"East vs. West" - 2

 "A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left." (Ecclesiastes 10:2 KJV) 

  ""Or what if a king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can't, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. "Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!"" (Luke 14:31-35 NLT)

  Sometimes it might take a little awakening to what matters most, your eternal life, or the life that is slowly wearing you down! Yesterday I heard a message about some soldiers that took an oath, saying, "We will not be found shoot in the back!" In other words, they were not going to turn away from the enemy, but were determined to face the enemy, and not back down! 

 As you imagine situations which might require that type of commitment, the one that comes closest to home for me, would be the determination to stand up for Jesus, other believers, your families, or any brother or sister; anytime there is someone of the world that is putting them down. I know it might not sound like much, but once upon a time, this was more important for me than anything else. 

 After I got saved, it wasn't long, maybe less than a few weeks, and I was sent back to the Honor Camp. I really didn't waste any time getting involved in the church; making it my responsibility to ring the bell, whenever it was time for any service. I made sure that I had a few brothers to hang out with; to pray with, to study with, and to walk around the compound with Bible's in hand, looking for men to share Jesus with. 

 One of the brothers who I hung out with, called me out for trying to share with the wrong people. He was using a passage that Jesus used, saying, "Don't cast your pearls among the swine." There was this one black guy, who was always hanging out in the yard where the weights were and always threatened me to not share about Jesus or try and read him anything from the Bible. But I continued to approach him, with Bible in hand, and ask him if he was ready to hear about Jesus Christ.

 As you can imagine, things would get a little testy; but I never backed down and always was ready to receive a punch in the face; but never did get one. My brother that was trying to get me to stop trying to share with the black guy in the yard, and he was also black, which might have been the reason he was so hard on me for trying, because he didn't think that mean and nasty guy would ever listen. 

 Then I shared something with that brother, which I felt the statement Jesus said, "Don't cast your pearls among the swine," actually meant; because I felt that it meant to take that which you hold dearly, which is the Gospel Message, (and is like a precious pearl,) and let someone who doesn't care about what you say, be anyway offensive to you, because they really don't know any better. If you get offended by what they might do, you simply brush it off, and not let it destroy what you believe and stand for. 

 Anywho, that didn't really go over so well with my brother; but we agreed to disagree and prayed for one another. Then I shared one more thing, which I believe settled our differences: "Most of the guys that show how tuff they are, out on the yard, are the ones that bury their heads under their pillows at night, and weep." He never tried to stop me again from trying to minister to anyone, especially not the guy he thought wasn't worth it.

 There really is not such a thing as someone not worth sharing Jesus with; if you think that there is, then you don't really believe that God can change anyone, because He absolutely can! I wanted nothing to do with church or religion; absolutely nothing! But I did read the Bible and had my own beliefs; most of which were wrong and needed to be changed; but God still got through and softened this stubborn heart! 

 No one is beyond getting saved, as long as they still have breath, they can still respond to the love of God...

"I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus is calling us. Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made." (Philippians 3:12-16 NLT)