By Dan Cecil
Your Pastor Speaks
A former president, and current presidential candidate, barely survived an assassination attempt last month and an innocent bystander was killed. Four people were recently murdered in a school shooting in Georgia and six hostages were murdered in the Middle East.
One group passionately fights for the right of unborn babies to live in the womb, while another fights to allow mothers to end those lives because the baby resides inside the mother until birth.
One segment of society insists that the number of genders is limited only by the imagination, while another insists there are only two genders. One fights for the right of children to choose to surgically or chemically alter their sexuality while another insists children are incapable of making such life-altering decisions.
One camp believes the United States has no right to limit immigration, while another believes our government has a responsibility to protect its citizens by controlling our borders and managing the pace of immigration.
All of this, and more, is hotly debated in the public square. How are you handling it?
When you are attacked for the positions you take on these issues, do you wear those attacks as a badge of honor? Jesus said “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great” (Matthew 5:11-12).
Is your passionate advocacy motivated by love, as opposed to hate? That’s only possible because “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). That kind of supernatural love, joy, and peace are only available to us through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Jesus said “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The Apostle Paul described the gospel as the reality “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
Do you believe that? Have you turned away from your sin and believed the gospel as Jesus has commanded? If you have, you should be seeing the fruit of the Spirit growing in your life and that supernatural love, joy, and peace becoming defining characteristics of it. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
If you haven’t “repented and believed,” what are you waiting for? “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Ask God to help you “repent and believe” today!
Soli Deo Gloria…Dan Cecil
Cecil is assistant to the Pastor of First Baptist Church, Sidney.
