The Blink of an Eye

I was sitting around doing some bible reading today and something really hit me. I am approximately 1/4 of the way through my life, probably more than that. For most of you, it is probably the same thing, or perhaps even more. We have only a very brief amount of time on this earth. While this is our temporary home, it is still our home, filled with people we love who are going not going to be in heaven if they die right now. We have been given the gift of time. The gift of Jesus' love and power. The gift of being able to share it. And how often do we do it? What does your life mean if you don't help anyone else in their walk with Christ? What can you take with you when you die? You graduate high school, get into college, graduate, get a job, have a family, retire, and die. All of those are great things. But if you aren't sharing the extraordinary gift that you have been given, what are you really doing? Your life will be gone in the blink of an eye. Once it's gone, you don't get it back. Use it wisely. Remember why you are here and what you are supposed to do. Remember that many people you love don't have the gift that you have. Go and share it with them. Is their soul not worth your time? Is their eternal life no worth the chance that they might reject you? Come on guys. Stop worrying about stupid things like what people think about you. If you love them, you would do everything in your power to save them, and that starts with telling them about Jesus.

How Deep the Father's Love for Us

This song preaches the Gospel of Jesus as well as any song I have ever heard. Listen to the words and reflect on the meaning behind them. His wounds have paid your ransom, take a minute to thank Jesus for paying your ransom. We don't sit down and thank God for the sacrifice he made for us often enough. Take some time today to do that.

Wanted: Dead or Alive?

What is the devil’s goal? What is he trying to accomplish? It is a common misconception that the devil’s goal is to kill you, to take away your life, to ruin your life on earth. While these might be part of the devil’s attack, these are not his primary goals. His primary goal is to steal you from Jesus. The devil’s primary goal is to do whatever it takes to make you lose sight of Jesus, where all you can see is yourself. He may want to kill you, but if your soul belongs to Jesus, then what good are you to him dead? If you already serve the Master of the universe, he cannot make you his slave. Maybe making your earthly life difficult is part of that attack, but it is just as likely that the devil will make your life “good”. He will give you want you want. He will make you think you’ve got it right.

Sometimes getting what we want is just enough to distract us from Jesus. Sometimes having money, success, even people that we love, can be our downfall if Christ is not the center. The devil may trick you into thinking that your Christianity is real Christianity. He may trick you into thinking that you are worshipping God when you are really worshipping yourself. 1 John tells us to examine our faith, and ourselves and to put it to test. Don’t let the devil tell you what Christianity is. Look in the bible and examine yourself. 

Even as Christians, we can be tricked by the devil, and he can use us. He can use our actions and our choices to affect other people. He can use your one little slip up to get inside the soul of a lost person. We are called to a higher standard as Christians. Do not be fooled by the devil’s lie that because you have been saved, you cannot be touched. 

You are no good to the devil dead. He is not trying to kill you unless you are so on fire for God that he cannot twist your life and actions into sin. We ought to strive for this state. We ought to strive to be so in tune with the voice of God and truth that we cannot be corrupted. We ought to want the devil to want us dead. If he wants us dead, then we are no good to him. Live for Christ, and do not let the devil trick you. Do not let him use you.  

The Devil is Busy

God is in control. God rules over everything. He is all-powerful. He has a plan and his plan is being carried out. His plan for redemption and salvation can be thwarted by nothing, not even Satan. Does that mean that Satan has no power? Not at all. John 12:31 refers Satan as “the prince of this world”. In Luke 4, Satan offers Jesus authority and power and Jesus does not challenge him when he claims the world has been given to him. The devil is busy. He is out to steal, kill and destroy.

In The Screwtape Letters, through the mind of a demon, CS Lewis says, “It will be quite impossible to remove spirituality from his life. Very well then, we must corrupt it.” Romans 8:38-39 tells us that if we are true Christians, we cannot be separated from the love of God. The devil knows that. He knows that once we have grown to a certain level of Christianity, he cannot remove the spirituality from our lives. But what he can do and does, is corrupt it. And we make it extremely easy for him.

If you are a Christian that is struggling in your relationship with God or that does not feel connected to the Vine, then your spirituality may have been corrupted. The devil is busy and he will stop at nothing to corrupt your walk with God. He will infect your spirituality. He will contaminate it. He will defile, degrade, and depreciate it. He will tear it down until you come to a point where you don’t walk with God at all anymore.

But know this, Jesus is stronger. Jesus is more powerful. Jesus is mightier. Jesus has already won the battle. All you have to do is pick yourself up and fight back. If you are alive, you can resist the devil. James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” If your Christianity has been corrupted, resubmit yourself to God. Resist the devil and his infectious poisonous corruption, and he will flee from you. Submit to God, and you will be rescued from corruption.  

Christianity And

“The real trouble about the set your patient is living in is that it is merely Christian. They all have individual interests, of course, but the bond remains mere Christianity. What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in the state of mind I call ‘Christianity And’”.
- CS Lewis


It is very interesting to me that Lewis uses the phrase “mere Christianity” considering that is the title of what is most likely his most famous work. This really hit home with me because it talks about belittling Christianity as something that the devil does. He attempts to combine Christianity with other things so that it no longer becomes true Christianity or purely Christianity. It becomes “Christianity and”. Christianity and anti-abortion. Christianity and healthcare. Christianity and good causes. I think this happens way too often today. There are so many causes and things going on that are so closely related to Christianity, that sometimes they even cease to be Christianity and simply turn into a “good cause”. This is very important for the church to recognize because “good causes” are not Gospel centered causes. Good causes are not necessarily tied with Christianity. Satan is seeking to make Christianity nothing more than a “good cause”. He wants you to think what you are doing is a good thing for Christ, when in fact, it is nothing more than a good thing. 

Good Cause ≠ Christian Cause

As Christians and churchgoers, we must make sure that our Christianity is true Christianity, not just a good cause, not “Christianity and”.