Ask God Before It's Too Late

I am convinced that the time of the Lord's return is right around the corner, even at the door. The fear I have is that so many who think they will be going to heaven, have never known Christ. They have spent their life after proclaiming to be Christian, attempting to get as much out of Him as they can while living a lifestyle that mocks and dishonors Him.

Romans 10:3 "For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God."

Because these people are proud of their own righteousness, they do not display the true love of God but merely pretended to love, while demonstrating hatred.

Luke 18:9 "And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:"

Proverbs 20:9 "Who can say, "I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin"?"

Proverbs 16:2 "All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the LORD weighs the motives."

Ezekiel 28:2 ""Son of man, say to the leader of Tyre, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because your heart is lifted up And you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods In the heart of the seas'; Yet you are a man and not God, Although you make your heart like the heart of God-- "

1 John 1:5-6 "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;"

Now is the time to spend some time in prayer, asking the Lord if you have trusted Christ or are merely pretending. God already knows, but anyone who has not demonstrated a lifestyle of loving God and the brethren, needs to ask God if they ever became born again, if God says no, then there is a need to repent, begin to trust Christ for salvation desiring to be changed by Him into a new creation.
God will show the truth to everyone who wants to know.

Better Ask God If You Are Saved

Revelation 3:17 "'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,"

Matthew 7:21-23 "21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

Enabling the Lazy

There are many takers in our culture now. Young people who feel a sense of entitlement to the money and things of others.

Notice too that those who demand to have our money, don't give to others and become angry when we begin to make them accountable.

Imagine that, being angry that someone else will not give them what they refuse to earn for themselves. Often those who are in financial trouble, have managed very badly the monies God did give them, wanting to be bailed out to continue business as usual.

They have no desire to listen to a plan that would help them develop skills making them wiser with money in the future. I have encountered those over the years who ask for help in the form of money, but when the offer of help came, to teach them how to manage what they do get, they become angry as though the offer was mean and selfish. When given the money, most often these people waste it on play things and pleasure, needing more later to pay the legitimate bills.

I am sure that many people reading this have experienced people like this, only to realize that those who wanted their money and their things, never wanted them.

When the request for help was revised to show them how to live without wasting, it was met with deep hostility, there never was love, respect or concern for us. When we encounter this we can count ourselves as "off the hook." Helping rebellious and lazy people to continue their lifestyle of wanton avarice while diminishing our own resources to do it, is in my estimation sin.

Psalm 37:21 "The wicked borrows and does not pay back, But the righteous is gracious and gives."

1 Peter 4:4 "In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you;"

As believers we are commanded to give freely, however that does not mean to those who waste and will not learn. We are to give needs and not necessarily desires. Giving a desire to a frugal person is a joy and encourages their frugality. However giving desires to wasteful people will only encourage further wastefulness.

I never have guilt when I offer to teach someone how to earn their own way or how to manage what they have, when they spurn teaching and training. I am a firm believer in promoting dignity through hard work and diligence in spending. I don't care about what anyone buys, as long as they use their own money, can afford it and are not in debt.

Proverbs 19:19 "A man of great anger will bear the penalty,
For if you rescue him, you will only have to do it again."

When we rescue lazy, rebellious and disrespectful people, we enable their sin, which makes us a party to their lifestyle.

Ephesians 5:6-7
"…6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them;