"How Well Is Well Enough?" by Pastor Kevin Lynch

"How Well Is Well Enough?" by Pastor Kevin Lynch

Jesus says He knows.

He knows your heart.

He knows your dedication, your depth of love for Him, your appreciation.

He knows your failures, your inabilities, your good intentions gone awry.

He knows you better than you know yourself.

This would include any pathetic attempt to pacify Him with your feeble excuses.

Trust me. They are paper thin. They do not even fool the mortal.

Jesus knows. He always knows. He always has known.

He knows when your love starts to grow cold.

Check it out: (all verses from Revelation, Chapter 2)

"I know your industry and activities, laborious toil and trouble, and your patient endurance."

See. Nothing gets by Him.

"I know you are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name's sake, and you have not fainted or become exhausted or grown weary."

See. He knows. He acknowledges.

"BUT I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love]."

There it is. You have abandoned Him. You have deserted Him.

You have failed Him.

Wow.

I bet you're thinking, "I was doing so well."

Depends on "how well is well enough".

Is well enough popping into church a couple of times a month, without ever really becoming a part of the community of Christ?

Is well enough blowing off basically every opportunity to study His Word and spend time in prayer?

Is well enough invoking His presence during a crisis only?

Is well enough obstinately or carelessly refusing to support the work of His hands?

None of this is without consequence.

We tend to think of God sometimes as being so loving that He's squishy soft and cuddly.

Not so. The Risen Christ is still the Christ who bristles at the injustice of His people neglecting Him!

Read on:

"Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God's will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent."

"I will visit you and remove your lampstand."

The lampstand is the local church. Remove it and a light goes out.

Kind of like writing the word "Ichabod" (the glory of God has departed from this place) over the front door.

They say Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

Christians have the tendency to "fiddle" with other things while the flame in the lamp dims until it is nothing more than a dying ember. They fiddle while their sandy foundations shift until they collapse.

I'm sick to death of hearing how the struggling church is simply a result of a struggling economy and government.

What's the word I'm looking for here? Oh yeah...BALONEY!

It's not the struggling economy, it's the individual struggling with believing that their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is capable of doing all that He says!

Good Lord! We need a rescue today, and it ain't from petty problems and difficulties.

We need a rescue from a heart that's growing cold.

My prayer is that our hearts would be warmed and the flame of our lamp would grow stronger! That we would not forsake our first love, and that we would conform our inner self to the will of God.

Are you really running it all past Jesus first? No...really...are you?

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><

Visit my blog at: http://keepinitrealpastorkevin.blogspot.com/