Do you know? Really... do you KNOW?

One of my greatest blessings is my family. I was raised in a Christian home with parents who loved me and loved God. My dad was a minister, so I never realized going to church was optional! As the oldest child I was a typical first-born “please-er” who determined to do everything right and make her parents proud.

But the summer I turned 12 the Lord began to work in my heart and reveal to me that even though I was a good girl, even though I came from a good family, even though I had a minister living in my house, I could never be good enough for Him. Oh I had no doubt that He loved me, but I also was beginning to understand a few of His attributes – holiness, faithfulness, perfection - and no matter how hard I tried, I was NEVER any of those things. I began to see what the Old Testament prophet Isaiah meant when he remarked that even our BEST efforts are like “filthy rags.” (Is 64:6).

That summer I came across a sentence that has stuck in my head since the day I read it: “Sitting in a church doesn’t make you a CHRISTIAN any more than sitting in a garage makes you a MECHANIC.” I had sat in church all of my life, but I began to realize that it wouldn’t get me into Heaven. Jesus said, “I am the Way… no one comes to the Father except through ME.” (John 14:4) Well, I knew ABOUT Jesus, but did I really KNOW Him? My parents did, my grandparents did, but did that “grandfather” me into God’s family? One night as I tossed and turned, afraid to go to sleep because I wasn’t sure of my relationship with God, the words of the familiar bedtime prayer played in my mind: “If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take...” If I should die… what if… what if I DIED? I didn’t KNOW what would happen to me!

Do YOU know? If you took your last breath TODAY do you KNOW where you would spend eternity? Maybe you’ve spent your life in church too, maybe you’re a good person, maybe you’ve gone to classes and been baptized… and don’t get me wrong, I love church and I love good people and I’m ALL FOR classes and baptism, but those things don’t impress God and they aren’t tickets into Heaven. The only thing that gets God’s attention is a humble heart and a broken spirit that accepts His Son Jesus as your Savior and Lord. The evidence of a relationship with Him will be a changed life and a peace that is amazing!

If you don’t KNOW what will happen to you when you die, you can settle it once and for all, right now. Consider praying this prayer:

“Heavenly Father, I KNOW I’m a sinner and I KNOW my sin has separated me from You. But I believe You love me so much that you sent Your Son Jesus to die for my sins so I can KNOW that I will spend eternity in Heaven with You. I ask You to forgive me for the things I've done and help me to change my mind and live my life for You. Thank you for Your perfect son Jesus Christ, and it’s in His name I pray, Amen.”

A prayer like that has changed countless lives. It changed mine and I KNOW it will change yours!

Rom 3:23; Rom 6:23; Rom 5:8; Rom 10:9; John 10:28-29; Phil 4:7, Eph 2:4-5,8-10, Is 66:1-2

Pepcid Words

Have you ever listened to a sermon or read a devotion or came across a verse in scripture that really grabbed you? You know what I mean, the kind of message that points out something ugly about yourself and then slaps you in the face with it?? Uh huh, you know what I’m talking about… Well I had one of those moments today with Oswald Chambers “My Utmost For His Highest.” Here is the link, just in case you’re in the mood for a good slapping.

I recently finished teaching a series of lessons on the New Testament book of James, which is one of the finest books in all of holy writ for going “ohh yeah, look at THAT ugliness!! And NOW you need to stop that and start doing THIS!” OUCH. A friend on Facebook asked me this week if I was still teaching on James and I replied, “No, I’m finished. They couldn’t take any more and neither could I.”

But, I’ve decided to spend the next couple of weeks blogging my James lessons so that I could remind myself (and you poor souls who read my stuff) about those lessons. You know… the whole “be DOERs and not just HEARERS” thing, so maybe we/I can grow a little more Christlike. But that is easier said than done, especially when you’re working on your stuff – bad habits, wrong thinking & attitudes, careless speech… so I have officially coined those kinds of messages “Pepcid Words” because confronting your ugliness and working on your stuff will give you heartburn and you’ll need a Pepcid… and as my friend Adean told me, “Honey, you’re gonna need Rolaids too!”

I have a friend who has a clever catch-phrase that he uses when he deals out a Pepcid Word: “Don’t ya just LOVE it?” To which I would like to say, “NO, I do NOT just love it!” Just like I don’t LOVE doing core exercises in the morning! Planks and wall-sits are HARD and they HURT! But they produce muscles that are lean and strong, and I DO love THAT. And I DO love the end-result of what God’s Word does in my life, so while I don’t necessarily love the process, I love the product. And God’s Word backs me up on this in Heb 12:11 (I love the Message translation), “At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.”

So you’ve been warned. The Pepcid Words start next week, so stock your medicine chest and you better have some Rolaids as a back-up. Fruit-flavored Tums are good too :) And feel free to leave comments so we can learn from each other, which is the old “iron sharpening iron” from Proverbs 27:17…

PS – Thanks for the prayers for Scott. We got him moved in and he seems to be doing well from what we can tell from the infrequent calls and occasional text messages. It reminds me of a funny bit by the comedian Sinbad, who finally contacted his parents only because he had an empty bank account and wrote “Dear Dad, No mon. No fun. Your son.” and received back “Dear son, Too bad. So sad. Your Dad.” We can relate :)