Check Your Heart; A Picture is Worth...

The meme has the caption: "They be like, 'only God can judge me. And I be like, Dude, that should to scare you.' "

"...I am a great King, saith Jehovah of hosts, and my name is terrible among the Gentiles." 
(Malachi 1:14 ASV)

Think about it. What are people saying? 

Another meme: "Some of the nicest people you meet are covered in tattoos, and sometimes the most judgmental people go to church on Sundays."

Judgmental? No word is a part of speech unless used in real life. This definition of 'judgmental' comes from 'vocabulary.com dictionary:

"Oddly enough, people with good judgment are not usually considered judgmental. Judgmental is a negative word to describe someone who often rushes to judgment without reason.

The adjective judgmental describes someone who forms lots of opinions — usually harsh or critical ones — about lots of people. Judgmental types are not open-minded or easygoing."

So, what's 'open-minded'?

"Open-minded people can consider a problem from both sides, without injecting their own opinions or biases, and can often point you in the right direction."

Judgmental sounds bad, open-minded sounds good, right? But what if as an open-minded person you have considered a problem from both sides, without injecting your own opinion etcetera, and come up with an answer that sounds judgmental? 

Let's take for instance,  how many years have we heard that smoking is bad for our health? Overeating on a constant basis is bad for our health? 

Some things can have a basis in reality and not be judgmental. Other things may be opinion, sound like they have a basis in reality, but in reality be pure bunk. What about:  'eat healthy, low fat, moderate red meat and protein, good grains and carbohydrates...' And now? Such a diet is killing Americans--and fast. To add insult to injury, in certain Italian villages there is an overwhelming number of 100 year old residents, that eat high fat, do not exercise, are overweight, and to top it off--many are smokers. Good gravy, what's this world coming to? 

So, this here's the thing (in the words of someone's granny) being nice won't get you to heaven, tattoos or not. Being open-minded won't get you to heaven. Being judgmental won't get you to heaven either...

Following God will get you to heaven: 

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me." 

(John 14:6 ASV)

Jesus leads the way. The New Testament is our guide book as to how to live and carry out Jesus' commands, and thus God's will for our lives today. Jesus says:

"And he said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the great and first commandment." (Matthew 22:37-38 ASV)

Being a nice person gives you glory, not God. We aren't told to tell people what they want to hear. A physician telling a person they have a disease isn't being nice. God wants us to tell people what they need to hear. We all have a sin problem, and we will all be judged at the end. That is God's message.  He is the judge. So many people today believe they can give God their opinion and He better listen up. That isn't so, and like the meme said at the beginning, Dude, that should scare you.

"3) Jehovah is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means clear the guilty: Jehovah hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. 

4) He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. 

5) The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. 

6) Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by him. 

7) Jehovah is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that take refuge in him. 

                 (Nahum 1:3-7 ASV)

 Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Merry Christmas

Yes, we survived the Thanksgiving holiday, and here we are in December. The weather has been incredibly nice—except for the last two days when the wind has had a bite to it. It has also been trying to chase us into the next state. I'm right on schedule for getting ready for the next major holiday. I'm three weeks behind. That's not a good state to be in, and it has nothing to do with the wind. I'm still looking for my six million dollars. I'm pretty sure I won't win the lottery, since I don't play the game, but having rambled thus far it is the season to be jolly and much much more.

"Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:"  (Isaiah 1:16-19 ASV)

I find looking at this time of the year to be one long holiday of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving in November for our in-gathering of garden and field produce provided by Jehovah God. Thanksgiving of family and friends as we gather to share and in praise to God for the produce, for our blessings, and a looking forward to God's provisions for us in spiritual realms. December 25th may not be the actual 'birthday' of our Savior, but it is an opportunity to tell the story and rejoice at the miracle of God's redeeming grace and love. It is a good time to repent, to bow in humility and wonder at how an awesome God could care that much for us. It is a time of rejoicing, of giving presents to one another, of joyous greetings, and a merry heart.

"A cheerful heart is a good medicine..." (Proverbs 17:22 ASV)

This is a wish and prayer for family and friends to find not just peace, joy, hope, and salvation, but to find His peace, His joy, His hope, and His salvation for yourselves. God bless and 

Hallelujah! What A Savior!