God is not a movie star whom we like or don’t like, nor a politician whom we admire but who does nothing unless he gets some bribe. He does not want our tolerance or admiration. He desires, He demands, our allegiance.

We need to surrender to His will for us. We must be weaned from our self-centered living and the idols of modern materialism and trust God and know and follow Jesus’ example to the end.

Matthew 10:32-33 “32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.
(“Bible Gateway Passage: Matthew 10:32-33 – New King James Version” 2019)

Christ Brings Division

Matthew 10:34-39

“34 Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (“Bible Gateway Passage: Matthew 10:34-39 – New King James Version” 2019)

Little by little I keep giving every minute of my life to God through Jesus. I do what I don’t want to do many times, once and once again, but I go back to Him to guide me and trust His Holy Spirit so I can improve in my relationship with Him. He loves me no matter what I do. I am the one that needs to respond to His love. I’d be really stupid if I didn’t take His love, which is the only kind of love I always wanted and needed, a love which is unconditional and everlasting.

It took me some time to realize that God showed me his love by sparing my life during the time of the military coup in Chile in 1973. I was arrested, tortured and searched but I managed to “escape” to US and continue my studies for a Doctoral degree.

After getting a PhD I was attracted to material things. I got married and that was a failure. In less than a year I was divorced.

However, self lost the battle when I allowed doubt to penetrate my mind. From my questioning I learned that all those things that I had seen and fought for were not my real goal. I started despising myself. I was not good. I was trash! Then I became acquainted with C S Lewis’s “The Great Divorce,” and started searching the Scriptures.

Philippians 3:7-11

“7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (“Bible Gateway Passage: Philippians 3:7-11 – New King James Version” 2015)

New Living Translation: I once thought these worldly things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! (“Bible Gateway Passage: Philippians 3:7-11 – New Living Translation” 2019)

That was what I needed: transformation. I could not transform myself. Somebody had to help me but I did not trust people. Only that great love of God could grant me transformation through Christ. But that was not the end of it.

It took much longer for me to finally realize that God was not going to do all things for me without me doing things for others. When we accept deep in our hearts what God did for us through Jesus Christ giving His blood without sin for us, we also accept the responsibility that God gave to Adam to start with. By becoming without sin in front of God’s eyes we accept the responsibility he gave to Adam and Eve: “fill the earth and subdue it”. Through His Holy Spirit our love (God’s love) is supposed to show in everything we do. This is the only way we can transform this world dominated by Satan.

We should put in practice God’s love and His principles and precepts, established in His Word, among our family, our educational institutions, our entertainment, our art, our government, our work and business, our friends, our press, or thoughts, and ah, our Church. God did not established a religion. He wants a total true dedication in every aspect of our lives so this world lives in harmony and we enjoy it before we transition to Heaven. Religion was invented by men in order to put God in a box.