I mentioned last time the price tag that is on the Testimony of Christ in our lives—the Testimony of the Spirit that means the Presence of Christ Himself is with us. This will garner us the same thing it garnered Him.
But there is a price tag—a far heavier price tag—on being the friend of this world that hates God and His Christ. Oh, the loss… to one day discover that in going my own way in this present life (which is but a vapour), I missed out on the golden opportunity and privilege of walking with precious Jesus, and sharing His Cross… and being one in a great company of others who have done so at the cost of their lives in this world– the saints of the Lord.
Do I want to be the friend of a world that has crucified my Lord? A world that through the centuries has spilled the blood of my brothers and sisters in great numbers, and continues to do so even today?
Nay world, I turn away,
Though thou seem fair and good:
That friendly outstretched hand of thine
Is stained with Jesus’ blood.
If in thy least device
I stoop to take a part,
All unaware thine influence steals
God’s presence from my heart.I miss My Saviour’s smile
Whene’er I walk thy ways;
Thy laughter drowns the Spirit’s voice
And chokes the song of praise.
Whene’er I turn aside
To join thee for an hour
The face of Christ grows blurred and dim
And prayer has lost its power.Margaret Mauro
A Mending Feast 
Here I am on the Lord’s day reading these words. When I read them I want to drop everything and follow the source of these truths; Jesus. All of a sudden my job and life’s distractions fade and in my heart I feel “This is it; this is where my heart longs for”. I am tired of spending my life in this world which offers me so little. Work colleagues and churches that do not even touch the deepest parts of my hearts desires. I want to belong to Jesus totally and be away with Him; I speak not from a depressive place but from not ever in my whole life feeling part of this world and just a statement of fact. I have to live alongside blasphemers who use the most precious name to me as a swear word. I want no taint of this world on me; how I long to meet with Jesus in a deeper way.
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Hi Martin, good to hear from you. You said, “how I long to meet with Jesus in a deeper way.” I was fellowshipping with a brother yesterday who spoke these same words, Martin. And surely… these words are on our hearts because this is the very thing our Lord has in mind to bring us into. It’s He who has put that desire there. He will satisfy it.
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To see Him…yes….as you said before Allan….oh…to see Him
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20/20In hindsight I view thnigs lost or given up for the Lord as true blessings. It is true that at times letting go of something (or someone) is what opens you to what God has for you, that otherwise you would have no room for.I prayed continually for the Lord to speak to me, teach me, mature me. It did not begin to happen until I gave up worldly music and stopped watching TV and secular movies which had content unbecomng a Christian.The result was hours of free time in which I persued the Lord through Bible study and prayer. I asked for good Christian books and theological study material, and soon I had hundreds of books from thrift stores and yard sales, which I got for a quarter here, dollar there. I was able to use the time most waste with TV to put several thousand hours study behind me in just a few years.I would urge any who are serious and madly in love with God to just ask Him, and be willing to let go of the world. He will turn your world upside down. I would have it no other way now, and the loss I do consider gain indeed.In godly love brothers and sisters- AMEN
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