Encouragement

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I’m writing to all the whosoever will’s and the whosoever haven’t yet. That is, all who have the New Life from God our Heavenly Father, our Creator, by way of the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, The Son of God and The Son of Man, and those who haven’t accepted the offer yet. And yes, this is to those who do believe that we are created beings and not random chance. To those who never will accept the offer of being forgiven and starting over in the School of Righteousness in Jesus, I can only pray that someday you will. God Loves you too.

Do you find yourself at different times in your life yearning for the ugliness of this mortal life and this dysfunctional world to end and be done with finally and forever? Have you been the kind of person who is deeply sorrowed and grieved in your heart and soul when you see or even hear about what humankind is doing to itself or to each other? Maybe even in your own life. Even what most of us would consider small things? Do you find it difficult to enjoy yourself, at times, when you know what is happening to others, even your loved ones or friends? Somebody please “stop the madness”.

Have you ever been so hungry and so thirsty that you felt as though you were not going to make it if you didn’t get what you needed real soon. And at that point all other things in your life that you normally would view and value extremely high are not very important at the moment. Staying alive and reasonably well is. In America that’s a difficult thing to experience for most. I once got sick and had to be hospitalized partly because I was so dehydrated from being sick that I lost so much bodily fluids that it was a factor in me going into a semi-comatose state. Thank God for IV fluids in our modern day hospitals or I would have been a goner. I still remember the words of this Jesus of Nazareth, as historians refer to him as, in His sermon on the Mount saying “whosoever hungers and thirsts for righteousness shall be one day rewarded with it”.

I have known so very many people who say that they certainly wouldn’t mind a world without any ugliness and sin and hate, etc. but they don’t hunger and thirst for it, craving it as a dying man would. Yeah I’d like to go to Heaven, who wouldn’t.[ Even the devil would like to return there and set up his own kingdom.] They seem content to settle not only for something even close to it but actually talk as though they only care whether or not it’s the way they personally like it, and who cares about anyone else. Any and all forms of selfishness and self-indulgence will not be a part of Heaven and this New World of God’s. Kindness, gentleness, sacrificial giving of oneself, enduring Godlike Love to all, will be there and not even one smidgen of anything of evil, no matter how small. Jesus was introducing a word picture in all of His messages of a world, a way of life and living and existence that was not only what God had in mind originally but one so completely different than what we “could ever imagine or think”. [ 1 Cor. 2:9 ].

Or are you one of the many in our world that for a long time have seen the absolutely horrible sufferings of people and just cannot bring yourself to believe that there could possibly be a God/Creator, [certainly not the one declared by Christians and Jews] and then not intervene to stop the ugliness and horror. Here’s a couple of things to keep in mind when you are wrestling with those emotions and facts. First, each and every one of us have done our part [no matter how small] in adding to the bad in this world and adding to the reasons why Jesus had to suffer and die in our place. Secondly, we have collectively insisted on setting up our societies and cultures where “freedom and independent choices” are worshipped and defended to the death, thereby causing those who insist on doing wrong and evil to do so almost with impunity or no recompense. That’s not us being merciful, that’s just being irresponsible. We have actually told God to His Face to “leave us alone and let us do as we please, much like a thirteen year old does to their parents. [ A Line has to be drawn somewhere.] Lastly, the Bible, in describing God’s acts throughout History clearly states in a number of places that His Mercy is the reason that he hasn’t “stopped the madness” yet. He’s actually in the process all the time, of mercifully giving those who do the evils around us a “chance” to repent and turn to Him to be changed. [ Romans 9:22,23 and Exodus 34: 6,7 ]

Believe me though, he most certainly does intervene in many many situations. If he hadn’t intervened in my personal life I would still today [if still alive] have been contributing to the problems around me instead of the solutions. And there are millions like me whom God has intervened and rescued us from ourselves and from certain death and judgment. That’s what all the constant preaching of the Gospel is all about. God trying to intervene in peoples lives to get them to [ among other things] stop the madness while giving people space to repent. There most certainly is my friends a judgment coming to all whosoever “won’t”. The Bible says that one day soon all of the “pile” of bad deeds they’ve been piling up is going to get so huge that God will send recompense and judgment to the whole earth, causing people who have done evil to answer for them and those who have not prevented and/or stopped them, to answer for that failure. I believe very very soon, maybe even in my lifetime. [ I’m 54 now ]

The life we live on this earth in these mortal bodies can be extremely grievous and wearisome. It clearly seems as though sorrow and pain and all manner of horribleness is the rule, and random acts of goodness the exception. So many people not only never seem to get a break, but all around us and all over the world it is obvious that the bad is getting worse and the good is being swallowed up. Jesus Himself said that “In this world you shall have tribulation”.

No, I’m not in a melancholy mood here, this is real live on the spot reporting. This is not cynicism unveiled or fatalism exaggerated. But some people in this world really do demonstrate that not only they do not care about what’s happening to anyone else but themselves but they also almost seem to defend and justify so much of the foolishness and tragedy in their lives and everyone else’s. Another sign of the times. Similar to the laws of “thermodynamics”. Look it up.

Yes I know that since the dawn of humankind on the earth everyone’s life has been a combination and a mix of good and bad, right and wrong. Some have more of the one than the other, or vice versa, but there has only ever been one individual born on this earth who, in the eyes of the Creator, His Heavenly Father and ours, has been without the mixture of good and bad that we all are born with. He was and had only good all the time. And thank God that there are people alive and have been here and there for thousands of years that seem to have a lot more good than bad, or we would have all fainted down dead from despair long ago.

But if this Jesus Christ that has been preached for a very long time now, had it all together, all the time, then why do we want to even try to compare our meager attempts at the good that we are able to do when He already set the standard where the Creator wanted it to be? Why would any of us even hope to be able to even come close to the righteousness in His life, let alone maybe even match it. At all our collective best, the very best we can do still is to offer a mixture of good and bad. And who is going to answer for the few or many wrongs that we each have individually committed? I know I’m painting a picture that says there is no hope for mankind, as is, and you’re right, I believe this to be the truth. But that’s not a problem unless you proudly want your Creator to accept your attempts at righteousness simply because they belong to you. Maybe He would have if Jesus Christ hadn’t already beat us all in that game. And now that He is the standard and the pattern for what God the Creator had in mind in the first place when He made mankind, we had better not be found at the end of our life trying to pawn off our good/bad mixture alongside of His. The Bible says that one bad deed can destroy thousands of good ones. Imagine if you were to be arrested for sexually molesting a child yet you never did it. It would not only follow you all the days of your life but any good reputation you may have had up until that point will be in serious jeopardy. You can’t win this one my friends.

But my hope rests not on the goodness of man, to whatever degree it is, my hope rests on the one who had it all and still has it all. I’ve accepted the offer to borrow His righteousness as though it were mine, and trust in Him alone to “be there” for me when I leave this world, instead of trying to trust in my own “good deeds” to get me there. And besides, one of the other reasons, and a huge one at that, that I was attracted to the offer presented to whosoever will, was the hope of the promise of a New Life and a New World to come, wherein righteousness rules the day and the night. In the end we will all be keenly aware that Heaven and the Kingdom of God on the earth [soon I pray ] will not just simply be for those who suffered terribly down here. Nor even those who seemed to have more of their own goodness than most. Nor will it be just for those who would rather live in heaven than……….any other place. It will be in part for those who have accepted the “offer” and “hunger and thirst” as a matter of life and death, for only righteousness, holiness, purity, and no longer any mixture of good and evil that we were infected with from that one “tree” in the garden.

I find myself so many times, when I am weary of the grief and sadness and pain and suffering and selfishness of my fellow man, [and me] and the never ending attempt of humankind to redeem himself, I look at the sky during the day or at night and I remember that one day, there is coming, a New World not only where righteousness and holiness, etc. will rule and all of what we see now will be gone for ever, but the one who gave up His place in Heaven to come down here and provide whosoever will with an opportunity to join Him, is going to come again to this earth, in bodily form, and make sure that only God’s will will prevail. Jesus said that when you see all these horrible things happening of a nature and frequency never before seen to “look up, for the day of your redemption is drawing very near”.


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