Titus 3:4-7
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
I was not always prim and sophisticated the way I am today. (Cough! Cough!) Back in our college days, Joyce and I were full of creative pranks. One Sunday afternoon two other couples were at our house and we decided to create a new quiz program.
This was in the days of radio, so all we needed was a little up-beat music and a lot of imagination. We would call people from the church we attended and asked a question that if answered correctly would merit a nice prize. The question was: On a can of Grow Pup dog food, what are the words that appear directly under the name, GROW-PUP DOG FOOD?
As far as we knew there was no such product and so we were safe that people would not answer the question correctly and receive the fantastic prize we had promised for a correct answer.
It was a riot that night at church to hear people excitedly relate about the fact they had been called by a national quiz show. Before long it began to dawn on them that someone had played a prank.
There is a prankster abroad in the world who has a far more sinister motive. Satan is the enemy of every true believer or those who seek to be born again and have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Satan uses exaggerations, lies, half-truths, promises of great joy or whatever it takes to prevent trust in Jesus alone for salvation. Satan can make us feel like we need to do more to merit salvation, or take the opposite direction and convince us that everyone is going to heaven, so just live it up and be happy. Lies! Lies! God’s Word is our authority and as we spend quality time feasting on its truth we will find that He has made the way clear for us to follow.
Blessings dear hearts. Draw near to God today, trust Him completely and be a blessing!
– – – Pastor Cecil