"Quickly Perishing"

"Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:" (Psalms 129:6)

  Be strong and know what you believe, that is the message I feel that the Lord is speaking into my heart this morning; because this is only going to get harder and harder as we draw closer to the glorious day of the Lord. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," is what Paul tells the church in Philippi. This is something that we must understand about our individual responsibility to know what God has done for us and what our responsibility is to do with what He has done for us. You might have heard that famous term, "Use it, or loose it," because it pretty much is the point that I believe we are dealing with, and why salvation is only good when it is put to work. That does not mean you must go into ministry or even start actively sharing your faith; that will sure go a long way to ensure you are working, but it is really not about work, as in setting out to perform a function. This is about believing what Christ has done for you and actively living it out in your life. If you have not yet had a chance to read the book, "The Normal Christian Life," it is a really good book to expound upon Paul's teaching in Romans. One of the great examples given is that of Paul's use of slaves, and why it is so very important that we understand that we are no longer slaves under the law, but we are slaves of God. Having no experience in what it feels like to live as a slave, we might not understand the principle of being owned by someone else; and how it is hard to adjust to the feeling of being set free, because you have no other identity to adjust to, other than what you previously lived by. Jesus taught on this simple illustration, using the parable of the sower. There must be something besides ourselves that we are planted into; something else besides these crazy moods and feelings that we have, day in and day out. That is my point I was trying to make about the Bible; it must be 100% true to you! It is the Word of God! If you cannot make that determination within your own heart, then you need to seriously get your heart changed; because it is vital to your salvation...

"And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, "Behold, a sower went out to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: but others fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."" (Matthew 13:3-9)