Steel Toed Boots

James 4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

There are only a very few people in this stage of my life that, “get me.” There are only a few of you that truly know my passion for the Lord, truly understand why I do what I do. God has let me travel down this road of life, even building a season of rebellion, to now draw glory to himself. God has built a ministry of repentance in me; for a season of my life I lived in steep rebellion, and now I understand the cleansing effects of daily repentance. You see for a portion of my life, a life in rebellion against God, I cared not what anybody thought, I did what pleased me. I lived a life of great sins, from one pleasure to another, and was many times the center of attention because I didn’t care. For good, or mostly bad reasons, I did and said whatever pleased me and you were just along for the show. There was nothing I didn’t think I could do, and took countless risks to obtain. Pride was the root of my life, the root of my sin, and when God began to take great blows of sanctification to me, he began with my physical strength, even unto this day. Pride was the root of my sin.

My passion in this life is sharing Jesus with you, and becoming a disciple of his through living a daily, abiding walk with him as he called us to do. Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. The hard part of my passion is where God has called me clearly to call out the church, to call out the Christians, to call out those of us who profess Christ, but live for this world and the pleasures of it. Part of me wishes he placed a burden on my heart for evangelism, professing Christ to those who had not heard; an easier ministry if you will. But you see…..he built my testimony, and my ministry for 40 years. I was saved as a child, rebelled for a season, and by the grace of God came to understand the level of my sin. So many of us who profess Christ, rest of the false assurance of our church attendance records, once professed moments of time, or just not really being that bad of a person. See if you can find those in the Bible. Jesus condemned the religious, nowhere is the sinners prayer covered in hyper grace, and one sin is equal to total sin; only the understanding and acceptance of God’s grace through Jesus’ atonement for you is where the keys to heaven lie. Jesus calls for our lives to change when we begin to understand this grace. He calls us to become his disciples, to live the remainder of our lives in service to him. To put him above everything and everyone else in our lives, to become our Lord. Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

You see…..my circle of friends has gotten smaller through the years. A life seeking attention became a life seeking none. A life of pride became a life of humility. A life of sin became a life of repentance. I must repent daily of my failures, my sins, my struggles. I have men in my life who I know bring Godly wisdom and accountability to me. I truly know there hearts for the Lord, and respect and listen to their advice. We all need those such people in our lives. There is nothing I wish more than to spend eternity in heaven with you, even if it means this season apart. If God uses me to convict you, maybe you will understand the life of a disciple. If I step on your toes and it hurts, wear steel toed boots. All in love, all for the glory of God, all for Jesus.