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1. “…when our actions are so heinous, can we ever pay the debt we owe?”

   We can’t!

   …pure and simple…we, ourselves, cannot!

   Only He can and did!

   …and that’s the definition of grace and the message of Easter!

2. A. “3 Things you need to Know Before (and After) You Become a Christian”

   …delete the words “(and After)”…

   “3 Things you need to Know Before You Become a Christian”…the offer of a new life in order to start over again is very inticing; but to many and most, and, most unfortunately, the idea of “choices” and “payment” by “Whose authority?” mine, of course; surely not the standard expoused in an antiquated book with irrelevant and outdated laws and commandments, is quite daunting and preventative…”don’t tie me down; don’t tell me what to do; free to be you and me; God wants me to be happy; live for today, don’t worry about tomorrow”…such thoughts, such attitudes…so very prevalent in so many lives before and after they become Christians…the devil at his most destructive, deceptive, and seductive best.

   B. “…indifference demands condemnation…”

   My goodness, the number of indifferent people in the world, in churches, specifically, who will not only experience but who also deserve such condemnation; but my question, which accompanies said condemnation, is how and what, not only in the faith community but also in the work and personal-life community can a parent, an employer, and a pastor use to motive people so that indifference becomes commitment and involvement in one or all of the communities in order to make a difference in people’s present lives as well as in the lives of future generations?

   C. “We no longer live for ourselves, we live for God”

   …and is, not might, but is C the correct answer for all of the above?

   …most assuredly;…for once “we choose to live for God,” we choose to live for and depend upon God; “we no longer live for ourselves” and are, therefore, willing to live by our scripture-based convictions; we are willing to make a commitment to doing all those things which please God; and we are willing to enter into a covenantal relationship with God.

   …like the correct answer C, the 3 Cs — conviction, commitment, and covenant — are also “3 Things You [Not Only] Need to Know [but Live] Before (and [Especially] After) You Become a Christian.”

3. Question b. – I think that since “Familiarity breeds contempt” we’ve lost our sense of adventure and enthusiasm for life. Without a sense of gratitude we become blind to the plight of those around us and indifferent to worship and life in general. We become an effect and not a cause. If we can recognize something significant, dramatic or powerful in our lives, then hopefully, we’ll feel something inside us stir to action. This power is the awakening to what’s REAL. Thus the title.

   Question C – Yes I stand by that answer. That does not mean it is explains every detail of the discipleship journey, but if you’ve changed direction into the life of God, He will teach these discipleship trait in His good time.

   • Question B:

     Praise God, in a form of the gratitude about which you speak, that not only have you and are you “becoming a cause not an effect” but that in your so doing other people have and are also “becoming a cause and not just an effect.”

     I remember a Core Values discussion years ago in which the first one listed was Gratitude — Live in Gratitude. At the time, I remember thinking, “Why Gratitude? The words ‘thank you’ rarely, if ever, appear in the scriptures!” Perhaps they don’t; perhaps there is no commandment reading, “Thou shalt be thankful”; but the inference and implication of those two words are ominpresent as well as sought after, demanded, expected, and cautioned against living without by God throughout the Bible. Over the years, I have grown to recognize the wisdom of the one, who, not only suggested but also defended Gratitude as the #1 Core Value and the Core Value without which all other such Core Values as grace, fellowship, community, and service become nonexistent. I have also grown to recognize that, even years ago, that person had and would continue “experiencing something significant, dramatic, or powerful” which was “awakening in him what’s real.” …and in gratitude and thanksgiving, that he was enabling the Spirit to “awaken what’s real” in the lives of others who possessed “the ears to hear and the eyes to see” and “causing” them to “live in gratitude” by uttering and living out those two beyond-imagination and powerful words, “Thank You” to not only God but also to whomever, wherever, and about whatever.

     I can’t help but wonder, however, how churches and their congregtion would be transformed and become transforming if those in them would replace the words “Me, Me, Me” with the words “You, Thank You.”

     …and although the revered American author Mark Twain uttered those famous words “Familiarity breeds contempt,” I can’t help but wonder if caution needs must be taken when using that sentence as a blanket generalization. The more I read God’s Holy Word, the more familiar I become with it, but that does not mean that, at least for me, and I would wager for many others, including most pastors, that such “familiarity breeds contempt.”

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