Sheep Among Wolves and Peace and Safety

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I’m still catching you guys up on the posts I’ve shared on social media…..

“Look, I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves.” Matthew 10:16

Don’t speak to a fool, for he will despise the insight of your words. Proverbs 23:9

Two verses that stuck out to me today.

I read a few headlines. I’ve stopped giving my time to the articles when the title makes obvious it’s purely propaganda. I read some comments on the threads though. People are angry and mostly waste their time and energy engaging with foolish thinking. Wisdom and foolishness don’t speak the same language.

But one comment stood out to me. A lady said how interesting to see how the evil act of one man brought on (thanks again media) insane riots filled with acts of hatred that are no better than the act that sparked the fire. And how that started a movement to break down law enforcement. All the while the media still beats the drum of fear of this super scary virus they’ve warned us will be the thing that destroys us. This all leads somewhere. We know this right?

Fear will destroy us. Fear will absolutely destroy us if we allow it to.

I saw an article about climbing case numbers while posting a picture of a couple dining at a restaurant. There is an agenda. I hope we are wise as serpents and innocent as doves. I pray we have learned a lesson in this season about how the media operates, the power of group think, and the damage and control of fear that happens overnight.

One thing I’ve really noticed in this season is how bandwagon we really are. Like sheep led to slaughter. I’ve watched sheep loaded on a trailer taken to slaughter. It’s no different watching group think and bandwagon jumpers in our current culture.

I wish we could start a movement like happened this week where people muted in order to listen and learn to instead of muting themselves we’d mute the media, including and especially, right here on social media.

I actually did mute some people I follow because I was tired of their bashing of our President. Mute is a button we may need to use more often to maintain our love for people.

But I fear we are addicted to the intoxicating effects of fear and drama. We seem to thrive on living in a state of shock, awe, and outrage.

Love is intoxicating as well. It offers something that lasts. It actually changes people and cultures. But it’s not sensational and never makes the front page. Because it often looks so simple. Like the neighbor that sits on the porch with her elderly neighbor and listens to her heart. Or the friend who chooses to overlook an offense and live free of resentment in the relationship. Or the man who noticed the distressed bystander and stopped to see how he could help. Or the people giving hours to clean up vandalism from riots.

Maybe the next big social media movement will be to share and spread allllllll the amazing stories of hope and love instead of the ones of fear and hate. Fear and hate are here til Jesus returns and establishes His reign. And for everyday we have left on this earth, we can show love too. I wish those stories spread like wildfire.

Love is so much easier than hate. But we can’t show love when we’ve not experienced love. And there lies the problem. There’s an entire world that has never experienced the radical love of Jesus. They can’t show love because love comes from God. That’s why Jesus gave us the job to tell
the whole world about His love.

Nothing other than Jesus can change the human heart. Until lives are changed by Jesus, true cultural change won’t happen.

We shouldn’t be shocked that a world that doesn’t know Jesus acts in vile ways. We shouldn’t be shocked by the things we see when we realize that apart from Jesus we can do no good thing.

Let’s get busy!! The solution we aren’t talking about has already been given thousands of years ago. Jesus. Jesus. All we need is Jesus. We are spinning our wheels and getting nowhere because we are ignoring the true source of power.

God is love. Love wins in the end.

Have you read The Giver by Lois Lowry? It’s pretty intriguing.

They live in a world of conformity. A world that has no choices. A world of “sameness”. No one and nothing is unique or different. All the same. No color. No choices because what if people made a wrong choice. It’s for their safety and their own good.

The phrase that we hear whether covid or riots is “be safe”. Spirits of fear are roaring and roaming beasts.

There’s a term we are to be on the lookout for. Peace and safety.

1 Thessalonians 5:3
While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Believers, the verse before tells us we don’t need to be given a date and time bc we know how to read the seasons and signs. Then verse 3 tells us what people will be saying right before Jesus comes like a thief in the night. A thief in the night for the unbeliever! This should not take us by surprise.

Are your ears tuned to the propaganda right now? Or are they tuned to Jesus? Friends, he’s asking the church to WAKE UP. Wake up and get about His business. That business isn’t long social justice posts. That business is going to your offended brother and seeking forgiveness. That business is releasing bitterness and offering forgiveness. That business is using our finances to help the poor and needy. That business is to stop the scroll and sit with our children and retell the most amazing rescue story ever told. That business is to hold that foster baby in your arms and tell her she is known and loved. That business is to get down on our knees and pray for the voiceless. That business is to notice the person at the store with empty eyes, smile, tell them they are loved. That business is to tell the world about Jesus.

Much of the church is asleep, lulled by complacency and deception.

2020 has been awful. For the believer, we have a job. Resist evil, advance God’s kingdom. Resist and advance. All with the hope and excitement that any day we are called out of the battle to our heavenly home.

For the unbeliever, 2020 is nothing, nothing, nothing compared to what the 7 years will bring when you see all the Christians have disappeared from planet Earth. It wasn’t an alien. It wasn’t a conspiracy. It was Jesus taking us away from the destruction to come. During that time people will beg for death and not find relief of death.

One will come offering peace and safety. He’s a liar and deceiver. But the majority will believe his lies. I never understood that until 2020. We’ve never witnessed greater deception and its blinding effects.

Here’s the good news. If you are breathing right now and don’t know Jesus, today can change everything for you. It’s all a position of the heart. The day that changed my life, I prayed a simple prayer: Dear Jesus- I confess I’m a sinner. I need a Savior. Forgive me of my sins, wash me clean. From this day forward I want to follow you. You are the Lord of my life. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and lead me by your love to love others.

If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord you will be saved. Romans 10:9

If you prayed today to receive Jesus go tell someone!!!! Find someone to mentor you! Message me so I can pray for you as well.

Believer, it’s so time. Time to wake up, pray for wisdom, protection from deception, and courage to love radically. Our lamps better be lit. Don’t darken those screens anymore. Shine his light and be ready.