pull us away from God and what He would have us do. I recently read about one such attempt, where a gay couple tried crashing a date night by acting "flamboyantly gay."This date night was designed to honor marriage with many married couples in attendance at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. You can read more about the details here: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2011/02/15/crashing-date-night. There are also links within their post about the incident which will take you to pages with vulgar language, fair warning.

Because this attempt was posted and encouraged on the internet previous to the event, the staff at the Creation Museum were prepared to handle the situation. They turned the gay couple away peaceably without incident. Now, because they turned them away, the museum has received some bad publicity on blogs and in newspapers.

This is an example of situations and circumstances where we can find ourselves as Christians. They are not pleasant, we do not look forward to them, but we know that they are coming. How many times was the Lord tested by the Pharisees and other leaders in the Jewish society? If He was tested and tried numerous times them we can be sure that we will.

Sometimes we worry about situations like this one where no matter how we respond we will still be slandered or hurt in various ways. Here is what Peter had to say about these things,

"Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame" (1 Peter 3:13-16).

It may not be easy my friends, but if we do what is right, good, and holy in the sight of God then we have nothing to worry about.

Valentine's Day

VALENTINE’S DAY IS HERE!!! I know that there are some who have mixed feelings about this day. Some look forward to it as one of their favorite days of the year, while others believe it to be a day of commercial enterprise just trying to make more money off of love. Whatever you believe about Valentine’s Day it is at least a day in which we can tell and show our loved ones that they are truly loved. For those of us who do not do that on a regular basis it is probably a day that we should take advantage of. Hopefully we will use every day to show our significant other that we love them.

There is someone else that we need to express our love and appreciation to on a regular basis, God. In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God loves us so much that he creates us in His image and puts us in charge of the rest of his creation.

Of course, we all disregarded His love and charity toward us by living sinful lives (Romans 3:23). And our sins earned us death, “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). However, God continued to show His love toward us in His eternal plan of salvation,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will (Ephesians 1:3-5).

In John 3:16 God expresses His love by sending his Son, “For God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” In Romans 5: 6-8 we are reminded of how great His love is for us, “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Knowing all that God has done for us because of His love how can we express our love to Him? First we need to obey the gospel accepting the gift of His love, salvation, like those in Acts 2 repenting of our sins and being baptized for the forgiveness of our sins. But we can also continue to express our love by keeping His commandments, “If you love Me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Let’s not allow this love to be one-sided with God doing it all. We need to show God how much we love Him by our obedience, praise, and acceptance of His will. As we try to show the ones we love how much we love them today, we should be showing God how much we love Him.