Bob Hodgdon's Blog

A few weeks ago, God gave a verse of scripture. The scripture is from 1 Timothy 3:5 – “having a form of godliness but denying its power.” Like many times when God speaks to me, I don’t thoroughly understand what he is talking about, so I pray and ask for an explanation. God showed me then the rest of the chapter where it talks about, “that in the last days, perilous times will come. For men will… I want you all to read this chapter and ask God to reveal this scripture to you. After all these things that men will become they will still have a form of godliness but deny the power of God. We so often times get into situations where the only sense we can make out of it is our own. Then the chapter talks about these people will do and then the Word says in verse 7, “always learning and never coming to the knowledge of truth.” This verse brought to remembrance a similar verse in the book of Hebrews 10:26 which says, “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” Now comes the hard truth to these scriptures. Jesus taught more about heaven and hell than anyone in the Word of God. We who live in this world have come to find out we have similar cares, concerns and misconceptions about the world we live in. We tend to be more of the world than being in the world. Do we really understand what being politically correct means? We conform our thinking to the worldly ways and forsake the holy scriptures that bring life, peace and everlasting life. We become so much of the world we can’t determine who’s who in this world. We have all been there. We walk about without the life, the Blood and the Spirit of Christ in us that others can’t see what is so special about you. We have a form of godliness but deny the power. Again we have all been there. Let’s take this a step further and say we attend church every weekend, participate in some sort of ministry within the church building itself or even in a home setting but our lives are a train wreck. We have this façade that says everything’s okay and I’m fine. We became so callous of the world we start to think that maybe its okay for women to have abortions, to get drunk and carouse the streets like we did before we were (so-called) saved and many other things that rarely are associated with “Christians”. Can we live a split life before a God who knows your intentions, your heart and your going in and coming out? Can we actually convince ourselves that we are alright and be living in such a sinful state that we have compromised our relationship with Christ? The only way we can lose our salvation is if we give it away, sell ourselves out and/or forsake the power of the Living God and the free gift of salvation. Believe me when I say, this message from God scared me too. We can walk around this miserable world believing we are right with God and lie to ourselves and those around us believing the grace of God will cover us when we drink and drive, look at someone in lust, hate someone, avoid contact with certain people because they don’t fit into our mold of what a real “Christian” is suppose to look like, or commit sin in the sight of God thinking there will be no retribution, correction or chastisement from the Lord who is our Heavenly Father. Our actions have and will produce results, whether in the negative sense or the positive sense. Remember to remove the plank from your own eyes before you try to remove the speck from your brothers/sisters eye. Look within yourself before you look at the outside of those around you. I pray I am never politically correct in any view but that I would have the eyes of Christ and see the beauty within others rather than being intimidated by their exterior. The church of today has lost the vision of God and so our vision is blurred. I pray will see in the face to face and not dimly (1 Corinth 13:12). We have only one life to get this right. Man has his own way to perfection that seems right to him but the way of God is the only way that will lead to everlasting life. Church, let’s come to the knowledge of truth. John 17:17 says, “Your (God’s) Word is truth." The Word of God is living and breathing, it’s sharper than any two edged sword. The gift of salvation is free, you, me, we, all of us have to accept this gift and live the life as a true Christian. 1 Timothy 2:11-13 says, “This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” Think about this, if we deny him, He (Jesus) will deny us too. Let us obtain the salvation Christ died for and work towards sanctification (holiness). 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Oh, where is the fear of God? Proverbs 1:7 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Do we really fear God? God is the same yesterday, today and forever and does not change. He (God) is still an angry God, a jealous God, a loving God and many other spiritual personas’. I believe through this word, that God gave me, has humbled me, made me more fearful of my living God, and really made me evaluate my life in the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ. His life, His ministry, His love and all the other attributes of Jesus and His ministry. I pray this message will do the same for you. In all things, give glory to God in the Spirit through His Son, Jesus the Christ. Let’s not be so quick to forsake the knowledge of truth for a politically correct view.