"If You Say So!"

"So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily He is a God that judgeth in the earth." (Psalms 58:11) I am bothered by that statement, We don't owe God anything; I mean, I totally get how it's a free gift and all, and how we could never ever repay Him for what He has done, but I owe Him my life! Every single one of us owe Him our lives, for He has bought us and paid for us with a heavy cost. Besides all that, any rewards that we receive, we will gladly surrender once we see the complete picture; because, truth be told, there really is no difference between the us and them, only that we have been washed and they have not; we have accepted the free gift of salvation, and they have rejected and declined the offer. I can remember myself rejecting His offer, and I really thought I was better than all those that approached me with the gospel message; as if what I had was good enough, and yet I had nothing. I am so glad God did not give up on me! As I was thinking about how it happened, I realized something very important that preceded my surrender to God, I was searching for Him; I may not have realized it at the time, but I realized this morning. For three months I constantly was reading that little Gideons Bible, and all the while my heart was longing to be with my God; the more I read it, the more I was being drawn towards that day, and the more I was being prepared to receive that special message of deliverance. And, I was also reminded of something else this morning, God already knew me! He already knows who you are, even if you don't know Him yet, He knows you, and He's calling you to come home! I don't care what you might think about Calvinism and that whole predestination thing, but when you are one of God's children, you have always been God's child; so yes, I owe Him dearly, because He is my Father and He loves me; He always has and always will. I may not always know what I need, but He does; and I may not even know what to ask for, but He knows, and He knew then; He knew that I needed His Spirit to call me home, and His Spirit tugged upon my heart to go down to that church service, and His Spirit softened my heart, preparing me to receive that message with gladness and thankfulness. I realize now how vital His Word was in that whole encounter, because His Word is alive; His Word breathes life into this weary body. Please don't stop reading His Word; He wrote it to you! There is another difference between us and them: We hear His voice, and we know He hears us, and He's the best Dad ever...
 "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" (Luke 11:11-13)