The Love of Passion More Than Virtue (by Walt Henrichsen)

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you!”  Luke 6:46 Most unbelief flows from a love of passion more than virtue.  Unbelief is willful; a person can believe whatever he wants to believe. Rarely, if ever, do I find a man rejecting the gospel for intellectual reasons.  It is almost always related to the moral restrictions entailed in following Christ. Throughout Scripture we are reminded that God will only relate to people on His terms.  Most Christians do not believe this, convinced that they – not God – determine the parameters of the relationship.  This seems to prove acceptable to the rest of the Christian community as long as egregious sins are either avoided or hidden from sight.  When, however, their willfulness becomes public, they simply say that they no longer believe.  This ostensibly makes them acceptable to the church, and they think that if/when the time comes they wish to “return” to Christ, they are free to do so.  Meanwhile, from their perception they have the best of all possible choices. Sexual sins is where you most often see this expressed, for sex is the strongest appetite upon which the Bible places...

Counting on Tomorrow (by Walt Henrichsen)

“Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth,”  Proverbs 27:1 Few things in life are as silly as people saying what they will do in the future.  Both Testaments call attention to such foolishness, James warns “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain’; whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”1 When you assume you control your future you endeavor to remove God from His own world. When sharing the gospel with people they will often say they are not ready; they will invite Christ into their lives when they are ready.  It reminds me of Felix’s response to the Apostle Paul; “Go thy way for this time; and when I have convenient season, I will call thee unto me.”2 People do not come to God when are ready; they only come when He moves in their hearts to come to Him.  Those who think otherwise run the risk of slipping into eternity without knowing Him.  As Jesus said, “And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry,’  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose they will be?'”3 You are never more secure than when you realize you do not control the future and you trust...