BECAUSE

“And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.  He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”

Matthew 28:5, 6

King James Version

Bill and Gloria Gaither wrote one of my favorite hymns “BECAUSE HE LIVES”.  I’m so glad the words in this beautiful hymn are true.  “Because He lives I can face tomorrow Because He lives all fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living Just because He lives.”

It doesn’t matter how many times satan attacks us, Jesus is alive and we can face tomorrow.  Life is worth the living because Jesus is alive.  If I hadn’t invited Jesus into my heart to be my personal Saviour, there would be no reason to live because without Jesus, we aren’t living, we just exist.

Someone said “People are always watching Christians to see if they are really Christians”.  How sad it is that some people claim to be a Christian but their actions and words are not like Christians should be.  Many years ago one of my pastors said in a sermon “This man sang in the choir, and he taught Sunday school and everyone thought how wonderful he was but this same man went home and beat his wife”.  How that must have hurt Jesus and broke His heart.

One of the most heartbreaking things I have ever read is about a teenage boy.  He said to his parents “You teach Sunday school, you sing in the choir and you go to church every time the door is open but when you come home you criticize the pastor and the sermon.  If that is what being a Christian is, I don’t want any part of it”.

What are people thinking and saying about you and your life?  Peter Scholtes wrote a hymn that should make every Christian search his or her heart “They will know we are Christians”.  “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord And we pray that our unity will one day be restored And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love Yes they'll know we are Christians by our love.” 

Do the words in this hymn describe you and your life?  Are your actions and life making Jesus happy or are they making Him sad?  May God help us to be kind and loving to one another.  If Jesus comes back for us today, are you ready to meet Him?  You may be saved but what about your heart?  When God looks in your heart, does He see things that hurt Him?  If we have allowed unforgiveness, bitterness, hatred, resentment and anger to remain in our heart, we are not ready to meet Jesus. 

How sad it would be if we have to hang our heads in shame when Jesus comes for us because we are hurting Him by not forgiving the ones who have hurt us.  Jesus forgave you and He forgave me while hanging on the cross with the blood flowing down His body.  If Jesus can forgive us for crucifying Him, how dare you and I allow unforgiveness to remain in our heart.  How we must hurt Jesus at times and break His heart.

Joanne Lowe

August 2, 2019