Tuning in to the Difference (Lent 5, 2024)

Many will reject the divine love of Jesus and the life He came to give because sin has distorted their perception of God … so much, in fact, that repentance is out of the question.  They don’t see the divine, sacrificial love. They believe their need for salvation is, therefore, beneath them and their intellect, and they convince themselves that only their sinful distorted views of themselves and God are real. Their pride is their downfall.

This is the kind of death Scripture refers to as the “second death”–it’s beyond remedy because these people will never choose the forgiveness offered because the price of repentance and humility are unacceptable to them. It costs them everything they value: self.

All people will die a physical death if Jesus doesn’t come back before that happens. The forgiven in Christ are saved because they’ve been made right with God through their repentance and the grace and mercy of a loving God in the powerful blood of Christ Jesus. The forgiven will never experience a “second death.”

But most people, Scripture tells us, are on the wide road to destruction, never humbling themselves and asking forgiveness. Theirs will be death two times over, never having tuned themselves to the distinction. The “second death” awaits them because they’ve never been made right with God.

“If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that.  All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.  We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.” (1 John 5:16-18)

One type of death can be followed by eternal life.
The “second death” is never overcome with love or life. It is eternal death.
Tune yourself to understand the difference.

Exercise:
Pray, using the Scriptures above, and imagine yourself tuning an old-time radio with dials.  Ask God to adjust your thinking to remove the static (noise/confusion) to get a clear signal.  There are two kinds of death: physical death and a “second death.” God’s love is the cure for only one of those. Why? Be tuned in to the difference.  Repent and believe. Ask God to forgive you. Right now, it is not too late. “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.” (Revelation 2:11).

Join me tomorrow for a look at the selflessness of divine love.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2024 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Revelation in 40 devotionals for 2022 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.
• Last year’s devotionals “Created to Display His Image” explored what it truly means to be made in God’s Image and the profound significance of that fact. They are archived beginning February 22, 2023.