Inmate Sylvester Jiles was recently hospitalized for heavy loss of blood that resulted when he fell into the razor wire around the prison in Brevard County, Fla. The odd thing about this story was that Jiles was a former inmate. He wasn’t trying to break out of the prison; he was trying to break in! The man said he wanted back in jail for protection from threats to his life he had received since he had been released. I guess he found out prison isn’t safe after all. Unfortunately, many people are as foolish as this inmate in term of their spiritual condition. We read about them in 2 Peter 2:20-22, which says, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.” This is why we must stay diligent to “continue to walk in truth”. A return to worldliness is the worst thing we can do.
I always hated buying gifts for my Mom. If I got her something like a new set of pans, it was like saying “Here’s something you can use to go make me something to eat”. A gift for her was seemingly a gift for me. There are however gifts you give that benefit you more than the receiver. For example, forgiveness. When you give it, you are giving it to yourself as much as you are giving it to them. Jesus said that when we forgive others it means God is forgiving us our wrongs (Matthew 6:14-15). I once read: “ Heaven is where everyone's forgiven. Hell is where nobody's forgiven. So, when we forgive we pull heaven down into our lives. When we withhold forgiveness, we pull hell up into our lives ” Give yourself something nice today, Forgive.
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