Avis WooleyIn the Fall of 2013, my first book was released, GIRLS…God’s Best 4 U. Since then, I have been given the great opportunity to write amazing materials: poems, puppetry skits, short plays, articles, and much more. But there is one thing that stays greatly on my heart is staying on the Godly path.
No matter what we do with our lives, if we don’t stay connected with Christ and follow His leading, all our efforts are like spitting in the wind. Sometimes the stuff comes back and hits us in your face, and we don’t like it. So it is with doing our own things without including Christ in it. Choices and poorly made decisions have a way of coming back to us in a fashion we do not like. It can cause us embarrassment and pain. Granted, God can use those bad choices or decisions and give us a way out that only He can do. In return, we see the miraculous hand of God move on our behalf.
I love that Christ is the God of “TURNAROUNDS.” He gives us many opportunities to turn from our wicked ways and get back to what is right. You might be thinking, “I am not wicked, and I don’t have wicked ways!”. Well, let me tell you, Christ says that all our self-righteousness is as filthy rags. These verses come from Isaiah 64:5-7 NIV. “5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? 6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind, our sins sweep us away. 7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and have given us over to[a] our sins.” So you see, that thought is just what Christ is talking about.
Like a great portion of people in the world, we have some level of spiritual upbringing. Whether it is Catholic, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, or Pentecostal. We have been steeped in a foundation of trusting God and trusting Him for what He can do in our lives. Many have turned their backs on what is truth. They have chosen rather to believe the lies fed to them by sinners rather than Christians, the saints of God. As I always say, once you have heard the “Truth” and turn away from it, you are a good candidate for God to minister to you and through you. Your failure has provided an opportunity for you to draw others to Christ. You have walked their walk. You have talked their talk. You know their moves and their motives. Remember, Christ uses the things and situations in our lives to help shape us into His image.
Your choice to live as you please, not understanding the full magnitude of your decision, is costly. You get to spend eternity with Satan, his angels, and all the ungodly people from the beginning of time, Revelations 20:11-15. You get to enjoy the fire and brimstones created from the moment Satan was kicked out of heaven-for him and his demons. You get to spend time with your ungodly homies, who are also being tormented forever and ever. Does this sound like a place you want to spend eternity? 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Staying on the Godly path is costly too, but it is the road that will lead us to eternal life with Christ Jesus. I would rather give up the finest things in life and have eternal life with Christ. Where I will spend time with the Father, the Son, and with the saints of the Most High God, be in His presence eternally. Enjoy the city, which is paved with pure gold, the city gates clothed in precious diamonds and jewels. Where I will get to meet the 12-Apostles, talk with Abraham, Isaiah, Jacob, Noah, and the other righteous patriots. Receive a crown of life that is laid up for me and to live in His kind of mansion. For all of this, I would gladly pay the price.
I hope that you have chosen wisely. Staying on the Godly path, this is what Christ want us to do.
Avis D. Brownlee-Wooley
