"What About You?"

What about you, were the words I heard in my heart yesterday afternoon, as I received a call that Marianne's brother (James E. Hawk) went home to be with the Lord yesterday morning in his sleep. I had no idea why I was asking the question I asked in yesterday's blog; but yet within just a few hours later, Jim was called home. We must be ready to go, at all times! I really try to make a habit of asking for my sins to be forgiven before I go to sleep each night, because you never know! I truly believe that Jim's name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life; which means that he will not go through the Great White Throne Judgement, where man is judged by his sin. He will however stand before the Lord at the Judgement Seat of Christ; where we all that are written in the Lamb's Book of Life will stand. The judgement that we will face there, will be based upon 'Love', and what we did with the Knowledge of 'The Love of God'; or, another way of putting it: 'What did you do in Jesus Christ!' Once you have been given the knowledge of God's love, and the magnitude of that love, you are not able to say, "I did not know"; for once you have believed, and experienced the saving grace of the cross, you have had your heart opened to the suffering of Jesus Christ, and what He did for you; and once you have done that; well, let's just say, 'It's a whole new ballgame!' In Galatians 5:24, Paul writes, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." To truly 'crucify the flesh' we must have made a decision to no longer serve the things of the flesh because they are no longer of any use to us; much the same as someone who is nailed to cross, and dying, would have no use any longer for those things that are around him. We must mortify the affections and lust of the flesh through the faith and love of Christ crucified. Again, when Paul speaks of the cross in verse 6:14, he says, "by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world"; here he is describing a new passion in his life, where he is no longer charmed by the things of the world, and that they would have no more interest to him than the dead corpse of another man on a cross; nor did he take anymore delight in worldly things than a person expiring on the cross would have in the objects around him. In other words; the faith and love which we must have in and through Jesus Christ is to be such, that those things of the world no longer have an adverse affect on us! What about you? Is your heart in the right place? As I pondered this myself yesterday, I could see a whole lot of 'stuff' in my life that would not be considered as 'pleasing to the Lord'; yet, I know that I will not be judged upon those things, but rather I will be judged upon the Things which I have been given. The problem that I face, and can see must be decided, is what do I have a passion for; in other words, where does my heart dwell. Does my heart dwell in the stuff, or in the Things of God? "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." (Galatians 5:25)