Do I accept or ignore?

I downloaded some messages from the Desiring God conference just recently and one of the speakers said something about "accepting Jesus". He said Jesus doesn't need to be accepted- we need Jesus to accept US! It is very true. Jesus doesn't need friends so He can have a high number on His Facebook page. I thought about how people send messages asking to be accepted as a friend on Facebook. We have two buttons we can click on: "I accept" or "Ignore."

When it comes to Facebook it is a pretty shallow decision, not a lot hangs in the balance. But when we're talking about Christ we are making a decision that has a horrendous amount of importance. It is the most significant decision we will ever make! It is the decision between asking for a lifeline to be thrown to us or choosing to fall into the center of a raging volcano! If we "ignore" this choice we fall into agony and torment beyond anything we have ever imagined. And it isn't over quickly- like a fall into a boiling volcano would be- because we have a spiritual part that lives forever.

Forever and ever- realizing that they missed the whole point of life. I have many, many relatives eternally screaming in pain and anguish. They had a choice to make and not choosing IS a choice.
The way I see it- if everything I have experienced of God was all my imagination and God doesn't exist at all-if I die and just rot in the ground- then I just slowly rot into nothingness. My time spent pursuing God, learning about Him, praying to Him, serving Him didn't really matter but it didn't hurt anything either. But if I had chosen to ignore God in this life- and I died and found out I was wrong- it would be the most horrible mistake anyone could ever commit. And there would be no do-over.

God will not be mocked. We can't pretend to be following Him, going through the motions. The worse words we could ever hear are "I never knew you".

"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord...did we not prophesy in Your name and cast out demons, and ...perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them "I never knew you; depart from Me..."" Matt 7:22

Those were upright church-going folks prophesying, doing miracles for crying out loud! But Jesus didn't know them.
They hadn't ever asked Christ to "accept" them as His friend. It's not too late for some of us. He is worth knowing. He is the most important friend we will ever make.

Is God Good?

That is a key question that must be addressed in the life of every Christian. Can He be trusted? We all say “yes, of course” but then we live lives that make it very obvious that we do not trust in a Sovereign God.

I have an ongoing battle with weight issues and I have often struggled to break free from all habits or food substances that have a hook in my flesh- coffee for example. (Cappuccino to be exact and the higher octane the better!) Every gas station sells double caffeine drinks. Truthfully, I have always believed my self-worth hinges on my productivity and so I reason that God created coffee beans so that we could go faster and do more. Honestly some people do value us more when we get work done.

In the Bible Paul said “all things are lawful for me but not all things are profitable…and I will not be mastered by anything". The truth is I am mastered by coffee and I have been for many years. When I wake up in the morning my first thought is not “Thank You Lord, for another day of life…” no, my first thought is “is the coffee done yet?”

A few weeks ago a friend gave me a deer that he’d shot (the farmers around here have an extended season because of crop damage). So I had about 80 lbs of meat that I was processing in my kitchen. Not wanting to waste any I ground up the stringy leg meat for dog food and I canned it. The trouble was – I took a shortcut to save time- so I could get more done. We all take shortcuts – caffeine is a shortcut.

A week later there started to be a very bad smell in my house and my husband and I looked everywhere- examined the sewer lines- checked seals and fittings- did online research for clues as to what our horrible smell might be and our search went on for over a week. We finally decided that it must be dead mice in the wall since we had recently done some repair work.
I burned incense, bought a zillion plug ins, burned candles, but the stench was unbearable. No matter how clean, vacuumed, washed and waxed my house was- the stench was overwhelming.

And then I noticed the jars of dog food had slightly changed color. I opened one and wham! I had discovered the source of the stench. I had 8 or 9 pints of putrid meat in the kitchen with all of the seals broken and the contents bubbling.

As I was cleaning and washing the last of it- with every fan blasting and all of the windows opened- the thought came to me- “You have a stench in your life”. Now, I have learned to recognize when God gives me these thoughts and when they are my own. This one was certainly not my own. Timidly I asked, “what is it?’ and the answer came back- “cappuccino”.
Oh! Please God! Anything but that! Don’t ask me to give that up!!

I believe in my heart that God is sufficient to supply all of the energy I need and I had no doubt that being addicted to an earthly substance stinks to Him. I also believe that He is good and He does not withhold good from His children so logically I knew that His asking me to give it up would bless my life. But I admit that I grieved for the first couple of days and felt sorry for myself but it’s been two weeks today since God pointed to my stench and I seldom even think about it anymore. God enabled me to quit "cold turkey" with only moderate headaches for a few days. The stench was gone from my house and from my life in a very short time.

God is good and I want to glorify Him in every aspect of my life.