“Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life.” – Ezekiel 18:27

God is certainly perfectly just. He will punish the wicked. However, God’s essential nature is also fundamentally gracious and merciful. That means His great desire is to see each and every unrighteous person repent of his or her sins and seek forgiveness in faith. That is why God’s eternal Son, Jesus, went to the cross in our place.

Jesus stepped out of eternal glory and into our world, taking on a human body and nature to live a perfect life without any sin. Then He gave up that life on a cross, suffering and dying to pay the just penalty for all our sins. Jesus laid down His life to fulfill God’s perfect justice. Having done so, Jesus died, He was buried, and on the third day, He physically rose from the dead.

The result of all that is that anyone who repents of his or her sins in faith, entrusting their life to Jesus as Lord receives God’s abundant mercy and grace. All sins are forgiven. All guilt is erased. All shame is washed away. This is critically important because we’ve all sinned. We’ve all fallen short of God’s glory and standard for our lives. We’ve all chafed at, and rebelled against, God’s authority, design, and will for our lives. In ourselves, we’re all wicked.

But when we turn away from that wickedness, confessing our sins and calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are saved. Not because we deserve it but because God is merciful and gracious by nature. He longs to show grace to even this most vile, shameful, and sinful people. If you haven’t embraced that grace, don’t wait any longer. Cry out to Jesus right now and be saved. If you’re already enjoying God’s grace, pray specifically for people you know who aren’t. It is not too late for them to turn away from sin and turn toward God. #FollowJesus

“For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.” – 1 Corinthians 3:4-5

For 20 centuries, God has worked through countless gifted, Spirit-filled preachers, teachers, evangelists, pastors, and authors to reach millions with the gospel and mature believers in Christ. Throughout all that time, the struggle Paul writes about in these verses has continued. As people come to saving faith or grow and mature under the teaching of particular people, they can mistakenly grow more attached to those individuals than to Jesus.

There is a certain logic to it. After all, they see and hear their mentors in the faith in person. Often daily or weekly for years on end. It can be difficult to stay focused on the Lord in a world that’s naturally captivated by celebrity. Guard your loyalty! Guard your heart. Keep your focus on Jesus at all times.

It isn’t wrong to listen to, watch, or read the words of famous pastors, gifted preachers, Spirit-filled evangelists, or brilliant apologists. But make sure your appreciation of them is always building your love and loyalty to Jesus rather than to them. True and righteous teachers will always be redirecting your enthusiasm away from themselves and toward the Lord. They understand, as Paul did, that they are merely servants blessed to be used by the Lord.

Unfortunately, not all prominent “Christian” leaders and speakers do. Consider that a red flag. If a well-known teacher, preacher, or author talks about Jesus but mostly circles back to themselves, their opinions, their ministries, and their needs, run away. Don’t walk away. Run.

Jesus is Lord. Every blessing you have comes from Him. Never forget that and never grow so attached to a leader, speaker, writer, or influencer that you spend less and less time thinking about, worshiping, and obeying Jesus as Lord. #FollowJesus

“They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. For it was the stumbling block of their iniquity.” – Ezekiel 7:19

Money can buy many things, but it can’t buy righteousness. It can’t buy peace with God. Those things were purchased on the cross with the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The only way to receive them is as a gift of grace through faith in the Lord. Wealth can’t help anyone spiritually. In fact, it often hinders a person’s spiritual growth and health.

We live in an era with a lot of visible wealth. There are more billionaires than ever before. The rich are getting richer while ordinary things are getting harder and harder for many to obtain. Wealth is coveted, flaunted, celebrated, hated, pursued, wasted, and abused. It’s clear that many people assume wealth will solve their problems, soothe their troubled souls, and guard them against troubled times. Indeed, luxury bunkers are in fashion these days among the ultra-wealthy. These things will do them no good if they are still under God’s wrath.

Money in itself is neither good nor evil. But when it’s pursued and amassed as the ultimate good in life, it becomes a source of outrageous sin. When it’s built at the expense of the dignity and well-being of others, it becomes “the stumbling block of their iniquity”. No amount of wealth can shield its owner from the wrath of God. Only faith in Jesus can do that.

Instead of pursuing endless wealth and discovering that there’s never enough, pursue holiness in Christ. Lay up treasure for yourself in heaven rather than on earth. Steward whatever wealth you have, whether a little or a lot, for the glory of God. Use it to bless others and build God’s Kingdom on earth. Care for the poor, the sick, the widow, and the orphan. By all means enjoy your blessings from God, but enjoy becoming more and more like His Son far more. #FollowJesus

“Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face…” – Ezekiel 1:28b

In our culture, we often speak very casually about God. We toss His name around lightly. We presume on His kindness, mercy, and grace. Believers and unbelievers alike loudly declare what they will say or do when they meet God. We imagine we’ll ask questions that have been bugging us for awhile. We imagine we’ll share our opinions regarding how the universe has been managed. But we won’t…

The universal response of any human being to the revealed glory and presence of God Almighty is to fall on their face. Ezekiel was the norm, not the exception. On earth, it’s easy to imagine God as just a super-big, super-powerful, super-good version of a human being. He is not. He is infinitely greater and altogether transcendent over us, the crown jewel of His creation.

The reality is that God is unimaginably awesome, infinitely glorious, and completely overwhelming to a human being. Do you ever pause to think about God this way? To pray, praise, and worship Him as the Almighty? You should, it’s good for your soul.

Of course, we delight in the reality that in Christ, we’ve been reconciled to God and adopted as His children. We’re able to boldly and confidently enter His throne room and share our prayers and praises. This is a glorious truth that is made even more glorious by having a deeper understanding of Who God is in all His glory and majesty. Don’t simply delight in your closeness to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Delight in your closeness to the Almighty Absolute Supreme Creator and Lord of the Universe in all His splendor!

Take time, right now, to think about all this. Meditate on it. Let God’s awesomeness overwhelm you. Then give Him the praise, honor, glory, and worship He deserves! #FollowJesus

“For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed” – Romans 15:18

The Apostle Paul certainly had an impressive resume. He could have talked extensively about himself, his credentials, and his accomplishments. The number of cities opened to the gospel. The number of converts made. The number of churches planted. The number of letters written. He could have been the most celebrated conference speaker of his day or the most boring and obnoxious person at any party. Thankfully, that wasn’t the example he set for us to imitate…

Paul only talked about those kinds of things when absolutely forced into it. Under normal circumstances, he wore humility like a cloak, as every follower of Jesus should. He pointed all the attention and glory to God. He emphasized that it was Christ and His Spirit Who accomplished all those great things through Paul. Paul was certainly a willing and submitted disciple, but the enormous fruit of his ministry was produced by Jesus living in Him.

Churches weren’t started because Paul was a talented and courageous guy. They were started because Paul abided in Christ and Christ abided in Him (see John 15). A skilled man didn’t turn the world upside down. Jesus did. That should be a great encouragement to you because Jesus still does…

Every follower of Jesus needs to embrace this reality. Jesus will accomplish everything of lasting significance we do as Christians. When we live by this truth, we get out of His way so He can produce lasting Kingdom fruit. When we still think it’s all (or at least mostly) about us, what we produce is frustrating, exhausting, and doomed to spiritual failure. We must stop trying to manufacture fruit and let Jesus grow the fruit instead. We need to acknowledge that is how Christ’s kingdom works. It isn’t about little old us. It’s about the glorious Son of God working in, and through, us. That’s a far more interesting story anyway! #FollowJesus