Make Today Count
Following Jesus is the most humbling, exciting, and challenging decision. Every day I am struck by His goodness and my desperate need for His loving correction. One moment I could be consumed with a revelation of Jesus and everything is eclipsed by His beauty and then seemingly in my next breath I find myself distracted again by something without meaning or value.
I am grateful to God that He continues to pursue me. He is renewing my mind to be still and enjoy life abundant.
Now that I know Jesus is the only way, the only truth and the only life I find myself pouring much of my time into helping others realize this profound truth.
There is a great war much bigger than any international or world wars. It is the war between heaven and hell, between that liar satan and his angels and God and all of heaven. The beauty of the good news that everyone must hear and believe is that Jesus has defeated satan and all the power of hell even before He created the heavens and the earth. Before God created the universe, the earth, and humanity, Jesus decided to come and die for the sins of humanity. This verse reveals this past truth and reveals a future truth. That when Jesus returns and brings His people to Himself there still will be a moment where ‘every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.’
But when that moment comes it will be too late for those who are on earth. Listen to the verse,
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 13:8 NKJV
In that moment the age of grace will be over and there will be no time left to turn from your sins and place your trust in Jesus for salvation. You will worship but your worship will be on that terrible day when the earth will be judged.
So what should we do now? Well the task is both simple and impossible. You see, you cannot save yourself.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 3:23
For the wages of sin is death;
Romans 6:23
This means that every human being that has ever or will ever exist has sinned against a holy God. Falling short of the glory means that we cannot make it in our own goodness we have sinned and so we are stained and as we read in Romans 6:23 the ‘wages’ or ‘payment’ for sin is death. That death represents a spiritual and final separation from God almighty.
But verse 23 of chapter 6 of the book of Romans doesn’t stop there… THANK GOD ALMIGHTY! It continues….
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
So God who is rich in mercy desires to give His children a gift and that gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now what does that mean? Well, simply; God did for you what you could not do for yourself in removing the barrier between us because of sin. Sin stained us but He paid with His blood to remove the stain and give us new life in Him. The key is we are now ‘in Him,’ we are no longer slaves to sin but we have now become the children of God.
What must you do to be saved?
You must repent from your sinful life and believe on Jesus Christ for your salvation.
To repent means to turn away from that sinful life and to believe is to turn towards Jesus fully for a new life.
Now, the reality of the new life is supernatural. When your eyes are opened by God you will see that you are a sinner in need of saving and that Jesus is your perfectly sufficient saviour. These two truths are simultaneously essential to salvation, you cannot have one without the other. We receive a revelation of sin and a revelation of Jesus’ gift of righteousness!
Now listen, before I go any further I want to remind you of the war. Perhaps you are reading these words and you are not convinced? Well, let me help you see how serious this is….
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NKJV
Listen, everyone apart from Christ is perishing in this world. That isn’t a fun truth to speak but it is the truth. You must understand that satan has blinded the minds of humanity so that when the truth is proclaimed people won’t hear it but the mystery is some will hear it because Christ’s light is shining through the darkness breaking the power of satan.
I pray even now that you would have the light of the gospel shine so you can see the truth that sets men free!
Today, make your life count. Worship Jesus and serve Him only. No other life will give you fulfillment and satisfaction. He is the living water and all who drink will never be thirsty again.
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
John 7:37-39
When we believe in Jesus we are born again and the fire of God fills us, cleanses us, and brings us eternal life. We are made new and now we have a desire to help others know eternal life in Jesus.
One of the saddest realities of the church is how satan makes us fight about trivial things. He laughs as members fight about the volume of the music, about pews or chairs, about lights on or lights off, about how people dress or act, and so on and so on. I must be honest and say that as a pastor it is tiring to have to hear these childish squabbles when people's lives are at stake.
I do believe that now there is an Ester generation rising up who are making themselves ready for the bridegroom in great preparations to be in the King's chamber finally. It is an Ester people who recognize the seriousness of the hour and who will stand and speak for God’s people in the places of favor and influence the Holy Spirit will lead us into.
As I close, make your days count. Jesus is worth all our devotion and so I encourage you, to grow up in your faith, ask God for divine favor and wisdom, and make yourself ready for His return. He desires to find a people full of faithful action in evangelism and discipleship. The harvest is ready, look at the fields!