May the God of all grace be with you. Today, allow me to exhort you on not shying away from your least favorites verses. All of us individually, our denominations, and our churches are likely to have favorites verses in the scriptures. There are also universal favorites, as well as universally unpopular ones.
But if you believe that the Word of God is the truth, then you are doing yourself a MAJOR disservice by shying away from those least favorites, since in them, are some of the most profound revelations that God has given us about Himself. Hence, when you shy away from them, your view of who God is, what is His nature or His character, is most certainly heavily skewed, and therefore inaccurate. As uncomfortable as they might be, I plead with you to dwell on them at the very least as much as you dwell on your favorite ones.
Allow me to share some of them here…a very small subset…
John 14:22,23 – God does not love everyone the same way: He makes Himself at home only to those who love Him
“But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
Matthew 7:21 – Many professed Christians won’t make it!
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Hebrews 12:14 – Holiness is mandatory to make it
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Isaiah 53:2 – Jesus was not physically attractive
He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
2 Timothy 4:3 – Many professed Christians fabricate their own custom Christianity – A Christianity that suits them
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
John 14:15 – The only way to Love Jesus is to do His commandments
“If you love me, keep my commands.
1 John 2:3 – If we are not keeping His commandments, then we actually do not know Him
And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
Philippians 1:29 – Suffering for Christ is part of the deal
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him
Ecclesiastes 1:2 (and 12:13,14) – Everything we do, without exception is absolutely pointless, unless it is out of our reverence for God.
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
May the Lord be with you all my dear friends, and may He give you the grace to take His entire counsel.
Blessings
