18 WHEELS AND A DOZEN PRAISES

I remember it like it was yesterday. Well, maybe not that vividly, but pretty well. My family and I went to a used car lot to buy a new car for me to drive back and forth to work each day. Do you get the joke? New car, used car lot. Ok, well, it was new to me. After praying first, we looked at several different cars and were about to decide that we were not going to find one there that we felt good about buying. 

That’s when we saw it. It wasn’t in the rows with the other cars. It was sitting beside the building with some other less desirable ones.

I tried it out and felt pretty good about the dependability and the price, so, after my boys climbed in, I drove it away as my wife and daughter followed.

The car was a small, blue Geo Metro. It had twelve-inch tires and only three cylinders. It only had 80 MPR on the speedometer, but I don’t even know if it could do eighty. If it could, it did one morning, about five o’clock. I was taking my kids to the babysitter on my way to work. 

We were going through town, minding our own business, and obeying the speed limit. I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw an eighteen-wheeler coming up on us pretty fast. I said something about it to the kids and they looked back just in time to see it bearing down on us. I saw that it wasn’t going to stop, or change lanes so I put the pedal to the metal. 

We were going as fast as that little car could possibly go. It was shaking all over and screaming, and so were the kids. We were only a foot or two away from being twisted up under that big highway monster. We think the driver may have been falling asleep or something. Anyway, the truck finally started slowing down and we started pulling away from it.

Thank God! We were safe again. We were so grateful to be alive and I praise the Lord for saving us that morning. I don’t mind telling you I was scared to death and so were my kids. I don’t remember praying while it was going on. It all happened so fast and it was over before we knew it. That’s one reason why it’s so important to stay in constant communication with God. 

We always prayed before we drove away to go anywhere. We would God to be with us and protect us and keep us safe there and back and we still do all these years later. I talk to God throughout the day. It’s easy when you truly know that he is right there with you constantly.

Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking he’s just up in heaven and we have to kneel and close our eyes to talk to him like we’re making a phone call. Some people even think you have to go to a church building to communicate with God, but that’s the wrong idea. We should always be reverent when speaking to our Creator, of course, but if you’ve been born again, then the Holy Spirit is living in your mind. You’re a child of God. You can talk to him any time and anywhere, in any condition and any position, whether you’re kneeling, standing, or lying down, and with your eyes open or closed. 

The important thing is to talk to him. He’s always listening and he’s always talking to us. Sometimes we let our minds drift into areas where they shouldn’t be, or neglect to take time to talk to him. Sometimes we’re angry and sometimes we may sin. In those times it becomes harder for us to hear his voice, but he’s always there. He said he would never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says we should pray without ceasing. That’s constant communication. That’s how God changes us into holy people. He tells us what to do and what not to do as we listen to him. So talk, listen, and communicate with our loving God and allow him to sanctify you, and I’ll see you on the other side, at the end of our journey.

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2018 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6

DON'T JUDGE ME

“Don’t Judge Me” is a favorite phrase of those who don’t want to be told they are doing something wrong. None of us like to be told we are doing wrong, but what if we are doing something that could cost us our life? What if it could cost us eternal life? What if it could mean the difference between heaven and hell? Is warning someone of danger judging them? Is telling someone what God says judging them?

Let’s pretend for a moment that we all know this certain teenager. His name is Billy. He just got his driver’s license. Everywhere he goes he’s always speeding, even though he knows he’s breaking the law. He drives way too fast, in spite of all the warnings from his family and friends. Over the next year, he has several accidents, and several close calls, so he decides it might be best to slow down, and obey the speed limit.

As he grows older he becomes more responsible, and actually becomes a Highway Patrol officer when he is old enough. Now, it’s Billy’s duty, and responsibility to enforce the same law he once so carelessly disregarded. If he sees someone breaking the law, it is his duty to let them know there are consequences for breaking the law. Sometimes the consequence is a fine, and sometimes it may be the loss of your life or the life of someone else; Perhaps someone we love.

Billy is not the judge and making people aware of the law, and the consequences for breaking it is not judging. It’s the same with born again believers. It’s our duty, and responsibility to warn others that there are consequences for breaking God’s law. We are nobody’s judge. We are children of God who want to obey him because we love him.

People who truly know the love of God, want others to experience that love, and we don’t want anyone to have to pay the penalty for their own sins. Romans 3:23 says, “All have sinned.” Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death; By sinning, we’ve all earned Death. This is not just the physical death that everybody dies, but eternal death; the second death, in hell fire (Rev. 21:8). Jesus paid the penalty for sin when he died on the cross, but we must be born again for his sacrifice to be applied to our account (John 3:16, 3:3-7). Knowing this, and keeping it to ourselves while millions are headed to hell, is not acceptable to God. He wants us who have been set free from sin to tell others the good news, that they can be set free, too.

I’ve had people tell me I had no right to tell my children not to do certain things because I did that when I was younger. I strongly disagree with that statement. Just because I did something doesn’t make it right. Just because I did it doesn’t take away my responsibility to warn others of the dangers that come with doing it. Especially my kids. Come on, now.

Likewise, just because born again believers once lived a life of sin, with no regard for God’s law, doesn’t abolish our “right” or responsibility to warn others of the dangers of sin. We’ve been there. We know what it’s like to be a slave to sin, and what a blessing it is to be delivered from sin. On top of that, God tells us to warn others.

Matthew 28:19-20
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

This is what we call the great commission. A command for us to go into all the world, and teach others what Jesus wants us all to do. That command is not just for missionaries going to other countries. It’s for any disciple, anywhere we may be. God wants us to tell others about his love, and he wants us to tell them what will happen if they refuse to follow his rules. Not because he is arrogant, or wants to be a dictator, but because he is wise, and knows that sin destroys us. God even warns us of what will happen if we don’t warn others.

Ezekiel 3:18 
18 When I say to the wicked, “You will surely die;” and you do not warn him, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; that wicked man will die in his sins, but his blood will be on your hand.

Ezekiel 3:20
20 Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and sins, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will be on your hand.

Ezekiel 33:6
6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his sins; but his blood will be on the watchman’s hand.

The Bible tells us many things we should not do. Believers are told, by God, to warn the people who are doing those things so they will know and have an opportunity to stop. This includes other believers as well. If we don’t warn people their blood will be on our hands. Here’s another reason.

Rev 20:15 
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Jesus wants everyone to go to heaven, and spend eternity with him. Contrary to popular belief though, everybody is not automatically going to heaven. You have to be born again in order to go. You have to be “SAVED” from sin. If anyone ends up in hell, because we didn’t warn them, their blood will be on our hands, and we may not get to go. Ezekiel 3:20 tells us that even a righteous man can turn away from his righteousness, and sin. We are told to warn them so they can have an opportunity to repent. Warning someone of danger is not judging. Telling someone what God says is not judging. We just need to do it with love, and not condemnation. Some will repent and turn to God, and others will not, but if we do what God has told us to do, their blood will not be on our hands.

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2016 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6