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Hammer than a Nail

A hand drawn vector doodle illustration of a hammer about to hit a nail on a wooden plank.

Would I rather be a hammer than a nail, a sparrow than a snail?

God chooses to make nails and snails out of his children…

He chooses us to be trodden upon, rather than to rule and tread on others.

For now, he prefers us to be victims of the evil ones, rather than to rule over them with a heavy hand! For now!

He wants us to be sheep rather than wolves, poor rather than rich, crying rather than laughing, …

Jesus said so in his sermon on the mount, and his apostles wrote this in all of their letters.

Let me read to you what Jesus said when he first started teaching:    

It is recorded in

                Matthew chapter 5 and Luke chapter 6

 

  Before I read it to you, I need to tell you that whenever I quote the Bible, my father and I scrutinize carefully the passages of the Bible in the original Greek text, for accuracy, and then we paraphrase them, (sometimes liberally), in our own words so that its meaning is brought out clearly to you.

So, Jesus said in his sermon on the mount in

(Luke 6: 20-26)

“Consider yourselves blessed by God when you end up in this world poor and hungry… crying endlessly, hated and despised and rejected by everyone.

Keep on clinging faithfully to his ways and teachings, and God will pay you back generously in heaven for it.”

That is what Jesus said!

 

Why, we ask? What is so good about suffering in poverty and sorrows?

The answer, that we often do not want to hear is this:

It is because sorrows and sufferings are an integral part of a godly life!

God uses them to test us and to help us become better people, more like Jesus!

“We, children of God, have to experience many sorrows in order to enter the Kingdom of God”,

wrote the apostle Paul in Acts 14: 22

Going back to what Jesus said in his sermon on the mount, he said:

“Do not consider yourselves blessed by God when you become rich, when you are happy and satisfied with your life, living it up, and laughing your way through it.

People will envy you and admire you, but in reality, you are not blessed by God, because you will have to taste the other side of the coin one day, after you depart from this life: tears, sorrows and sufferings while being humbled by God, in the after life.

 It is only fair…We all need to experience good times and bad times! That is what Jesus wanted to convey to us when he told us what happened to the rich man and Lazarus, the beggar … Read it yourself in Luke 16: 19-31. 

 

 Jesus was against riches!

Why, we ask? What is wrong with being rich?           

Doesn’t each one of us want (and strive) to be so?

The answer is subtle, and again we do not really want to hear it:

It is because, when we indulge in living happily and comfortably in this world, we prove ourselves to be very self-centered and un-loving, since there are so many of our brothers and sisters, that we are supposed to love, who live in misery, and badly need our help!

We prove ourselves to be very self-centered and un-loving…

Such people will definitely not be allowed to enter God’s dwelling place.

There is nothing wrong with being rich!

What  is wrong is to close ourselves in a happy and blessed “bubble” when there are so many good people outside who are in need of our substantial help.

We need to share what we have with theirs!

We cannot be selfishly enjoying this life with our riches and blessings, and be at the same time good and pleasing to God! No!

Still on this subject, Jesus said, in another difficult to understand passage that:

“The wages given for a day’s work are very unjustly and un-fairly distributed in society, and those who earn much in this world for their work should help those who earn little for their hard work!

If they do this, they will have many grateful friends in this world and in eternity…”

This is what Jesus said in Luke 16: 9 (highly paraphrased, I admit, but correct).

Do we get the picture now?

We all consider riches (and the happiness it brings) as a blessing of God to those who possess them.

But, on the contrary, they are a curse, a curse in disguise; Same as beauty and success…

And that is because riches, beauty and achievement create pride, and excesses in the lives of those who possess them, and  bring with them many temptations that we would better be without…

So, no! We should not choose to be a hammer rather than a nail.

Rather choose to be a nail, a lamb that does not  harm others and is good!

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The right way to worship God

Worshiping God is not done merely by waving to heaven singing hallelujah. 

No. The Bible says, that:

“Worshiping God is done by presenting your bodies to him -clean and holy- as any sacrifice should be offered.

Therefore,  change your ways and do not live  carnal lives, as the people of this world do, but strive to become holy, the way God demands of you.

 (Romans 12: 1, 2)

“ Do not be deceived: None of those who indulge in sexual sins, who commit adulteries, fornications,  who practically prostitute themselves or practice homosexuality will be allowed to enter into God’s kingdom.

That is written in (1 Corinthians 6: 10) 

God wants his children to stand out as being holy, good and clean living, worthy of being called his people, his servants.

But, the world being nowadays full of temptations, it makes it very difficult for us to be holy. 

“The spirit is willing, but the body is weak…” Jesus said, and in order to succeed, we need to stay well away from temptations.

And yet, it amazes me to notice that teenagers today, even those who profess to follow Jesus Christ, start building close relationships with the opposite sex well before they even reach my age.

And I am only 17 years old now!

Don’t they realize that in this way they are bound to fall into sin, sooner or later, dishonoring themselves, grieving their Lord, and put into danger their eternal destiny…

Christians have certainly not learned to hate this sin which  destroys homes and lives and relationships, in exchange for some moments of pleasure that are sweet at first, but have bitter consequences!

Let us teenagers refrain from building “innocent” close relationships with the opposite sex. We throw ourselves into temptation rather than keeping away from temptations, as the Lord told us to pray.

=====================

My father tells me that he, himself, was enslaved by this sin  until, when at the age of 23, he was born-again.

He knew then, that this had to stop his womanizing there and then. In order not to slide back into his old ways he had, to avoid being around women since they were his great weakness…

 So, he became unsocial, and avoided the ladies at all cost.

And he succeeded!

But, he had to live like a monk, a very lonely and unhappy life for many years…   

He eventually got married, twice, but his wives left him, and he has now lived without a wife for 16 years and he still suffers immensely because of it!

But that was the price he had to pay in order to prove, to God and to himself that he truly means business in following Jesus Christ. 

By being very hard with himself and not socializing much, my father managed, in spite of his strong needs, to never have any sexual relationships with anyone else, (except the wives he married, of course). He is now nearly 74 years old!

Like him, let us do whatever needs to be done so as not to fall into sin, whatever our personal weakness may be.

 Let us stay well away from whatever tempts us, at any cost!

And let all young people understand that flirting is not God’s way to find a spouse.

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Do you want to become a good person?

          Do you have a “good heart”?

There are a few persons in this world that genuinely have a “good heart”. They are few in numbers and hard to find…

In spite of their particular character that may spoil them, and in spite of the sinful ways they may have been contaminated with,    they do have a good heart hidden deep inside them!

Such people sincerely wish they could live in a proper, holy, righteous and selfless way, doing good to others, even though they do not often succeed since they are imprisoned in a body that is full of weaknesses and since they are surrounded by an ugly, evil world…

They wish they were able to live and act in such a way so as to be able to respect themselves but do not manage to do so, and end up being deeply disappointed, hating themselves for what they have become…

Are you such a person?

Does your heart prick you to change, to become the better person that you want to be?

You can do it, with God’s help!

Trying to change yourself by relying on your own “willpower” will always end up in failure.

A “godly willpower” however will do miracles:

In this kind of “willpower”, you must put in the “will”, and ask God to put in the “power”!

We do not have the power to really change ourselves. We need God’s help!

And God is searching for such persons, to help them become what they should be.

He says in 2 Chronicles 16: 9

“The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those people whose hearts are longing to be pleasing, fully committed to him!”

If you will only turn to your Creator to help you, God will send his Holy Spirit in you to change you from within and make you into a new person.

That is God’s speciality!

Every true child of God has experienced this.

It truly works!

God’s power is given to us the very moment that we submit our will to him, and put our faith, our love and obedience in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in his Word.

 It is called: being “born again”, becoming a new spiritual being!

Do you want to experience such an unbelievable transformation of your being?

You can, if you will ask God to help you in all sincerity.

God does not impose himself upon us! He is waiting for us to turn to him and invite him to come in our hearts and help us fight whatever is evil within us.

Listen to what Jesus says in Revelation 3: 19 – 20

“I stand at the door of your heart and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in him and dine, become very close friends with him and he with me…

I will show them where they go wrong, and I will correct and discipline them like a father does to his children.

They must, however, show zeal and allow me to change their ways!”

Indeed, we have to work hard at becoming more like Jesus:

First of all, we must keep ourselves well away, and at any cost, from evil, in whatever  form it masters us most:

Sexual immorality, greed, self-centredness, lying, slealing and so much more… We must truly learn to hate sin!

And then, quietly and miraculously, Jesus, (who now lives in us), will help us live a holy life, always doing the right and loving thing.

He will change us, as long as we mean business with God, reading the Bible daily, and obeying his Spirit.

Jesus will help us free yourself from whatever you have become addicted on.

The immoral persons will become… holy,

The crooks will become… honest,

The wicked will become… Christ-like!

The self-centred will start caring for others…

And then, you will be able to respect yourself, being proud of who you are, what you have become in Christ Jesus.

And, as a bonus, you will receive eternal life!

For it is written in Romans 2: 6 – 10,

“God will make every person reap what they have sown and deserve in this life:

To those who have been honestly seeking to do what is “good” and pleasing in God’s eyes, God will give them, in the eternal, hereafter life: the honour, the glory and immortality that they have been yearning for…

But to those who have lived a self-centred life, who chose not to believe in the Truth and do what is not right, there will be much wrath, anger, distress and trouble awaiting them!”

So, if you have a good heart, you are eligible to be chosen by God

to be changed into a truly good person… if you will let him.

If, however your heart is deceitful and evil like that of most people, but are conscious of it and want to be good…ask God to actually change your heart and mind.

God will see your repentance and will act by giving you a new heart and draw you to his Son and into his Kingdom.

For Jesus said, in John 6: 44

“No one can come to me unless my father draws him to me”.

Jesus will change you into the better person that you long to be.

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Divorce and remarriage

  “Firing” your spouse out of the family unit and remarrying! 

 

I would like to talk to you about the awful subject of divorcing our spouse and remarrying.

Three years ago my wife left our home and two of my children followed her…

I was devastated, and still am.

Fortunately, our eldest child chose to stick with me.

I have all the love and company I need from my daughter Danielle, but I still badly need a wife…

My physical needs most definitely play a big part in me wanting to remarry, but there are other psychological needs which I do not really understand well, but which nevertheless make me the most miserable person on earth, simply because I do not have a loving wife that I am proud of at my side!

I may have my daughter’s love and company, but without a wife I feel like a big zero: 0

Actually I feel like being much less than a zero:

six zeros:  000,000.

Having the right wife by my side would change this drastically: a 1 attached to the zeros would make it: 1,000,000 !

That is exactly how I feel! I do not know why this is so, but it is so, and real.

So, I am now the most unhappy man in the world, and I long to re-marry!

Lately I found a girl in the Philippines who would love to marry me and become part of the family that my daughter and I still are!

In order to marry her, I must first get a divorce from my wife! So, I have appointed a lawyer for that purpose…

 

Now, I am a committed child of God, and yet I am apparently doing what Jesus forbids: Divorcing and marrying again! (see Luke 16: 18, and Matthew 5: 32)

I use the adjective “apparently” because in reality I do not go against God’s commandment, since Jesus’ said (in Matthew 19: 9, and in the original language of the New Testament):

“If a man “fires” (chases away) his wife and marries           another one he commits adultery, (unless his wife had committed adultery herself!)”

I have never chased my wives away! Not my first one, which shared my life for 20 years, nor my second one which stayed by my side for 15 years…

They are the ones that left me!

They “fired” me out of their lives pitilessly.

So, since I have not sent them away, fired them, I am allowed to remarry. And I want to marry again…

I would not have bothered to get a divorce certificate if it was not for the fact that such a piece of paper is necessary in order for me to marry again!

If polygamy was still allowed legally, I would not have been forced to divorce my wife in order to marry another one!

Why did we do away with polygamy?!

God has not disallowed it! Nowhere does the bible forbid polygamy!

On the contrary, many “men of God” in the bible were polygamous! Abraham, Jacob, David, to name a few!

The Law of Moses makes certain regulations for a polygamous family (Exodus 21: 10), and even obliges polygamy in some cases…(Deuteronomy 25:1)

God even told king David that it was he, himself, who gave David his many wives, and that said that he would have given him even more of them if David wanted it! (2 Samuel 12: 8).

Polygamy was allowed and practiced, right from the beginning of creation: Noah’s father had two wives! (Genesis 4: 19)

It certainly should not be the norm: God makes sure that there are as many men as there are women on our planet, thus one woman per man is obviously the norm. But there are exceptions!

And believe me when I say that I am an exception! If you were to talk to my wives you would soon understand why!

God accepts polygamy, where exceptions need to be made, and Jesus never forbid it.

Nor did his apostles!  Why was it abolished!

It was the church leaders, at a later date, that decided to do so. They added to God’s Word in spite of being warned in Revelation 22: 18 against it.

The church, unfortunately has changed and distorted many of God’s Words in the bible, making it often un-recognisable…

As for me, I follow the bible’s writings only:

I told repeatedly both of my wives that I consider us to still be married in spite of the certificate of divorce that I sought in order to be legally allowed to have more than one wife.

And I told them repeatedly that I want them to join me again, if they ever repent of their awful, hurtful, family-destructive sin of leaving their husband, of firing me, spiting me out of their lives like a pip…

If they were to ever return to me, my value would simply be boosted from 1,000,000 to 3,000,000!

That is how I feel!

It is wrong to forbid what God has allowed:

Polygamy is allowed! It is a prerogative that God gave to men!

Women, however, are allowed to have one and only husband in this life, (unless their spouse died…), and are told to love him, submit to him, help and serve him. (Ephesians 5: 22)

Let women abandon their “women’s rights” views and start submitting to the bible’s teachings.

There is no equality between the genders in the Bible, where it is clearly stated that:

Woman was made for man. Not vice-versa

 (1Corinthians 11: 9) :

A wife must submit herself to her husband just as she submits herself to Christ! (Ephesians 5: 22)

A couple must not separate, and a divorced woman is not allowed to marry again!  (1 Corinthians 7: 10- 11),  (Matthew 5: 32).

 

Those are the rules that the Bible gives.  

God hates divorce!   (Malachi 2: 16)     

Unfortunately believers and even today’s church leaders have accepted the rules of this world (which are inspired by the ruler of this world, and are diametrically opposite to God’s Word).

Today, everyone can divorce and tear down the family units that God has made of them…for the slightest reason. And everyone can re-marry…

What a Godless society we have created by not clinging to God’s Words, by allowing divorce and disallowing polygamy!

God hates divorce!   (Malachi 2: 15-17)

Let us cling to the Truth of the Bible. That will be best for us!

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The Mosaïc Law ends with the coming of John the Baptist!

The Old Testament laws were to be valid only up to the coming of John the Baptist

 

Luke 16 : 16 & 17,        Matthew 5 : 17 – 18 ,    Hebrews 7

 

The Old Testament Laws that God gave to Moses and to the Levitical priestly system were to be taught and obeyed until the second coming of Elijah, (that is John the Baptist)!

After that, the  “Good News” were to be proclaimed to everyone:

All who believed and submitted themselves to Jesus could enter in the Kingdom of God through Faith and Obedience in him who was the promised Messiah and the Eternal High Priest of a New Priestly System!

And since a change of the priestly system implies a change of Laws, (Hebrews 7: 12), Jesus replaced the imperfect “written Law” by a law that summarizes all Laws it contained, if properly led, in all sincerity by the Holy Spirit of God:

“Love God above everything else, and treat your fellow men as you would like to be treated yourself…”

It would have been easier for heaven and earth to disappear rather than bringing  a change in the Laws of God as written in the Old Testament, and indeed a far greater and more important event made this transition possible:

Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God, our Eternal High Priest came to earth, suffered and died for mankind’s salvation, and set us free from a set of Laws that were incomplete and were  mis-interpreted until then as being a “ticket” to Heaven!

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1 John 3:21-22

“If our hearts do not condemn us, then we can expect with confidence to receive from God what we have been asking from him, because we obey his commandments and we do what pleases him.

He commands us to believe in Jesus Christ, his Son, (so that we may be reconciled with God), and demands that we obey his commandments, especially the one of loving one another”  

In the above passage (in 1 John 3: 21-22), the apostle John assures us that our prayers will be answered if we have lived our life in a holy and loving manner…

 I personally did apply myself to do just that, to live a holy, loving and righteous life from the very day I was born-again until now.

49 years have passed and yet… my most fervent requests have not been granted to me!

Certainly, I have failed to pass the high standard of loving my brothers and sisters in Christ as much as Jesus loved us, or as much as I love myself!

But I did my best. And I did not see anybody else being more loving than I was. On the contrary…

I honestly think that I managed to be more faithful and Christ-centered than everyone else I know! I know, I sound big-headed, proud, but that is how I honestly feel about myself!

And yet, everyone else is better off in this life than I am!

And I ask myself why!

Why is it that God does not satisfy my essential needs but treats me much like he treated Job?

One explanation that comes to mind is that, like with Job, God wants to prove the accusations of the enemy, Satan, wrong, that all of God’s children are not driven by ulterior, self-centered motives when trying to please their Maker…

Another explanation I find is given in

John 15: 1-2, where Jesus says that the branch of a vine that responds most to the gardener’s pruning efforts, (by improving its yield), will be pruned to an even greater extent than the other branches, so that it may become even more fruitful! 

And, being pruned is obviously quite unpleasant and painful…

I understand, therefore, that the blessings that I am praying for will have to wait!

Perhaps next year…

Anyway, these thoughts satisfy and comfort me…at times!

Constantin Economides.

 

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By choosing Jesus, be prepared to live a life of sorrows

Choosing to follow Jesus means choosing to live a life much like his, one filled with sorrows…

 

“Christ was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, who knew what suffering is…”

(Isaiah 53: 3)

“A servant of God cannot expect to be treated better than his Lord was. If they mistreated and persecuted me they will do likewise to you”.

(John 15:20)

 “A follower of Jesus cannot be at the same time friends with the world and friends with God! The Spirit of God that lives in him jealously demands all of his love, his full dedication.

Anyone therefore who seeks to be pleasing to the society he lives in becomes an adulterer in God’s eyes, becomes his enemy!

Apply yourself instead at getting closer to God by keeping your hands clean from sin and your heart purified from ungodly desires. And then God will draw closer to you.

Refuse to enjoy your society’s ways that the devil is creating for his purposes. Resist him and he will have to back away from you.

Grieve and wail for what is happening in the world. Let your laughter turn into mourning, and your joy into gloom !

Only then will God be pleased with you and uplift you…”

(James 4: 4 – 10)

“Blessed are those who mourn and cry…

Blessed are those whose spirit is broken, poor.

Blessed are those who, because they belong to the Son of God, the people of this world insult and persecute and speak badly of them”

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst in their body and in their spirit and who work hard at being more righteous!

(Matthew 5: 3 – 12)

“ Do not be surprised at the fiery trials that you are going through as if something strange was happening to you, but be glad that you participate in this way in the sufferings of Christ”

(1 Peter 4:12 – 13)

All these verses in the Bible speak clearly that a follower of Jesus is bound to face many sorrows and hardships.

Why is this?

Because the dark spirits that rule this world recognizes God’s Spirit who rules our hearts, and fights and opposes us in every way!

“For we do not fight against flesh and blood, but against dark principalities and powers who rule this world…”

(Ephesians 6:12)

The closer we draw to God and to his Word, the more we will be singled out by the spirit that rules this world, and the more unpleasantness we will face from it!

At the same time, we will become more aware of how misleading and depraved this world is, and we will start hating it…

We will not enjoy being in it any longer! Our laughter will be changed to mourning and our joy to gloom.

And once we start speaking out against society’s evil ways, we are bound to find even more opposition and grief from all everyone!

Throughout the New Testament, the faithful followers of Jesus Christ are being told, again and again, that they should expect to live a life filled with “sorrows”, just as Jesus’ life was.

And, as Jesus himself said:

“The road that leads to God’s Kingdom is filled  with sorrows, and few of those who started following it will eventually reach their goal!”

(Matthew 7: 14)

Most… will give up! Do not be one of them.

You may have not noticed all these passages, because today’s scholars  have translated the Greek word  “θλίψη”, (which  unmistakingly means “sorrows”) with less gloomy words, such as “trials” and “hardships”…

You see, one can endure hardships, trials and problems, like everyone else does, and still be happy in this world.

But we cannot possibly be “happy” while living a life full of “sorrows”. Happiness and sorrows are opposites!

“Do not fool yourselves and choose the easy way in this life, for you cannot possibly fool God: You will reap what you sow!

If we go along with the spirit of this world and do what pleases our flesh we will be condemned.

Do what God’s Spirit teaches you, and do not give up doing what is good, for only then will we inherit, in due time, the promised Eternal Life!”

(Galatians 6: 7 – 9)

And a final exhortation:

Do not allow yourselves to have friends who do not belong to Jesus. Unconsciously you will become like them…

Only approach them with great caution, in order to sow the seed of the Gospel, and help them to become like yourself, a true follower of Jesus, that is all.

“Snatch others from the fire awaiting them…but with fear, hating even their clothing stained by their corrupted flesh!”

(Jude 1: 23)

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The Holy Spirit’s accusations against Israel

         The Holy Spirit’s Accusations to the Jewish nation!

 

Shortly after Jesus’ death, the Jewish religious leaders turned against his followers, particularly against one of the deacons that the apostles had appointed, Stephen, whom God was using to bring many Jews to the faith in Jesus Christ.

They got hold of him, assembled all the Jewish religious leaders, and accused him of conspiring to change the traditions and beliefs of the Israelite nation.

As Stephen started to speak, his face began to shine like that of an angel, and filled with the Spirit of God he gave a long speech which I hereby summarise and paraphrase for clarity:

It is written in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 7.

Stephen said:

«Out of the twelve sons of Jacob, the Patriarchs of the Jewish nation, ten of them proved to be evil, blind and rebellious against God, just like you are!

Out of jealously, they wanted to kill their brother Joseph, whom God had chosen to save them!

Joseph’s brothers hated him and sold him as a slave to Egypt!

But God was with Joseph in Egypt, and not only did he rescue him from all his troubles, but he made him the second ruler of that country, under Pharaoh.

As such, Joseph was able to save his father Jacob, and all those who belonged to him from a terrible famine that would have exterminated them all!

So, right from the onset of our nation’s history, our ancestors turned against the one whom God made their “saviour”, and wanted to kill him…

400 years later, when the Israelites were still in Egypt, the Lord raised up for them another saviour, Moses, whom God had appointed to free the Israelites from their terrible bondage they were in.

But again, the Israelites did not recognise the saviour that God had raised for them, and during Moses’ whole life the children of Israel were opposing him, resisting him and trying to demote him from the position of being a prophet, a ruler and judge of the nation.

 

Before the Israelites even entered the promised land, they had failed to recognise two saviours that God had sent them but opposed them!

So, the Lord started preparing his people for when he would send them the Messiah himself!

Speaking through Moses and through all the prophets that followed, he warned them to receive and obey the Messiah that he was going to send in Israel. As Moses himself told them:

” I the Lord will raise up from among you a prophet, like you. You must listen to him! If anyone will not listen to him, he will have to give me account”

(Deuteronomy 18: 15 – 19)

But your forefathers silenced and killed all the prophets proclaiming the coming of the “Righteous One” that God had sent to them.

And now you, just like your forefathers, You resisted and fought

Jesus the Messiah, and you put him to death!

And listen, I see the heavens opening, and there is Yeshua, Jesus, standing at God’s right hand!»

Having said all that, (but in many more words), Stephen was viciously dragged outside the city of Jerusalem and stoned to death!

He was the first martyr who died for his faith in Jesus Christ.

Not too long after that, the apostle James was also killed by king Herod II…, He was the first of the apostles to die a martyr’s death!

History tells us that most of the apostles died likewise…

When will the Israelites and their religious leaders believe in their Scriptures and not in their “Commentaries”, when will they see, repent and believe in their Messiah?!

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Sorrows or Blessings

Why should a genuine child of God expect a life of suffering?

God makes sure that some of us do not get their expectations of an earthly happiness fulfilled in order to prove to Satan that God’s faithful children are not driven by ulterior, self-centred motives when they seek to live a life pleasing to their Maker…

By remaining faithful to him in the awful events that crush our spirit completely to the point of shouting:

“Father, why have you forsaken me” our God proves his arch-enemy wrong!

Another explanation I find is given in John 15: 1-2 where Jesus says that we, his followers, can be likened to a branch that is attached to him, the vine.

The branch that responds most to the gardener’s pruning efforts, by improving its yield, will be pruned  again and again, so that it may become even more fruitful!

Being pruned is obviously quite unpleasant and painful, but God is more interested in making better people out of us than in making us happy…

And then:

Is it right to want to have a better treatment out of this world than our role-model had?

Should we really expect to have a better earthly life than my Lord Jesus and his apostles had?!

They were men of many sorrows, aquainted with grief! (Isaiah 53)

Jesus and the apostles did not promise us blessings and happiness in this world! On the contrary:

The New Testament is filled with passages that tell us clearly what a child of God is to expect while in this evil world:

Many many sorrows!

So many that few of those who have chosen to enter through the narrow gate and follow our Lord Jesus will ever reach their destination, the Kingdom of God!

Most will fall away while along the sorrowful road that leads them there!

“The entrance gate that leads to Eternal Life in God’s Kingdom is narrow, and the road that follows is filled with sorrows, so much so that few are those who will ever receive this Life!” (Matthew 7: 14)

Every genuine believer must be determined to finish the road, to remain faithful until the end. To get there!

Only then will we receive the “life to the full” that Jesus promised us. (.   )

We must remain faithful, pleasing to our Lord, our God and Saviour until the end, no matter how sorrowful, discouraging and depressing the road may be!

Let us stop asking: “Why, Lord! Why me?!”

A sorrowful life on earth is what normally awaits every true child of God.

Let us not allow the happy-clappy religious ones convince us that God wants us to live a happy life filled with blessings on earth:

It only leads us away from what our God is really trying to do in our earthy lives: Make better people of us!

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Not mentioning “God”

One thing greatly surprises me:

People do not give the slightest thought on God when trying to fix the woes that are threatening our world!

We observe the Bible’s prophesies become accomplished right in front of our eyes and refuse to acknowledge that he is in control and that his words about his future judgement are about to take place!

How can people be so blind to the geopolitical events that are now happening in our world as to not perceive the hand of God that is creating them…

They try to solve the woes that are increasingly threatening us by merely reforming the way we have been treating the earth itself without even considering that it is God himself who allows those calamities that we now face because of the way we treat him and one another!… because of our sins.

In the Bible it is written that the nation of Israel will cease to exist, that its population will be dispersed throughout the earth, that they will not be assimilated in the nations they will find themselves in, (even if they wanted to), but will be brought back to their own land, only to be exiled again and finally be gathered in by their Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth!   =======================

How can a mother not acknowledge the Creator when she first sees her child, at birth!

She did nothing to form him and she is so glad

to see it perfectly made, but her thoughts do not turn to God in gratitude!

Scientists discover everyday how intelligently made and incredibly complicated is the human body and every living thing that exists, the earth and universe itself included, and they do not voice out their admiration for the Creator himself but sow doubts in people’s minds (from their childhood) of his existence…

How can such persons prove themselves to be so foolish and blind to what is obvious! How can their hearts be so hard and evil as to cause humanity to be dazzled by their refusal to mention their secret admiration of the great God they certainly perceive in their work?

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