SelahV Today by hariette petersen

I Know What I Believe, Do You? by hariette petersen

I recently posted the link to an article on Twitter with which I agreed.  It brought criticism, not for the content, but for the source of the article.  Nothing other than that for the criticism.  And truly; I understand that critic's reasoning.  There are some sources that I don't even bother reading or listening to because I know I cannot trust them.  They've proved themselves unworthy of my trust.  However, when an article comes across the net and there are other articles, and even individuals, who can confirm the truth of the article, it behooves me to heed the facts of the matter.  Even a person I disagree with, at times, can be right on the facts. 

I got into a conversation yesterday with a person who said they'd rather burn in hell than to live in heaven with Christians.  That, my friends, was a horrific picture in my mind.  Even the people I find abhorrent in my life, those who have hurt me beyond all measure of hurt, would be welcome in heaven with me.  I say this because when we are in heaven, we are at peace with all.  The Lord promises that there is no more sorrow, no more pain, no more darkness, no more hate.  So to have any individual who may "hate" me on earth end up in heaven means that the individual has changed, been transformed, by the power of the blood-- by their own repentance and acceptance of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

If there is anything I know, I know that people can be changed and transformed by their relationship with Jesus Christ.  I know this because there is no other reason for how some I know have changed.  None but Jesus.  His presence in their lives, and mine, has been the catalyst and the process by which they've gone from darkness, evil and selfishness to light, righteousness, and generosity.  I've been there.  I've walked in total and complete darkness and dallied with the evils of this world.  I've been laughed at, rejected and ridiculed for the changes I've made in my life through Jesus Christ.  And it's okay.  It's okay today that people laugh and scoff and try to provoke me to wrath.  It's perfectly okay. 

"For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day." 2 Timothy 1:13

For some reason, the most hateful and vile comments can be found on the internet when a person voices an opinion about their faith, their religion, their consciences.  It's the way of the world.

The key in dealing with these vitriolic comments is to be calm and to set yourself apart from the comment and the commenter.  The slam, though admittedly directed at you, is not really meant for you if you are a believer-- its target is Jesus.  It is said to hurt you, but you are protected by the blood of Jesus-- the power of His victory, the shield of your faith in Him.  He has already won the war.  He is the victor.  Christians are just standing in faith, in the gap, waiting.  We're waiting to see the Eastern sky part-- to join our Savior.  The best part about it, is nothing can separate us from His love.  We don't have to prove anything.  We don't have to convince anyone.  We are simply to tell of His great love-- His great deliverance-- His great hope.  If that message is rejected or trashed by the vile haters of this world, it is not our problem.  The problem falls upon that person's own decision to reject the message of we the messengers. Our only responsibility is to represent the Lord as best we can-- without hate, without anger, without venom, without arrogance. 

Ours is to yield to the Holy Spirit of God and pray for his continued fruit to pour forth from us.  Lord, how I fail at that with a testy attitude and irritated spirit at times. Who'd want to join me at the Lord's table with an attitude like that?  Hmmmmn.

We can invite the unbelievers to the table of the Lord, but they have every right and free choice to reject our invitation.  For me, I'll keep inviting, until an individual tells me to go away.  And I will.  I will kick the dust from my feet and move on.  Discouragement only settles upon those who allow it.  Press on, my friends.  Press on to the prize set before you.

 

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Twitter's 140 Character Mindset Won't Fix This Mess in America

But there is a message that can.

Millions upon millions tweet everything from surly snarks to amiable epithets, all in hopes of gaining something in life.  Not sure what folks are truly seeking. Following? Notoriety?  Status? It may be as simple as an audience to support their own thoughts.

It may reach farther into the human psyche than this simple blogger can discern, but...

I think it illustrates the depth of our loneliness-- the desperate abyss of our souls.  Such need there is to connect to life beyond ourselves, don't you think? 

Truly touching are some tweets that parade across the Twitter feeds each day.

The tweet encourages soldiers in foreign countries and lets them know they aren't forgotten by their countrymen. To worn spirits, a well-chosen phrase is like apples of gold for their hearts.  To embattled citizens who seek strength when the world seems against them like the Romeike family, the Seattle bakers, the mother who lost a son in Benghazi and receives no answers.  Tweeters take up the cause.

Twitter's fascinating.  It's an explosion of genius to say something brilliant in 140 characters and have dozens or more people retweet the profundity of our hearts, minds, and yes-- egos. 

Opinions abound.  Check in on anyone's Twitter feed and you'll soon see how to solve the situation with Putin in the Ukraine, fix the American Educational System, defund Obamacare and get rid or Piers Morgan.  You'll meet Patriots and Traitors, Trolls and Moles-- you'll find hatred, camaraderie, enemies and alliances. 

This, my friends, is our world.  Follow me!

Twitter is a snapshot of all that's good and evil in our world.  There are encouragers and discouragers, slayers and naysayers, critics and judges.  There are wits and whiners and powerful designers.  There are framers and founders and wisdom expounders.  And it's absolutely scary to think so much influence can be given in reading the tweet which is not even considered a coherent sentence.

But there it is.

Communication in nano-seconds.  From Bejing to Podunk Hollow, Tennessee. From D.C. to Vegas.  From Wasillah, Alaska to Moscow.  Links upon links, connections and reflections.  Extractions and retractions.  Diversions and perversions. The stream is boundless-- the ripples ever-changing, as the simple confound the wise.

Can we ever rise above such miniscule thinking--away from the sound-bite evaluations? Can we find our way back to a world of contemplation, understanding, and personal introspection?  Or are we beyond grasping the art of comprehension and communication?  Are we ruined?  Spoiled?  Can we not see ourselves?

Sometimes I wonder what a world like this will be ten years down the road.  Will we cease to speak at all?  Will we be one long continuum of letters, numbers dots and symbols?

Will we lump ourselves inside a #hashtag and forever brand ourselves by labels?  It's collected, you know?  Our words and conversations-- if you can call them that-- are stored forevermore in posterity. 

It reminds me of a Scripture verse wherein the Lord warns of judgment day-- a day of accounting.  In that day we will answer for every idle word we've uttered and every mindless thing we've done.  What will my portion be at that moment? 

I have but one thing worth saying at all.  God came to earth one day; He lived among man to show mankind how the Father loved us and how the Father wanted us to love one another.  Then He died on a cross to pay the penalty for all our devious, deceitful, prideful, debaucherous, licentious, perverse, hateful and rebellious schemes against His holiness.  He knew we couldn't live up to His holiness. He knew.  So He gave the sacrifice of His only begotten Son to pay the fine for our sin. Our get-out-of-jail-free card. Jesus died, then rose again to life and conquered the grave.  He did that for you. 

Eternity will be spent with Him or without Him.  Surely we'd rather spend eternity in peace than in everlasting hell, wouldn't we?

Won't you trust in Him today?  Before it's too late to believe?  He promises that all who come to Him in faith believing, He is faithful and just to forgive you of all unrighteousness.  All.  As in every single thing you've ever done against the Holy Creator.  Now that's worth tweeting, any day of the week.

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When Love Can't Win

Love does not win us all.  Love is poured out upon us with unmeasurable reward.  Yet, we all won't receive it or accept it.  We won't all respond with eagerness.  Some will reject it.

It won't matter how you wrap it up.  Or how often you leave it on the doorway.  Some people will not accept charity.  Why?  Pride. 

My husband tells a story of a man who was near death.  He asked the man if he knew where he would spend eternity if he died that night.  The man said, "in hell".  My husband asked if could share the way to escape that fate and the man allowed him to share Jesus and His attoning grace.  Yet, when my husband asked him if he wanted to accept this priceless free gift of God's saving love, the man said no.  Tears of remorse trickled down his aged face.  He told my husband, he just couldn't do that.  He carried a burden too deep--a sin he believed unforgiveable.  He couldn't accept the grace and mercy God offered him.

My husband was heartbroken.  It didn't matter that God loved that old man.  The man would not give his heart and soul into the nail-scarred hands of freedom and peace.  Love did not fail...it stayed at the door knocking.  The old man just wouldn't open the door.

Do you know someone who believes their sin is too black to be forgiven, their past too filled with blackness to ever be cleansed?  I pray you are able to share God's love in such a way they understand His goodness and mercy. May God so pierce their pride, that humility pours forth in tears of gratitude and praise.  May they let go and let God do the work in them they cannot do themselves.  selahV

There Is Coming A Time

...when we can no longer go and tell.

Our loved ones, the kind-hearted neighbor, the generous boss, the diligent co-worker--each will have a day when they face death.  We who are saved will find peace and abundance in the arms of God in heaven.  But there will be a chasm between we who trust in the Lord, and those who do not.  When that time comes, we will no longer tell others of the hope they could have in Jesus.  Their hope is gone.  Even if we want to go to the others and offer comfort, we will not be able to.  We know this because Jesus admonished the Pharisees:

"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.

"But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us." Luke 16:22-26

Now is the time.  Today is the day of salvation.  Today may be the only day we have to share our faith and the promise of eternal life.  It's so hard to comprehend the idea that people we know who aren't willing to listen today will someday be eternally separated from us and God and will live in eternal torment.  But that is truth as written in God's Word.  I think of myself with the pain I go through with various things in life.  Nothing compares to the pain and heartache a person will experience who does not know God.  For again it is written as Jesus spoke:

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.  And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where “‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’  Everyone will be salted with fire." Mark 9:42-48

Some folks scoff and say that they are living in hell on earth.  However that is not Biblical.  Hell is a real place.  Just like Heaven is for real.  And there is coming a day when we will no longer be able to proclaim the Everlasting Life people can have in Jesus.  They will have made their choice as surely as they choose to brush or not to brush their teeth. 

Lord, give us hearts on fire to share Jesus, the anecdote for sin and escape from everlasting torment.  You stand at the door and knock and whoever opens the door, You will go in and dwell with them and give them eternal life in Your presence.  Help all those who proclaim Your salvation be heard, Oh Lord.  Let people hear now, while there is still time. selahV

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