The world has deceived us into believing that our value is found what we have and what we do. It is important for us to have an education, and we use that education to get a job. We use that job to establish a career. We use the career to network and to connect with other professionals. Then we start to want what they have to impress others, and to show we are on their level. We so quickly forget our true purpose in life, and began to neglect our families, our relationship with God, and not mention we have no compassion for the people in the world that have nothing. Consequently, we find ourselves never satisfied, even though we have the typical American dream. Nothing is good enough, and we find fault in everything and in everybody. We become consumed with ourselves, and want everything to fit perfectly into the narrow world view we have created in our minds. It is a never ending cycle of striving to be the best, to better than the next person, and we stop at nothing to get it. Who is this person? How did we become this way? Why do we not feel adequate when we have everything a person could want?
Here is the question I would like for you to ponder: Do you know what you are worth? Is your worth found in your education or your job? How about your good deeds or your attitude? Is it found in how long you have gone to church or maybe how well you have kept the Ten Commandments? Do you know you are priceless, bought with the blood of the King? The problem is we are living to please the world and ourselves, not God. Here is what we are missing: Each of us is valuable and priceless; we have the opportunity to receive the gift of grace. Close your eyes and take a deep breath…Exhale…you feel that; that is mercy. We must look at justice on the terms that God has put in place. The payment for just one sin is hell!
Satan’s name was Lucifer when in Heaven. He was a glorious and beautiful angel in Heaven. But he wanted to be God and filled himself up with pride. Many of us are plagued by the same sin, its-all-about-me syndrome. It is also crucial to understand that God is a good and a Judge, and gives grace to whomever he wants. Satan was not given grace with no second chances and was condemned to hell! Can you imagine how mad Satan is right now at us and God!
God has given us mercy so His will can be carried out: He wishes for no man to perish, but all come to repentance so all may receive the gift of grace called eternal life. God gives mercy to all, even those who don’t believe in Him and deny His existence; they also are given mercy for in hopes one day they decide to accept the gift of salvation. At any time, God would be just to strike us dead and go to hell. God has given us mercy so He can give us another gift, the gift of repentance. When we acknowledge and understand we are a sinner, our hearts are filled with godly sorrow and we want to cry out to the Lord to confess our sins. Many of us do not think we have sinned so there is no need to confess anything. We say within our hearts, “I have only done few things that aren’t that bad. I mean, I haven’t killed anyone.”
Well, we cannot receive forgiveness for our sins until we repent first. God does things in order, and asking for forgiveness without repenting (godly sorrow that changes your heart and your mind about sin; turn from your sins to allow Jesus to give you a new heart and mind with new desires) means our sins are still on us. We are not automatically forgiven for the little white lie we told; the time we stayed out past curfew; or the piece of candy we stole from the corner grocery as a child. We are still a liar and a thief; all liars and thieves cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
When we decide to repent and to turn from our sins, then we can partake in the gift of forgiveness. All our sins are forgotten and thrown into the depths of the sea. We are now a new creature in Christ, and when God sees us now, He sees the righteousness of Christ. Now, we can receive the gift of salvation – eternal life – to be saved from God’s Judgment. Every soul matters to God; our soul is priceless, worth the blood of the King. That’s the good news for all to hear, to listen and to believe in our hearts. It is not too late as long as you have breath in our lungs to breathe. Let us not take our grace for granted because none of us knows the hour or the day of our deaths or when Christ is coming for His Church! #RealTalk #BreakNChains #BreadofLifeTalkShow #ConfessionsoftheHeart #IHeartRadio
