Attracted To The Light

Brilliantly burning flame

Longing to be a Christian and living like one can seem an impossible task, as though the spirit and the psyche pull in opposite directions, like a soul wishbone. I observe moth like humans drawn to the flame of Truth that burns brightly in committed Christians, but they are afraid of being singed, so they flutter quickly to the cover of darkness, where their secret desire can remain hidden from searching eyes. Moths cannot resist a brilliantly burning flame, making it inevitable that they repeatedly fly low and close, to see what keeps the fire lit.

I write in metaphor, and yet I think of people that I used to know. They professed love for Jesus, calling Him their Saviour and wanting to call themselves Christians. Their intentions were very good, and they periodically spoke as though their lives had been turned around in a favourable way, with Jesus taking centre stage. Alas, these were verbalized ideals, easily displaced when skin in the faith game was required as part of their professed commitment: to anti up required risking what they clung to, and rather than seeing God as their provider, they thought being a Christian had become a crap shoot, too risky for their fear filled jaundiced blood. Martyrdom is not for the faint of heart ... God would forgive them their weaknesses: after all, once saved, always saved. When the real test is administered, THEN they will cling to Christ ... better yet, they will be taken up to heaven before being so severely challenged.

Idyllic: like an idyll; extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque

I-deal-ic: a purposefully misspelled word by the author to denote humans that want to make a deal with God, because they find themselves resistant to the ic of persecution from those that hate Christ

Sweating blood

Violence is repulsive, dear reader. It is ugly, vile: the combination of violence and vile is violation. To think of being beaten, tortured mercilessly, all because of a belief system, seems far too extreme for the average person to bear. It is inhumane and unjust, and it would appear to make far more sense, to hide in the shadows and keep silent, or go with the crowd flow, when questioning begins by those that are inclined to hate God. Seeing Jesus idyllically, as the figurehead of picturesque peace, happy to gently lead the flock of obedient sheep, is to deny His willingness to lay down His life, permitting wicked men to abuse Him violently, before taking His final God/man stand as Saviour while hanging from a cross. Prior to the cross, we see Jesus in agonized earnest prayer:

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground (Luke 22:44)

Christians know how all but one of the apostles died. They also know that infamous Judas, after turning against Jesus in favour of an earthly reward, took his own life for betraying "the innocent blood" (Matthew 27:4). Not many people want to end up like any of these fellas, me included ... and yet, denying Christ and then taking my own life for such a heinous crime against Him, is far less appealing, then being beheaded, hung upside-down, tortured before being murdered ... ic, it is all horrid, and happens all over the world to martyrs that will not debase their faith, no matter the threat to their well-being. They have skin in the faith game the devil wants us to play in. It isn't a game to God: our commitment to His commandments equates with life eternal in His glorious presence. 

Prolific pagans

My hope is that while flames of faith burn brilliantly all over the world, lit afire by the Holy Spirit represented in believers, that the moths that swoop and flutter close by, decide they would rather be consumed by the blaze then fly away once again in fright. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and saying one is a Christian without others knowing it because there is no evidence in the person's life, or worse yet, they behave exactly like prolific pagans, is a sad state of affairs. Intentions and actions ought not to be mutually exclusive: the two combined make for a magnificent pairing, and display commitment to God's commandments. 

So I call out to the moths that failed in their faithfulness and took the road most travelled by the masses these last couple of years and counting. You know who you are, and you also know that you too, will die one day. Your Bible tells you that you will meet your Maker ... what will He say to you, dear one, on your day of reckoning?