Remember!.doc

(Revelation 2:5) “Remember therefore from where you have fallen;”

Does a day go by where we are not passing judgment? Absolutely not! We judge a lot of trivial nonsense, and half the time it is exactly that, unimportant tripe! Opinionated summaries of peoples own finding on everyday life, from TV shows through to eating habits. A lot of time and energy is ploughed into these types of topics. Far too much time! We have been duped by sins into miss-guided energy with frivolous fruit in our lives to prove it. The car we drive the jeans we wear or the suburb we live in high on the agenda. It is a real concern for most and it can easily be tested. Test your next conversation and throw in words like “Pep Stores” (an inexpensive bare minimum convenience store), is a great place to shop. Now if one was from the Northern Suburbs that would be taboo, but if one lived in a squatter camp, that would be but the only option, or obviously one could rather steal. Have you ever wondered why the Lord has such a heart for the poor? It speaks of destitution, and it offers very little hope. It could force someone’s hand to do what they normally would not do, Steal!

Then of course there are those who do what they do regardless of the cost, they steal and leave a wake of destruction in their path. South Africa is rife with these types of criminals. As serious as this is, we often exert our energy in the wrong areas of life! We give far much time to the here and now. It is a no brainer that we must deal with issues in our lives where and when they appear, and who wouldn’t. We must address the daily issues of life, whatever that may be. It is the time spent on all that never materializes which alarms me. Worry, worry and more worry is high on our agenda. But we are taught not to fret, even though crime lurks on every corner, we still spend far too much time worried about things that never materialize. Misguided energy that is wasted on unfruitful twaddle!

Here then is our instruction, pay it earnest heed; "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:25-30)

I think on these words and contemplate the importance of such a portion of scripture. The Lord Jesus had much to say about a lot of things as He is the great I AM and everything He had to say and still says needs an attentive ear. And yet the Apostle Matthew penned this teaching and paid careful heed to it training, will we? We must!

I believe we lose our way as Christians when we forget about the simple instructive teaching we receive from scripture and we get to clearer for our boots. Knowledge puffs up, may we never forget the elementary principles of the basics of Christianity. Remember the church at Ephesus, they had got so involved with exposing error, and although they were commended for it, they lost their focus on who they were outside of Christ, miserable wretched sinner and nothing else. We too are no different! May we never forget our first love, and if we have then God help us to repent, before the candlestick is removed. A serious warning! Not from opinionated supposition that people have but from the mouth of Lord Jesus. When I consider the volatility of my life and how it has fluctuated over time, I must conclude that I have gone astray, when I have lost my first love. All this actually means, if I place something else before Him. Even if it is a worthy cause like exposing wolves dressed in lambs clothing, I will be guilty of the offense. Nothing must come between me and my Lord, regardless of what that may be.

I will end off with this encouraging rebuke; "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: 'The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. "'I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.'” (Revelation 2:1-7)

To all those married sisters out there; remember the excitement prior to marriage, this then is exactly the point we need to embrace with both arms, we need to find that tingling feeling once again for our Lord and Saviour if we have let it slip somewhere along our journey toward the Celestial City. As for us men we need to consider our courtship when we look to win her over. We may have failed with our relationships but we daren’t fail with our King and this eternal relationship.

Signing off

Tyrone