Weekly Devotional: Gems From Pastor Jim 2/3/2020

by Jim Hughes

Jer. 5:20-22a “Make this announcement to Israel and to Judah: Listen, you foolish and senseless people---who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear. Do you have no respect for me? Why do you not tremble in my presence?

Most have eyes to see and ears to hear, but they do not see God or hear Him when He speaks. Most are so caught up into sin that God has no access to their souls. Most have no regard at all for God, let alone respect or fear Him. Most live as if God doesn’t exist at all, while at the same time professing to believe He does.

You do not respect God when you take sin lightly. God has consistently and clearly declared war against sin ever since it entered into the heart of man. God declares that sin is an abomination to Him. He hates it and will never tolerate it in His presence. Yet, most live like it doesn’t matter to God at all when we sin. Most live like what God has spoken is not true and that there are no consequences for sin.

You do not respect God when you mix sin with godly living. It never has worked and it never will. Jesus saves us from our sin so that we will go and sin no more. We are not forgiven so that we can live less than godly lives. He changes our heart nature so that sin becomes for us an enemy to our souls, not a friendly companion.

You do not respect God when you take your salvation for granted and the spiritual disciplines that keep the soul right with God. God commands our heart loyalty. He must be our first love. He Most have very little fear for God. We have so conditioned our souls to believe in His love that we no longer fear His justice. We have conditioned ourselves to believe that God would not allow us to go to Hell under any circumstance. Most like to believe that God will deem us fit for heaven as long as we try to do good, or as long as our good outweighs our bad. Most do not look at their souls seriously and consider godliness as a prerequisite for heaven.

It is foolishness and makes no sense at all to not respect who God is and fear what He will do. Every person will stand before God and give an account for his life. It will not matter then how good of a person one may be in his own eyes. All that will matter is one’s relationship with Christ. All who do not have Christ as their righteousness will go to Hell. God’s love for them will not keep them out of Hell.

Listen now. Open your eyes and see that Jesus is the way, truth and life. He is your only hope for eternal life with God. He is the only one who can keep you out of Hell. Jesus must be the passion of our hearts. We must value our relationship with Him more than anything else in life and live like we do.

About the Author:

Spending his formative years in Ft. Wayne, IN, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.

C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one's self from such failures.

I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If is isn't broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.