Careful!

We must not become too accustomed to what we see, hear or even experience that is evil—for God condemns all of this! It is sin!

This past couple of weeks the issue of abortion was front and center in US news. The State of New York passed a law to further decriminalize abortions done in later stages of pregnancy. What was so shocking was the reaction of those gathered to celebrate the signing of this bill. Their jubilant cheering and applause for what constitutes murder was, in actual fact, a tribute to unconscionable evil!

The words of God stand in judgment for this kind of abomination:

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

Evil is an insidious and virulent contamination which is overwhelming the way people think and act—leaving them with seared consciences and more and more open to demonic influence or control (compare 1 Timothy 4:1-2). This is why the Apostle John warned that “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19). Satan is called “the god of this age” who has blinded the minds of those he rules over (compare 2 Corinthians 4:4).

The power of evil is the power of Satan to deceive humanity, but Christians must resist him (James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:9). We can withstand Satan by overcoming him—this is what Jesus Christ did (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13; John 16:33). Jesus was able to do this because He always chose to obey God—He did what was good and not what was evil (1 Peter 2:22).

God’s power for good is far greater than Satan’s power for evil, as Jesus proved. Likewise, we have this challenge set before us:

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).

Last week the longest government shutdown in the history of the United States ended. Hundreds of thousands of people in the country were negatively affected in a direct way, and many more were indirectly affected. The estimate by the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the cost of this historic event approaches $11 billion. It is quite a ridiculous sum of money, especially considering that it was incurred as a result of fighting between political parties over issues that are still unresolved. There is little argument in declaring that this event is an embarrassing failure of the nation’s leaders on all sides to manage the resources they are responsible for governing. Yet, it happened for a reason.

God allowed the shutdown to happen as a manifestation of man’s utter inability to govern. Satan has great wrath towards this country, and at this point, God does not prevent Satan’s evil actions because this nation has to be punished for its many sins. God has decreed the downfall of this country. Sadly, innocent people will be affected in the process, but we can trust in God for His protection.

As damaging as the government shutdown has been, we can be sure that God was involved in allowing it in order to fulfill His overall plan. Solomon writes about God’s involvement during detrimental times in Ecclesiastes 7:14, “In the day of prosperity be joyful, But in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, So that man can find out nothing that will come after him.”

Even the times when bad things happen are under God’s control. We understand, of course, that in this day and age, Satan is the ruler of the world, including the USA. But he can do nothing which God does not permit, and God allows nothing which would be against His overall plan and purpose for mankind.

For reasons that we might not always understand, circumstances take place that bring about an effect that can seem to have categorically negative consequences. We may even be directly affected. However, if we trust in God, we have nothing to fear because a wonderful and perfect plan is being worked out.

When we consider the terrible situation of Joseph, when he was sold into slavery by his brothers, it is humanly easy to judge the actions as being unjust, which they were. But even Joseph himself could see the hand of God in the matter. When Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt, he revealed himself to them saying, “But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life… So now it was not you who sent me here, but God…” (Genesis 45:5-8). In the individual adversity of Joseph, and in the famine of the entire region of the Middle East, humanly negative events took place to fulfill a greater plan of God.

Is there any reason that we should consider our lives to be any different? Does God allow difficult things to happen in our lives and does He allow the destruction of the nations we live in for no particular reason? Of course not. At scales small and great, God is conducting a symphony of events to bring about His plan. This plan ultimately involves the establishment of the Kingdom of God on the Earth under the rulership of Jesus Christ. But it also involves shaping our own behaviors to become ever-more obedient, following the model of Jesus Christ’s perfect life. Throughout the entirety of history, detrimental events take place, and they will continue to do so. But all of these events are permitted, and sometimes even directly caused by God for His purpose.

Recently, my family and I learned about the unexpected deaths of several loved ones and friends. When such news reaches us, realization sets in as to how fragile, temporary and passing human life is. Experience with death is always sad, unpleasant, uncomfortable, unsettling and unnerving.

At the same time, we remind ourselves that we have hope that our loved ones will live again—and that we will see them again in a better world. But are we totally sure? Is there any doubt in our minds? Are we certain that we will be immortal God beings in God’s Kingdom and that we will be able to help our loved ones who were not called to salvation in this life, but who will be called in the next? And if we are sure of it, is our conviction based on reality?

As it is dangerous to live with nagging self-doubt, with the constant fear that we will not make it, so it is also dangerous to be over-confident about ourselves. Throughout my many years in God’s Church, I have seen many persons, including respected so-called “pillars,” turn their back on God and leave the Truth. One popular Church author wrote an article in one of the Church’s publications about Satan’s evil devices, asking the hypothetical question as to what he would do if he were Satan. He gave the answer: Try everything he could to influence people to leave the Church. Shortly thereafter, he had left the Church.

Paul warns us: If you think you stand, take heed lest you fall (compare 1 Corinthians 10:12; Revelation 3:17). Far too many have fallen and ARE falling, as we speak. They attended Church services, became baptized and might have received God’s Holy Spirit, and then left—often after quite a few years of Church “membership.” Maybe they were never truly converted and convicted, lacking the love for God’s Truth. They might have just waited for an opportunity to depart in order to enjoy the “pleasures” of this world and return to this society’s evil observances, such as Sunday worship, Christmas, Easter and Halloween, while rejecting again God’s weekly and annual Holy Days. Perhaps they thought they still had a long time ahead of them and could wait with their repentance, or they were simply too weak, too cowardly, too fearful to fight the good fight in the face of obstacles.

You must make sure that this does not describe you!

Look at the world around you. Make no mistake: The time is at hand! This evil age will soon end in total ruin. Crazy and careless politicians and ruthless military leaders will attempt to wipe out mankind with weapons of mass destruction. Death, misery and suffering will become commonplace. The return of Jesus Christ to this rotten and godless world and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth is humankind’s ONLY hope. God wants YOU to be there to help Him teach others HIS Way of Life. How much do YOU want to do this? Do you care enough for others that you are willing to forego all ungodly distractions and to overcome your personal sins and weaknesses so that you WILL be there to HELP others when the time has come?

Think of your loved ones who died without having been called in this day and age. Do you love them enough that you want to be there and teach and HELP them when they come back to life in the Second Resurrection? Do you love God and yourself enough so that you are willing to give up everything which will prevent you from entering God’s eternal Family? Or will your loved ones enter the Kingdom of God in their due time, while YOU are destroyed in the lake of fire?

Think! Don’t be foolish enough to throw it all away for ANY temporary, passing “justification” you can think up. The choice is yours, and yours alone. A falling away from the Truth is coming and will affect God’s Church in the near future. For those who refuse to resist evil and continue to love this world, even though “they had tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come” (Hebrews 6:5), their fate will be eternal death in the lake of fire (verse 8). We have to make sure that we do not belong to those who will walk away from God.

Christ WARNS us, saying, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy… to stand before the Son of Man” when He returns (Luke 21:36)! We are also admonished in this way: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15); “…be even more diligent to make your call and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10); and “… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). Care enough, and have enough LOVE.

The heading of this Editorial is taken from Ephesians 5:20, being a part of the list of instructions the apostle Paul is giving the Ephesian brethren concerning how they should live Christian lives.

In some countries, including the United States and Canada, there is a specified day for observing Thanksgiving. While this is right and good to keep, God wants us to be thankful always, for our whole life, and when we understand it fully, even carrying over into our eternal life.

In God’s Word, the first mention of the term “thanksgiving” is in Leviticus 7, verses 11 to 15. A peace offering could be offered for thanksgiving. Verse 12 tells us: “If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened cakes mixed with oil….” It will be noticed that thanksgiving was a sacrifice to God.

In this case, the person giving the peace offering as a thanksgiving, was coming before God with a reason to be thankful. It could be an event or situation in their life that they were thankful for—probably, after some kind of blessing they had received. It was the person’s choice of whether and when to give it. This sacrifice of thanksgiving was to be given at the person’s own free will (compare Leviticus 22:29).

There are a multitude of examples in the Bible of people giving thanks. And usually giving thanks was accompanied with praising God.

King David had many reasons to thank and praise God: for deliverance from his enemies, for God’s great works and for His mercy. One interesting occurrence of thanking God was for providing great physical blessings to the people of Israel when they gave in preparation for the building of God’s temple (see 1 Chronicles 29:13-14).

King David knew that giving thanks and praising God was so important that he arranged groups of Levites to thank and praise God every morning and every evening as a formal ceremony (compare 1 Chronicles 23:30).

Solomon, David’s son, also arranged musicians and singers to praise and thank God at the dedication of the temple (2 Chronicles 5:13).

Later, at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Levites again sang praises and gave thanks to God when the foundation of the house of God was laid (Ezra 3:11). They also gave thanks when the walls of the city were dedicated (Nehemiah 12:27).

Daniel thanked and praised God for giving him wisdom and the revelation of the king’s dream, thus saving Daniel, his three friends and many others from death (Daniel 2:23).

Jesus Christ, in a number of occasions, gave thanks before providing food for His disciples and many others (Matthew 15:36). He also thanked the Father for hearing Him at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:41). What may be surprising is that He thanked His Father for hiding understanding from the wise, but revealing it to babes (Luke 10:21).

The apostle Paul was another person who often mentioned that he was thankful. In many of his epistles, he thanked God for the members in various Church congregations and prayed for them continually. This is mentioned in nine of his epistles.

He thanked the Father and Christ for putting him into the ministry (1 Timothy 1:12), and for giving the victory and repentance to the members. He was also thankful that some members had risked their lives for him (Romans 16:3-4).

He mentioned many times that we are to be thankful in all things—even in persecutions. But he also gave a warning that in the last times, men would be unthankful, among many other negative characteristics (2 Timothy 3:1-2).

Christ Himself remarked on this when He healed ten lepers. Only one, a foreigner, returned to thank Him for such a remarkable healing (Luke 17:15-18).

When we look at the characteristics of the Church of the Laodiceans, we see that they think they are rich and wealthy and have need of nothing (Revelation 3:17). A person with this attitude is very unlikely to be thankful to God for what they have.

There are many more examples that could be mentioned, but this gives us a summary of many of the things we should be thankful for, and warnings of being unthankful.

When we think of the opening Scripture in Ephesians 5:20, we see that we are commanded to give thanks for all things—both the good things and things we may consider not so good. But Paul reminds us that all things work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28). This shows that even things that we may consider not so good are for our benefit in God’s overall scheme of things. So, it is profitable to find something good in every situation and thank God for it.

Again, let’s look at the example of Daniel. When his life was threatened if he prayed to any god or man except the king, he prayed and gave thanks before his God three times, as his custom was (Daniel 6:10). It was more important for Daniel to pray to God and thank Him than to be concerned about his own life.

To be thankful requires humility and overcoming lust and greed. It entails appreciation for what we have rather than lusting after what we do not have. God knows that our human nature is filled with vanity, selfishness, lust and greed; and of itself, it is not thankful. Thankfulness gets our mind off ourselves and acknowledges God’s hand in our lives. We acknowledge that we did not achieve anything by ourselves.

So, we should always remember that what we have; what we are; and especially the understanding of God’s plan for our eternal life are all blessings from God, directly or indirectly. Accordingly, we should give God thanks always for all things.

In my previous Editorial a few weeks ago, I gave the marvellous example of a dog’s nose and how incredible it is that even the small nose of a small dog can house well over 100 million scent-detecting receptors, which for those who have eyes to see is a brilliant example of God’s marvellous creativity.

Recently, due to the generosity of a family member, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit Australia and New Zealand. It reminded me yet again, if I ever needed to be reminded, how ridiculous the theory of evolution is.

As we travelled down the western side of the south island of New Zealand for hundreds of miles, the amazing scenery of small mountains, hills, lakes, rivers, trees, hedgerows, flowers, rocks and boulders was an assortment of natural delights. The thought that this backdrop of natural beauty and creativity could be part of an evolutionary process is absurd.

On the livescience.com website, we read the following: “Life on Earth first bloomed around 3.7 billion years ago, when chemical compounds in a ‘primordial soup’ somehow sparked into life, scientists suspect. But what turned sterile molecules into living, changing organisms? That’s the ultimate mystery.”

From the position of “scientists suspecting,” they then go on to guess what happened which is an “understanding” of sorts, which allows them to omit the possibility of an all-powerful Creator God. My thoughts turn to Romans 1:18-22 when I hear, see or read about man’s ridiculous postulations on this vital subject. It is a passage that is well worth reviewing again and again.

In addition, John 1:3 states that “all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made,” showing from the Bible that the great God was responsible for and the instigator of everything at creation.

I have had the privilege of seeing similar scenery in a number of other parts of the world, and I am always amazed at those who refuse to acknowledge a mighty hand in the production of such beauty—rather believing theories, explanations, conclusions, conjecture, propositions and human rationale instead of admitting that a greater force than man must have instigated all that we see in nature today. And what I saw was but a fraction of God’s artistry in this world of ours.

How different it will be in the Kingdom of God on earth when all of man’s consistent mismanagement of earth’s rich and plentiful resources are replaced by correct and sustainable applications and when people will then realise that evolution was a satanic smokescreen to divert people from God’s Way. At that time, the wonder of a dog’s nose and the incredible array of natural beauty will be understood—not as a product of chance, a primordial soup or any other imaginings of fertile but misguided minds, but as the accomplishment of a Creator whose thinking and implementation of wondrous things far surpasses anything that mere man can come up with. And what I have mentioned today is but the tip of the iceberg in terms of the creative power of our great God.

While most of the world refuses to believe that God is the Creator who has made the life and beauty that surrounds them, God’s people have been given such knowledge of the Truth even though they are not the great of this world, as we read in 1 Corinthians 1:26-28: “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are.”

The time is coming when everyone will know the Truth and appreciate that God did create all things, and all other theories were just flawed arguments used as a diversionary tactic by our arch enemy and believed by far too many people.

The Truth is there, right before our eyes and, in God’s due time, the Truth will prevail!

We are constantly put to the test. If we have chosen to live this Way of Life, that is, a life pleasing to God based on what He commands, then we face many challenges and our inner strength will also be put to the test. To conquer our weaknesses is the challenge. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Here was Paul, an apostle of God, admitting that he had weaknesses and only through his weaknesses could he become strong. The weakness he had didn’t make him strong, but overcoming it gave him that strength. He knew of course that only through God’s help could he attain that strength. God gave him His strength, because without it, he could do nothing, but with it, he could do everything. This is very relevant for us today since we all have weaknesses that we must fight to overcome. It is nothing that is easily overcome, but only through faith, prayer, and repentance. If we didn’t have any weaknesses, then we would be perfect, and we know that that is not the case, since none of us are perfect.

Every person in the Bible had a weakness, even some of the greatest, who were men of God. They too had to struggle continuously to overcome their weaknesses and they also had to experience punishment by God to make them stronger. Many of them went through trials that seemed impossible to get through, but strength was on their side.

Job had many trials. He lost everything – his family and his possessions, and his health was also affected, but even after all that, he wasn’t angry towards God. However, he did have a weakness and that was his self-righteousness, which he did eventually overcome by acknowledging God’s power, and as a result, received back more than he had before his trials.

Samson had an incredible gift from God, which he took for granted. His weakness was women. They were more important to him than God, and every time he got into trouble, he never looked to God for help, but decided to fight his own battles instead. As a result, he lost his life. But before he died, he realized what his sin was and repented of it. He had finally overcome his weakness.

Moses had a weakness, that of anger. It is very easy to get angry and anger could be very difficult to control. Do you consider yourself easily tempered? Do we sometimes make others angry by what we may say or do? Have we noticed that it is more work to be happy than to be angry? Why is that? Because we are living in Satan’s world, and he is just the opposite of peace and tranquility. Have we noticed how much more of an effort it is to maintain peace? When something goes wrong, what is our initial reaction? Do we have thoughts of doubt, worry and discouragement during tough times? It’s all about how we control ourselves. What would Christ do in this situation?

“For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ‘Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth’; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously… Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For ‘[h]e who would love life And see good days, Let him refrain his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; Let him seek peace and pursue it’” (1 Peter 2:21-23; 3:8-11).

Unfortunately, there were some who were not strong enough, and as a result, they just gave up completely, like that which happened to King Saul. We have to make sure that we don’t fall into that category. Judas had a weakness that he did not overcome, and that was money. He betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-15). He was greedy for money, and that was very dangerous because riches had the better of him—just like the one individual who asked Christ in Matthew 19 what he could do to inherit eternal life and when Christ told him to sell everything he had and give it to the poor, he didn’t want to do it because money was more important to him.

Sometimes, we may feel that when times are really tough, we aren’t being blessed, but think of it as more of a test that we need to overcome. And remember, we DO have help from God (compare Romans 8:26-27). Each one of us is unique. We all have various strengths and weaknesses. Each one of us is aware what they are and we all know what it is that we must work on. If there is a certain weakness we have trouble with, we should make it a priority to overcome it. Satan is very intelligent, let us not forget that. He will attack us on the very things where we are most vulnerable.

We are called out of this world for a reason and Satan knows it, which is why we need to be vigilant at ALL times. But he can only do what God allows. Think of what happened to Job. God allowed Job’s trials to teach him a lesson! Yes, we are all going through trials, and yes, there are reasons for them. Again, we are the few that God has chosen and Satan knows that too, and the trials that we go through are different than those outside the Church of God because when we have been called to the Truth, we are in a separate category and we are not controlled by time and chance. God is aware of everything we go through, every trial, for our benefit. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). We still need to overcome our weaknesses and replace them with righteousness. And once we do that, God will be pleased, and so will we.

Children are good at coming up with excuses for not doing what they are told to do or for not carrying out a task by following precise instructions. However, adults are not that much different. We have a few impressive examples of this in the Bible which also show the consequences for such behavior.

The first is the example of King Saul. He was instructed by God to attack wicked and cruel Amalek and kill man, woman, children plus the animals, as we read in 1 Samuel 15:3:  “‘Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

What did he do? Verse 9 tells us: “But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.”

What was his excuse for his disobedience?

“And Saul said, ‘They have brought them [the sheep and oxen] from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed’” (1 Samuel 15:15).

He blamed it on the people and took no responsibility for what happened. What was the consequence? Samuel told him in 1 Samuel 15:23: “‘For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.’”

Being replaced as king was the price for his refusal to carry out God’s orders. His weak excuse was to blame the people but as the King, he was ultimately responsible.

It is important to do what God asks and requires of us.

Let us assume that an owner of a business tells an employee to paint the floor in the shop. Later he checks on how the task is progressing. The employee tells him that he painted the walls and the doors, repaired some of the lights and replaced a window. “What’s your excuse for not painting the floor?”,  the employer asks. The man answers he thought the other things were more important and that the employer would be impressed by what he had done. The  owner replies: “That’s nice that you did all that but you did not paint the floor as I ordered you to do, so you are fired.”

Sometimes people get all caught up in what they think is a priority and ignore clear instructions which they had received.

Let us look at what may seem to be a strange statement by Christ to a group of individuals.

Matthew 7:21 records  Christ’s words:  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’”

They thought they were followers of Christ, pointing out the “good deeds” they had performed, but what was Christ’s response? “‘And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” (Matthew 7:23).

This may seem like a pretty harsh response, but why do you suppose He said this? In what respect did they fail?

Matthew 24:14 tells us: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

This is where their focus should have been. Their excuse was that they felt other things were more important, but that was not acceptable to Christ, and as a consequence, He told them to depart from Him.

Our individual responsibility is to support the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom of God among all nations as a witness, and if we fail in this task, we fail completely. None of the excuses we may present for not doing what Christ has clearly told us to do will be acceptable.

Let us put the excuses aside and remain focused on the job at hand so that we will be in a position to receive our crown at Christ’s return.

December 5, 2018, was declared a national day of mourning for the United States of America, because former President George H. W. Bush had died the previous day. Many governmental agencies were shut down in response to this day of mourning for a past president.

When I heard about this, there were a couple of observations that ran through my mind. The first was that, while yes, banks were closed, the stock market was closed and post offices were closed, there didn’t seem to be an outpouring of sorrow. No one was of a sad countenance. Life kept going on. Most people went to their jobs and lived their lives.  Secondly, I wondered what it would be like if this day of mourning was actually in response to people’s realization that they have been living the wrong way of life and they were ready to turn to God.

In reading through the Bible, we find many stories about how people were living the wrong way of life and had issues and problems that came to a head. Then, they would call out and ask God for help and He would save them. Many times, the Israelites had to face serious problems and captivity in order to repent and return to God. The city of Nineveh, while not an Israelite city, was warned about the captivity and destruction that WOULD come upon them unless they repented. They did, and the city was spared at that time.

The problem is that very often, humans have to learn the hard way. God doesn’t desire people to die. In Ezekiel 18:21-32; 33:11-20, God keeps asking why people would not turn from sin and live. The whole reason God has given man about 6,000 years to try living his own way is to recognize how bad a job he has done. And indeed, we are coming up to the times when issues and problems are becoming more and more prevalent. We are destroying the earth we live on, and we are in the process of destroying all life. In fact, Christ warns in Matthew 24:21-22 that if God were not to cut short the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, no flesh would survive. We would wipe each other out. That’s how far man would take it. When we review the history of the past two world wars and the atrocities and the inhuman treatment, it is not hard to imagine that man would be willing to do much worse, especially under the inspiration of the god of this world, Satan the Devil.

As Christians, we also have the duty to sigh and cry about the atrocities that we see (Ezekiel 9:4), as well as continue our warning cry to the nations, as we are told to do by God (Ezekiel 33:1-10). Unfortunately, many refuse to hear the warning. They claim to know God and yet their hearts are not in line with God’s ways (Ezekiel 33:30-33). The warning to mourn and to turn to God is plainly there. Will we be the ones who are willing to do so? Or will we have to go through the Great Tribulation?

Our choice is of the utmost importance at this moment in time. James 4:8-10 tells us: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Yes, we should be weeping. We should be, individually and collectively, appalled, disgusted, shocked and grieved in the depths of our hearts over our sins, just as the people were in Acts 2:37: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart…”

We are not only addressing the prideful, lying, stealing, and lusting sins but also sins of the tongue, sins of anxiousness, sins of bitterness, sins of partiality, sins of complacency, sins of jealousy, sins of impatience, sins of arrogance, sins of hate, sins of backbiting and sins of cowardliness, and the list could go on and on. We should grieve over all of them because every sin separates us from God.

The time for mourning and returning to God is NOW! In Matthew 5, the beatitudes show that the actions of those who want to be known by God are in line with turning to Him. They are doing what is required of them. One of these actions is mourning, while being mindful of sin in our lives and actively turning from it. True Godly sorrow and repentance produce the change that is needed. 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 says: “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”

Again, the choice is ours. What will our choice be?

Having eight grandsons, my wife and I are regularly noting how much the boys are growing as the weeks, months and years go by. This is especially apparent when we view their older photos. Human growth is a miraculous occurrence. From conception forward, there is an astonishing and wondrous development of life culminating in birth. Likewise, the young grow into maturity—all a process of God’s creative power!

There is a parallel in spiritual growth.

We are called by God to become His sons and daughters (2 Corinthians 6:18). That begins with our spiritual begettal when God gives us His Holy Spirit and culminates when we are changed from flesh to spirit. While many Scriptures describe this (compare 1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; 1 John 3:1-3), note that the Bible also reveals this change takes place after a period of time.

Very specifically, the Church and ministry are established to help in our spiritual growth, “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13; compare also, 2 Peter 3:18). We know that Jesus Christ is the example to apply in order to measure our spiritual growth (1 Peter 2:21). He did not sin (Hebrews 4:15; 1 John 3:5); He conquered His own human nature (Romans 8:3-4); He overcame the world (John 16:33); and He defeated Satan (Matthew 4:10; John 12:31; 14:30).

How are we doing by His standard? Are we, more and more, “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5)? Can we say that “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2:5)? Is our constant goal to become perfect just like God is perfect (Matthew 5:48)? Can we say that we are a stronger Christian now than when God first called us?

Jesus gives us a powerful key for spiritual growth, and it is for us to focus on overcoming those things which are contrary to God’s Will. This is His message to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3.

The Apostle Peter wrote, saying, “…brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10), and in verses 5-9, he noted how Christians are to do this:

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

If we grow spiritually, then we have this incomparable promise: “For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:11).