Day 2265 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.


Galatians 4:16 NIV

Driving down the road this morning, my family and I got a pretty shocking wake-up call. Crazy to think that an Adopt-a-Road sign can leave you in this strange bewilderment. Let me just say that evil is very alive in our world! We've been talking about it ever since, one of those things that is hard to get over. And one of the things that stuck in my mind is how we've come to avoid the truth.

Everyone is so worried about offending someone else that we water-down the truth. We try to soften the blow so that it doesn't hurt anyone. But what we've done is soften the truth so much that it doesn't have an impact anymore. We're so scared of making someone feel bad or offending them that we twist and turn our words to make sure that we don't ruffle any feathers.

The days of fire and brimstone are mostly behind us, but they should have never left. These days the majority of messages that we hear are more toward the sunshine and rainbows side of things. The Bible shares both, but we've started leaning more toward the uplifting than the in-your-face cold hard truth. You're more likely to hear that it's all going to be okay than you are to hear that you better get your act together.

Look, this isn't all fun and games. The Gospel isn't some message that is meant to make people comfortable in their ways. No, the message of Christ and the cross is meant to shake us down to our core. It's meant to show us the very real damage that sin and evil cause in our lives. It's meant to change us, to push us to do better, to light a fire inside of us that cannot help but reach out and let others know about the salvation that we have in Jesus. Christ came to save our souls, not make us comfortable.

What really hit me is that there are people around us who are going to hell. That's just the truth of it. Yes that stings. Yes that's scary. But yes it's the truth. The evil in this world has people in its grip and if they stay there then they're heading for the wrong side of eternity. That should stir us to fight like never before to share the message of Christ and do whatever we can to help people turn to Him. We can't afford to take the soft approach to evil anymore!

We can't keep softening the truth to the point that it loses the power to save. Hell is real. The devil is really working to blind people to righteousness. Evil is rampant in this place. Sin is deadly. We don't need to soften that blow because while the truth may hurt a bit, pain is a great teacher. It helps us learn to do things differently so that we can avoid the consequences of doing what's wrong. So offend them. Offend people with the truth. Take that risk. We can't afford not to.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1996 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Isaiah 44:22 NIV Redemption: To compensate for the faults or bad aspects of something; to gain or regain possession of something in exchange for payment; or to fulfill or carry out a pledge or promise. Our God is so big that He fits every definition of the word! We've been talking about how we don't have to be lost in doing things our own way forever and how He will welcome us back whenever we finally realize we need Him more than anything else. Redemption is why. All of our mistakes, all our weaknesses, all our excuses have been washed away. There is literally nothing left between us and God except for us. We are all that remains in the way of the healing and forgiveness that we need. Seriously, all that stands in our way of the peaceful and joyous freedom we're looking for is our choice to turn back to Him. That's it! I think that one of the biggest hurdles we face in making that choice is that it truly seems impossible. Whether we openly admit them or not, we all kno
Read more

Day 2317 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Proverbs 16:18 NIV Most, if not all of us have this innate problem that we've developed. Maybe it's a result of living in a world that has nearly no concept of wrong. Maybe it's just a product of our deceitful minds wanting to do whatever we want without having to weigh the consequences. Whatever the reason, we've somehow gotten it in our minds that we're incapable of making mistakes. We've become conceited to the point that we actually believe that we never get anything wrong. And while that may make us feel good, there's no avoiding the truth that tells us otherwise! Each of us make the wrong choices. We jump to conclusions. We take things out of context. We rush through things. We assume that we know what someone else is talking about without making sure. We answer before we hear the full question. We hear things that someone else doesn't necessarily say. We let things slip out of our mouths that we may not really mean. We give in to selfishness witho
Read more

Welcome to The Forge!

Image
Welcome to The Forge! This page is all about God, our faith in Him, and finding our way back to the truths and principles found in His Word. As I'm sure many of you have noticed, the world is losing its mind. Sin is celebrated. Wrongs are viewed as right. What's right is out the window and seldom considered. Popularity is the driving force behind many actions. Being politically correct is the norm and anything else is just not acceptable.  Well, none of that nonsense flies in The Forge. We are stronger t han the pressures of the world around us. We are tougher than the pull of sin. We are called to rise above the fog of this hate-fueled judgment that the world is covered in. God didn't create us as timid little beings that need to be led around by our noses. He designed us to do better than simply go with the flow. No, He made us much different than that. He made us to be leaders, He created us to go against the grain, live outside the lines, and stand tall and hold firm to
Read more