God is in the business of healing souls and healing bodies. God is in the business of loving indiscriminately and forgiving all who call on the name of Jesus. He is in the business of visiting the sick and the weak and the weary and those in prison. He is in the business of setting the captive free. He is working. He has, is, and always will be working, and a day is coming when this death on earth will end and eternity with Him will begin.
Satan is real. He steals, kills, deceives, and destroys. He takes pleasure in turning people away from God and keeping the truth of the Gospel from human ears. He will bait you on when you seek to glorify yourself, when you lust after wealth or sex, or when you turn to seek meaning in intellectualism or relationships or sensory stimulation. Distraction, he loves distraction. He loves addiction. Addiction to anything - porn, drugs, liquor, social media, food, video games, entertainment.
SO KEEP YOUR EYES FIXED ON JESUS. JESUS. JESUS. Do you realize how much power is in His name? That anyone, anyone, who calls upon His name can be saved? Anyone. If you don’t hear and believe, then the name may be meaningless to you or maybe you even hate it, but if you have heard and have believed, you’d better realize its magnitude (that he who believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life), and you’d better live each day with respect for that name and what it means. You are bought and paid for and so extremely loved, and now you are in the business of being God’s hands and feet on this earth, healing souls, healing bodies, showering love and living as Christ in me. And kicking demon butt.
I’m writing this as a personal response to today’s Aurora shooting. After reading the news story, my heart just broke. 12 dead and 59 wounded. All of them were probably excited for Batman beforehand. Maybe some of them didn’t get much sleep last night because they were so excited. There were probably lots of families there. Probably huge buckets of buttery popcorn and lots of soda. Long lines beforehand. Long lines filled with people just waiting to file in and get a good seat.
This makes me sick.
It’s so cliche, right, after a shooting to say that it makes you so much more aware of the uncertainty of life and how easy it is to die? That the body is just meat and bones. Water and blood. That death suddenly becomes so real. But as a Christian, as a follower of Christ, death is supposed to be this real everyday. You are called to pick up the cross and follow Jesus everyday. Not the cross in the symbolic religious sense, but the cross in the brutal disgusting Roman execution sense. You are called to die to yourself everyday. And to live life to the fullest instead. Only when you understand what it means to die can you really truly live for the one who gives life.
So don’t be surprised by death or by evil. But put on your armor and be a soldier, be a warrior, be a fighter everyday. And bring life to this dying world. Give life. Point to the giver of life. Show the world what it means to live because God yearns for every heart. So live for Him because people are dying and now you are in the business of bringing them life.
