"Don't Take It Personal"

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"For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16. My dear friends, I love the Bible, the whole Bible, for it is indeed God's love letter to mankind. Mankind encompasses a vast multitude, because it includes the entire crowning of God's creation. God created everything that there is and the last thing He created was mankind. I realize that there are those who will say that God created woman last, but if you will just think about it, you will have to agree with a dear friend of mine who once said, "God created man and woman at the same time, only she was still in the (rib stage)."

You will notice that I have entitled this little article, "Don't Take It Personal", and I have begun the article with the verse of scripture found in Romans chapter 1 and verse 16. I chose the title and this verse because that's what the Lord has laid upon my heart. When I wrote "Don't Take It Personal" and Romans 1:16, I was in no way speaking about the Bible. Friend, as I have said, this wonderful Book is God's love letter to mankind and He intended it to be taken very personal and especially the Gospel of Christ.

It is my most earnest prayer for this little article, as it is with each and every article that the Lord gives me that He will use it as a very real and lasting blessing to the very heart and soul of every one who will read it. If you will notice, I have left a space between the words every and one. Now, friend, that is not a typographical error, for though I have been known to make those kinds of errors, this was truly very intentional. The reason I did that was because that's what the Lord did in Romans 1:16 to show that His glorious Gospel is very personal. True, God's Word is His love letter to mankind, but it is His love letter to you. Very personal. God wrote the whole Bible and He used the hand of the men who are noted as the authors. God used the apostle Paul to write Romans 1:16, not only for Paul to benefit from it, but for you and for me. Now I take that very personal and that verse of scripture has so blessed my own heart. When I first began witnessing to others and sharing the Gospel of Christ, I experienced many rejections. I was very tempted to just give up and I even did for a while, but God used this wonderful verse in a very personal way to help me see that it wasn't me. When I would share the Gospel with someone and they would reject it, I took it very personal and I felt like I was being rejected and that I had failed the Lord and that person. I thought, maybe I should be telling them more or even begging them. Then one day, God broke it down for me to help me see that I should not be taking these rejections personal. He used Romans 1:16 to show me this. As I was reading that verse, the Lord stopped me on the word "it". Now, when we read that verse of scripture, we always tend to just read right through that word. Friend, that word, "it", is the main word in that verse of scripture. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, but "it" the Gospel of Christ, is the power of God unto salvation. Then it gets personal as the verse goes on to say, "to every one that believeth". Now the Gospel of Christ, though "it" is offered freely to all, is personally offered to every one who will believe. So when I offer to you or anyone else the Gospel of Christ, I should not take it personal if you or anyone else turns down this wonderful opportunity to have your or their sins forgiven. The reason I should not and must not and cannot take it personal is that it is not my battle. It's God's battle. When you or anyone else rejects the Gospel of Christ, you are not rejecting me, but you are rejecting Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ came unto His own, they rejected Him and had Him nailed to a cross. That's what happens every time someone hears the true Gospel of Christ and they reject "it". That person rejects Jesus Christ and nails Him to a cross.

The same thing happens sometimes between friends and family members, when we try to help them see their need of the Saviour. We often times tend to take it personal. That's because we sometimes believe that people will relate their need to us. Such as they will think we are a failure because that friend or family member will not receive Him. I too have experienced these feelings, but just like sharing the Gospel of Christ with those we don't know. Only God can change those people in a way that will make a difference. Sure, we may be able to convince them of things they may do wrong, but no matter how convincing we may be, it won't amount to very much in the end. Sometimes the world will indeed look upon us as a failure, but we should not and we cannot and we must not take it personal. Though we may indeed want this to be our battle, it is not our battle. It's God's battle and only He can win it. We, no matter how fluent we may be are only instruments in His hands. If we could talk these people into salvation, then someone else could talk them out of it and it would not be salvation. Only God can make a tree and only God can save you and me.

I'm sure my dear wife won't take it personal if I use her in an example. You see, there is a game on this computer which I play. Now I am not bragging when I say that I win this game quite often. My wife plays this game from time to time and she can't seem to win it as often as she would like. Sometimes I offer for her to play the game and she says that she cannot win it. I have told her that it is a sure thing that she won't win if she doesn't play it. That's the same way it is with telling others about Jesus Christ. There surely are those who will reject Him, but it is a sure thing that if we don't tell them, they will not receive Him. The Lord has blessed me by allowing me to be used by Him in leading some to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but it was not me. It was the Gospel Of Christ. It was His battle and I was only the instrument. Those precious souls could have rejected the Gospel and believe me, many do, but it is for certain that they would not have received Him had I not told them. Thursday night, as I was leaving for work, my sweet daughter said, "Somebody's going to get saved tonight.", and I said, "I go expecting." The next morning I spoke to a man about his soul and I shared the Gospel with him. God saved that man and now he won't spend eternity in hell. Friends, I do go expecting, but it's all in the hands of the Lord.

This little article was primarily intended and geared toward those who have trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and received Him as Lord of their heart and life, but I have no idea whose hands the Lord will place it in, therefore, I cannot pass up the opportunity to share His glorious Gospel. If you my friend are not absolutely sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that if you were to die this day, you would go to heaven. I have some very good news for you. Please take this good news very personal, because it was for you the Saviour died. God created this world and everything in it. When He created the world, everything was perfect, including mankind. Then, throught the deception of Satan, sin entered into mankind. Now, God is Holy and He is righteous and He hates sin. He gave man a law that he must live by, but no man could be righteous enough to be in the presence of this Holy God. No man. The devil has a lie that people are believing. This lie is that we are sinners because we sin. The truth is that we are all sinners, because we are born unto sinful flesh. We sin because we are sinners. But, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. Friend, that is the Gospel of Christ and "it" is the power of God unto salvation; to every one that believeth. That's you my friend. No matter how good you may be, you cannot be good enough to come into the presence of Holy God. But no matter how bad you are, your sins are not so great that He will not forgive you. Jesus Christ came to this world in the form of sinful man, only without sin. He died upon a cross and shed His blood for your sins and mine. The penalty for your sins has already been paid through His shed blood. It is through His righteousness that you and I may be born into the family of God. Now, the question is, do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins? Are you willing to trust Him as your personal Saviour and receive Him into your heart and life? If you answered yes to these questions, all you have to do now is to go to God in prayer and ask Him to have mercy on you a sinner and tell Him that you are trusting in the shed blood of His only begotten Son as atonement (at-one-ment) for your sins. His Word which cannot lie says that He will save you and you will be His child. Now, if you have prayed this prayer and received Him into your heart, it would be a great encouragement to my own heart if you would write to me and let me know. God bless you.