(5-22-05)

Answers to all our questions are a wonderful thing but what good are answers to the questions that no one is asking? Here are some answers: blue, 210, 49, Waseon, Berry. There, go and be happy. You now have 5 important answers. Another sad testimony is answers unheeded.

John writes to the Church in His 1^st letter and he answers some great and wonderful questions:

1. How does a person know if they have the truth?
2. How does a person recognize the end of the ages is near?
3. How can a person tell the difference between a saved and unsaved person?
4. How can a person tell real love from artificial love?
5. How can a person be at peace about their salvation?
6. How can a person tell if they are truly in Christ?
7. How can a person tell if they do love in deed love the children of God?

These are great questions and John gives even better answers. Questions are good, answers are better, but do you know what is even greater than questions and their answers? Living what you know already.

• Do you believe God exists?
• Do you believe you have treated God as you ought?
• Have you respected His Authority?
• Have you loved Him?
• Have you done that which you thought would please Him and with the design to please Him?
• Do you believe that you should love Him, Worship Him, and Obey Him with the present level of understanding you have?

The solution is to resolve to do what we know!

Make up your mind to live up to your convictions. Make up your mind to obey God according to your best understanding already. Make up your mind to repent of your failures thus far. Make up your mind to live to please God as best you know how. Make it your determined effort to seek after God and His Kingdom and His people.

There is no magical fix to peoples lives disappointments and failures. There is no secret, thus far unknown by a person, for the solution to make their life better. Not when they won’t apply what they know to be right and true already. God’s mercies are boundless but they will not overcome peoples lack of effort to live godly lives.

Do we need a new, redefined list of sins to preach against? Hardly! Sin, even when socially acceptable to a culture, is still destructive and deadly when practiced or participated in. What about ___? Or____? Or ____? And even ___? Wicked and Sinful even if the leaders of nations should do such things. Listen carefully to this truth – Man does not, nor will he ever dictate to God what is right and wrong. It is God alone who mandates the laws by which humanity will be judged.

To know what to do and not do it, is sin. To know what not to do and do it, is sin. The most healthy word in the Christian vocabulary is _ _ _ _ _ _

(2:15,18; 3:10,16,19,24; 5:2)