Don't Be Deceived

I really don't want to create a blog of controversy.  My intent here is to celebrate what is good in life.  But sometimes what is good comes with great controversy.

Do you know what is good?

God is good.  And it is because He is just that He is so good.

People always talk about how a god of love wouldn't do this or that - how if a god really cared and such that he wouldn't keep people from eternity because of something they may have done.

But here's the thing, the God of this universe does care and He does love us and it is because of that - because of His great love - that He must show judgement.  Would you expect a parent who truly loves their child to never offer correction?  Would you expect a judge in court to let off a murderer without consequence?  No, you wouldn't.  Therefore, why would you expect a just and loving God to let you sin and not care - why would He give us the instructions for life (the Bible) and then look aside when we blatantly disregard His words?

He wouldn't.  The Jehovah God of the Bible - the One and ONLY God of this earth - would not do that because He is a just God!

So in light of current events I find this passage quite fitting.

2 Timothy 4:1-5
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

I've been watching as numerous people on my FaceBook and Twitter post message after message, picture after picture, and post after post, declaring that those who follow God - follow His Word - adhere to the principles taught in the Bible - are nothing but hateful people.  They say we hate because we disagree.

Friends, that is not hatred in any form.

To follow God and live by His Word is a faithful pursuit.  Christianity is not something you practice.  It is something you live.

You either follow God, or you don't.

There is no gray area.

Yet the time will come - and really the time has come - where people gather around teachers and leaders who say what they want to hear.  It's hard to live the life God requires - no one said it would be easy.  It is much easier to go the way of the world.  It is much easier to hear what your ears want to hear than what they need to hear. It's much easier to look the other way than to stand firm on the Truth as said by our Great and Wonderful Father.

But be encouraged, Christians!  It may be hard, but the reward is so great!

Don't be deceived by the world.