Confession is the Key

If someone is repentant and truly sorry for sins against us, it really does dissolve the bad that they did to us and restores the relationship.

The trouble with our culture is that most people believe forgiveness comes without repentance, so there is never a sense that things have been resolved. The ugly feelings remain because no one was sorry.

I have experienced a few times in my life when someone was truly sorry for how they treated me. And, I have had to humble myself too when I have sinned.

Those people went on to never do those things again and the friendship was restored. I learned from having to humble myself and didn't repeat those same sins again. Having to humble myself taught me to avoid having to do that by not repeating the sins.

I have no ill will whatever toward those who repent, because they wanted a resolution to the damaged relationship, willing to admit sin.

Repentance, (a change of mind) truly does restore a relationship. We know someone is authentic when they come to us remorseful, willing to humble themselves for the sake of someone else. Trust is rebuilt when someone takes the initiative to care deeply about another.

Without this step in the relationship, there can be no trust that anything will change in the way they relate to us. There must be a change to restore.

1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James 5:16
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Proverbs 28:13
Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Psalm 32:5
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Acts 19:18
Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices.

James 4:17
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Crying for the Animal over the Boy

I can't tell you how irritated this made me. That gorrila "is an animal." The little boy is a "human being." Do we not understand that the life of a little child is far more important than an animal? NO I GUESS NOT, since killing babies because they are inconvenient is valued right up there with worship of that brute beast.

Next time you are tempted to go along with the world we live in, perhaps it would be best to read the Bible and evaluate every single thing others say is good.

Our world has gone stark raving mad!!!!

Exercise Massive Indoctrination

God never intended exercise to be a big part of our life. It actually ages the body faster. If you look at the picture of people from 150 years ago who had to work very hard to make a life in the wilderness, you will see they look much older at 30 than we do at 60.

Work outs are tantamount to the hard work the pioneers had to do that aged them sooner than they would have if they had lived a more leisurely life.

Work is good and is far different than deliberately working out to have big muscles or a georgeous body. God said that exercise is of "little" value. It's only value is to make us temporarily strong for a specific task. Those who spend a lot of time at the gym, will age faster than those who rest after working to earn money to live.

If America had spent as much time on raising their children in the Lord, praying together, speaking of the Lord as they walked along in life, we would not have progressed on the fast track to debauchery. When outer appearance is a goal greater than any other, then we have an idol, worshiping the body rather than God. Spending our time on something that elevates ourselves rather than time spend worshiping God.

1 Samuel 16:7 "But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

2 Corinthians 4:18 "As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

2 Corinthians 11:3 "But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ."

1 Timothy 4:8 "For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."

We are far better off exercising our spiritual muscles than we are exercising our body to become prideful of our outer appearance.

Go ahead and exercise if you like to, but don't pressure anyone else to do what you do and don't promote it as a good thing.

We have been fed a load of hype about exercise, perfect food and obsession with physical beauty. It is a good thing to take care of our bodies, but obsession leads to excess bringing harm.

Walking is something everyone did in the times of the patriarchs, only athletes who wanted to excel in sports did rigorous training.

When anything is popular to the masses, the seculars push it continually, you can be sure it is not godly. Exercise and perfect food has been promoted dramatically by ungodly people for decades now. The devil knows just what to do to distract gullible unspiritual believers from the important matters. The secular community is already deceived by these things, but believer ought to be more discerning and less concerned with fitting into a paganistic culture.

Matthew 23:23-24 "23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cummin, but you have disregarded the weightier matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.…"

When ungodly materialistic obsessed people are promoting something you can be sure it is not aligned with the principles of God.

Our obsession with outer beauty, wealth, "natural" food and many other unimportant matters, have diluted the Christian walk, so much so that few people understand what authentic Christianity looks like.

Matthew 10:16 "“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."
Colossians 2:22-23 "…22 These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23 Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh."