Encouragement

Take atheists, for example. The life expectancy of a male is 74 years old. For a woman, it is 80 years old. Transgenders haven’t been around long enough to know what their life expectancy is. Think a moment about that.

No wonder, then, if a person is only focused on this life, while ignoring what Jesus teaches about the eternal life to come, it’s easy for him to reduce Jesus Christ to a swear word. Later on, from the pits of Hell, he will continue spouting His name as a swear word for all of eternity. Not that it would do him any good.

Suppose your boss believed every day was April Fool’s Day. Prank after prank after prank continuously. One morning, he meets you at the door to announce you’ve been fired.
“Yeah right,” you say. “April Fool’s Day.” But the grim look on his face says otherwise. Are you fired or not? Either way, you want the peace of knowing the truth.

What is essential in living a life of perfect contentedness? It’s possessing the greatest treasure of all—a relationship with Christ. When we have a relationship with Christ, we literally and forever possess everything we would ever need to possess.
Pay attention: No Believer would ever exchange his salvation for a million dollars, not even a billion dollars. It’s because the Believer understands ultimate contentment is found in a relationship with Christ.

Maybe you’re saying, “But you didn’t have the kind of parent I had.” Yes, I did. Because of his alcoholism, my father made my childhood a recurring wreck. A time arrived in my life when I had zero respect for him. Full of bitterness, I resolved my dad would become a minor footnote in my life. Then, one day, I decided to forgive him.

That didn’t sound like millennial talk, so I asked April what it meant. She spends much more time on Facebook than I do. She said, “If you know, you know.”
“So it’s a secret?” I asked.
“No,” she answered with an exasperated sound. “If you know, you know.”
“But I don’t know.” My brow furrowed into a frown.
“Try this one. I-Y-D-K-Y-D-K.” She smiled as if she knew the capitals of all fifty states, and I didn’t know even one. I hate that smile.

When the Holy Spirit comes, it is God unleashed upon an entire planet. His active presence within every believer of the early church becomes the foundation upon which churches are formed, letters and gospel documents are written and shared, and hundreds of people come to know and believe the truth of Jesus Christ.

You take a step down the stairs and then another. Suddenly, overcome with joy, you’re dancing. People stare, but you don’t care. You keep dancing with a joy you’ve never experienced before. You dance across the street to the park and rip off your tennis shoes and socks. You dance on the grass, feeling its prickliness on the bottom of your feet. You’re alive again!

When I came to Christ as my Savior, an easy yoke was one of the promises He made to me along with every Believer. It’s not a promise of wiping away every problem in my life by sweeping me away to a palace high in the Rocky Mountains where servants will provide my every whim until I resemble a Hampshire hog wearing Harry Potter glasses.

I’m not a Christian because I chose God. I’m a Christian because He chose me. That’s why we believers are an enigma to the world. The world believes I made the choice to go to a boring ol’church service when I could have gone golfing all day with a bunch of buddies. The world wonders if I’ve lost all common sense.