Personal…. ‘of or relating to a particular person, carried on between individuals..’
Personally… ‘as far as oneself is concerned..’
We have personal belongings. Personal thoughts. Personal information.
“Don’t take it personally, but….”
“Personally, I think…..”
There are personal questions. Jesus asks one….
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" (Matt. 16:15, Mark 8:29, Luke 9:20)
The world dances around trying so hard not to offend anybody. Each of us have personal choices and decisions. We are not obligated or forced to choose Jesus Christ. But He IS the Savior. There will be no other deliverance from the predicament we are in. We are NOT holy. We can not fix that. And we will not enter God’s Presence without being cleansed and made holy.
People have their empty religions, meaningless rituals. They are not wicked really….but certainly ungodly. The gods they serve are not holy. Their god is not God, The Father of Jesus Christ.
Yet we are conditioned to hold back in fear of offending them. Perhaps we hold back because we are not confident in our own convictions.
“Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?" He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit." (Matt. 15:12-14)
Perhaps the enemy has convinced us that we are incapable of effectively communicating the message to another person. (….the indwelling Holy Spirit will empower us to do that, but we must learn to hear and we must act when we do hear..)
“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine……..
….according to His power that is at work within us,
..to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”(Eph. 3:16-21)
