Your First 5 Minutes With God

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9) I once attended a church where some of the people there believed, because they were saved, they no longer committed any sin. They were totally deceived because this passage wasn’t written to unbelievers. I know that I’m a sinner, even though I’m saved, still in need of a savior. I cannot look down my nose at the unsaved and their sins because I have my own sins I need forgiveness for. God’s never-ending love for me is totally undeserved. I can do nothing to earn his love and forgiveness. Even though he already knows what I’ve done, nothing is secret to him, he still wants me to confess to him. I don’t need to go through a mediator. I don’t have to tell anyone but God. He will always be faithful to forgive me. In the justice of God’s economy once I’ve confessed, it...

And fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28) When I was on vacation about thirty years ago in a strange city, I got lost while driving back to where I was staying. I stopped to ask directions only to find out I was in a very dangerous part of the city for anyone of my skin color. The business owner I stopped at wouldn’t even take the time to give me directions. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to my wife and me while we were on his property. He shewed us away like we were doing something wrong. As I was driving away, a small gang of men was crossing the street toward us. I punched the gas pedal and sped off. I had never been that scared before in my life. I’m pretty sure that gang of men coming toward us wasn’t a neighborhood welcoming committee. The look on their faces made it clear to me it would not have ended well for us if they caught up to us. I was ...

No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:11) When I first came to faith in Jesus, my life had to change, A LOT! I had some pretty bad habits, difficult to change immediately. It was a rather painful time in my life. I had friends and family who couldn’t understand the changes I was going through. Some of those friends, I had to leave behind. Not because I didn’t love them but because I was allowing myself to be drawn back to my old habits. The need for immediate, albeit, temporary acceptance was outweighing my need for Christ. During my times of backsliding I always felt far away from God. I was depressed and angry with myself for my behavior. I guess I was trying to live with a foot in both worlds. One foot as a believing Christian and the other as just another unbeliever, no different from anyone else. It wasn’t working very well. It was very pain...

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17) Before I finally gave my life to Jesus I looked upon God as some kind of mean spirited, ultra-strict judge bent on taking away all my fun. If he wasn’t there to do that, then he was just there to send everyone to hell. Neither could be further from the truth! Of course, I was rebelling from everything I learned in church as a child. For me to even think this, I had to at least believe there was a God, even though I yelled loudly that I didn’t. God sent his Son, Jesus, to shed his blood on the cross. His blood provides the ONLY path we can take to avoid the terrible fate of eternity in hell. I was choosing hell when I turned my back on Jesus and what he did for me out of pure love. He doesn’t want me or anyone else to go to that terrible place. He created hell for Satan and his demon angels, not for humans. It’s our choice, ultimately, if we end up there. I used t...

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13) I learned pretty early in my life the meaning of Memorial Day. I had four uncles in the military, three of whom were serving in Vietnam. They all survived but many of their friends did not. Several of the young men from my small town did not survive that war. I joined the military at the end of the war to serve my country and honor my uncles’ service. Several years later, I joined a veterans’ organization, and Memorial Day was a very big deal for us. There was a parade in our village that ended in a large cemetery with hundreds of American flags that decorated the graves of heroes. Those men and women who died in the war, didn’t have to. Even though it was a time of the Draft, they could have run away or gone to prison if they refused to serve. Had they done that they would have survived. But they went to war anyway, knowing they might be killed. This is where I learned about sacrif...

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24) I am so thankful that God was patient with me. As I look back, I remember so many times when he must have protected me from my own stupidity. My rebellion began as a teenager and lasted until I was in my forties. That’s a long time for God to be patient but he was, just the same. At any time during that period of my life, God could have left me to my fate. Several of those instances could have led to serious injury, even my death. It was like being hit with a bolt of lightning the evening I actually heard the words of Jesus and let them sink in. I had heard them before in my youth and by a few people trying to get me to see the light but that evening, my heart understood the words. It was only an hour long talk from an evangelist up on a stage. They were strange words, not in the sense that I’d never hea...