Email Messages
7-13-2011
Psalm 37:21-31 NKJV The wicked borrows and does not repay, But the righteous shows mercy and gives. For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth, But those cursed by Him shall be cut off. The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand. I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed. Depart from evil, and do good; And dwell forevermore. For the LORD loves justice, And does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, And dwell in it forever. The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, And his tongue talks of justice. The law of his God is in his heart; None of his steps shall slide. Father God we praise your name, we pray that the leaders of this world are governing according to your will. Provide us wisdom and discernment through your Holy Spirit. Comfort those of that have lost loved ones recently. Help us to forgive as you have forgiven us. Protect us from the evils of this world and our fleshly wants. You are awesome! Thank you Jesus! Amen!
Emails, what modern technology has given us, a way of communication with the world from our homes. Not only email now, but Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc. Just type out your message and send it or post it and you have just communicated with a friend or posted something for the world to see.
Where am I going with this, I don’t know for sure. I’ve been praying for a few days and asking Jesus what he wants to communicate. Sunday morning as I’m having a slice of toast with peanut butter and jelly these thoughts started to flow. So I headed for the computer and in no time page one was done.
Is this modern technology good? That is the question. I know it is good if we use it correctly and don’t lose sight of our Christianity when we are on the world wide web. Let’s take emails for example, I get a number of emails that appear to be religious and a wonderful prayer or a message that touches your heart and makes you stop and think about your life. The problem is when you get to the bottom of some of the prayers or messages it states, “quick send this in the next 10 minutes and something good will happen to you in 24 hours,” or something like, “send this to 10 people including me so I know you are my friend”. If the message is a heartfelt message, and you are a Christian, won’t you send it on without being prompted to?
Before I go any further I admit that I have been guilty of what I’m about to say, but it has been revealed to me I was wrong and I’m in the process of changing my ways. This is that part of sanctification we go through after we give our life to Jesus. The Holy Spirit will reveal to us things that we do wrong until the day we die. These sinful things that are brought to our attention whether by the Holy Spirit or a brother or sister in Christ needs to capture our attention so we can analyze what we are doing and then go to Jesus and ask for forgiveness, repent, and amend our ways to stay obedient to God.
Ok with that said let’s get back to the messages we receive. They strike me as putting our faith in a message with us doing something, to get a reward. This is like people doing good deeds, supporting charities, being kind and appearing to be a good person, etc. to earn their way into God’s Kingdom. There is nothing we can do to justify our goodness before God, to gain entry into His Kingdom without being Spiritually Born. If we aren’t Spiritually Born, God still views us as a sinner. Romans 3:23 NLT For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. The only way is believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus, and why this was necessary. It is what happened on the cross at Calvary. Also, it isn’t just believing, which is only a part of that spiritual birth, but it is also realizing we are all sinners by natural birth and that we have to be sorry for our sins, ask forgiveness, make a commitment to try and sin no more, and ask Jesus to come into our heart and live within us to help us with our commitment to sin no more in order to live a righteous life. In the following verses Jesus is talking to the Apostles. John 14:15-17 NLT "If you love Me, obey My commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, (The Holy Spirit.) who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn't looking for Him and doesn't recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now (Meaning Jesus) and later will be in you (The Holy Spirit.). This is the only way to Heaven/God’s Kingdom. John 3:5-7 NLT Jesus replied, "I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don't be surprised when I say, 'You must be born again.'
I feel these email messages can be a form of idolatry, a violation of the First Commandment. You ask how can this be? It is because of the last part where you are prompted to forward these types of messages on hoping to get something in return. It is putting our faith in responding to the message instead of putting Jesus first and your faith in Jesus to provide for you.
So is it bad to forward these messages? No if you feel touched by the message and want to share it, by all means share it, but when you click on the forward button, go down through the message and delete all that would indicate that you are putting your faith in the message and hoping for something in return. Then turn to Jesus, put your faith in Jesus, and pray to him for what you are hoping for. Forward it out of love and don’t expect anything in return. God will bless you for the love you are sharing. This goes hand in hand with Luke 6:35 NKJV But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.
What about general information emails that come through concerning something that sort of makes sense, so you just forward it on without checking it out? What if it is a lie? Is it any different than if we verbally stated it or forwarded it in an email? If it is not the truth it doesn’t matter how we communicate it, does it? So there’s another Commandment violated.
What about emails that come through involving jokes, cartoons, slander, bashing, etc. of our elected officials? Could this be a form of bearing false witness if we participate by forwarding the emails? Oh no, not another Commandment violated. This isn’t funny anymore. Now don’t get me wrong and think I endorse what some of our leaders are doing. I don’t, but we only see the small snapshot of what is going on in the world, where as God has the big screen TV and has a plan and is using certain people and situations for His will to be done here on earth. Didn’t God use certain tribes of people to punish the Israelites when they forsake him? The Bible states we have to respect our government even though we may not agree with what is going on. Romans 13:6-7 NLT Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: Pay your taxes and government fees to those who collect them, and give respect and honor to those who are in authority. Titus 3:1-2 NLT Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. 2 They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone. We need to pray for our elected officials and world leaders as human beings and not for what they are doing. After all what they are doing may be God’s will. Pray that they find Jesus! Actions like this, is Christ like. Jesus loves the person, but hates the sin. It is loving your enemy/neighbor as yourself. Matthew 5:43-46 NLT "You have heard the law that says, 'Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Bless those who curse you. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much.
Here is another type of email that comes through and it is about our boarder wars that are going on. I really don’t know what the answer is, and all we can do is a lot of prayer. These types of emails would also fall in the category of loving our neighbors.
What should we forward on then? Is it wrong to forward any type of email? No, but I think we have to use great discretion as to what we forward and make sure it doesn’t reflect any of the above. As Christians we do need to be informed as to what is going on around us locally and globally, but we need to make sure the facts are correct and presented in a manner as not to violate God’s Commandments. Getting the accurate information is very difficult at times, even from the news media. Sometimes it would be better to send the message to the trash instead of forwarding it. Use that delete key to clean up the message, validate the truth, love our neighbors, and above all put God first in your life.
As I said above I have been guilty of forwarding all of these types of emails in the past, but God has laid it on my heart to clean up my act, and I apologize if I have offended anyone in the past. Things like this, is that ongoing sanctification process that takes place after we give our heart to Jesus and start living for the Kingdom of God. It is called regeneration where the old life is buried and a new life style begins. Romans 6:6 NLT We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. Ephesians 4:22 NLT throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.
Wow, I didn’t expect this lesson to end up this way. The thoughts really flowed and they do make sense to me. I hope they make sense to you. I don’t give homework, but for the next week take special note to your emails that come in and before forwarding them, do a Jesus check on them.
PS. Just when I thought I was done, another thought about emails hit me. It is the off color jokes and cartoons that plague the email system. So if you are participating, guess what, God views this as sin too. Ephesians 5:4 NLT Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth,
Unless you are Born Again, you cannot enter into Heaven, the Kingdom of God."
Bill
Last Week’s Trivia: Who was Joash being hidden from, and for how long?
Answer: More information can be found in 2 Kings 11:1-21. Joash was being hid from Athaliah. He was an infant and was hidden for 6 years.
This week’s Trivia: Can an ax head float in water?
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