July 26th 2015
We Will Have To Settle For Believing “That When He Appears, We Shall Be Like Him!”
John 15:14 and 17 (NIV)
You are my friends if you do what I command. This is my command: Love each other.
What a friend we have in Jesus! Are you following all of the Ten Commandments? I doubt that anyone reading this can say yes to the question just posed. However, are you trying to follow the one command Jesus gave His disciples? Are there people you do not like? If your answer is yes, to this question, then the next question is, “do you love them?” Do you believe you can love someone that you do not like? This may be the hardest command to follow, as it encompasses all of the Ten Commandments, and more. Is every member of mankind worthy of your love? Each was created in the image and likeness of Jesus/God!
Is it possible to love God and yet hate you neighbor? If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1John 4:20) Please remember again that all of mankind was created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, when we see another member of mankind, we are in effect seeing a godly image, while still living on this earth. Physically we can never be a god, but there is a part of us, all of us, that is god-like, and that part is an eternal being. Sometime your immortal soul will be judged, and based on that judgement it will spend eternity somewhere.
Your greatest accomplishment in this lifetime will last forever. The salvation of your soul is the ultimate accomplishment you can gain from your mortal lifetime. We were created for immortality and your soul will never die. Jesus/God created us to give Him glory as the outcome of this mortal timeframe. Therefore, there is nothing more important than to point your life at being in service to Jesus. Are you listening for the voice of Jesus in your everyday pursuits of this mortal lifecycle? My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)
While most of us do not admit to hearing the voice of Jesus every day or maybe ever audibly hearing His voice, maybe we need to spend more time in meditation with Him! I believe that the followers of Jesus have been blessed to have the Holy Spirit made available to us. The Holy Spirit helps us to hear Christ’s voice. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:25-26) Are you being reminded “of everything I (Jesus) have said to you?” Jesus is speaking to all of His followers, but we must listen for His voice and for evidence of His presence with us. Do you connect with Jesus through prayer often or continually as Paul has directed?
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. (Colossians 1:21-23) Are you working on your friendship with Jesus? Jesus died so He could be your friend, well that is to say, Jesus sacrifice allowed for our ability to be “born again.”
This rebirth causes those who do it to be made new and acceptable as more than friends of Jesus, we become brothers or sisters of Jesus, as we share in His blood shed for our sins. We have become blood relatives of Jesus. In this kinship we can become more Christ-like, and thus, it becomes possible to somehow grasp the ability to love all other member of the human race. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12) Following the golden rule is only possible, when we truly desire to tap-in on the love that allowed Jesus to die for all sinners.
None of us have seen Jesus face-to-face, and yet, we believe He is our Savior. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9) Have you accepted the grace of Jesus Christ who died for your sins? If you answered yes to this question, then you have attained the greatest gift of all, so you should be very happy! Don’t worry be happy!
We all question this mortal life, and how and when it will end. Some people are confused about death and view it as only a penalty, which we must suffer, because of the first sin committed that brought death into the then perfect world. Isaiah wrote about death as being a final blessing, my words here not Isaiah’s. The righteous perish, and no-one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no-one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. (Isaiah 57:1) Think of death as a final reward for those who have accepted God’s grace. As Isaiah puts it, “no-one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.” When saved people die they are moved on to a better place, to a place where they will see Jesus face-to-face, and be happy forever! An old term I have heard, which may be Biblical, or may not, but it seems to fit here, “only the good die young!’
Yes, I know it is true, there really are no good people, as we are all born into a world that has been cursed by sin and death. Do good people go to heaven, and of course, the answer is no. If only good people would go to heaven then there would be no one going to heaven. Only the people who have chosen the narrow path that was led by Jesus are going to heaven when they die! Jesus will meet you on that path and usher you into heaven when you die! Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1John 3:2)
We will have to settle for believing “that when he appears, we shall be like him!”
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
John 15:14 and 17 (NIV)
You are my friends if you do what I command. This is my command: Love each other.
What a friend we have in Jesus! Are you following all of the Ten Commandments? I doubt that anyone reading this can say yes to the question just posed. However, are you trying to follow the one command Jesus gave His disciples? Are there people you do not like? If your answer is yes, to this question, then the next question is, “do you love them?” Do you believe you can love someone that you do not like? This may be the hardest command to follow, as it encompasses all of the Ten Commandments, and more. Is every member of mankind worthy of your love? Each was created in the image and likeness of Jesus/God!
Is it possible to love God and yet hate you neighbor? If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. (1John 4:20) Please remember again that all of mankind was created in the image and likeness of God. Therefore, when we see another member of mankind, we are in effect seeing a godly image, while still living on this earth. Physically we can never be a god, but there is a part of us, all of us, that is god-like, and that part is an eternal being. Sometime your immortal soul will be judged, and based on that judgement it will spend eternity somewhere.
Your greatest accomplishment in this lifetime will last forever. The salvation of your soul is the ultimate accomplishment you can gain from your mortal lifetime. We were created for immortality and your soul will never die. Jesus/God created us to give Him glory as the outcome of this mortal timeframe. Therefore, there is nothing more important than to point your life at being in service to Jesus. Are you listening for the voice of Jesus in your everyday pursuits of this mortal lifecycle? My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)
While most of us do not admit to hearing the voice of Jesus every day or maybe ever audibly hearing His voice, maybe we need to spend more time in meditation with Him! I believe that the followers of Jesus have been blessed to have the Holy Spirit made available to us. The Holy Spirit helps us to hear Christ’s voice. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:25-26) Are you being reminded “of everything I (Jesus) have said to you?” Jesus is speaking to all of His followers, but we must listen for His voice and for evidence of His presence with us. Do you connect with Jesus through prayer often or continually as Paul has directed?
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. (Colossians 1:21-23) Are you working on your friendship with Jesus? Jesus died so He could be your friend, well that is to say, Jesus sacrifice allowed for our ability to be “born again.”
This rebirth causes those who do it to be made new and acceptable as more than friends of Jesus, we become brothers or sisters of Jesus, as we share in His blood shed for our sins. We have become blood relatives of Jesus. In this kinship we can become more Christ-like, and thus, it becomes possible to somehow grasp the ability to love all other member of the human race. So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12) Following the golden rule is only possible, when we truly desire to tap-in on the love that allowed Jesus to die for all sinners.
None of us have seen Jesus face-to-face, and yet, we believe He is our Savior. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9) Have you accepted the grace of Jesus Christ who died for your sins? If you answered yes to this question, then you have attained the greatest gift of all, so you should be very happy! Don’t worry be happy!
We all question this mortal life, and how and when it will end. Some people are confused about death and view it as only a penalty, which we must suffer, because of the first sin committed that brought death into the then perfect world. Isaiah wrote about death as being a final blessing, my words here not Isaiah’s. The righteous perish, and no-one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no-one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. (Isaiah 57:1) Think of death as a final reward for those who have accepted God’s grace. As Isaiah puts it, “no-one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.” When saved people die they are moved on to a better place, to a place where they will see Jesus face-to-face, and be happy forever! An old term I have heard, which may be Biblical, or may not, but it seems to fit here, “only the good die young!’
Yes, I know it is true, there really are no good people, as we are all born into a world that has been cursed by sin and death. Do good people go to heaven, and of course, the answer is no. If only good people would go to heaven then there would be no one going to heaven. Only the people who have chosen the narrow path that was led by Jesus are going to heaven when they die! Jesus will meet you on that path and usher you into heaven when you die! Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1John 3:2)
We will have to settle for believing “that when he appears, we shall be like him!”
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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