Reflecting

John 15: 6

Take a moment to reflect back on your life, it matters not if you are in your 20’s or you are in the winter of life, reflecting is a good thing.  I have found that by doing so I’ve removed most of the emotions that played in the decisions and can be more analytical, especially if the event is in the past.  This comes with a warning, if that decision is still very alive in your mind and emotions, if reflection brings pain and anger, and especially if that anger is directed at yourself for not acting on or doing what should have been done, you cannot affect or change the outcome.  The examples are so many, a broken marriage and your mate has remarried and has moved on with their life.  The lost of a child and the last thing you said to them can never be changed.  But I believe John 15:6 gives the most horrific example of them all; listen to what Jesus has to say in John 15:5-6, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”   I believe while reading this Scripture, Channel One the voice of deception comes on in many a persons mind, now channel one the deception channel comes to you in first-person pronoun, using your accent and your tone of voice and states, “I will show you what I can do without you.”  And the sad news is that channel one will not go the way of the floppy disk; no it will keep playing in your ears for eternity. 

Don’t get stuck in that last thought, because I want to tell you that God is also talking to us on Channel Two, and He is reminding us that when we entered into Christ by faith, He, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit also entered into us.  He reminds us of our death to the old man, and our new life in Christ in Romans 6:6, “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” Channel two reminds us that God has given us the ability to set our minds, now that’s great news!  We choose to listen to channel one or channel two, God has given us that freedom, look at Colossians 3:2 and keep reading because your life is hidden with Christ in God, Colossians 3:3.  So we could say that Channel Two is synonymous of abiding with Christ, of asking the Helper for help, depending on Christ and asking Him to freely live His life in your earth suit.

I came to this conclusion about what God calls hell, and it is simple, God cannot lie.  Today, many still go to church, but the majority do not, and God has spoken; Jesus gives us the account of the Rich man and Lazarus in the gospel of Luke chapter 16, where the rich man wanted Lazarus to bring him a gift, to just dip the end of his finger in water to cool his tongue.  This is what Jesus said in verse 26, “And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.”   And to all of us who attend church, attendance is a good thing, but it does not make you in right standing with Christ, every Sunday at your local church demons are in attendance, and also angels.  It is important to remember Jesus telling us about the weeds and the harvest; ^“Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”  (Matthew 13:30 ESV)

Note: Jesus tells the truth, so abide in Him and you will walk in truth.  Channel one tells you there are many ways to the Father, but Jesus tells us I am the only way, John 14:6, and Jesus being God cannot lie.  So because Jesus tells the truth, we can believe with our hearts and obey with our minds and tell our emotions to take a hike when our feelings do not line up with the truth.  We are totally complete when we are abiding in Christ.

From The Back Porch,

Bob Rice