Daily Christian Podcast

You want the good news first or the bad news? I am a bad news first kind of guy. I think we do an injustice to the good news if you do not fully understand the bad. Reflecting on the sacrifice Jesus made on our behalf today, hope you take some time to do the same.

Sharing my thoughts to the world wide web has brought feedback. I really do not have much to offer other than, to tell the truth. I am not here to argue, to convince you of anything, but rather to share with you the Word of God and its impact on my life. I think most will assume they are a "good person" and that "good people" go to heaven. It seems reasonable at first thought. Something to consider: Is my definition of good and God's definition the same? If they are not, that could be a big problem. For what it's worth, here are my thoughts on the subject.

1 Thessalonians 4-5: Jesus is coming back, nobody knows when, but that is a promise from His Word. I think the question we should be asking ourselves: Am I ready? Am I ready if He returns today? Am I ready to go before Him if something were to happen to me today and my life ended?

1 Thessalonians 4 lays out the way our life should look. We are called to live a Holy life. The thing is, that is arguably impossible without God in your life. We naturally are sinful, it goes against our nature to look out for others above ourselves. The only way to accomplish the life God has for us is through a relationship with Him. Like any other relationship, if you want it to work, you spend time with the person. Long distance relationships rarely work! He is available all the time, speak to him (prayer) listen to his word (scripture) and let your relationship with Him grow. To live a Holy life is difficult, but as we draw close to God, our actions will reflect a Holy life. It is when your life, as a Christian, looks the same as those who have no relationship with Christ, where there is likely a relationship issue with God. I am confident that it is IMPOSSIBLE to be close to God and live an unholy life. Does your life reflect a close relationship with God?

1 Thessalonians 3 - They knew they would suffer if they decided to give their lives over to Jesus, they did anyway! Not because it was easy, because Jesus was the truth, He was who He claimed to be. When realizing that, they lived the life He called all of us to live due to the faith they had in Him. That came with persecution, they knew it would come, but they lived their life according to their calling regardless of the outcome.

1 Thessalonians 2, so much here that I love. Motive for sharing your faith is meant to be solely out of love, that you would be filled with Joy when those you encounter give their life to God! Unfortunately, if we do not love those around us, the Joy of life change does not outweigh the risk of sharing our faith. So when reflecting on my own life, I think the only reason why I would not share the Gospel with those around me would be because I do not love them. I, for the life of me, cannot think of another reason why I would not share it. For what it's worth, those are some of my thoughts.

1 Thessalonians Chapter 1, the latter part. God will draw you closer to Him through His Word, He will change you from the inside out! However, you have to be willing to change, otherwise what's the point? We were called to follow Christ, not ask him to follow us.

1 Thessalonians Chapter 1, A couple things I thought about after reading the first part of chapter 1; how pure are my motives? When I do things for people, am I doing it purely out of love or do I have other motives? The 2nd and biggest thing of this part of the chapter is the power of Good News! The Gospel will change you in a big way and will have an impact on you from the inside out. When that happens, others will take notice!

Colossains Chapter 4:2-6, my devotion this morning was reading through Chapter 4 but these were the verses that stood out to me. What does my conversations look like? Do I have the proper balance of Grace and Salt? For what it's worth, these are my thoughts on the passage of scripture...