Eternity at Stake

Daily Reading: Matthew 5

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. (Matthew 5.11-12)

Devotional Thought: "Those who are courageous enough to say the emperor is naked are maligned as hateful bigots."  I can't remember where I read those words, but they are true.  They are becoming truer by the day.  What we say can get us in a lot of trouble.

Our words are important.  On them hang our destinies.  Jesus said, "By your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned" (Matthew 12.37, NIV).  We also read, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved" (Romans 10.9-10).  

Jesus also told us that we will be reviled, persecuted and lied about for believing in his words. 

There will be those who reject the truth of scripture, and who seek to marginalize those who hold on to it.  This, of course, has to do with much more than the current hot button issues of social justice and sexual identity.  But, as Jesus warned us, these issues are being used to malign evangelical Christianity as a crime of higher degree than acts of terrorism. 

The prophet Isaiah warned of this day of twisted words: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5.20-21).

But do not fret, for we are blessed.  Great is our reward in heaven!  The pressure will increase but stay true to the Bible.  Eternity is at stake, for us and our children.

Prayer: "In this time of desperation when all we know is doubt and fear, there is only one foundation...  In this broken generation when all is dark, You help us see there is only one salvation.  We believe. We believe." Amen. (Fike, Collins, Hooper)

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 88.13-18

13 But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you. 14 O Lord, why do you cast my soul away? Why do you hide your face from me? 15 Afflicted and close to death from my youth up, I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.  16 Your wrath has swept over me; your dreadful assaults destroy me. 17 They surround me like a flood all day long; they close in on me together. 18 You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness.