Serve One Another

“But Jesus called them to Himself and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.’” (Matthew 20:25-28 NASB1995)

Jesus Christ was speaking to his disciples, and he was letting them know that not one of them should consider themselves as superior to the other, but that all should serve one another, following the example of Jesus Christ. For Jesus, who is God, the only begotten Son of God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – left his throne in heaven, humbled himself, came to earth, and was born as a baby to a virgin woman, conceived of the Holy Spirit. He was not born with a sin nature as we are, and he never sinned, although he was tempted in like manner as we are.

And when he lived on the earth, and he ministered to the people, he healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead, delivered people from demons, fed the hungry, and performed all kinds of miracles. And he shared with them the message of the gospel which could save their souls from hell and could promise them eternal life with God if they believed him and obeyed him. He taught that to follow him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self), and follow him in obedience to his commands.

If Jesus was selfish, he could have remained in heaven, and he would never have come to earth to take on human form and to suffer like we suffer. But he gave of himself to the people, not just in ministry on the earth, but in his death and in his resurrection, in order that we, by faith in him, might deny self, die to sin, and follow him in obedience in holy living. For by faith in him we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as servants of our Lord.

And we, as his followers, are to serve one another as Christ served us and gave himself up for us for our freedom from sin. We are to minister to one another the love of God and the grace of God shown to us by God in how he provided a way for us to be delivered out of our addiction to sin so we can now serve the Lord with our lives in obedience to his commands. And even the overseers among us are not to lord it over the people, but they are to serve as godly examples to the rest of the body of Christ (1 Peter 5:1-4).

[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 28:18-20; John 4:31-38; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18,42-47; Acts 26:18; Romans 10:14-15; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:11-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20; 1 Peter 2:9,21; 1 John 2:6]

Jesus, Rescue Me  

Based off of Romans 7:7-25 thru Romans 8:1-39

An Original Work / September 18, 2011

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Jesus, rescue me today.

Listen while I bow and pray.

I need Your help to obey You;

Live for You always.

Meet me in my hour of need, Lord,

As I pray to You.

Help me walk in fellowship, Lord,

Living in Your truth.

Jesus, how I long for You to

Change my heart anew.

Father, God, my heart’s desire

Is to live for You this hour

In Your Holy Spirit’s power

Living in me now.

Teach me to walk in Your love, Lord,

Guiding me each day.

Help me to show love and kindness

To the lost, I pray.

Father, teach me to love others

As You love always.

Holy Spirit come in pow’r.

Revive our hearts in this hour.

Change our hearts to be like You, Lord;

Live for You each day.

Help us to forsake our sins, Lord,

As we humbly pray.

Teach us how to live for You, Lord,

Obey You always.

Holy Spirit come in power,

Revive us today. 

https://vimeo.com/126092919

Serve One Another

An Original Work / April 2, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Do You Not Know?

Matthew 20:20-23 NASB1995: Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.” He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

Do any of us deserve salvation from sin? No! Do we deserve God’s grace to us? No! Do we deserve to be in heaven with God one day? No! For we are all born into this world with sin natures, in the image of Adam, the first man God created, and the first man to sin against God. Not one of us in our own flesh can be good enough to be acceptable to God. Only by the grace of God can any of us be forgiven our sins and be on our way to heaven. But God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Titus 2:11-14; Acts 26:18]

The faith to believe in Jesus Christ comes from God, is authored by God, is gifted to us by God, and is persuaded of God as to his righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to deny self, die to sin, and follow our Lord in walks of obedience to his commands, in surrender to his will. None of this is of ourselves, of our own doing. We cannot even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God first draws us to Christ and he persuades us to deny self, die to sin, and obey God in his power. But then we must follow him in obedience in doing his will for us to have eternal life in him.

[John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Ephesians 2:8-10; Hebrews 12:1-2; Acts 26:18; Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Titus 2:11-14]

For what was the cup that Jesus was about to drink, and he did drink? It was his death on a cross in putting our sins to death with him so that, by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in him, we will now die with him to sin and walk in obedience to his commands in holy living. And if we drink the cup that he drank it means we are crucified with him in death to sin, and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as servants of righteousness in obedience to his commands, all in the power of God. Sin is no longer our master, but Jesus is master of our lives.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; Acts 26:18; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Colossians 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10]   

What Blessed Communion  

An Original Work / July 11, 2011

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Oh, what sweet and blessed communion

With our Lord is ours to share

When we sit at Jesus’ table,

Share His cup and eat the bread.

Sit at His feet, hear what He says,

Listen to each word He speaks;

Harken to obey His teachings;

Meet with Him throughout the week.

Oh, what grace he gives unto us

When we come to Him in faith;

Believe in His precious promise;

Free from our sins; saved by grace.

Turn from our sins; turn to our God;

Commit all our ways to Him.

Choose to live for Him each moment;

Daily cleansing us from sin.

Oh, what love He has for us that

He would die a cruel death,

So that we could be forgiven

Of our sins and live instead.

Walk with Jesus; serve Him only

As our Lord, God, priest and King.

Abide with Him; His word in us;

Bearing fruit, our offering. 

https://vimeo.com/126493940

Do You Not Know?

An Original Work / April 2, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

So From Sin You'd Be Free

“As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, ‘Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.’” (Matthew 20:17-19 NASB1995)

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit, our God, three in one. So Jesus Christ always existed with God, he is God, and when he lived on the earth he was both fully God and fully man (God incarnate). And so he is also our creator God. He formed us in the wombs of our mothers. And in his mercy towards us he left his throne in heaven, came to the earth, was born as a baby to a human mother, but was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and not of man, and so he was not born with a sin nature as we are. And although tempted as we are, he never did sin.

Jesus grew to be a man, and at the age of 30 he began his earthly ministry. And he called 12 men to walk alongside him in ministry to be his disciples. And he healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead, delivered people from demons, comforted the sorrowful, fed the hungry, and performed many more miracles than these. And he taught death to sin and obedience to God as necessary components of faith which saves, a faith which comes from God and is empowered by God, and is not of human flesh. And he taught if we do not obey God and die to sin, that we will not inherit eternal life.

Now Jesus was not well received by the majority of the Jews and their leaders. Most of them did not receive him as their promised Messiah who was to come and who had now come. And many of those in positions of authority and rule and prominence and influence among the people did not like Jesus, and they sought to destroy him. They tried to trip him up with his words so they would have cause to accuse him, but Jesus outsmarted them. And so they plotted his death on a cross, and they got the Romans to carry it out for them, and so Jesus was telling this to his disciples in advance.

And it did happen, just as Jesus said it would, but it didn’t end like Jesus’ enemies had planned that it would. For Jesus did not remain dead. God the Father resurrected him from the dead, and Jesus appeared to his disciples and to many other people over a period of about 40 days before he went back to be with the Father in heaven. And after some time he sent his Holy Spirit to indwell his followers and to be Jesus to them, to teach them the ways of the Lord, and to counsel, correct, instruct, comfort, encourage and empower them to live holy lives, pleasing to God, as a matter of life practice.

Now, Jesus’ death on that cross and his bodily resurrection were not without purpose. For in Jesus’ death on that cross he put our sins to death with him, and he rose victorious over sin, so that, by faith in him, we will now die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands in holy living, in the power of God. Jesus did not die just to forgive us our sins so we can go to heaven when we die, but he died and rose from the dead so that we, by the grace of God, will put sin to death in our lives and now live for God in purity of devotion to him in service to him.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death, not in life eternal (Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23; Romans 6:1-23). 

[Isaiah 53:1-12; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 26:26-29; Luke 9:23-26; Luke 17:25; John 1:1-36; John 6:35-58; John 8:24,58; John 10:27-33; John 20:28-29; Romans 5:8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 9:5; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-24; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 2:9; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 1:8-9; Hebrews 2:14-15; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 1:20-21; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Peter 1:1; 1 John 3:4-10]  

To Be Like Him  

Based off Scripture

An Original Work / March 16, 2014  

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Crucified you are with Jesus.

To be like Him, oh, you’ll be,

Because He died at Calv’ry,

So from sin you’d be free.

Oh, what joy He brings into your life,

Giving life with Him endlessly. 

Oh, what plans He has for your life.

Share the gospel faithfully.

Show the people He loves them.

Now His witness you’ll be.

Tell the world of sin about Jesus,

How He died for them on a tree.

Purifying hearts, He saves them,

Who believe on Christ, God’s Son.

Turning now from their idols,

New lives they have begun.

Jesus saves from sin; we’re forgiven.

Over sin, the vict’ry He won!

When He comes again to take us

To be with Him evermore,

There will be no more crying.

Gladness will be in store.

Heavens joys will now overtake us:

We’ll be with our Lord evermore.

https://vimeo.com/89237609

So From Sin You’d Be Free

An Original Work / April 2, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

The Path of Life

“I will bless the Lord who has counseled me;

Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.

I have set the Lord continually before me;

Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will dwell securely.

For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

You will make known to me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” (Psalm 16:7-11 NASB1995)

When we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, this is not just so we can have our sins forgiven and so we can go to heaven when we die. This is a marriage between us and Jesus Christ. He is now our husband, and we who believe in him, in truth and in righteousness, are his bride. So there is an intimacy of relationship that takes place between us and our Lord when by faith in him we are crucified with him in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as servants of righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands.

So now we are with the Lord, and he is with us, and we are to regard him in the same way as a new bride should regard her new husband. Our desire should be for him to do what pleases him, and we should want to spend time with him in his word in listening to what he has to teach us. And then our longing should be to do his will. So we should want his counsel and to be taught by him how we are to live now as followers of Christ. And we should be those who are listening to his counsel to do what he says, to obey him. And we should be open to hearing from him any time of the day or night.

For, again, the Christian life isn’t all just about getting saved so when we die we go to heaven. This is about a relationship between us and our Lord, and us getting to know him and his will and purpose for our lives, and us doing his will, in his power at work within us. And it is learning to hear his voice in our minds and hearts so that we can learn from him, and so that we can follow his lead. For he has a plan and purpose for each of our lives. He has something for each of us to do for his glory and praise. And it may not be the same thing every day, but it will always be doing the will of God.

And all of this is part of what it means to believe in Jesus and to have deliverance from our bondage to sin so that we can serve him in walks of obedience to his commands. For our salvation is progressive. We are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved when our Lord returns for his bride, provided that we continued in him in walks of obedience to his commands and that we did not return to living in sin while ignoring our Lord’s commands. For he will make known to us the path of life, but we must follow that path from now to eternity, by his grace and in his power.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; Acts 26:18; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Colossians 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10]   

When in The Stillness  

An Original Work / September 26, 2011

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

When in the stillness of this moment,

Speak to me, Lord, I humbly pray.

Be my desire, set me on fire,

Teach me to love always.

Help me to walk in fellowship with You,

Listening to You; sit at Your feet.

Whisper Your words to me, 

Oh, how gently, guiding me in Your truth. 

While we are waiting for Your blessing,

Lord, in our hearts be King today.

Help us to live for you ev’ry moment,

List’ning to what You say.

May we not stray from your word within us,

Help us obey You, Lord, in all things,

Walking each moment, Lord, in Your presence,

Our offerings to You bring.

Help us to love You, Lord, our master;

Be an example of Your love,

Helping the hurting, lift up the fallen,

Showing them Your great love.

Teach them to love You, follow You always,

Bearing their cross and turning from sin;

Walking in daily fellowship with You,

Making You Lord and King.

https://vimeo.com/126984144

The Path of Life

An Original Work / April 1, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Who Am I Now?

“O Lord, who may abide in Your tent?

Who may dwell on Your holy hill?

He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,

And speaks truth in his heart.” (Psalm 15:1-2 NASB1995)

I am a person who loves Jesus Christ with my whole heart and mind

I am a follower of Jesus Christ and a servant of the Lord

I am a woman who loves her husband, children, and grandchildren

I am a woman of 76 years old who God has called to his service

I am a woman of God who loves deeply the people of the world

I am a woman of God who takes God and His Word seriously

I am a woman of God who speaks the truth of God’s Word I understand

I am someone who speaks truth at the cost of being rejected

I am a person who speaks truth at the cost of being misunderstood

I am a woman who speaks truth at the cost of being persecuted

I am faithful in speaking the truth for the salvation of souls from hell

I am faithful in speaking the truth to see sinners set free from addiction

I am faithful in speaking the truth to see others serve God faithfully

I am not perfect, but I am not walking in sin, willfully disobeying God

I am, by the grace of God, walking in fellowship with my Lord

I am, in the power of God, walking in freedom from bondage to sin

I am, by the love of God, being used of God for his purposes and glory

I am, although unworthy, called of God to speak truth to the people

I am, in the power of God, now sharing his messages with the world

I am who I am by the grace of God, and in the power of God, because of the love of God which he has for me, and for no other reason. And God desires that all of us who profess his name, that we should all walk with integrity, and do the works of righteousness, and speak his truth, in the power of God. 

“He who does these things will never be shaken” (v. 5).

Who Am I Now?

An Original Work / April 1, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

The Fool Says in His Heart...

“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’

They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds;

There is no one who does good.

The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men

To see if there are any who understand,

Who seek after God.

They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt;

There is no one who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:1-3 NASB1995)

I find it interesting here that this speaks of those who say in their hearts, “There is no God.” So this is evidently not something spoken verbally, although it certainly could be. But rather it is something expressed and felt and believed in one’s inner being, in the center of their inner life, in their thoughts, emotions, desires, and will, which is then evident by the things which they do and say and are in person, in practice, and in character. 

So, in truth, this could include those who make verbal professions of faith in God, in Jesus Christ, but who deny him by their actions, by what they really believe and perform, as a matter of life practice. So, even if outwardly they express faith in God, in Jesus Christ, inwardly they deny him by the things they think and feel and do, deliberately and habitually. For if they really believed in him, they would submit to his will and obey his commands.

And what are the characteristic traits of people who are regarded as “a fool”? They are those who deny God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – as the Lord of their lives. They do not bow to God in genuine worship of him in surrender to his will and in walks of obedience to his commands. Instead, they are corrupt. They commit abominable deeds. They do not seek after God. But they have turned aside to do what pleases their flesh, instead.

Instead of doing the good that they ought to do, they are corrupt, and they commit abominable (detestable) deeds. They deny the Lordship of Christ over their lives and they do what their flesh leads them to do, instead. They lie, cheat, and commit adultery, and they are engaged in sexual immorality. And they alter the gospel message to give themselves permission to keep making sin their practice and to ignore having to obey God’s commands.

But Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

So, a verbal confession of Christ as Lord is not enough to secure for any of us salvation from sin and eternal life with God. We must deny self, die to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience to his commands. But if, instead, we go our own way, doing our own thing, living however we want, regardless of what the Scriptures teach, then biblically we are acting as fools, and we are saying in our hearts, “There is no God,” if we refuse to bow to him as Lord.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22] 

Seek My Face  

An Original Work / June 10, 2011

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Seek My face; hear My voice

Calling you, “Make the choice.

Won’t you hear Me just now?

Turn from sin; humbly bow.

Trust in Me as your Lord,

Walk in fellowship with Me.

I will enter your heart,

Give you life eternally.

“Won’t you sit at My feet;

Hear Me teach; daily meet?

Won’t you pray; share your heart;

Let My grace now impart;

Comfort you with My love,

Give you peace from up above?

I will tenderly say, 

‘You are Mine, I’m yours always.’

“One day I will return

To receive you, My bride;

Relieve you from your fears; 

Wipe the tears from your eyes.

Watch for Me; be prepared

To meet Me up in the air.

I will give you a crown,

And you’ll wear a pure white gown.”

https://vimeo.com/126019649

The Fool Says in His Heart…

An Original Work / April 1, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

If Your Eye is Healthy, Then...

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23 ESV)

If we look up the word “eye” in a dictionary or thesaurus, we should learn that the word means more than just the physical eyes on our physical faces. The first word to come up on my thesaurus, in fact, is the word “judgment.” Words that followed that were “discernment” and “sense” (like in common sense, i.e. wisdom and/or logic, perception, insight, and awareness). And this is the kind of “eye” being referred to in this passage, I believe.

And a lamp is what gives light so that we can see what is in front of us or all around us or ahead of us or behind us (if we turn around). And our physical eyes are what help us to see all these things, too. But in a spiritual sense, and in the sense of the “eye” being our judgment and discernment, the eye (lamp) being referred to here is what helps us to see through spiritual insight and discernment, and which helps us to make good judgments.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet

    and a light to my path.” (Psalms 119:105 ESV)

But where we should be getting our wisdom and discernment and good judgment is from the Lord and from the teachings of the Scriptures which were written down for us that we might learn what it means to believe in God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit. For through the written word is one of the ways in which God speaks to us to show us what he has for us to do. But he has also given us the Spirit to live within us to counsel and to teach us the ways of the Lord, but in agreement with the written word.

So, if our eye (discernment, judgment, wisdom) is healthy, what should that look like? Well, first of all what is this light here? Jesus Christ is referred to in the Scriptures as the Light, and his word is the light, and the light is truth and righteousness and all that is of God and that is holy and upright. So if our judgment is healthy, our whole being will be filled with Jesus and with his word and with his truth and holiness and righteousness, put into daily practice in our lives. Our discernment will now be based on God’s word.

But if our eye (discernment, judgment, wisdom) is unhealthy (bad), then what? Our whole being is filled with darkness. And darkness is the absence of light, and it is sin and what is evil and is contrary to the character of God and of the teachings of the Scriptures. And this is what is leading many people into sin, because their “judgment” is from the darkness and not from the light. And darkness is often disguised as light, too, so be careful about “the light” that you are receiving and are putting into practice. Lies abound!

And this is HUGE! So much deception exists now within the gatherings of what are called “churches,” most of which appear in America to be businesses of human origin being marketed to the people of the world. And in order to “draw in large crowds of people from the world” they, thus, have mostly all altered and diluted the gospel message to make it more acceptable and appealing to human flesh and to the people of the world who they are trying to attract to their gatherings. For they want more people.

But this is going on within and without the gatherings of the church (in person), but this is carrying over to the internet and to social media and in the blogging world and on TV and on radio and in videos and writings and memes and songs and cartoons, et al. And mostly what they are doing is cutting everything so short, much of it deliberately, so that a false gospel message is what is being taught as the truth. But it is the Word taken out of context and made to say what it does not teach if taught in context.

So, how do we, as followers of Christ, discern these lies from the truth? We have to first of all be in genuine fellowship with God via death to sin and walks of obedience to his commands. Our lives must be surrendered to the Lord to do his will. Then we need to be serious students of the Scriptures who study them in their full context so that we understand their true meaning. And this needs to be led by the Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth if we are willing to receive it, even if it conflicts what we believe.

For not all of us were taught the truth. And many of us were taught Scriptures out of context and thus were taught a meaning to them other than what is evident when taught in their appropriate context. So we need to also be people who examine and who test everything and everyone against the teachings of the Scriptures taught in their full context. But don’t put people in a religious box. God has made us individuals for a reason. But who we are and what we do must not contradict God and his Word.

Now, the truth of the gospel can be summarized in what Jesus taught us in Luke 9:23-26 ESV:

“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”

Also: [Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 24:9-14; Matthew 28:19-20; John 1:12-13; John 6:35-58; John 8:31-32; John 10:27-30; John 14:15,21,23-24; John 15:1-11; Acts 26:18; and more]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

Caution: This link may contain ads

If Your Eye is Healthy, Then…

An Original Work / January 9, 2025

Reposted March 31, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love