It's been a long winter here in Canada. Like thousands of others, I needed to take a little break away from the sting of winter. In January, I went on a cruise for a week to the Bahamas.
Being on a big ship with a few thousand other people in the middle of the ocean provides for ample opportunity to sit on your beach chair and people watch. The one action that was most obvious to me from morning until sunset was the constant hunger for the sun. As the ship changed direction, so did the people. Thus they were always making sure their chairs were facing the sun. When I went to the sun deck every day to stake out my place to bake, others had beat me to it and already had a choice spot and were relaxing under the warm glorious rays shining down on them. People would lay there all day, only moving if they had to turn over or if they needed to reposition their chair in order to meet the warmth of the sun and be covered by it.
I immediately thought about Jesus Christ. God's desire is that we make His Son Lord and Savior of our lives just as the people made the sun the focus of their daily life on the ship. He is Lord and Savior, but He wants to be your personal Lord and Savior.
What does this mean? It means, that we are to seek Him out just as the people on the cruise ship sought the warmth of the sun, we are to center our lives on His Word and live by it (Matthew 4:4).
We were made to worship Him and to seek to do His will as we go about our daily business.
Have you accepted His will for your life? Number one: is that we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Have you personally trusted Christ as your Savior? Each of us is in great debt towards God because of our sin. We have personally offended Him daily because we have fallen short of His perfection (Romans 6:23). To not believe God's Word in itself is sin (John 3:18-19), never mind lying, stealing, pride, hate, adultery, idolatry and jealousy that we are all guilty of, plus so much more (James 2:10).
The Bible says we are helpless to save ourselves and that we are without strength (Romans 5:6). God sent a Savior to bring us to Himself, to wipe our debt away forever, if we would personally acknowledge our need and turn from living life our own way.
We must turn to God, seek His way, according to His Word (Luke 13:5). You see, Christ satisfied the Holy God in Heaven when He shed His own blood for you at the cross of Calvary. Nothing else could settle your debt, except one who is sinless and Jesus Christ answered your need (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Wouldn't you like to become a "Son worshiper?" Those who accept the truth are made free by the truth (John 8:32). Free to bask in the warmth of God's love! Free from guilt, shame and fear. Free to follow Him, instead of being controlled by the chains of sin. Free to be a worshiper in spirit and in truth. Free to love right, live right and be accepted by a Holy God who will become your loving Father forever, once you accept His Son (Romans 8:32-39).
Without God's salvation one will face another kind of heat, in a place called the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). It won't be God's fault if a person goes there, it will be each individual's fault for failing to repent and believe on Christ as the only remedy for their sin problem (John 3:36).
The warmth of God's love offered through His salvation is what you need! Trust Him and see that the Lord is good! Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near (Isaiah 55:6).
Beckykew@outlook.com. Becky works with the youth of Sandy Bay.
