Eulogies are equated with people dying. A person is chosen or they volunteer to give a eulogy on the deceased. Nice words expanding the life of the person that once lived. However, this world gets its sense of definition from the Greek word Eulogeo, pronounced (yoo-log-eh'-o), meaning to bestow a blessing of prosperity upon a person. The very word denotes life and not death as it’s an action word; its a verb. Therefore, a eulogy would best be received while a person is living and not dead. Certainly words spoken about a deceased person may very well be kind and sweet and respectful to those who are left behind, yet they would not encapsulate the truth of God’s Word that literally breathes into us so we may live!
More often than not you will hear of people becoming Christians through a church sermon on salvation in Christ. An altar call is made at the end of the sermon and people are invited to come forward and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I myself have partaken in such a ritual back in 2006 yet I too, have witnessed and experienced firsthand that many people do this without really knowing who the Lord is, what He has done to merit Himself as Savior of the world and what it all means to them.
Because of that surface; superficial experience ignorant as I was, it did not take long for me to return to my old ways and abandoned this Lord in whom I declared was my Lord and Savior a few months back.
I heard recently that God can save your soul, but your spirit will take you acknowledging Him daily to also know this salvation. This surely makes sense as we tend to use the terminology, this does not feel right in my spirit. So in our spirit we sense emotion and make decisions that can alter our lives, and in our hearts we determine to follow through on those decisions, so we can gather from the words of Jesus, that He too, knew it would take us acknowledging Him daily in order to know that our salvation in Him is a certainty: “If you abide in my Word, you are My disciples [one who follows the teachings and examples of their master] indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32 emphasis in brackets added by me) Now what is this word that Jesus spoke? Then He said to them all “If anyone desires to come after [to follow; to become His disciple] Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23 emphasis in brackets added by me)
Three years later, I experienced Jesus in a personal, intimate and powerful way. I experienced Him as a Savior and through that I wanted Him to be my Lord. Jesus spoke into my very soul, “I come to you with a gift. A gift no on can take away. When you lay your head down and rise again, everything will be different.” What took place on that very night was the Lord’s eulogeo into my very soul; into my very life; into my very existence! What took place on that night, was a dying of the old man and the new birth of the new man in Christ. Halleluyah! From then on, I wanted to personally know what it meant to follow Him. Where He was going I wanted to go. Where He was at I wanted to be.
A few months went by before I even stepped into a church from that personal, intimate and powerful experience with Jesus. Those months were vital. I got to know Jesus. By the time I stepped into a church, like the Israelites, I had experience Jesus do wonders in my life. I experienced God, providing for me, protecting me, satisfying me, directing me, cleansing me and saving me.
It was no longer a preacher who taught me about Jesus; it was no longer a preacher who told me about the Lord. They confirmed what He had shown of Himself to me.
This is my invitation to you. Do not make any life altering decisions in haste. Do not base your decisions on emotion. Do not allow the opportunity to know Jesus personally, intimately and powerfully pass you by.
Know who He is. Get to know Him. Taste and see that the Lord Jesus is good, and after you have done so, as I pray, the Lord protect you in His divine providence till you make that wise decision. Choose on that very day, having weighed the cost, who you will serve; who you will devote your entire life to. Will it be the Lord Jesus or anything else?
God’s grace, peace and wisdom be with you as you look into making an informed decision. Amen.
As always...YOU ARE LOVED.
— F. Lugo
3/30/15
3/30/15
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