Who do you love?

John 8:34 NIV

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Most of us have heard the scripture from Mark and Luke stating,
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

Through this scripture you can add much more that we can serve or love over God. We can often choose materialism, harmful relationships, addictions, etc. over God. So many struggle with putting God first in their lives. We all do.

But I found if we seriously commit ourselves to God and continually choose him over what are tempted by in the world, He meets us with His grace and if we let Him, guides us to what we need to do to overcome the sin in our lives.

I have found complete peace and contentment in surrendering all to God and letting Him protect me from the sins of my past. And what God has taught me to fight temptation is keep a full distance from the things that tempt me into sin. For me personally I have committed to no longer:

• ·         Be in sexual relationships as I do not function well in them and live better in celibacy
• ·         I don’t go to bars and hang out with people that spend their time nursing their addictions
• ·         I immediately leave any and all situations where cocaine is present
• ·         I avoid certain films, books and internet media that is dark, violent or overly sexual

I have replaced these behaviors with new behaviors:

• ·         I found, attend and am part of a solid, balanced and accepting church
• ·         I practice art, crocheting, and writing to overcome the habit of cigarette in hand
• ·         I have a mentor and am a mentor to keep me accountable to God and to my commitments
• ·         I go to therapy and take medication consistently to overcome my depression and self harming behaviors

If you are truly committed to following God and having a place in Heaven, you have to make serious commitments to these types of behaviors. When we have the salvation experience, we pray and commit to obeying and trusting God. We surrender our will and independence to Him and trust that His way is better than ours. We immediately turn our backs on our sins and old ways of life and embrace the new.

In doing this for 30 years now, I have found complete peace, love and stability through full surrender and love to my King Jesus, Father God and His Holy Spirit.

Even now when I slip in sin, I feel dark and stained and awful. Because sin is a no outlet road that leads to more sin, darkness and spiritual soul death.

The only item that leaves with you in death is your soul. To leave this world with a lost, damned and dirty soul is an afterlife suicide. And if the afterlife is eternity, those that do not care for or invest in their souls are basically screwed.

So, you have a choice. God always give us freedom of choice. Who or what will you choose to serve?

Sunday wisdom for thought

The traveller who arrives at a hostel is only given a good room if he is able to pay for it. Those who have sparse resources are forced to make do with something less agreeable. When they have nothing which belongs to them, they must sleep on a pallet bed. The same applies to Man on his arrival in the world of the spirits, for it will depend entirely on what he owns as to where he will go. Nor will payment be made in terms of gold. No one will be asked what it was they had had on Earth, or what position they had occupied, nor even if they were a pauper or a prince. Instead, they will be asked what they have brought with them. Neither worldly goods nor titles will be valuated, only the total sum of virtues acquired. Well now, looked at from this aspect, it is possible that the simple worker be far richer than the prince. In vain may the latter allege that before leaving the Earth his entrance into the next world was paid for in gold. The only reply he would receive is that no one may buy a place here; it must be conquered by each person by means of doing good to others. Earthly money may buy land, houses or palaces, but in our world everything is paid for by means of the qualities of the soul. Are you rich in these qualities? Then you are welcome and may go to one of the high places where all kinds of happinesses await you. But if you are poor in these qualities then you must go to the low places, where you will be treated according to that which you possess." - PASCAL (Geneva, 1860).