Appearances are Deceiving

Looks like the statue made a great shot huh?

Appearances can be deceiving, sometimes we even fool ourselves.

Revelation 3 1-3
I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent.

We have all had time in our life where our walk with God is struggling. We may have justified sins and we don't know it. there could be a million reasons why we are dying spiritually and falling away from God. The sad fact is that often when we are in that state and we don't even see it. It is pretty evident in this passage, as Jesus is talking to the church in Sardis that Jesus is not happy with them. They don't know that Jesus isn't happy with them, they think they are doing great.

My freshman year of college I was making all d's and went to see my advisor. He said "How are you doing this semester?" I smiled big and said "Great." He looked at my grades looked puzzled and then chewed me out. I was happy with d's and figured I was passing. I realized I wasn't doing as great as I thought I was. I realized I needed to raise the bar of my expectations. We all need people in our lives like that who will tell us the truth and hold us accountable. We also need to quit lying to ourselves and look at the truth. We need to quit justifying ourselves and blaming every one else.

I encourage you to evaluate Your life and see if Jesus is really happy with you or not. Remember when you evaluate yourself that you are to measure yourself by Jesus life and the standards of the bible not by what other people are doing.

Dear God, please remove the blinders from our eyes and help us to view our selves through Your eyes. May we be convicted of where we are failing You and say we are sorry and turn the other way.

FIRST LOVE

Do you remeber the feeling of when you first fell in love? I remeber when Vanessa and I first started dating. I was on cloud nine. It was an adrenaline rush of excitement and feelings that I had never felt. We wanted to be together all the time and were on the phone when we were apart. Although I love my wife more now then I did then it is not the same. I can't say that I have all those warm fuzzy feeling all the time so what does that mean? I had a preacher say that if were closer to God when you first got saved then you are now then you need to rededicate your life to God. That always bothered me because much like dating my wife when I first got saved it was an adrenaline rush and surge of new emotions at first. I don't have those feelings in the same way all the time any more so whats up with that? Does that mean I am no longer as close to God as I once was?

Revelations 2
4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

As I think about this verse for my marriage and for my relationship with God, have I forsaken my first love. Not at all because true relationship is not about how they make you feel or about whether you get warm fuzzy feelings. Love is about commitment and it is a choice one makes every day. We choose to sacrifice our life daily to love God. We choose daily die to ourself and follow God. My relationship with my wife is the best it has ever been and yet it can be really hard sometimes and sometimes I still get warm fuzzies. My relationship with God has been tested lately and yet I feel closer to God than ever before. Again it is different but it is closer.

My question to you is have you fallen from your first love with God. I am not asking have you quit having the warm fuzzies or is it easy. I am asking if there is sin in your life that has hurt your relationship. Have you quit dieing to self daily and made yourself god again. If so repent (Turn form your sin and go the other way), put God on the throne again and fall in love again.

Secondly Have you ever fell in love with God to begin with. God is not a church, a builing, a religion, or good works. God is the creator of the universe and through Him alone can we be saved from our sin. he longs to have a real, life changing,
passionate relationship with every person but our sin tainted that and so He sent Jesus to die and take away our sin. The price has been paid for your sin but you do have to accept it and choose to follow Him and make Him master of your life. Simply cry out to Jesus and ask forgivenees and ask Him to take over your life.