Because I Love You

I've heard so many people throw around the phrase"don't judge". I agree we need to remove the spec from our eye before looking at the plank in someone else's eye. However, there is a difference in judging someone to hell and deciding you think someone needs help or being concerned with a harmful lifestyle someone may be living.
I would never want to be judged to hell or held accountable for all my past actions. Everyone messes up and everyone has sin in their life. I was thinking though, its LOVE in me for others that motivates me to encourage people to do right. Living God's plan is SO much better than anything we can come up with on our own. Once you have been freed from controlling sins and harmful addictions and enjoy the great peace and love God offers you, you WANT people to join you in the lifestyle of freedom. LOVE motivates you to encourage people to a better way of living. When I love someone I want the best for them and when I see them run down a road that looks like it is headed for disaster I want with everything to pull them away.  I am not judging them, I am loving them, pleading for them to come home. I have cried more tears and said more prayers for those I love recently who I feel are not on the right path. No judgement or condemnation. Just true Godly love poured through hours of prayers. It is my LOVE for them that causes such emotions to well up in my heart. If I worked at a fire-station and my job was saving people from fires and I ran into a flaming building and grabbed someone and pulled them out, no one would fault me. No one would comment on how I held them or grabbed them or how fast I ran. They would know that I motivated by saving their life ran in after them.

Jesus said in Mark 9:42
    ⁴² “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. ⁴³ If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.^{[44] [b] 45} And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. ^{[46] [c] 47} And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸ where

   “‘the worms that eat them do not die,
   and the fire is not quenched.’^[d]

   

 These are the words of Christ. He is saying nothing in this fleshly world is worth losing your soul over. Anything that controls you that is not the Spirit can lead you down the path to Hell. 

Some people who claim to be "Christians" live as though there are no sins. Fleshly desires win over the purity and holiness God is calling us to. No one will draw any lines in the sand. Is it wrong to watch movies with an R rating for sexual content? Is it wrong to watch television shows that profane the name of Christ? Is it wrong to look at things which cause you to lust? Is it wrong to have pre-marital sex? I am not answering any of these questions. I'm asking you? How do you make those decisions line up with the Bible and with your conscience and the Holy Spirit living in you. Jesus said if you look at a someone lustfully you have committed adultery in your heart. Im just asking if anyone has drawn ANY lines? Has any put up any "guard rails" to protect themselves from flying off the edge of the cliff?

 2 Timothy 3

 ¹ But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. ² People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, ⁴ treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

 ⁶ They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, ⁷always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.

I Corinthians 11:30-31: "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged." 

If we judge ourselves, we should not be judged. I'm simply asking that everyone take a moment to JUDGE YOURSELF under the perfect law of Christ and see if you feel like you are living a life He would be proud of. No one is perfect, but we should at least TRY. 

"Should we go on sinning so grace may abound? No, you have died to sin, how can you live in it any longer?" Its one thing to fall down, but its important to get back up. If you fall down again get back up, if you fall again, get back up. You will EVENTUALLY get to your goal. But PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE never lay down and give up. Please don't give in to sin and say "oh well, this is just my thorn." Fight the good fight. Keep trying. God judges the heart not the actions. He will see your willingness to TRY to live as you ought. I'm so thankful He judges the heart and not the actions. However, you will know a tree by its fruit and you will know a heart by a persons actions. Good thing God is the best heart doctor around and He can change anyone's heart. Ask Him to change yours today. 

Let me close with one of my favorite youtube videos by the very wise Torah Cents :) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_JzajmTM0o&feature=share&list=UUKLnIzAm1JxsEyz2W2UPlwQ

TV Show Idea

I would love to create a show like touched by an angel but rather called "Touched by the Master". Each episode would focus on a different person's life and how ONE encounter with Christ, even if brief, will change their course forever. There are so many people whose courses were altered by a simple touch. The Leper who lost all he had, the man with a dead daughter and the woman with the issue of blood, etc. This is a sort of "script" idea for how i see an episode going. You would never SEE Jesus in the show. You would simply see His garments, His hands, you would see Him from the back, etc. You would never His face though. We have tainted the view of God enough. I like to see Christ in my minds eye. Here is my first episode idea. Instead of scripting it in storyboard form i have written it like a short story.

"The Issue"

Catherine pulled herself out of bed and grunted in pain. It had been years since she got out of bed without wincing at

the cramps and feeling woozy from the loss of blood. She stumbled to the kitchen and pulled from the pantry

a large clay bowl. It was one her mother had given her, along with some other common cooking utensils, in hopes she would one day be cooking feasts for her husband and kids. That was years ago and the her mother was dead and her hopes of marrying were long gone. No body would want to marry someone with her issue of blood. They would be ceremonially unclean….perpetually. She couldn't have children and now she could barely get around the house. She never went out in public. She was ceremonially unclean. Anyone associate with her or near her would be unclean as well. She couldn't even worship at the temple. She was nothing… a nobody. She stirred vigorously the meal mixed with oil she had poured in the bowl to bake some bread. The bracelet she was wearing had flour all over it. She took a cloth and wiped the bracelet clean. The bracelet was precious to her. Maybe it was a ray of hope she still held on to. She hoped one day in the future something would change. But deep down inside she knew nothing would ever change. As she finished wiping the bracelet her mind wandered to when she received the token from the man she loved.

"Catherine, you know why I am giving you this bracelet?" He had said to her. "It is because you are the most gorgeous woman in town. Every man in this town wants to be your suitor. You are talented and beautiful and probably the most desirable women in Capernaum. I would be a fool not to try to win your heart."

Catherine stirred her bowl faster. Beating the batter as if it had wronged her. Her frustrations welled up into tears as the realization that no one would ever love her again flooded her mind. She placed the bowl down allow the dough to set and sat down in a chair by the window. She watched as people walked to and fro through the city going about their daily lives. She saw a man swing his daughter around to his back. She saw a woman buying berries from the fruit stand. Then she saw her friend Mary walking towards the door with a basket. She walked over and opened the door for Mary.

"Hello there Mary, how are you today." "I'm fine Catherine" Mary replied, "and I brought you all the things you need for this week just as you asked. Coriander, Cumin, Flour, Oil, and some fresh fish from the market near the Sea of Galilee. They were overstocked. A large number of fish came in suddenly and they need to sell them fast." Mary was putting away Catherine's things as she spoke and then she turned to find Catherine sitting with her head in her hands. "Catherine, what's wrong." "Sometimes, Mary, I just feel so defeated, like my life is over. I am always in pain and I rely on my friends for everything. I'm pretty much confined to this house most days. I'd be better off dead."

"Catherine, you can't talk like that. You can't give up hope."

"Every ounce of hope I had has left. Just like my money left to all the doctors I paid to try to help me. I could've at least lived a comfortable life alone, but now even my wealth has been robbed of me. It's this dreaded disease. I hate it." Catherine sighed. Mary looked over her shoulder almost as if to not to be overheard for what she was about to say. " Catherine, there is a man in town. He is not a…well…..not a doctor per se. But He heals people. He has healed a lot of people. People say He has a direct connection to God Himself". Catherine looked at Mary with a skeptical eyebrow. "Mary, thanks for the gesture but i am so sick of people saying they can heal me and then leaving me worse off than before." "But Catherine, He's not asking for money. He does everything in the name of the Lord. He says He performs the miracles to show that He is sent from the one true God." Catherine sighed and continued to stare out the window unresponsive. " Catherine, what can it hurt?"

"I'll think about it Mary. Thanks for always listening to me. I appreciate it." And then Mary was gone and all that was left was Catherine and her thoughts. "He's not asking for money", Catherine thought about this for a minute. "What can He hope to gain?" She walked back to her bed where the cover was still turned down and plopped down on her back. She groaned as the 12 years of sickness had deteriorated her insides until her body felt like it would tear open from the inside out. As she lay there her mind flashed to the last doctor she had seen.

"I'm sorry Catherine, I think we've reached the limit to what i can do to help you." Catherine's eyes welled up and her face turned from disbelief, to sorrow, to anger all in under a minute. She stood up. "I've been to every doctor in this region and in most of Israel. You were my last hope. I gave you all the money I had left." The doctor didn't move from the table he was sitting at. "Catherine, Im sorry, I don't know what else to tell you." Catherine looked down at her hands that were wrapped around her lower waist. She slowly let her anger resolve and then politely nodded in acknowledgment. Catherine turned around to walk out the door, then paused, turned to face the doctor and with a genuine voice that surprised him said, "Tell your wife congratulations on your new baby boy. I'm so happy for you both." Then she turned and walked out.

Her rest is disturbed by a loud commotion outside. She hears voices. Lots of them. Cheering. Laughing. Crying. Moaning. A Cornucopia of sounds that peaked her interest. She looked out the window to see a man walking through the streets. There were hundreds of people following this man. Screaming his name, reaching for him, singing his praises. What were they calling out? Jesus. Could that be who Mary was talking about? Catherine grabbed her robe and limped outside. As she walked towards the crowd she heard people talking. My son was blind and now he can see. And another person spoke, "You know Jairus, the official at the synagouge? I heard he healed his daughter." As she heard the people talking her pace quickened. Her breaths came faster. Her mind was spinning. Healer. He is connected to God. If these things are true, I can be healed as well. Yes. Yes, I have to reach Him. I have to. Catherine picked up the bottom of her garment and she started a full out sprint towards Jesus. When she got close so many people were surrounding Him she couldn't get in. "Excuse Me. Excuse Me. Please. Please I need to talk to Him. Please." Catherine was feeling desperation well up inside of her. With this crowd I won't be able to get Him alone to explain whats wrong with me. "Maybe" she thought "Maybe, if I can just touch the bottom of his robe. Then some of His power can flow to me and heal me." If He's not asking for money and He's not a doctor, he doesn't have to talk to me or even know what's wrong to heal me. Maybe, He is the healing. Catherine doubled her resolve and pushed through the crowd until she was right on Jesus's heals. She was suddenly knocked into. An elbow in the face sent Catherine tumbling down. As she fell almost as in slow motion she reached with all her might and grabbed the edge of Jesus's tunic. Then she let go. She felt a force she couldn't explain well up inside of her. As if a lighting bolt had struck her with a pleasure sensation. In one moment, her pain was gone. She felt like a teenager again. Time froze for Catherine. She stared down at her pain free body in disbelief and cried tears of joy. "Im healed" she said to herself "I just know Im healed". Then Jesus's voice pulled her out of her mental ecstasy. "Who touched me?" He asked. Jesus stopped walking and the whole crowd of people stopped as well. Someone standing close to Jesus said "Master, there are dozens of people right next to you. How can you say 'who touched me?'." Jesus said "I felt healing leave my body." The crowds slowly started to part and left Catherine exposed. She thought about running or not speaking up, but then her grateful heart couldn't remain silent. "I touched you." she said collapsed at his feet. She was trembling. "Im, sorry. I just knew… if I could just" she wiped tears between each phrase. She took a deep breath. " I just knew, if I could touch your garment, that somehow you could do what no doctor or amount of money could do for me." there was a pause. Jesus stared into her eyes. She had never seen such kind or compassionate eyes before. They were piercing. She drank them in deep. Was he searching her soul? His face broke out in a smile. A huge smile. A smile so beautiful and so warm Catherine just knew that He could tell the sun to shine and it would or the winds to stop blowing and they would listen to Him. "Take heart daughter" He said "Your faith has healed you." Then He turned and walked away with the crowd following. Catherine stood perfectly still for what felt like a lifetime. She just watched as slowly the band of people followed her savior as He walked slowly out into the distance and across the horizon. Then they disappeared. The world around Catherine buzzed and continued as normal. Everyone was back to business as usual. But Catherine just smiled and stared off into the direction of the man who, by one simple touch, changed her whole life.

(my prayer today)

God, I want to love you for who you are. Not for who I WANT you to be.

You are perfect in all your ways and don’t need my opinion or morals to make you better. Be with those I love and help them see you for who you are in all your glory.

(An analogy/story I thought of today)

Simon was a wealthy man who lived in a nicer suburb of LA. He was a smart man with lots of resources and endless wealth. He had only one son named Josh. One day Simon decided to give back to his community, so he sent his son Josh to deliver messages to all the neighborhood people that he was hosting a banquet and he wanted everyone in the whole community to come. Josh walked high and low through every street in his neighborhood delivering the messages so that people would come to his fathers banquet. There were very clear directions printed on the postcards he handed out. Some people were very rude to Josh. Some neighborhood kids threw rocks at him, and a couple even beat him up. That did not stop Josh though. He continued his mission to invite everyone to His father’s house for the banquet. He knew why his father was having the banquet. Since it was just Josh and Simon left in their family and they had more money than they knew what to do with, they had decided to give a very generous check to everyone who attended his banquet. Simon did this simply because he could and because he was a man with a kind heart.

The night of the banquet many people looked at the map with directions printed on their cards and made it to the feast. However, some people did not follow the directions. Some people looked at the map and said, I am going to find my own way to Simon’s house. This map says to go north but I think I will go south instead and see what happens. I’m pretty sure all roads will eventually lead to Simon’s house. These directions say turn left but I think if I turn right I will still end up at the same location as everyone else who followed the map. Of course, sadly those people never made it to Simon’s house.

Months after the party was over and money had been given out a few of the wayward people drove up and found the house. Because it was no longer open to the public they had to break a chain on a fence and climb a wall to get to the front door. When Simon answered the door the wayward guests said, “Where’s our money?”” Excuse me?” asked Simon “What do you mean”. The guest’s continued “Well, we heard you were giving away money so we have come to collect. And by the way, we are moving in to your house.” Simon motioned for his guards and said, “I’m terribly sorry but I do not know who you are. I had an open house party and banquet months ago. I got to know many people who are now my friends. Some of them are living here with me and I did give many of them money but I do not know who you are. You have missed the party by months. I am sorry.” The strangers were escorted off the property.

So it will be on that day when the Lord judges the world. People say “how can a loving God throw people into Hell.” The answer is ….HE DOESN’T. They willingly refuse His FREE gift. They don’t want to get to know Him; they don’t want to know His family. They make fun of His son, and then when they die, they expect that God will bring them into His house with arms wide open when they spent their whole life rejecting Him. This is foolishness. It wouldn’t work here on earth and it doesn’t work that way in Heaven.

Some people say, “What about those people who have never heard the name of Jesus.” This question assumes that there will be people dying without a chance to know Him. That puts WAY too much emphasis on us and not enough on God. He can reveal Himself with or without us. He doesn’t need people to share his word. He showed up in person to Saul of Tarsus and there are reports today all over of Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and many others having dreams and visions and finding the Lord without the help of any person besides Christ Himself. It is our HONOR and Glory to be able to serve Him on the mission field, but He does not NEED us. Remember that. So asking about people who didn’t have a chance to know Him is an invalid question. The Bible says “if we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him" (Jeremiah 29:13). He is not eager for anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). “For there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:12-13). We do not know how God is dealing with people in lands yet unreached by the gospel, but from Scripture we can see that He will never condemn anyone unjustly, but will be faithful to reveal Himself to anyone who looks for His salvation.

I am not saying that sincere Muslims or Hindus, trusting in their religion, will make it to heaven. There is only one Savior. There is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Tim. 2:5) “There is NO other name given to men by which we must be saved” (acts 4:12) I am saying, whoever seeks to know the Lord with all of His heart, He will reveal himself to that person.

I urge you all in the name of Christ ……….

Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.”

My Worship Song For Today

Listen for free. Just click on song title above.