Do you think so? What do you think of Christmas? Does it give you a warm fuzzy feeling?
This year, as I read my Bible, I come across messages of sin and of God's intention to deal harshly with it.
Passages like Revelations 9:20-21:
The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.Or Zephaniah 1:18:
Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the Lord’s wrath.”
In the fire of his jealousy
the whole earth will be consumed,
for he will make a sudden end
of all who live on the earth.
These passages tell me that "peace on Earth, goodwill to men" is not entirely the message that we are to get. We should also know that Jesus is coming again to judge the world because of its unrighteousness. While judgement and unrighteousness are not popular messages, it is really something that we need to prepare for if we are to have peace with God ... eternally.
Would you agree?
Should we listen to only messages that we like, and shut out the ones we find unpleasant? Is there good and bad intertwined, as ying-and-yang? What is God really telling us? Are we listening?
