The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Romans 13:8-14, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
9 For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any
other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
11 And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than
when we believed.
12 The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of
light.
13 Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife
and jealousy.
14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

Indebtedness may well be the key word for the year in which we are living. Everyone understands the word debt. A debt is something one person owes to another. We generally think of debt as referring to money that is owed. Paul, however, speaks of an attitude as well as a substance. The first four of the 10 Commandments have to do with man’s relationship to God. The six remaining commandments have to do with man’s relationship to his fellowman. Paul then specifies love (agape) as the primary attitude we should have, and he says that if we are expressing love to others, we are keeping the 10 Commandments that the LORD originally gave through Moses.

A lot of people, however, engage in nefarious activities that are unbecoming of a Christian. We often use the crass language of the world. We may not totally cross the line, but we imbibe and transmit the worldliness that surrounds us, simultaneously expressing what is totally unacceptable to the LORD. We want one foot, as it were, in the LORD’s domain (like on Sundays), while the other foot is in the World’s domain for the rest of the week.

Time, however, is running out! The Day of the LORD’s return is fast approaching! Jesus is Coming Back! What about those who have never heard? What will happen to them? What of those who have heard, but have not yet believed? How do we reach them? We reach them by showing them love –God’s Love. Yet, when we compromise the Christian lifestyle with the world, we dilute the Message of Love that the LORD wants others to hear and see in us. Thus, we confuse those we purport to reach by mingling the world’s lifestyle with the LORD’s Gospel. That confuses the world! We say one thing, but live another. Paul’s strong admonition is: “Demonstrate the love of the LORD Jesus Christ in and through your life! Stop compromising with the world’s ungodly ways.” Also, how do we want the LORD to find us when He Returns?

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom