James 4:4-8

We are entering the final phase of winter.  It's been a lovely one at that.  I'm having a great time photographing families and scenery.  This is a season of growth for me.  I want to blog about this business and I will but today I have something important to write about.  The number of deaths in the music and entertainment world this year are getting to me.  People say that there must be quite a band playing in heaven right now.  I'm not so sure that everyone you think will be there, will be there.  It's sort of eating at me really.  I love Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and I have for just years and years.  I think, "What if they don't know God?  What if it was one of them?"  It's too terrible for me to think about that and so today I will do something that I just don't normally do.  I'm going to tell you what you need to know if you don't already know Jesus.

4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? 6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you....

None of us is perfect.  We all make mistakes.  We all do things that bring negative consequences.  Today, I will tell you that I am a bad Christian according to what God wants from us that is stated in the Bible.   I say this because I don't evangelize the way I should.  I'm going to step out today and try to do God's will instead of my own.  I certainly live my faith out loud and if you know me at all, you know that I love the Lord and that I'm a Christian.  I lack the desire to try to convince anyone that I'm right and they're wrong.  Why?  I guess I believe that I can't convince people of what they don't want to hear.  "It's their choice" I say.  In this way, I try to be a friend of the world.  I love everyone, Christian or not.  But if I do love you, then I can't just let someone who doesn't know Christ go to hell, right?  It is a choice.  It's a life or death choice.  If you don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior when you die then you go to hell.  It's not because you're being punished for being bad.  It's because Jesus is God of Heaven and Earth and He gave us a way to avoid going to hell for all eternity.  There was no going to heaven before Christ died for us.  It's the truth and I know it because of God's faithfulness to me every day.  I don't live a charmed life.  Things go wrong for me and things go right for me.  I'm a sinner just like everyone else.  But I am loved and I am precious.  Perhaps to the world I'm nothing all that important but to God I am his beloved creation.  You are too.  I'm not right about this because I want to be right.  I'm right about this because God is who He says He is and He has proved that to me over and over and over for 25 years.  I didn't decide who God was going to be.  I'm sure glad I have Him as my boss, teacher, leader, friend, confidant, Father and so much more, 

Frankly, I'm at a loss when I think of people who don't know Christ as their personal savior.  How does a person get through the pain and heartache of life without Him?  I do not seek friendship with the world.  Yet, I have refused to tell a person that they need Jesus in this life certainly but even more so in our eternal lives.  I want that to be different today.  I can't promise you that I will be able to be this bold in person but this is a start.

xo!  
​Bonnie