The story is told of a rich business man who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat.  He asked the old man…

(Business Man)  “Why aren’t you out there fishing?”

(Fisherman)  “Because I’ve caught enough fish for today.”

(BM)  “Why don’t you catch more fish than you need?”

(F)  “What would I do with them?”

(BM)  “Well, you could earn more money, and buy a better boat so you could go deeper, and catch more fish.  You could purchase nylon nets and catch even more fish, and make more money.  Soon you’d have a fleet of boats and be rich like me.”

(F)  “Then what would I do?”

(BM)  “Well, then you could sit down and enjoy life.”

(F)  …he looked calmly out over the sea, and said,  “What do you think I’m doing now?”

  Some might consider contentment to be synonymous with laziness, but they could actually be as opposite as a virtue and a vice.  Certainly there is never anything praiseworthy about being lazy, but from God’s perspective contentment is a rewarding virtue when practiced with godliness.  “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. (1Timothy 6:6-8)”  Paul, a godly man who had learned to tame his “wanter,” found it very gratifying to say, “enough.”  He said, “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. (Philippians 4:11)”

  Imagine America without greed.  Imagine rejecting the unrelenting lie imposed on us by the world, the flesh and the devil—that a little more will make us happy.  Imagine having a majority population who would dare once again to embrace our old motto, “In God We Trust.”

   Imagine you are lost in a big city, in an area that is known for violent gang activity.  You stop at a service station to ask for the shortest route to the highway so that you can get back on course and resume your journey.   The attendant points to a road about a block away and says, “That is the shortest route, but you don’t want to go that way, it would be too dangerous this time of day.”  Rather than waste any more time you insist on taking the shortest route, and bid the man farewell.  Before your car door closes, the kind hearted attendant pleads, “Can’t we at least talk about it before you leave?”  He knows that your life will be in grave danger and wants to point out another way, …if you will only pause for a minute to listen.

  This little illustration describes the predicament that thousands of people are facing today.  It is not a particular part of a city that threatens your well being, but a world system, and a debauched human nature that marches in lockstep with the supernatural enemy of your soul, the devil.  The Bible warns, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1Peter 5:8)”  Many write it off as the fanatical ideas of those who use the Bible and Jesus as an emotional crutch, “because,” they say, “you cannot face the challenges of life without one.”  But Jesus is not a crutch, He is the Son of God—the Savior!  Those of us who are alive to God, and understand what He has revealed of the unseen world through His Word, would plead, with Him, “You are on the road to destruction, but there is another way.  Can’t we at least talk about it?”

  In a message that Jesus delivered on a mountain in Galilee, He told the hundreds who attended, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)”  His point was that most people are on the path to eternal destruction, and relatively few are headed for the bright future that God intended for all.  Even if this all sounds absurd to you, it is too important to take the chance.  Let’s talk about it!

  What was the first sin after creation?  If you think it was Adam and Eve eating of the forbidden fruit, you need to look back a little further.  When Adam sinned, there had already been an open rebellion against God by the “anointed cherub” called Lucifer, or Light Bearer.  He was a created angel of the highest order.  Isaiah describes his sinful pride and fall: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15)”  But before he is cast into eternal Hell, the Bible tells us that he and his cohorts (demons) are determined to be the enemies of our souls.  How so?…

  First, he keeps people from coming to Christ for forgiveness by blinding their minds.  “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2Corinthians 4:4)”

  Secondly, he tells lies, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)”

  Thirdly, he disguises himself as someone who is good. “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (2Corinthians 11:14)”

  There are other evil tactics, but you get the point.  So what should we do?  Is there a way to protect ourselves from the evil one?  Yes, but first you must know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, and then, “…be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (Ephesians 6:10-12)” and  “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1Peter 5:8)”

  This is an idiom used often in reference to the most important aspect of an issue, or the problem at hand.   For example: “Thank you for coming.  I’m going to skip all of the preliminaries and go right to the heart of the matter; our company is losing money, and it is being taken by someone inside.”  The heart of the matter here, is that money is being embezzled by an employee.

  As for the person who is taking the money, there is another issue, another heart of the matter, namely, he has stooped to the level of a thief.  In the case of every wrong doer, the heart of the matter is always rooted in his innermost being.  The Bible speaks of this inner self as one’s heart. (Not the blood pumping organ, but the deep recesses of the mind)

  Several references reveal some interesting truths about the “heart” of man:  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5)  “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)”  “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. (Luke 6:45)”   King David of old pleaded with God, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalms 51:10)” …and He did!

  Hope for the depraved heart of man is found in Jesus Christ, who purchased our pardon with His blood.  Interested?  First, change your mind about sin and God, and then, “…if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)”

  If you will give attention to the heart of the matter, God promises, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1Corinthians 2:9)”

  There is a passage in the Gospel of Matthew that strikes terror into the hearts of everyone who has sense enough to fear God.  The scenario described there is the stuff that nightmares are made of.  Consider this: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matthew 7:21-23)”  These verses describe individuals who think their “many works” will satisfy the Holiness and Justice of God and secure them a place in His eternal kingdom when their life on earth is done.  Imagine the disappointment and terror that will sweep over them when they find out they were wrong.

  It is important to know that: because we are sinners by birth and by choice, our good works are of no value to a holy God.  Isaiah put it like this, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)”  Paul, the Apostle, wrote, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us,… (Titus 3:5)”

  So if good works won’t satisfy God, what will?  First, you must understand that God’s problem with you is your sin.  The wages of sin is death, but it would have to be the death of something other than a sinner, to pay the debt in full.  The only something that is sufficient is actually a someone, His name is Jesus Christ—He has died your death.  “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God… (1Peter 3:18)”

  There is no other way for you to be eternally saved; it must be done God’s way.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)”