FEAR

Fear is an evil game that is played in our minds. Now of course the Bible admonishes us to “fear the Lord”, but that fear causes us to revere God’s power and dominion over our lives, recognizing that he is the all-powerful creator, and we are the creation. And because he loves us, this healthy fear of the Lord draws us humbly closer to him. But time and time again in the Bible, we are told NOT to be afraid. This word has the meaning of flight, caused by dread or terror, usually from the intimidation of our perceived adversaries. When we get in difficult, uncontrollable circumstances, our mind often flees to fearful thoughts, thinking the “worst case scenario”. CJ used to call that type of thinking “awful-izing” the situation. The first week or so of our cancer diagnosis, we both fell prey to those thoughts. We thought of all the worst case scenarios and played them over and over in our minds, and this pretty much paralyzed our thought and actions for a while until we began to focus on God and not just our fears.

      God does not want us to be afraid and fearful! II Timothy 2:7 says, “For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-control.” So where does fear, anxiety, and doubt come from? The Bible says it comes from Satan, the dark, fallen angel who is the enemy of God and who tries to draw us away from God and his love for us! Ephesians 6:12 reminds us, “For our struggle is not against flesh & blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”. And the Bible warns us to be alert to the devil, who looks to make life miserable for us:  I Peter 5:8-9 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith”. There is the answer to fear and doubt! RESIST, & STAND FIRM IN THE FAITH!

FAITH

      Faith is the mental and spiritual exercise God calls us to use every day to trust in him. Just as fear is an evil game Satan plays in our minds, faith is the mental antidote that God has given us to connect with him and his power over fear. Why do we need faith? Think in a bigger cosmic scale from God’s viewpoint for a moment. In the beginning of creation, we were meant to walk with God in a place on the earth called the Garden of Eden. We were sinless and knew no evil, life was wonderful, God was in charge, and there was nothing to fear or be anxious about. But you know the story… our ancestors Adam and Eve made a really stupid decision and fell for Satan’s lie that we really didn’t need God, and rebelled against God. The punishment was banishment from that perfect life in the Garden, and from that point on we live in our sinful world of rebellion and suffer death and all the results of sin, such as disease, discord, hatred, wars, fear, anger, etc.

      Because of our sin-induced separation from God, we no longer see him nor walk with him. We have to believe and trust that God loves us and wants the best for us. He sent Jesus to love us, die in our place, and offer us forgiveness through his sacrificial death and resurrection, but we still have to trust that it is all true! That is why faith is defined as “…the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”- Hebrews 11:1.

   We all face unknown and unseen circumstances that can harm us, because our sinful world is one of disease, suffering, injustice, and eventual death. Our natural tendency is to be anxious and afraid, but God calls us to focus our minds on him and the promises he has given us. Romans 12:2 tells us “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”.  This is not a one-time deal; we have to decide every morning to focus on God and his promises, rather than focus on our difficult circumstances and succumb to fear and anxiety.

      Every day, you and I have a choice as to how we think about our life. Think of a word play on the  letters of the word FEAR: Forever Expecting Awful Results. Many people take that approach to life, and are filled with fear, anxiety, and no hope. Or we can focus on the letters to the word FAITH: Full Assurance in the Heart! As we trust on God’s promises and faithfulness in the past, we can face our future with peace and hope, knowing that God has our back! And the more you practice faith on a day to day basis, you can redefine FEAR as Face Everything And Rise!

FRIENDS

     Even though CJ and I have been Christians for decades and consider ourselves fairly mature in our faith, the daily choice to live by faith and trust instead of fear and anxiety is not always an easy or automatic response! We both have our moments, but we find that reading scripture passages of hope and assurance of God’s help every day make a big difference. For example, one of my favorites has become Isaiah 41:10- “So do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand”!

    Not only have we been blessed with encouraging scripture, but we have found ourselves overwhelmed with wonderful support from friends from all different places in life! We have received wonderful cards and notes from so many that have brought us to tears. And the many responses on our Facebook pages and the special update page have been amazing! I have been so surprised by the depth of the prayers and thoughts of folks on that page, often by people I hardly know, but are a “friend of a friend” who has chosen to pray for us. I encourage you that no matter what crisis you face in your life today, read some of the great prayers & thoughts on the Facebook update page and apply them to yourself!

      Finally, the most interesting source of encouragement has come from what might be called “the fellowship of cancer survivors”. Soon after CJ’s diagnosis, we heard from an old friend who told us she was also going through the same cancer, for a 2^nd time, and encouraged CJ that God would be with her and it was going to be OK! And so many others, from a sister-in-law to other cancer surviving friends have just changed our thoughts from fear to faith and hope. And then there was the wonderful woman at the chemo center who told us she has been fighting ovarian cancer on and off for over 18 years! She has lost her hair 5 times, and had a new haircut presently!

So, no matter what crisis you are facing now in your life, or may face in the future, remember this:

– God did not give you a spirit of fear or timidity, but one of love, power, and self-control

– make a conscious mental decision each morning to live by faith, not by fear

– don’t be a “loner Christian”; God designed his people to be a community, because we need each other for encouragement and just having fun doing life together!

– enjoy the day God has given you today, and don’t worry about tomorrow

“Now may the God of all hope fill you with joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”.  – Romans 15:13

FAITH:

 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. – Hebrews 11:1 (NIV)

We finally heard definitively that CJ has metastatic ovarian cancer. She had her first chemo treatment 2 days ago. As any normal person would, we pray for healing for CJ! We are asking God to guide and intervene in this entire process, and of course would like to see CJ restored to full health! But as any mature Christian understands, God rarely answers our prayers just the way we want; he often has a better plan in mind, one we cannot fully grasp with our limited understanding. As the apostle Paul reminds us, now our view of God is like looking dimly into a hazy mirror, but someday we will fully be in God’s presence and see things clearly! (I Corinthians 13:12) And so before we even begin to look at God’s healing, we need to first begin by understanding what faith in God involves.

1) GOD’S WAYS ARE BIGGER AND BETTER THAN OURS!

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways”, says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”. This means God is God, and we are not! And part of trust, or faith, in God is that God’s answer to our prayers is always in line with his “bigger picture” plan, not just what we think we want right now.

2) FAITH IS BASED ON THE ASSURANCE AND CERTAINTY OF A FUTURE HOPE!

If you already see something or know the outcome, that’s not faith; it’s just observation. I think there are 2 basic kinds of hope. The 1^st I would call preferred hope. This is common human hope that says “I want God to give me health, a great husband or wife, smart kids, a great home with good neighbors, lots of good friends, and as a Christian, a good long life loving God, serving others & sharing the good news of the gospel, and enjoying this beautiful world”. And when crisis comes, we ask God to rescue us with such things as healing, a new job, a reconciled marriage, overcoming addiction, or maybe kids that finally wise up and see the light!

The 2^nd kind of hope I call promised hope! This is what true Christian faith is anchored on. This is based upon the actual promises that God gives us in the Bible. This includes such things as forgiveness for and salvation from our sins through Jesus’ death & resurrection; strength and peace as we face various trials in life; the promise of God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within us, Jesus’ promise never to leave us nor forsake us as we go through the trials of life, the promise of new, abundant life through Jesus, and eternal life in God’s new Kingdom that will last forever! These, and many other promises, are unchanging, and we can “bank of them” with certainty! All the other “preferred” hopes we have may, or may not, be part of God’s overall, eternal plan for our specific life. Hebrews chapter 11 is considered the ultimate “faith chapter”, and highlights many people who saw God answer their “preferred” prayers, but many others who in faith didn’t get what they wanted, but looked forward to the ultimate future that God promises us all who trust in Jesus.

To see from God’s perspective, it helps to look at the Bible as God’s divine drama for our lives, based on 4 acts. Act 1 is Creation: God created a magnificent world without sin, and we were the crowning achievement, made in God’s image! We were created to live in God’s presence in the Garden of Eden forever, enjoying a sinless, wonderful life with him! Act 2 is the Fall: Adam & Eve chose to sin and disobey God, resulting in being banished from God’s presence and suffering the consequences of sin. All of creation feels the effects of sin: physical death, sickness, hatred, strife, wars, killing, mistrust, pollution, and virtually everything that makes life miserable for us and separates us from God. Act 3 is Redemption: Jesus came to earth to rescue us from the deadly effects of sin by dying in our place. And his powerful resurrection unleashed the power of God to reverse the horrific effects of sin and begin to redeem and restore us and all creation to what we were created to be! Act 4 is the Restoration: Jesus preached a new coming Kingdom of God, and anyone who trusts and believes in Him as the Son of God will be able to inherit that Kingdom! There will be no more sin here, and we will live forever in God’s presence again with new bodies that never get sick or die. We will ultimately live on a restored, new earth that in many ways may be similar to this one, but will have none of the effects of sin that plague us now, and God will dwell with us! Here we will live in what the Bible calls Shalom, which means complete wholeness, harmony, and peace with God, with each other, and with the created world itself.

HEALING:

Now that have God’s bigger picture and plan in mind, we can understand God’s healing from that perspective. Remember two things about God’s physical healing: 1) it is temporary. All of us will die at some point in the future. 2) It’s always for God’s glory. He always heals in the Bible to point to his coming Kingdom, and healing reminds us that God has power over sickness & death, and in the future Kingdom, we will never be sick or die again!

This is spring, and baseball fans are always optimistic, at least for a few weeks (even the Detroit Tiger fans!). Let’s use a baseball diamond to explain how God heals us. Consider the 4 bases:

Home plate: This is “home”, the Kingdom of God that Jesus preached about, that amazing, eternal sinless abundant life that God promises to all who put their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior! Imagine God as the umpire, and only he decides who will safely be allowed to cross this plate into eternity.

First base: This is the first kind of healing, what many consider to be miracles or instantaneous healing. The Bible has many example of this, and this is primarily how Jesus healed people. This happens in every generation, including today, but not as frequently as in the Bible.

Second base: This is a more gradual, slow-process type healing that includes rest and use of medical knowledge, and is the most common type of temporary healing. God has created an awesome, magnificent natural world, and he has given many people wisdom and knowledge to understand how to use chemicals and natural plants to create wonderful medicines and treatments. Together with our wonderfully created bodies that have their own healing mechanisms, God uses all of this to bring healing to our bodies and souls. We are praying for CJ’s chemo treatments to have this God-inspired effect!

Third base: This is healing through physical death, and none of us who love our family and life here would “prefer” this option, at least right now! (But we will all reach 3^rd base sometime, whether we want to or not!) When I was in seminary a lifetime ago, the President of the seminary had a life-long healing ministry and told us that death is the ultimate form of God’s healing. Back then, I thought that was just a cop-out. But if we can step back and remember God’s “big picture” viewpoint, death for believers is a step into his Kingdom, an amazing new life, without sin and with a new body, more wonderful than we can ever imagine! And to carry out the baseball analogy, if you are dead on 3^rd base, you can’t go home. But God provided Jesus to be our “pinch runner”, and through his resurrection overcame the power of death and can now easily carry us “home” if we will trust him and allow him to save us and help us.

For many Christians in our world who face extreme persecution and hardship, and for others who are physically worn down due to severe physical disease or just old age, death can become a welcome relief and a portal of faith into the new life with God we all long for, deep down in our souls. The apostle Paul faced great hardship and persecution, but also loved his mission work. He felt this struggle and said “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” – Philippians 1:21-24

To be brutally honest, I love Paul’s writings and I know the future Kingdom will be amazing; but Paul was a single man facing great persecution. I have shared a wonderful 41 years with an amazing wife named Claudia! And I’m praying and asking the Lord for a first or second base type of healing, at least for many more years! But whatever happens, I will always trust God to “have our back”, and I know that His thoughts and ways are marvelous and beyond what we can imagine!

Please pray for:

– God’s healing for CJ, according to his time-table and perfect plan

– peace, strength, patience, and deepening faith for us, so that God might be glorified in the way we act and live out our lives

– pray for yourselves (and we pray with you), that you can fully trust your life to Jesus, and know with assurance and peace that you are his child and he holds you in the palm of his hand!

I’ll end with an encouraging quote I read this week:

“Faith raises the soul above the difficulty, straight to God himself, and enables one to stand still. We gain nothing by our anxious and restless efforts… It is therefore true wisdom, in all times of difficulty and perplexity, to stand still—to wait only upon God, and He will assuredly open a way for us”.  – C.H. Mackintosh

God bless you all! May his peace and strength inhabit your life and soul!

“My wife has advanced cancer”… something I never thought I would write, nor something I ever thought we would have to face together. But nobody else sees such things coming either, do they? So Claudia (CJ to many) and I will face this crisis with faith in God, just as we have everything else in our life! As many of you know, I have been “blogging” for about 6 years now, so I will use this platform to share our faith journey through cancer with others. I do this not because it’s “all about us”, but because writing my thoughts will help us work this out, and I pray it may help some others who are going through the various struggles that we all face in this life. And, whatever the final result, we pray that God will be glorified in this journey, and that we will walk through it as faithful followers of Jesus!

OUR REACTON:  Like everyone else, our first reaction was shock, fear, much sobbing and tears, numbness, and just trying to get a grip on our life that was suddenly turned upside down! To be clear, yes, I’m a retired pastor, and CJ is a wonderful, faithful person who loves to lead worship and praise God all her life, but we are just like everyone else and get no “special favors” because of that. Christians will face all the heartaches and struggle in life, just like everyone else. As a husband and man, my first desire is to “fix this” and make it alright, but I am struck by the realization that I am helpless to do anything to stop this cancer! But as most believers understand, God has us “right where he wants us”, needing to be entirely dependent on Him for our hope and future. Another thought I expressed as a husband was “I wish I had this cancer and not you!” Truthfully, I would rather deal with the pain and treatments myself, than see my wife go through it! But I can’t!… BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS, JESUS HAS ALREADY DONE THAT FOR US! This week we again celebrate the excruciating death and resurrection of Jesus! Part of the amazing “good news” of the gospel is that Jesus took the punishment and pain for all our sins and sicknesses upon himself on that cross, and in the resurrection defeated death itself for us. In I Peter 2:24 it says “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.”  And in Matthew 8:17, it says “This was to fulfill what was written through the prophet Isaiah: ‘He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases’ “.

OUR FIRST ACTIONS: After the initial shock had worn off, CJ turned to scripture to hear what God was going to say to us. She has been reading through the Old Testament and came to II Chronicles 20:15, which says “This is what the Lord says to you: Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s!” I encourage you to read all of chapter 20, but to summarize, King Jehoshaphat of Judah faced 3 invading armies, and knew he was powerless to win the battle! In verse 12, he says “O God, will you not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon YOU!” After God told him that the battle was not his to fight, he still instructed Jehoshaphat to prepare for battle. Interestingly, leading the soldiers was a choir of singers who were praising God and singing “Praise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever”. As they approached the battle, God caused confusion in the enemy armies and they ended up completely destroying each other, as the army of Judah just watched!

We are using this verse and story as our faith focus in this battle against cancer! We see the “vast army” as the many tumors diagnosed in the 1^st CT scan. We know that we are powerless to destroy them ourselves, but we believe God has ultimate power and will fight this battle for us. Now, that doesn’t mean we just sit back and do nothing!

ANTICIPATING THE AWESOMENESS OF GOD!

The army of Judah witnessed the awesome power of God to save them and fight for them. When we feel helpless and hopeless, God is still God, the all-powerful creator of the universe who cares deeply about each of us! But just as God gave King Jehoshaphat specific instructions, he does for us as well. In my John Maxwell Leadership version of the Bible, John outlines the major steps King Jehoshaphat took in the story that apply to us today as well:

1) They fought their fear. (vs.2,3) They didn’t let fear paralyze them, but stayed calm enough to think. Please pray for peace and wisdom for us as well!

2) They sought the Lord!(vs.3,6-13) The King prayed to seek wisdom & perspective from God. Pray for us to be patient and seek that as well!

3) He brought the synergy. (vs.3,4) He gathered the people and informed them. We are blessed with social media connections, and God has connected us with well over 100, perhaps 200, people praying for us and encouraging us with cards, emails, texts, etc.

4) He caught the vision (vs.14-17) He listened to the voice of God until he knew what to do. Help us listen to God’s voice, because his plans are much greater than ours!

5) He bought God’s idea (vs.18, 19)  He bowed his head and took the steps forward that God gave him. Pray for us to humble ourselves and honor God in this.

6) He taught the plan (vs.20-23)  He gave his key players instructions on what to do. Pray that God will direct our doctors, the chemo treatments, CJ and I as we take each step, and all of you as our team of “prayer warriors” to focus faithfully on God’s plan for us, so that he will be glorified!

7) He got the victory (vs.24,25) He trusted and obeyed, and God won the battle. As Christians, we know Jesus has already won the battle when we put our trust in Him! Whatever the ultimate outcome of this battle with cancer, we who trust in Jesus know that we will live forever with Him in his coming Kingdom, and will someday have new bodies that will never get disease or die!

Now, having said all that noble stuff, I’m still a weak person like many of you, and I’m selfishly praying as a simple child of God for my Heavenly Father (Abba, or “daddy” as Jesus said) to heal my wife and let me share many more years with her as we enjoy our family, friends, this beautiful world He created, and most of all be able to share the message of Jesus’ coming Kingdom with all we can! No matter how this ultimately  ends, I believe with all my heart that God is good, all the time; that nothing can separate us from the love of God; and that ultimately, as we trust fully in Jesus, everything thing is going to be just fine and our eternal future is assured!

 My next blog in a week or so (hopefully) will be on faith and healing. We will focus on Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  Thanks for your continued prayers and support! God bless each of you!

Are you tired of the constant searching for the worst in other people, especially in politics, media, and entertainment? From the President on down, anybody can have their past investigated, going through your high school yearbook, social media, old friends, and anything they can find to embarrass you and accuse you of one of the popular “isms” that are the prominent sins of choice in today’s culture. I read of one Yale opinion writer who vowed to go around with her camera following “white boys”, hoping to record them doing or saying something socially unacceptable that can be  used against them in the future, in case they ever run for political office! (Boy, am I glad I went to high school and college in a time long before social media and cell phones. Some of us might be in big trouble!)

Do you find joy and satisfaction when someone from the “other side”, politically or socially, gets caught in a scandal or some sinful behavior that embarrasses them?  Do you feel gleeful when one of “those hypocrites” gets caught?  If so, then you and I who claim to be followers of Jesus may need to take a serious look at our hearts and attitudes! Remember the time when Jesus taught his followers how to pray and part of that was the line “Forgive us our trespasses (sins) as we forgive those who trespass (sin) against us”?  Oops… that kind of throws a monkey wrench in our culture, doesn’t it? Maybe some of we Christians need a remedial course on the basics of Christianity, remembering who we are, who God is, and what he has done for us Jesus! Let me share a few major points that we, and certainly our culture, seems to have forgotten:

1) FROM GOD’S STANDPOINT, ALL OF US HAVE SINNED AND FALL WOEFULLY SHORT OF GOD’S STANDARDS FOR WHAT HE ORIGIANLLY CREATED US!

²³  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  –Romans 3:23 (NIV)
Simply put, this means ALL of us are guilty of sin, and the result is that ANY sin will separate us from God for eternity! And the worse news is, there is nothing you can do about it to save yourself or earn God’s approval or forgiveness! It’s easy to point out other’s sins and shortfalls, but we struggle to see it in ourselves. Jesus taught us that the contamination of sin is not just in our actions, but in our very hearts and thoughts:

²⁷  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ ²⁸  But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. – Matthew 5:27-28 (NIV)
If you think social media or reporters are dangerous, remember that God knows EVERYTHING you do or say:

¹²  For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ¹³  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  – Hebrews 4:12-13 (NIV)

2) IN SPITE OF OUR SIN, GOD STILL LOVES US SO MUCH HE SENT HIS SON JESUS TO DIE FOR OUR SINFULNESS AND OFFER US FORGIVENESS AND POWER TO OVERCOME SIN AND HAVE A NEW BEGINNING AT LIFE!

¹⁶  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  – John 3:16-17 (NIV)
 Yes, in the final judgement, all of us have to give an account for our sinfulness; but rather than condemnation right now, God offers us the gift of forgiveness now, and His power to change and become new people from the inside out! This free, unmerited gift is called God’s Grace, and is free to all who accept Jesus’ sacrifice for them and put their faith and trust in Him. Even though God has every right to condemn us for our rebellion and sinful thoughts and actions (like people are gleefully doing to each other today), he chose instead to forgive and offer to redeem and restore us to what he designed us to be in the beginning of creation!

Jesus preached primarily about the coming Kingdom of God (Heaven) where there will be no more sin in any form! For those who accept his offer, we will live forever, with Him, in a sinless world where there is no death, sickness, hunger, or evil thoughts of any kind! It may be a world very much like the earth we live in now, and we will have new bodies that will never get sick or weak! Isn’t that the kind of world you would prefer to live in?

3)THEREFORE, GOD CALLS HIS PEOPLE TO JOIN HIM IN A LIFESTYLYE OF FORGIVENESS AND REDEMPTION TOWARD OTHERS, RATHER THAN THE EASY CONDEMNATION, NIT-PICKING, AND DESIRING TO DESTROY OTHERS THAT IS SO PREVALENT IN OUR CULTURE TODAY!

GOD DOESN’T WANT TO THROW ANYONE’S LIFE AWAY! EVERYBODY CAN REPENT, BE REDEEMED, AND HAVE A BRAND NEW START AT A NEW LIFE FOR ETERNITY!

The  Bible makes it clear that most people will not choose a path of redemption and forgiveness, and will go on spewing vitriol and hatred, even celebrating sinfulness in others, somehow thinking they are justifying their own thoughts by condemning others who they perceive as worse than them!

²⁸  Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. ²⁹  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰  slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹  they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. ³²  Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.  – Romans 1:28-32 (NIV)

True Christianity has always been radically counter-cultural to society, and today God is calling us to be just the opposite of what we see in our destructive world today! No matter how much we may disagree or even despise others, God views every human being as made in the image of God and of infinite value to him. He wants everyone to accept his grace, his offer of forgiveness and redemption, and so should we! The New Testament continually calls us to “put to death” our old sinful patterns and begin the new lifestyle of God’s coming Kingdom:

⁵  Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. ⁶  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. ⁷  You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. ⁸  But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. ⁹  Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices ¹⁰  and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.  –Colossians 3:5-10 (NIV)
³⁰  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³²  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. – Ephesians 4:30-32 (NIV)

Remember, when you became a Christian, God’s Holy Spirit dwelt permanently in you, and offers to do a character transformation within you:

²²  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  – Galatians 5:22-24 (NIV)

Are you willing to be a person of forgiveness, mercy, and hope, even for the most vile in our world?

Are you willing to stand up for the joy and promise of God’s future Kingdom, even though you may be ridiculed and mocked?

There are many “radical” groups today, wanting to change society to create their idea of a perfect utopia.

Are you willing to be radical for God, promoting forgiveness, redemption, and eventual restoration of God’s amazing perfect, sinless, eternal Kingdom?

I invite you to invest your time, heart, and energy on what really matters and what will make an eternal and redemptive difference, the Kingdom of God!