LET US LEAVE

By Rick Mathes

John 14:31 but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

There’s a time to stay and there’s a time to leave. This can apply to all the situations we may find ourselves in. You need to know when to hold them and when to fold them. There will be a last heartbeat here on planet earth and the next in heaven. We are that close to meeting Jesus face to face; a very special onetime encounter.

Are you ready to leave? What will you be leaving? How about leaving your sin groups?

Sin comes to you through sinners that gather together with sinners of like mind. Sometimes this is called Church! Imagine Simon the Cyrene actually walked in the bloody footprints of Jesus as he carried the cross-beam to Calvary. He didn’t walk in the path of sinners as Psalm 1 warns about. I am delighted that my so-called friends, unbelieving sinners, have left me alone with my Bible. When my drinking fraternity brothers invited me to an annual keg party, they weren’t disappointed when me, a Baptist minister didn’t attend. I didn’t go! The darkness doesn’t invite the light into fellowship when the light is made known. I have never heard from them again.

There is always a residue of filth no matter how hard you try to repent of it all. The most common relapse is when Satan tempts you to recall and relive the sin in your head. Filthy, slimy, stinking remnants of the feces of your past actions remain somewhere in your psyche, somehow in your memories. We are never completely holy. How exasperating!

On the plus side when we go in one direction we are always going to leave something else in another direction: from sin to Savior would do just fine. This requires a service to a new boss; under new management. For me, leaving alcohol and drugs was like walking out on a foreign planet. The differences can be quite start in contrast as they were for me and many others.

We leave the enemies camp to defend our new victories in Christ. You can be sure that persecution will follow the Bible promises it will. We must stand firm even to the death if need be to defeat the bondage Satan once had us in. There’s no turning back once your choice of allegiance is made. We leave worldly nonsense to the dust and step out on avenues of gold in glory. The life within us is eternal; it’s just a matter of where you choose to live it. Make your choice to leave this world behind as you soar into the promised heavenly blessings in His presence.