“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” – Ephesians 2:6

Have you ever noticed that we buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t even like? We try to keep up with the Jones family, but when we finally catch up with them, they refinance!

Let me exhort you to get off that comparison treadmill and onto the pathway of serenity. You are accepted right now in Christ. God does not change you so He can love you. He loves you so He can change you! God loves you as much as He loves Jesus.

If you are saved, you are in Christ. And where is He? He is seated in the heavenlies. You are also seated in those heavenly places, even though you still have your address on planet Earth. You are enthroned with Him.

When was the last time you compared yourself with someone else? It’s time to get yourself unharnessed from the comparison yoke and break free as a child of the King! (Adrian Rogers)

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses—Acts 1:8 I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.-Matthew 28:20   Don’t just read those verses–stop and think about them. They are glorious! The following article was written by a man from Cuba. He writes under the name of Horacio Herrera, a pseudonym, because of persecution that would come if his true identity was known.

There are various reasons why we so often feel alone. We feel alone when we lose a loved one, or when we go through times of suffering, spiritual or physical. We feel alone when we are forgotten or feel rejected, sometimes ignored or even despised. The Lord exhorts us to hold on to Him; and He holds on to us. The disciples were saddened when Jesus went back to heaven. They felt alone, but the angel of the Lord gave them a wonderful promise, together with a great task, “This Jesus will come back.”

One day, the Lord will return in glory. We will be changed into His likeness and we shall be like Him. What a day that will be, a day without end.  Christians do not have a hopeless end, but an endless hope. In the meantime He will guide us by His Spirit, who lives in us and who will be with us, until we meet our Savior.

We certainly can face the future with these promises. But that is not the end. He also gives us something to do. God’s promises are connected to a task—-. “And you shall be my witnesses.” No time to sit back and spend all our time lamenting and complaining. There is work to be done. Work till He comes.

When we do so we will experience this great truth, “—- I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”     (From Day by Day with the Persecuted Church)

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God.
Romans 8:16

When Princes William and Harry of Wales were born to England’s Prince Charles and his then wife, Lady Diana, the cheeky British press lovingly referred to them as “the heir and a spare”–William being “the heir” and Harry being “the spare.” In other words, Prince William, being the firstborn son of Prince Charles, stands directly in the line of succession to the British crown. And should he be unable to become king, Prince Harry would step in. When one is born to royalty, one’s identity and destiny are fixed simply by being born.

The same is true of Christians. The moment we are born again by God’s Spirit, we become children of God and “heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). Our future and our destiny is set–we know who we are and where we are going. Our purpose in life is to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29), and our destiny is to live for eternity in the presence of Jesus Christ our Lord (Revelation 21:3-4). Everything else in life is a subtext to that story.

If you are a Christian, you should never be confused about who you are, why you are here, and where you are going. That was settled when you were born again. (copied)

God made us to be worshippers. That was the purpose of God in bringing us into the world.
A. W. Tozer

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3 KJV).

“The main thing about being a Christian is to see that the main thing remains the main thing.” That is what Paul is saying. The “main thing” is that at the heart and center of your life is the “simplicity that is in Christ,” a simple thing. I have noticed over many years of observation that when religion becomes complicated, it is always a sign that it is drifting away from the realities and centralities of faith. The world around us is getting increasingly complex, and it is because it is drifting farther and farther from God. Look around at the world of nature, and you can see the simplicity of God’s design everywhere. He builds the year around four seasons that repeat themselves and never fail. Yet that simple pattern of four seasons contains within it all the possible variations of weather. Look at a flower and see how simple the pattern of its makeup is and yet what an infinite variety God produces in a field of flowers. You can see this everywhere. God basically is simple. When religion becomes complex, it is a sign that it is departing from Christ.

That is what Paul is concerned about here. When you ask yourself just what that simplicity is that he is talking about, the answer from everywhere in the Word of God is the daily companionship of the Lord Jesus. Do you sense that Christ is yours all day long? Do you reckon upon that, think about that, and live out of that relationship and out of that sense of the expectation of His presence? We often say, and rightly so, that Christianity is not a creed, it is a relationship; it is living with a Person. That is the simplicity that is in Christ. The danger that we constantly face is that we get involved in the things about Christ and fail to live in a relationship with Christ.

You can lose it in the midst of Christian activity. You can lose it when you get so involved in some of the fascinating aspects of Scripture that you lose “the simplicity that is in Christ.” You can lose it in the pressures of daily living. You can get so busy and so worried and so anxious about yourself and the things that are happening to you that you lose the sense that Christ is with you, and He is adequate. This is the beautiful “simplicity that is in Jesus.” The Corinthian believers were assaulted with teachers who were exposing them to things that caught their attention, but they were drifting from that central point. They were involved with fascinating philosophies based on the Word of God but that went off on sidetracks and rabbit trails of thought. They were being challenged with certain ego-appealing experiences and believed that if they could only grasp them, they would feel great, wonderful, and so God-possessed. Likewise people today are invited to explore strange and wonderful mysteries all involved with Christian faith, but these tend to move them away from the simplicity that is in Christ.  By Ray Stedman

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age—-Psalm 92:14   As we grow older we need all the encouragement we can get, and nothing cheers our heart better than the Word of God. Our text today is a good example. We can’t keep from getting older, but we can keep on being fruitful. I love the following story told by Charles Swindoll. Perhaps it will strike a note in your heart as well. He wrote:

Last fall one day at the church, I spotted a visiting gentleman who was shaking hands with a half-dozen folks he’d never met before. Then he looked at me, and with a grin and a twinkle, he whipped out his hand. It was a hand you could strike a match on, toughened by decades of rugged toil.

“You look like a man who enjoys life. What do you do for a living?” I asked.
“Me? Well, I’m a farmer from back in the Midwest.”
“Really? I guess I’m not surprised, since you’ve got hands like a tractor tire.”
He laughed . . . asked me a couple of insightful questions, then told me about his plans for traveling on his own.
“What did you do last week?” I asked.
His answer stunned me. “Last week I finished harvesting 90,000 bushels of corn,” he said with a smile.
I then blurted out, “Ninety thousand! How old are you, my friend?”
He didn’t seem at all hesitant or embarrassed by my question. “I’m just a couple months shy of 90.” He laughed again as I shook my head.

He had lived through four wars, the Great Depression, sixteen presidents, ninety Midwest winters, who knows how many personal hardships, and he was still taking life by the throat. I had to ask him the secret of his long and productive life. “Hard work and integrity” was his quick reply.

As we parted company, he looked back over his shoulder and added, “Don’t take it easy, young feller. Stay at it!”

The Bible is filled with folks who refused to take it easy. Remember our friend Caleb, who, at age 85, attacked the Anakim in the hill country and successfully drove them out (Josh. 14)? Or Abraham, who had a baby (well, actually Sarah did) when he was “in his old age” . . . he was 100, she was 90 (Gen. 21)? Or Noah or Moses or Samuel or Anna, the 84-year-old prophetess . . . significant people, all.

Age means zilch. Wrinkles, gray hair, and spots on your hands, less than zilch. If God chooses to leave you on this old earth, great. If He makes it possible for you to step aside from your work and move on to new vistas with fresh challenges, that’s also great.

And whatever else you do, don’t take it easy!

“No disease is more lethal than the boredom that follows retirement” (Norman Cousins).