Would you leave?

Friends,

Each one of us has been called to be a believer. Some have been elected to hear that call and respond. Others will not. Some will respond for a short time, a kind of emotional, short-lived response. They hang around as long as the walk is pleasant. But when Christ demands a break from what the world agrees with, they bolt like a bat out of ..... well you know how it ends.

Exodus 18:27 [NKJV]
Then Moses let his father-in-law (Jethro) depart, and he went his way to his own land.

Jethro has been credited with being a "godly man" with "good advice" for Moses. But God never told Moses to follow his father-in-law's advice. And Jethro proved that he did not belong to the Lord. If you study that section of scripture (Exodus 18), you'll see that Jethro was duly impressed with what God had done for Israel. He even acknowledged the LORD as a god - greater than all the others and worthy of reverence, sacrifice and respect. But Jethro fails to repent of his worship of those other gods. And in the end, after seeing all that the Father has done for His people, decides that... "Well, this was nice. But I'll be going now. Gotta get back to my own life, you know."

And that, dear brothers and sisters, is the sad truth of many men and women who are "sold" on Christianity. The church seduces them with a message of happy living and prosperity. And they are persuaded... for a time. But they never truly repent. And when the world ups the ante with a better offer, they go their own way, back to their old life.

Today is a day to re-examine and re-assess:
Have we raised our hand in some church, only to go back to life as though nothing has changed?
Does our faith and belief rise and fall with our emotional state?
Do we look to God for comfortable living, and blow Him off when He doesn't deliver?

These are hard questions. And they demand answers. The answers can be a furnace that makes us sweat. And the answers can be a furnace that burns off impurity. What is left is a deeper understanding of who we really are before a Holy and Righteous God.

Be encouraged,
Jose