Tag: unbelievers

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High Fives

krisshetter

With one more day left in this year of 2025 I noticed this past post had a few looks today. I went back and read it myself. It made me realize that my only resolution for the coming year is to live a life where an unbeliever would have cause to ask me how or why…and my answer would be Jesus.

We should all live our lives as believers in every situation; sharing the Gospel to all we encounter. Let’s help bring a few more home this coming year.

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 15:5-6

The other night, just before we were about to go to bed, I looked over our Christmas shopping list to see who my husband still needed to check off. It caused me to ask him where a gift certificate was that had come in the mail the day before. It is an “old school” paper certificate for $100 to a local attraction. Thus began an all out search for this thin piece of paper.

At the same time, I know it sounds odd, I was also searching for a brand new bra that disappeared about a week ago. Since I don’t go around tossing my bra off outside my house I just knew it had to be inside somewhere! So, here we were at 9:00pm going through trash cans, drawers, paperwork, sheets, towels, etc searching for a piece of paper and a bra. 

At one point my husband was ready to give up. He was going to call the shop the next day and ask for a duplicate gift certificate. He told me to just buy a new bra. But I’m not a quitter so we kept searching. At last, I looked in one last place for the gift certificate — the office recycling bin. And there it was stuck to an empty Christmas card envelope! Moments later my husband was digging around in the clothes hamper and he pulled out my bra displaying it like the Lion King Mufasa holding up the baby lion Simba. How I didn’t see it the other 10 times I looked in there I have no idea.

As we fell into bed laughing about our search I said, “We are practically like a Bible story — you know, the ones about the lost coins and the lost sheep! We didn’t give up and we finally found our precious things.”

As so often happens when I’m in the midst of writing, my everyday experiences lead me to ponder on the glory of God. In this instance, how He also never gives up. He goes into our trash heap of sins and pulls us from the depths. He seeks us out under the dust and brushes us off. He cleans us up and makes us righteous before Him through our faith in Jesus.

"And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:9-10

Christ not only welcomes us home but He runs to meet us like the father to the prodigal son. Through His bountiful mercy (not dishing out the punishment we deserve) and grace (giving us the love and justification we don’t deserve) He celebrates our entrance to His Holy Kingdom. 

Think on the last time you lost something and finally found it. You may have performed a little, silly dance or shouted out in glee. Now imagine when you accepted Christ as your Savior how God must have danced in joy because He is a God of great celebration. While we can’t change someone’s mind about God, He can. He asks us to join with Him in the search effort. Imagine each time you share the message of your salvation with an unbeliever how God must be saying, “YES! LET’S DO THIS! Let’s bring another home!” 

Give all honor, praise, and glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen

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Day 12 Rattle!

krisshetter 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 2 Corinthians 5:17-18
This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’  Ezekiel 37:5-6

Sometime last year I began a new morning routine.  I had heard a great podcast from White Horse Inn about how each morning we are faced with the return of our old self like a mummy at the foot of our bed rising up. Each day we need to call on the Holy Spirit to help us kill off that old self and instead dress our minds, hearts and bodies with the new self which Christ has bestowed upon us.  

So, each morning before my feet hit the floor, before I pick up my phone, I lay in bed picturing that old me that seems to so easily want to rear its ugly head.  I pray to my Father to do the seemingly impossible – bring the new me to life.  To guide me in the fruits of the Spirit in order to serve Him to the fullest.  It’s His resurrection power that brings that new me to life.

I have to laugh when unbelievers (and some believers) say the truths in the Bible are lies because the miracles and events defy logic and “laws of nature.”  Folks, He created the cosmos.  He brought us and every living thing seen and unseen into existence.  That sounds like a being that can do absolutely anything.  Heal blind men with spit and dirt, darken the sun, make a woman from a rib, and yes, resurrect the dead.

The LORD God can bring the worst sinner back to life, back into sync with His plan.  I know, I’ve got quite a few sins in my own past.  And that’s exactly where I want to keep them.  I want to live refreshed, renewed, reborn. 

Click here to listen: Rattle!

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At Home With God

krisshetter 
“Yet he (Abraham) did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.”  Romans 4:20

Holy God, everything I have belongs to you — my home, my car, my food, my marriage, my family. Help me to use them in service to you each day so I can proclaim Your glory and the wonderful work you have done in my life. Amen

I’d have to say one of the first obvious signs that I was submitting to God and giving Him authority over my life was years ago when my brother-in-law came to visit us and wanted to bring his girlfriend.  We had two small children and my husband and I decided we needed to model God’s morals by telling his brother that although she could come, they couldn’t sleep in the same room together.  He laughed, thinking we were joking.  But when we affirmed our decision, he asked how we could decide that when we, ourselves, had lived together before marriage.  It’s an easy answer actually.  We were now Christians with children to whom we were responsible for modeling God’s will.

Here’s the thing, Christian, it’s ok, even necessary in God’s act of progressive revelation, to change our minds.  To grow in our faith.  To set up new boundaries.  Especially in our own homes.  For Abraham, mentioned in our first verse today, he struggled to align his entire household with God.  He made bad decisions about his wife, he had to make peace among his family, he was faced with the prospect of sacrificing his son to the Lord.  But He kept moving forward in his faith.  With each step he learned more about God’s expectations of him and he guided his family and home toward God’s promises.  He set history on the right path by giving glory to God over and over. Joshua carried this forward when he assembled all the tribes of Israel.

"15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

Our home spaces are the perfect place to glorify God.  Why? Because when we stand in our home, every blessing we can see belongs to Him.  The home, apartment, tent, condo, all belong to God.  The food in the cupboards, the furnishings, the beds, the indoor (or outdoor) plumbing – yes, all belong to Him and should be used in His service to glorify Him.

My two oldest friends are unfortunately not believers.  And over these last few years I’ve had the Holy Spirit convict me of my behavior when I’m around them.  I need to show them the work God has done in me.  When they are at my house, I must model God.  That means I shouldn’t allow certain behavior or speech within the walls of my house.  I fail at times when I let myself be pulled into the world of unbelievers.  Sometimes I forget to pray over our meal, I drift into outraged political discussions, and I gossip.  My first step was realizing what I was doing doesn’t honor God.  My second step is to be more consistent in application.

Friend, if the Lord has blessed you with a comfortable place to lay your head each night, a place to make a life for your family, a home to provide hospitality to others, we need to remember it was all given for a purpose.  If we struggle to honor God in our home, how can we be expected to receive further responsibility from Him outside our homes?  So today, stand in the middle of the place you call home and proclaim it is all for His glory.