Dear Brethren and Co-Workers with Christ,
Greetings from Charlotte, NC! The great God is working with all of us who know His Truth. Our Creator deeply desires that every human being made in His image will finally come to genuine conversion—a total surrender to the God who gives us life and breath. As the scripture says, God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4).
Those of us who do understand are held accountable. When we realize that probably within just another decade or two, this present society will absolutely cease to exist, it should make each of us want to courageously act on the precious knowledge which God has granted us. Along the way, our Creator is “testing” us. God wants to see if we will truly seek to please Him, or if, on the other hand, we are so absorbed with the people and the physical “things” of this world that we become like many in Jesus’ day who “loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:43).
King David of ancient Israel said, “Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just; for the righteous God tests the hearts and minds” (Psalm 7:9). Again, Jeremiah was inspired to warn each of us about our deceitful human nature and how our mind often plays tricks on us when we sometimes “kid ourselves” that we want to do right, yet actually want to follow our own will. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings” (Jer. 17:9-10).
Thousands of us will soon be observing the Passover to honor our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. It is a time of reflection and self examination. It is a time of self “testing.” The Apostle Paul tells all of us, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified” (2 Cor. 13:5).
The key here, my friends, is to be sure that the Jesus Christ of the Bible—not some imaginary Christ—is actually living His life within you through the Holy Spirit. As Paul also was inspired to tell us in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (KJV). Note that we are to have Christ living in us through the faith of the Son of God. The correct Received Text of the Bible certainly indicates that the correct translation should be the faith “of Christ”—not just faith in Christ.
Therefore, as we examine ourselves, each of us needs to ask, “Am I living by the actual faith of Jesus Christ—literally following His example in my life in every way?” The inspired scripture given us in Revelation 14:12 tells us exactly the same thing: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Again, notice that it is the faith “of” Jesus Christ which enables the true saints of God to keep the commandments of God! And God also reminds us in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” When we think about whether to keep all ten of God’s commandments, which Sabbath and which annual Holy Days to observe, we should honestly try to observe the things the actual Jesus of the Bible observed! Does that seem strange?
Yet, all of us fall short of this as far as living life perfectly. So we need to examine ourselves. We need to “test” ourselves. We need to humble ourselves through fasting, prayer, earnest Bible study and sincere meditation, and try to draw ever closer to our Creator every single day that God gives us life and breath. As we see the end of this age approaching, it is vital that we follow God’s instruction in Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
We must be willing to meet with others who genuinely believe the Bible and are willing to follow its precepts. We must be there to balance each other, pray for each other and “stir up” each other to love and good works as the scripture tells us. And, as we approach the Passover, we must learn to forgive one another—and all human beings—of past hurts and transgressions.
Jesus commands us, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:14-15). May God help all of you dear brethren and co-workers to draw closer to Him at this Passover season. May He open the minds of any among you who do not yet truly understand the full meaning of Christ’s teaching, of Christ’s death and of Christ’s example which all true Christians should be following. For, as I have stated so often recently, God has led me to realize that we really are near the end of this present age. It seems that one thing after the other is happening to fulfill biblical prophecy and to prepare the way for the coming of the King of kings. That is sobering! Yet, the Apostle Peter was inspired to instruct us regarding all of this, “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?” (2 Peter 3:11-12).
We must all deeply understand that no matter how much we may know about the technicalities of prophecy or the time of Christ’s return, we will not “be there” in God’s Kingdom unless we really are, in fact, surrendering to let Christ live His life within us! In addition to doing all that we can in surrendering to God to “save ourselves,” we are also definitely commanded, instructed and encouraged by God—through dozens of biblical passages—to do all we can to “reach out” to others that they may come to understanding. And that they may participate in the first resurrection—which the book of Hebrews indicates is the “better resurrection” (Heb. 11:35). Like Jesus Christ, our example, our “reason for being,” our purpose and our strength ought to derive from doing the Work of our Lord and Savior. As Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work” (John 4:34). May God inspire all of us to give our lives more fully to Him at this Passover season, to examine ourselves in every way, and to sincerely go “above and beyond” in reaching out to this sick and suffering world and helping those confused people out there come to an understanding of why they were really born. We must give them the only real answer to the overwhelming problems of life in this sinful world. That answer is the true teaching and way of life revealed through the real Jesus Christ of the Bible.
With Christian love,
—Roderick C. Meredith