For those of you who have read and follow my blog. You know how I feel about people who say…Well I’m a good person. And of course this statement is being made in relationship to their need to be saved. Or whether or not they are going to heaven in their own estimation. But as many of you already know. One does not have to guess about their eternal destination. We may have confidence in the words of our God. As well as in the life we lead. What I am discussing in this blog is the need for Christian men and women to give credit where credit is due. And in this case it is giving yourself a pat on the back occasionally. Many of you no doubt have been thinking that I am a rather rough character as you read my blogs. And that is true. I could easily take the cords myself and beat the moneychangers out of the temple as Christ did. My temper can get the best of me at times. But its not without someone or something kicking it into action. We are all different and I do not apologize for who I am.

For if I or you, were to examine ourselves. Each of us would come up with many deficiencies in our own make up. Would we not? The Gospel of Matthew chapter 25..beginning in verse 31. Jesus is speaking….When the Son of man shall come in his glory. And all of the holy angels with him. Then he will sit on the throne of his glory. And before him will be gathered all of the nations. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand, and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, come all of you blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world….This my friend is what we are all striving for. We all want to be there and hear these words. Well done my good and faithful servant. But here is the skinny. Satan is not happy at all about your desire to be there on that day..

And he is going to do his rats ass best to discourage you and I at every turn. To make you think that you are no good. That you have failed God one too many times. That you are out of the race entirely. That you have fouled out. Matthew chapter 18 verses 21 and 22. Then Peter came to the Lord and said, Lord how often can someone commit a sin against me and I forgive him? Seven times? And Jesus said to him. I say to you that you will not only forgive him seven times. But seventy times seven times…God has infinite forgiveness for us. But that does not give us license to continue in sin. Only he knows the heart of the individual and their desire to change or not. But its O.K. for us to tell ourselves that  we have done well. And we are being faithful. We are not perfect. And the devil will taunt and provoke you endlessly reminding you of that fact. But God isn’t looking for, nor does he expect perfection. He is however asking us to strive for it.

Consider this if you will for a moment. When you are watching the Olympic platform diving. And the scores come up after the dive. How often do you see all tens appear? Virtually never. But that doesn’t stop them from trying. And they are by the way the very best at what they do. They are in fact striving for the mark as it pertains to diving. In the same way that we are striving for the mark as Christian’s. And since I cannot miss out on an opportunity to kick the devils teeth in. And in so doing exposing the type of perverted scum he has doing his bidding. Since when does someone’s butt have to be hanging out of their bathing suit in order to dive? But I once again digress. These filthy pigs make me sick. If I had a buck for every time I wanted to bust some devil in the jaw. I would be a multi-millionaire. My friend its alright to encourage yourself. Tell yourself that you are doing well. Say to yourself daily that you have come a long way in your journey. Tell yourself that God is well pleased with you. Because if you are truly trying, he is. If you wait for someone else to tell you. You may be waiting for a long time….To be continued