READ:
DEUTERONOMY 6:4-9
When you
meet a heaven-bound believer, you will know by the things he has surrounded
himself with. When you enter his apartment it shows. The kind of decorations,
inscriptions and posters there will tell you. When you look at his audio and
videotapes, CDs and VCDs, you will know by his restricted selection. Should you
visit his bookshelf, you will determine it from what he spends his time
reading. A trip with him in his car will inform you that this man is a stranger
in this world. By the time you get to his office, what you see there and his
lifestyle will make his colleagues confess to you that this man is in love with
a Man named Jesus. He can best be described as a Jesus addict.
The reading today gives the Christian pilgrim the ideal lifestyle expected of him as he returns to his heavenly home. We become strangers and pilgrims on this planet the moment we give our lives to Jesus. As the passage says, because of the price that was paid for your salvation on the Cross of Calvary, you are expected to reciprocate that love. 1 John 4:19 says: “We love Him because He first loved us.” The degree of your love to Jesus should claim your whole heart, soul and strength. There should be no space left in you that your love for Jesus has not filled.
Besides, you should learn God’s Word by heart. You should teach all your children about Jesus, using all available opportunities and methods. The songs you sing, messages you hear, video you watch, books you read, things you say, what you think upon, what you do at home and abroad should glorify Jesus and constantly remind you of his coming. “And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure.” (1 John 3:3).
Yes, he is coming very soon. He is coming to separate the wheat from the chaff. He is coming like a thief in the night to steal only a group of people – his addicted – to be with him forever. If you hope to be with him you need to purify your life of every defiling matter.
The reading today gives the Christian pilgrim the ideal lifestyle expected of him as he returns to his heavenly home. We become strangers and pilgrims on this planet the moment we give our lives to Jesus. As the passage says, because of the price that was paid for your salvation on the Cross of Calvary, you are expected to reciprocate that love. 1 John 4:19 says: “We love Him because He first loved us.” The degree of your love to Jesus should claim your whole heart, soul and strength. There should be no space left in you that your love for Jesus has not filled.
Besides, you should learn God’s Word by heart. You should teach all your children about Jesus, using all available opportunities and methods. The songs you sing, messages you hear, video you watch, books you read, things you say, what you think upon, what you do at home and abroad should glorify Jesus and constantly remind you of his coming. “And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He is pure.” (1 John 3:3).
Yes, he is coming very soon. He is coming to separate the wheat from the chaff. He is coming like a thief in the night to steal only a group of people – his addicted – to be with him forever. If you hope to be with him you need to purify your life of every defiling matter.
MEMORIZE:
1 JOHN 3:3 –And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as
He is pure.
