"Close To God" -2

"Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy:" (Psalms 109:26)

 I should probably update my photo, since my image has grown a little older looking over the last ten years. Oddly enough, Marianne still looks the same; she has hardly aged a single bit. Two days ago was my 60th birthday, so I guess it's time to start getting serious about the journey that waits ahead. Back in the days of our time at Calvary Chapel of Downey, my wife and I felt that it was our duty to reach out and minister to all of our family members; most of which are currently plugged into the Lord in one way or another; some of which are now actually with the Lord, including our son. My goodness, time goes by so quickly, the closer you get to the ground! We are closer than we think or realize; blink and another day is upon us. Something that the Lord has put upon my heart this day, is that His kingdom is now. Sure, we are all just pilgrims waiting for the promise of being in that final glorious place; but we are also family, each and everyone of us are God's children, we are all part of the same Body of Christ. No matter what church you belong to, as long as that church confesses that Jesus is Lord and believes in the basic doctrine of the cross of Christ, then we are brothers and sisters in the Lord. As such, there is not a single one of us that does not count or that can be discarded. I heard Richard Ellis say something last week, that I wrote down and found yesterday. He said, "You cannot be Unchristian." You might slip, and you might fall, but once you have been bought and paid for by the blood of Christ and you are the property of Christ Jesus, then you are officially a Christian, and you cannot ever become a Unchristian, ever! John mentions this fact in his first letter to the church, saying, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." Even then, we have no idea who these people are; only the Lord knows who are His and who is not His. You might have someone in your life right now that seems too hard to reach or bring back into fellowship with the Lord; but no one is every too far for the Lord to reach; no one that is still alive is ever too far gone! Besides that, our security is not here! Even though we might still be here, our security is in Heaven with God the Father and our Lord Christ Jesus; far far away from anything that we could ever do with it. So you think you might want to become Unchristian and walk away from the Lord? If you have been a Christian then, then you are still a Christian now, and you will still be a Christian tomorrow; no matter how far you might try to get from Him, you are already close to God, literally...

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5) KJV