Time Sensitive

Happy Sunday!

Time Sensitive.  The Word of God is time sensitive.  If you ever search your Bible App or Google for the word "now" you will be amazed at the number of scriptures that advise us and encourage us to do things now!  Hebrews 3:15 says, "But NOW is the time. Never forget the warning, “Today if you hear God’s voice speaking to you, do not harden your hearts against him, as the people of Israel did when they rebelled against him in the desert.”(Living Bible).  Even our ancestors encouraged us to "not put off for tomorrow what you can do today".   They harvested their fruits and vegetables and immediately did the work to preserve them for later use. The recycling and conservation groups would have you think that caring about the earth is something new, but our ancestors never wasted anything.  They even found a use for the scraps. What do you think chitterlings are?  LOL! It's proof that they used that pig, from the rooter to the tooter.  I remember shelling or hulling peas and butter beans with my grandmother in Macon, Mississippi.  The regular pea hulls could be given to the pigs, but the butter bean hulls would be poured in the road to disintegrate.

God is not wasteful!  When he gives us something he expects us to use it.  It's the enemy the coerces us to procrastinate.  He already knows that there are times and seasons.  He even knows that his time is running short.  Revelation 12:12(b) says, "for the devil has come down to your spheres, and he is incredibly angry because he knows his time is nearly over."(Voice).  Jesus stressed the urgency in a parable in Luke 12.  The rich man was having a conversation with himself.  Selfishly he plotted on how to build bigger barns and store up more treasure for himself.  But in verses 20 and 21,  it says, "Then God interrupted the man’s conversation with himself. “Excuse Me, Mr. Brilliant, but your time has come. Tonight you will die. Now who will enjoy everything you’ve earned and saved?”  This is how it will be for people who accumulate huge assets for themselves but have no assets in relation to God."(Voice).  In the King James Version, it calls this man a fool!  That's pretty harsh considering Jesus commanded us to never call anyone a fool.  Matthew 5:22 says, "But here is the even harder truth: anyone who is angry with his brother will be judged for his anger. Anyone who taunts his friend, speaks contemptuously toward him, or calls him “Loser” or “Fool” or “Scum,” will have to answer to the high court. And anyone who calls his brother a fool may find himself in the fires of hell."(Voice).  That's strong, but think about it from God's viewpoint...every human was created in the image and likeness of God.  So everyone, even the ones that get on your last nerve, have purpose and destiny.  Of course, some people will never live out their God given destiny, but it's not our place to judge their relevance or capabilities.  To call them a fool is to pronounce a curse on them and that is not allowed.  Now don't go too far to the left or right on this.  The Bible provides numerous examples of what fools do.  You have to be able to recognize foolishness in order to avoid it.  Psalm 14:1 says, "That man is a fool who says to himself, “There is no God!” Anyone who talks like that is warped and evil and cannot really be a good person at all."(Living Bible).

Dr. Bill Winston continued the series, "Receiving Your Inheritance", with the subtitle "Commanding the Blessing".  He encouraged us to recognize the facts, but believe the truth.  The fact may be that you have no money in your wallet, but the truth is God supplies all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus.(Philippians 4:19).  The fact may be that you have been diagnosed with a life threatening disease, but the truth is you have already been healed by Jesus' stripes.(1 Peter 2:24).  The fact may be that you feel lonely and alone, but the truth is God will never leave you or forsake you, and he puts solitary people in families.(Hebrew 13:5, Psalm 68:6).

Pablo Picasso said, "Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone".   It's time to get what belongs to us!  We have suffered long enough without it.
Galatians 3:13-14 describes it like this, "the Anointed One, the Liberating King, has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. It was stated in the Scriptures, “Everyone who hangs on a tree is cursed by God.” This is what God had in mind all along: the BLESSING He gave to Abraham might extend to all nations through the Anointed One, Jesus; and WE are the beneficiaries of this promise of the Spirit that comes only through faith."(Voice).

Love and prayers, Cynthia