[Faith-talk] Good Night Message for Wednesday, January 9, 2013

[Paul]

Hello and good morning, afternoon or evening wherever you happen to reside.  Here in North America it's evening, thus the time of day in the subject line.  However, no matter what time of day it is in your part of the world, I hope and pray that everything's going well or went well for you today.

Most of you have read this author's work before, but here she is again with another of her articles entitled "What Would You Give Up?", rendered as follows:

A new year is here.  It has become a tradition for many of us to make a resolution to give something up in the new year.  Some of us will commit to losing weight.  Some of us will commit to giving up a bad habit.  But what would you commit to in order to follow closer to Christ?

In the Scriptures, Jesus said we should give up our material possessions and follow Him.  If we are not willing to do that, we are not worthy of His kingdom.  Jesus' first followers did just that.  They left their old lives behind and followed Him.

How can we apply His words today? Do we need to put our house on the market and sell our cars? Do we need to live on the streets?

Today, this seems unrealistic.  However, Jesus does ask to be number one in our lives.  Each one of us should pray for His desire for our lives.  He will show us what sacrifices to make in order to follow Him more closely.

This ninth day of 2013 would be a good time to examine our lives and determine whether or not we have placed anything ahead of Jesus.  If the answer is yes, it is time to pray about taking those "things" out of our life or giving less importance to them.  If "it" is a person, we should not commit to ridding someone we love from our life! But remember that we love him because Jesus first loved us.

Jesus says that if you put your treasures in heaven, that is where your heart will be.  Our focus needs to be on heaven.  The material items we have in this world will become old and fade away, but God's kingdom is everlasting.

It pains me when I see fellow Christians who have been blessed with a wealth of money taking the money and buying more and more gadgets to bring "happiness." I have many family members and friends who do this.  At times, I am guilty of it.  What we do not realize is that the happiness we experience lasts until the novelty of the item wears off.  Pretty soon we are searching for another item or even a person to make us happy.  We lose our focus on God.

The true joy of a life with Jesus never wears off.  It can only grow.  But you will experience this joy only if you move to one side the things of your life that are distracting you from focusing on the Son of God.

We need the Son to grow just as plants need sun.  In the new year, do not shut Jesus out.

Wise words from Sister Sharon, I believe.  Hope you also thought so.

And now until tomorrow when, Lord willing another good night message will be presented, may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, throughout this night or day and especially in these last days in which we live.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul