The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Issue Is Love"
For those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the issue is never primarily intellectual. Indeed, for every human being, God's light shines as the brightest and greatest influence.
"That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9).
"The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20).
"He giveth to all life and breath and all things… In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:25; 28).
"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard" (Psalm 19:1-3).
We are as fish that swim in the ocean that is God. Until we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, however, we fail to see the ocean. Willful blindness enshrouds the heart, preventing the unbeliever from seeing the great fact of every human being's existence. "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart… Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord" (Ephesians 4:18; 5:8).
When sharing the Gospel with unbelievers, we seek to present a reasoned and thoughtful discourse, in accordance with the most rational treatise that exists, the Bible. We attempt to answer whatever questions our listener may present. Indeed, the mind is involved in salvation. God does not call us to believe in a vague and nebulous Christ, but rather on the Savior "as the Scripture hath said" (John 7:38). However, when communicating the Lord Jesus and His Gospel to an unbeliever, we nevertheless maintain primary focus on the main issue, namely, the heart. "With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness" (Romans 10:10).
"This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19).
Note our Lord's plainly stated declaration: the issue is love. What does our hearer so love that he finds the love of God unappealing and even worthy of rejection? This can include anything that discourages faith, including attitudes, actions, inactions, words, and ways of relating to God and people. The unbeliever loves something(s) other than God, believing that deadly idols are actually life-enhancing benefactors. Nothing could be more false. Solomon declared that those who reject God and His wisdom "love death" (Proverbs 8:36). However, death glimmers with a false light that seems like life to the blind one who closes his eyes to God and truth. "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (II Corinthians 4:4).
Let us give Biblical reasons to the mind of the unbeliever. But let us even more pray that the Holy Spirit will shine Biblical reality into the heart. Namely, let us ask Him to unmask the imposters that promise life, but administer death. And let us ask Him to reveal the One who promises life, and then gives it in far greater measure than the recipient can imagine…
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
(John 10:10)
Weekly Memory Verse
For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.
(Romans 11:36)
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