January 22nd 2023
Jesus Modified This Earth For You To Live On Temporally! Heaven Is Your Forever Destination!
1 John 5:5 (NIV)
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
If you drive on I-275 and drive at the posted speed limit, you are posing a danger as you are impeding the normal traffic flow, as almost every other driver is far exceeding the posted speed limit. It makes me feel ashamed of all those law-breaking citizens of the USA. I estimate the average speed at around 85 miles per hour. So, what may the consequences be if we go faster than is safe on a highway? The worst possible consequence may be – we could lose control of our vehicle and – kill someone who is riding in our vehicle – we could kill someone in a vehicle we hit. Of course, we could kill ourselves if we lose control of our vehicle and wreck it!
Would someone who is professing to follow Jesus Christ do something that could kill ourselves or someone else, because we are knowingly breaking a law? Okay, yes, it is true this story is taking the result to an extreme, but life sometimes works that way. This example also is using an example that likely would find almost everyone reading this to be included as the offender! The point attempted here is to help us to question our motives and whether we are really working on becoming more Christ-like every day!
In the selected verse John wrote about the only people who can overcome the problems of living in this cursed world. As he wrote, and posed a question, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Then John gave us the answer that Jesus had taught him, “Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.“ Are you a believer? Are you okay breaking minor laws? We all need to pause and ask ourselves in such situations, What Would Jesus Do?
Jesus told us about the difficulties of doing the right thing in this world, and how the wrong way may appear to be the best choice. Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14). In this cursed world we will experience temptations to do wrong, because it just seems like the right choice. Only a small number of people will choose God’s Way and follow Jesus to heaven!
When the Israelites were wondering in the desert a plague came upon them, and poisonous snakes were biting them, and many had died. Then God told Moses what to do to save the people. The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. (Numbers 21:8). So, all that was required to be saved when a snake bit you was to look at this snake replica. Jesus used this incident as an example of how just believing in Him will save your immortal soul. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:14-15). Salvation requires us to believe in Jesus Christ and thus be allowed to live forever with Him.
When Jesus was leaving this earth, He had the Holy Spirit come into this world as a helper to all who have accepted salvation through believing Jesus is the Savior of this world. Jesus once told His followers, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-17). Did we get that comment or command from Jesus, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Are you working on trying to become more Christ-like every day? If you are, remember the Holy Ghost is available to help you cope with worldly temptations to sin.
This cursed world is a temporary place as God has told us it will be destroyed by fire and a new earth will be created by Jesus for us to live on with Him forever. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives for ever. (1 John 2:17). Every human being is created by God and we each have an immortal piece of us that is God-like in that it does not die. This soul is the essence of life and is given only to human beings, which separates us from all other life forms living on this planet.
The essence of human life is this immortal soul, and each new human being is created with a soul just as Adam and Eve were. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:25-27).
Do not be confused by evolutionary claims that humans are just the most evolved critters living on this earth. You were created with an immortal piece that only humans contain, and this part of you will live forever, just how God created you. Your intelligence comes from this image and likeness of God. God gave animals instinct to allow them to survive on this earth, which Jesus fashioned, modified, and upholds for human beings as the place we are to live!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
1 John 5:5 (NIV)
Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
If you drive on I-275 and drive at the posted speed limit, you are posing a danger as you are impeding the normal traffic flow, as almost every other driver is far exceeding the posted speed limit. It makes me feel ashamed of all those law-breaking citizens of the USA. I estimate the average speed at around 85 miles per hour. So, what may the consequences be if we go faster than is safe on a highway? The worst possible consequence may be – we could lose control of our vehicle and – kill someone who is riding in our vehicle – we could kill someone in a vehicle we hit. Of course, we could kill ourselves if we lose control of our vehicle and wreck it!
Would someone who is professing to follow Jesus Christ do something that could kill ourselves or someone else, because we are knowingly breaking a law? Okay, yes, it is true this story is taking the result to an extreme, but life sometimes works that way. This example also is using an example that likely would find almost everyone reading this to be included as the offender! The point attempted here is to help us to question our motives and whether we are really working on becoming more Christ-like every day!
In the selected verse John wrote about the only people who can overcome the problems of living in this cursed world. As he wrote, and posed a question, “Who is it that overcomes the world? Then John gave us the answer that Jesus had taught him, “Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.“ Are you a believer? Are you okay breaking minor laws? We all need to pause and ask ourselves in such situations, What Would Jesus Do?
Jesus told us about the difficulties of doing the right thing in this world, and how the wrong way may appear to be the best choice. Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14). In this cursed world we will experience temptations to do wrong, because it just seems like the right choice. Only a small number of people will choose God’s Way and follow Jesus to heaven!
When the Israelites were wondering in the desert a plague came upon them, and poisonous snakes were biting them, and many had died. Then God told Moses what to do to save the people. The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. (Numbers 21:8). So, all that was required to be saved when a snake bit you was to look at this snake replica. Jesus used this incident as an example of how just believing in Him will save your immortal soul. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:14-15). Salvation requires us to believe in Jesus Christ and thus be allowed to live forever with Him.
When Jesus was leaving this earth, He had the Holy Spirit come into this world as a helper to all who have accepted salvation through believing Jesus is the Savior of this world. Jesus once told His followers, “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-17). Did we get that comment or command from Jesus, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Are you working on trying to become more Christ-like every day? If you are, remember the Holy Ghost is available to help you cope with worldly temptations to sin.
This cursed world is a temporary place as God has told us it will be destroyed by fire and a new earth will be created by Jesus for us to live on with Him forever. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives for ever. (1 John 2:17). Every human being is created by God and we each have an immortal piece of us that is God-like in that it does not die. This soul is the essence of life and is given only to human beings, which separates us from all other life forms living on this planet.
The essence of human life is this immortal soul, and each new human being is created with a soul just as Adam and Eve were. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:25-27).
Do not be confused by evolutionary claims that humans are just the most evolved critters living on this earth. You were created with an immortal piece that only humans contain, and this part of you will live forever, just how God created you. Your intelligence comes from this image and likeness of God. God gave animals instinct to allow them to survive on this earth, which Jesus fashioned, modified, and upholds for human beings as the place we are to live!
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
|
|
|